Star Child by Paul Alan Read Free Book Online Page B

A gust of wind bent the flames’ tops causing shadows to angrily dance to and fro.
     
    “Haka!” he screamed again.
     
    With torch lit eyes, Tiberius now spotted several large faces peering from the opening. “They’re all too scared to come out,” he thought.
     
    He squatted at the waste and began slapping his thighs. A rigid backbone defined his posture when he began his cadence, “Haka! Pala-ah! Uka pala-ah, haka-ka!” Exaggeratedly, he stuck out his tongue. And after several overemphasized tongue wags, he repeated, “Haka! Pala-ah! Uka pala-ah, haka-ka!” He slapped his chest several times while pointing up to the moons.
     
    The Clan’s curiosity supplanted their trepidation, gradually revealing themselves. There was something familiar about the stranger. Gathering outside, they watched him perform the Clan’s war dance.
    During his embellished ground stomps and emboldened movements, Tiberius easily picked out Clan members with similar genetic features. Differing them from the majority, his heart raced while fixating on the females. Albeit, he thought they were so much more beautiful than the rest, his resemblance to those genetically related females caused the entire Clan to look upon him with acceptance.
    Every Clan had developed a distinct war dance, usually done to intimidate or drive off other Clans. He had studied their war dance to challenge for Clan leadership, but the Dominate Male was too amazed by the torchlight. Tiberius paused looking at the passive leader, and thought, “I need to instigate this asshole.”
     
    He repeated the war dance. “Haka! Pala-ah! Uka pala-ah, Haka-ka!” At the end of the rehearsed dance, Tiberius deviated from the war cry, and extemporaneously said, “Eat shit, asshole!”
     
    He then reached between his legs and tossed mud, imitating flinging shit. Shit flinging was a huge insult in Clan life. When the mud hit the Leader’s face, it enraged him. Firelight emphasized the drawn lines of contempt as the Clan Leader’s face tightened. He then clenched his teeth, pushed aside a youngling and rushed Tiberius. Curiosity had turned into a full on assault. With hands straight out, he charged Tiberius as if he were going to strangle him. The Clan leader was not alone; another male followed right behind. Humanoids had the size advantage, being two feet taller, and out weighing Tiberius by thirty pounds; they were most formidable.
    Lexis feared this might happen, she tried zeroing in with her plasma rifle’s scope but they moved too fast. Not being able to draw a bead from her vantage point, she watched uncomfortably from a distance.
    Tiberius grabbed the Clan leader’s left hand, smoothly stepped backward, and using his own weight against him, tossed the Leader aside with ease. Sparks flew everywhere when he knocked over a torch causing the grass to ignite. Tiberius instinctively hunched straight down to avoid the second attacker. Though his swift thinking caused the unbalanced attacker to flip-up over end, he took a hard knee to the temple, stunning him.
    Unfortunately for the second attacker, he had landed in the growing flames, setting aflame his loincloth. In a crazed panic, the frantic Humanoid wildly ran across the moor, causing the fire to wick up his oily body. Burning flesh and screams filled the night air. All stood amazed watching the Humanoid torch burn alive.
    Dazed, Tiberius staggered trying to grab on to his composure; he knew the fight was far from over. He then turned around and looked into the tall grass for the Clan Leader to emerge. Suddenly his legs gave out from underneath. Tiberius collapsed face down into the soft soil. He tried recovering but could not, for his legs did not work anymore. There was warm sensation coming from his lower abdomen. On investigation he sliced open his hand on the sharp spear tip protruding from his flesh. The dominant female had thrust it in to his back. Strangely, Tiberius felt no pain. Before passing out, he