Chap. 134 The Paladen and the Mystery Animal

Chap. 134 The Paladen and the Mystery Animal

Glyena ran her hands over the enormous skull of the paladen.

"It's so big," she said, "and I'm used to queen dragons, I thought they were the biggest animals on Pern," she said. 

The staff biologist smiled. "Not even close, Glyena. Oh, gold dragons are the largest LAND animals on Pern, but there's some huge beasts in the ocean that we've never seen that the dolphins have told us about. This paladen, for instance, was a surprise to us all. Part of that is the dearth of information we have, we've lost so much information over the years.  Only now are we able to relearn, re-discover, recover things like this skeleton," the woman said, " and dragon riders, like K'ndar and his team, are playing an important part in that renaissance."

"Because of  Aivas?" she asked.

"Yes, because of Aivas. Look at what we have right now! Paper! Electricity, generated by solar power. A wealth of information at my fingertips, it seems to have no end. It all came from the ancients building Aivas.  I have a job, here at Landing, because of Aivas. It was a revelation to us all. It's why record keeping is so important, we used to use hides, and they don't keep for long, especially in our climate here on Southern," she said. "But now we have the database in Aivas, where we can keep records on atoms, and paper so we can send it to someone without a computer...on paper!"

"And notebooks but my brother here is sloppy, he has to transcribe his notes because he writes so messy and…"

"Gee, thanks, Glyena," K'ndar said, glowering at his sister.

"Glyena, as long as the data he turns in is legible and neatly transcribed, that's all that matters," the woman said, winking at K'ndar over the girl's head, "he has all the right in Pern to keep his original notebooks. All we're interested in is accurate transcription of data," she said. 

"I do it on purpose to keep nosy kid sisters from reading my notes," he said, hoping it would back Glyena down a bit. It didn't. 

"What do you do with his notebooks?" 

"Well, first we scan them into the database. Then we type them in, yes, it's time consuming, but it makes certain that the scan and the type match. It's then indexed, and eventually, published."

"Published?" K'ndar asked.

"You know, like books are published. For instance. Your copy of "Natural History of Pern" was written and published, oh, 2300 years ago. Maybe earlier. The author, DeeAr Plank, cataloged every animal and plant he was aware of at the time. By that time, some of the animals that the ancients had brought with them, like horses, mink, and pronghorn, had successfully established, but other animals, like elk and deer, went extinct. 

Combine that with the fact that within a couple generations, people stopped talking to dolphins, and so the dolphins, although they knew of native creatures like this paladen and mosars, didn't tell us they existed. Dolphins learned that if it's not relevant to a human, we really don't pay attention. Fishermen want to know where the fish are, that's it. 

But now, with this paladen, for instance, we will add this new information to the database. All the data K'ndar's team and the skeleton recovery team created will be added to the database. That means pictures, DNA information, where it was found, that sort of thing. And one day, should we ever do a revision of "Natural History of Pern" it will include all that information," she said.

"You mean the data I write up in my notebooks? It will be in the revision?" K'ndar asked, astounded. "With my name?"

"Yes, sir, you. You'll be cited and credited for the data. You'll be mentioned as a member of the team that found it.  And D'nis, and D'mitran, and B'rost, who was so incredibly helpful in first, discovering the skeleton and two, working to make sure it got here in one piece. Well, almost one piece, we're missing the atlas."

Hmm, he thought, feeling both honored, and suddenly, aware that maybe he HAD been a bit sloppy in his data entry. 

From now on, he promised himself, I will be Sure Always to make my turn in notebooks neat and legible. That…and I'll make sure of when we go between. That had been scary, and he didn't want to do it again. 

I'll always ask you twice from now on Raventh said.

Promise?

Promise

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"I did manage to get two notebooks transcribed," K'ndar said to Raylan, Landing's technician.

The tech looked through them, briefly. He was very familiar with K'ndar's work, now.

"Nicely done, K'ndar. I like, especially, how you include D'nis's coordinates as well as include drawings of dragonstones and cairns. Although they're not as accurate as D'nis's data," he said.

"I know. Animals will knock cairns over, sometimes," he said, "but, I heard it too many times in Weyrling school..'redundancy will save your arse," he said.

Raylan laughed. "That's exactly what Francie says, and probably why she has two sets of buckles on her dragon harness."

"What is redundancy?" Glyena asked.

Raylan smiled. He loved teaching the kids, a passion Francie had ignited in him.

"It means doing things, like making notes several times, so if you lose it in one format, you still have it in another. For instance, you say your brother's notebooks are messy…but this transcribed one, for instance, is neat, organized, and easily read. So right now, there are TWO copies of his data.  We'll scan it into the database, meaning there will be THREE copies, and if and when we revise and republish the book, there will be FOUR. That's redundancy."

"Oh." Glyena said, resolving to not ask such a question again, fearing that the answer would be even more voluminous.

Raylan tucked the notebooks under his arm. 

"How many left?" he asked K'ndar.

"Four. They're not in order, though, I wanted to turn in the latest one, the one with the animal we saw on Western," K'ndar said, "and I'm wondering if Miklos got the DNA figured out on it."

Raylan grinned, nodding his head. 

"Ah, he did! Come back with me, Jansen has a report already printed out for you. By the way, we're still working on those little plants you found. Even Aivas had nothing on them, which is hardly surprising, considering that only a few people were doing cataloging and no one, it seemed, had been on Far Western. Preliminary reports on the plants, though, are interesting in that they seem to have levels of a hormone we've never seen before, so we're trying to grow them here," he said, leading them into the interior labs.

They clustered around the computer tech's desk. 

"Hello, K'ndar, and who is this?" Jansen said. 

"I'm Glyena, K'ndar is my big brother, we came here to see the paladen," the girl said.

"What do you think?"

"It's big. BIG but it has flat teeth on the bottom so I think it would probably be a gentle thing, like a cow."

Jansen smiled. "K'ndar, before I give you the report, I want to check something."

She worked on her keyboard for a moment. An image of the animal appeared on her screen.

"Is this your little mystery animal?"

"It is! It IS!" It was going so fast, I only got a glimpse of it, but that is definitely what I saw. And D'nis, he saw it too. I saw it looking silver and he saw it looking black, I still can't figure that out," he said, excited.

She handed a report to K'ndar, suppressing a grin.

"What is it? What is it?" Glyena asked, unable to stop.

"The animal is Vulpes volans Eridani, or an "Eridani Flying Fox," she said.

"It's from Eridani?" K'ndar said.

"Yes, we think that when the colonists stopped there for whatever reason, they took on a cargo of Vulcan beasts as well as those from Aldebaran 4 and Terra."

"What's a fox?" Glyena said, forgetting her resolution, but this was with Jansen, not the biologist. 

"Sssh, listen, Glyena, I'll read it aloud," K'ndar said.

Vulpes volans Eridanus

Not a true fox, Vulpes volans eridanus, (common name Eridani Flying Fox), is endemic to Eridani A's sole planet, Vulcan. Despite its name, the flying fox is closer in metabolism and  behavior to mustelids, and morphologically, to canids. It is in no way related to Terra's now extinct 'flying fox', which was a large species of bat.

The flying fox is quadruped, placental and homiothermic (warmblooded).

Adult males typically weigh 18-20 kilograms, with head and body length of 350-460 mm, with a tail length of 90-105 mm.

Adult females typically weigh 15-20 kilograms with a head and body length of 320-400 mm, with a tail length of 70-110mm.

Most commonly found in forests, open meadows, and densely vegetated areas. It digs burrows in which to live and raise young. Burrows are often usurped by other burrow dwelling creatures. On Vulcan, it has been found sometimes living in a symbiotic relationship with other creatures, their dens providing housing for the symbiote, and the symbiote providing protection for the flying fox from larger predators. It will also den in amongst tree roots, amongst rocks, in hollow logs and in dense forest, in tree cavities.  

Activity is normally diurnal and crepuscular. 

It is an excellent climber, routinely scaling tall trees and vertical cliff faces using semi-retractable claws. It can often be found near water but has never been observed voluntarily swimming. 

Seasonally monogamous, females mate once per year, irrespective of season. Gestation is 65-180 days, depending on delayed implantation. Delayed implantation occurs in response to hibernation, although the flying fox hibernates only in polar habitats. 

The male aids in feeding and raising the young, bringing prey, and, later, live prey for the young. Number of young (kits) varies between 2 and 6, with four being the norm.  The young are born blind, are weaned at two months, and become independent at about 1 year.  Sexual maturity comes at two years. Lifespan in the wild is approximately 10 years, longer in captivity.

Dentition being typical of carnivores, the flying fox eats eggs, insects, small avians, mammals, fish, invertebrates, and reptiles, and has been known to scavenge in times of food shortages.

The flying fox's fur is unlike those of other furred mammals.  The fur is composed of two layers, an inner and outer coat. The hair of the outer coat is composed of long, hollow, transparent hair serving as insulation against the cold habitats found on Vulcan.  The surface of the outer hair is composed of microscopic scales that reflect light and give the appearance of color. The basic skin color is black, with the hairs reflecting sunlight or absorbing it as needed. This gives the fur color the appearance of being a hammered metal, almost silver color and other times, solid black. 

Each hair of the outer coat is controlled by an individual nerve. The fox can change the rotation of each hair. The pattern of stripes and spots on the fur can be re-arranged in order to camouflage the fox if needed; change the entire body color from black to silver and all grades in between; and is also used to create an alarming display of 'giant eyes' to frighten off predators.  

The inner coat is extremely dense, composed of short hairs that are light,soft and serve as excellent insulation. The female, before birth, makes a nest of her inner belly fur. 

The fox is remarkable in its ability to glide using a furred, skin membrane along the side of the body. It is attached to the ulna at the foreleg and the stifle of the rear leg. Spread by rods of cartilage, the flaps consist of sheets of muscle that can be tensed or relaxed in order to control flight. The tail of the fox is flattened in a vertical axis, controlled by a stiff, fairly substantial tailbone. Using the tail as a rudder, the fox is capable of gliding extremely long distances. It is incapable of powered flight.

Flying foxes reside in temperate, sub-polar and polar zones. It has never been found in tropical, prairie, or desert climates. 

Several attempts have been made to farm the flying fox for its fur. However, it has proven unwilling to be domesticated (as in ferrets, mink, or tribbles) and rarely reproduces in captivity. As juveniles, they have been kept as pets but upon sexual maturity prove to be irascible, aggressive, and ill tempered. 

Attempts were also made to hybridize the fox with cats and mink, (Terran colonies) and norvaths (Aldebaran 4) in order to create an even more luxurious fur. The resulting animals survived to maturity but were invariably sterile. Implantation of externally fertilized eggs resulted in absorption of the embryo early on in development. 

Citation:

Walker's Mammals of the Galaxy, 20th edition, Ranald Nowak, editor.

Jansen said, "It took me a while to find this, but watch this video."

A video appeared. In it, an almost totally silver flying fox was standing, broadside to the camera. Something off camera startled it. Stripes on its fur flashed, appearing in a pattern of a large set of eyes on its sides. It then jumped into the thick underbrush ahead of it.

"That's it, I saw it do that!" K'ndar exclaimed.

 "You saw it change the pattern on its fur, did you?" Jansen asked.

"I DID. It was, well, it was frightening, for a moment," he said, "These huge eyes looking at you and then vanishing. D'nis said it reminded him of the fake 'eyes' on the face of a tabby cat. If you look just right at them, they look like eyes," he said.

"Which is precisely the point. It made you stop. If you'd been a predator, that's all the fox would need, to make you stop, giving it just enough time to escape."

"What is a 'fox'? And a bat?"  Glyena repeated.

Jansen called up a picture of Terra's red fox.

"This handsome little beast is a 'red fox'. It was a canid, like dogs, but not related. They went extinct on Terra long before the colonists left, but embryos and DNA were stored from not just them, but just about every animal left on Terra, which wasn't many. I think one of our colonists brought a number of this flying fox from Eridani  and reconstructed it and released it, hoping it would adapt and survive, like so many of the Terran creatures that we know today," she said, mournfully. 

Why the Terrans had destroyed their natal planet, she still was unable to comprehend. 

Thank the stars Aivas told us the whole story, so that we can keep that from ever happening again.

"But K'ndar said it's only on Far Western continent," Glyena said, thinking how beautiful the Terran red fox had been. 

"There's a tenet in biology, Glyena, about animals..or plants or fish, or birds..that one would think should be in a spot. It says that the reason an animal isn't where you think it should be is because it "hasn't arrived yet, can't compete there, or can't persist there."

"Compete? Persist?" Glyena repeated.

"In this case," K"ndar said, "I think it means that the flying fox can't compete with other carnivores in the Northern continent, carnivores like our dogs, or the big cats, wherries, or even fire lizards. And they can't persist here in southern because, it says here, they aren't found in jungle, prairie or tropical climates. Our weyr is not tropical, it's too far south of the equator, it's more like the steppe we grew up on. But it's still too warm, I think.  I would bet that at some time in the past, someone released them on Northern and Far Western, intending to have them establish, but they died out on Northern," he said. 

"They may also have persisted on Western because, if I remember your preliminary reports, there is nothing ON Western save tunnel snakes and avians. No predators. No competition," Jansen said.

"I think you're right, ma'am, " K'ndar said. 

"They're so pretty," Glyena said, "Maybe we should try and raise them again?"

"No, Glyena, that didn't work," Jansen said, "remember what the report said. Another thing to know is that these creatures, being fox like in some ways and mustelids, like mink or ferrets, in others, were probably susceptible to the diseases of BOTH. We here on Pern are very, very lucky in that the colonists, the Ancients, made sure that the animals they brought from Terra, or Alpha Centauri, or Eridani, were free of disease. I've read a lot about it, and the healers have too. There were diseases, like the plague we had here, and 'firehead', both of which I'm certain you've been vaccinated for, that killed animals and people all the time. 

But an animal that was native to Terra, for instance, had no antibodies against diseases found on Eridani. Maybe the flying fox died off in Northern from diseases from our dogs, or cats, or ferrets..or even from us humans," she said, noting that Glyena's eyes were glazing. 

I do tend to go overboard when I discuss what I've learned in my wanderings in Aivas's galactic sized database, she thought. 

"Amazing," K'ndar said, elated at finally having a name for the animal, and wanting to learn more about it.

"I want to see one," Glyena said, tugging on K'ndar's sleeve.

"Me too," Jansen said.