The Visitor

By Boris Tzaprenko

Somewhere in space and in time, you will be introduced to Umas, the dominant species, and to Bovs, one of the subservient species. We follow these creatures through numerous adventures full of adrenaline and emotion. Gradually, we will come to understand the oppression of Bovs by Umas, its reality, its scale and its consequences. Why does it have to be so? Why is this deviance not obvious for all? Does it remind us of something?
Some vegan Umas are struggling to abolish exploitation of other species, but their enemies are powerful.
But, there is something , we will say no more...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Boris Tzaprenko
• Release date: Sep 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370980468

Boris Tzaprenko

antispéciste, donc végane abolitionniste.Sympathisant du minarchisme.

Book preview

Introductory remark

Compared to the majority of my work, (I am thinking of the ''Il sera ...'' series in particular), it focuses much more on the meaning of the story rather than on scientific and technical aspects. The descriptions of phenomena and objects, natural or artificial, have much less importance. Thus, for example: what in this story looks like an apple will be called Apple and what functions like a car will be called Car.

*

Somewhere in space and in time, on the planet Teruma orbiting a star called Denalbara.

Eyes of Forest Gods

Etos was one of the few members of his species still living in the wild on his planet. He raised his head to the spectacle of the stars. They were much easier to see from the clearing, where he was at this moment, than in the thickness of the forest where his kind gathered not very far away. He had only a very vague notion of what all these tiny bright points could be, but having often observed them, he had formed a few ideas about them.

First, from the consistency of distribution and light, he was convinced that they were eternal. Many, he recognized. Never did they dim except for a very rare few; never did they change position with one another.

Then, he deduced that since clouds could hide them, they were located higher up. Apparently, there was nothing above them, which was a second reason to give them his admiration.

He wasn’t able to say why, but he was convinced that something coming from them may very well change the destiny of many. Maybe they were the eyes of forest gods, he said to himself.

Mahisa’s lovely voice calling him brought him out of his contemplation. He ran to join her.

He Stopped and Quickly Turned

How could've Akkal suspected that with a single tiny finger movement, he was about to upset the course of his own existence? He slowly walked on the soft carpet of dead leaves, gun in hand. He loved the scents that were given off.

These moments of solitude did a world of good for him. They enabled him to empty his mind of his everyday concerns. Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency... ever more efficiency! To consistently produce more meat and milk at ever-lower prices. Such was his daily obsession.

Here, the forest was dense. Many bushes limited the field of vision to a maximum of twenty meters. He needed to move stealthily to be able to surprise the game. And if he was lucky, he still had to aim and shoot quickly, because the target never remained exposed for any length of time in the thickness of vegetation.

A rustling!

He stopped and quickly turned to his right shouldering his weapon. But no animal appeared. He remained a time thus, finger on the trigger, heart beating, eyes searching the undergrowth. But nothing... Nothing other than the whooshing of a few breaths of wind stroking the bushes. Disappointed, he resumed his pace forward taking care not to crush a twig. To return empty-handed wouldn’t bother him much; it wouldn’t be the first time. Akkal was hunting more for taking his mind off things than anything else. Anyway, more than for the pleasure of killing! That’s what he had told his daughter who criticized him for this activity. And also what he had said to his sister, who had went as far as calling him a murderer!

But it was especially his daughter feelings that counted for him. How excessive she was when she talked of this inconsequential distraction!, he said to himself, remembering their latest discussion.

A new rustle interrupted the course of his thoughts! Stopping, he held his breath. Something had moved in the grove right in front of him. He raised his weapon and waited. The sound in the foliage was heard again, moving quickly to the right. Akkal saw a shadow slip in that direction. He fired twice through the vegetation. The thicket let out a hoarse scream. Akkal crossed over through it quickly ready to fire again, because he knew that a wounded animal could be dangerous. The hunter discovered his game lying in the grass. It was a young male. It looked dead, but even so, Akkal was careful not to lower his guard. Bovs lived mostly in herds, so it was perhaps accompanied... Weapon still raised and finger on the trigger, the hunter listened carefully and searched through the vicinity. A muffled cry and foliage noise justified his care for vigilance.

So Akkal, still keeping his guard up, turned to the prostrate body. With the tip of his foot, he turned the bloody head towards him. This bov was a magnificent specimen. It would provide enough meat for a long time and his stuffed head would make a most beautiful trophy for his dining room.

Akkal was pleased. He was particularly well positioned to have all the meat he desired, but for the same reason he was also well positioned to know that it was preferable to avoid the produce from his intensive farming. His son and his wife would be glad. His daughter, vegetarian, and even vegan, would make no comment, but he expected to read her usual criticism in her eyes. Akkal hoped that her activism in favor of animal liberation, as she would say, was a youthful whim, an adolescent's crisis, a way to demonstrate her new adult personality by taking a stand against her father. This fad was mostly born from the bad influence of her aunt. Hoping that she would get over this fancy some day, as soon as she turned really into an adult, he counted on the influence of her brother who sometimes made fun of her childish sentimentality for animal kind.

He fetched his phone from one of his pockets to call his son who was supposed to join him anyway:

So, my son, where are you?

I'm here! Parking right now next to your truck. You're far away?

No. No more than three hundred meters. Follow the old mill trail, you will see me on the right.

Okay, I’m coming!

Akkal waited for Akkalo.

Listening carefully, he searched again a few shadows in the surroundings. He had experienced in the past an assault by a bov in fury; their bites could be very serious. But the surrounding bushes didn't seem to conceal any danger. He tried to move the carcass, but failed to move it even one centimeter. Terribly heavy, this beast! he said to himself. He sat on the inanimate body and waited, keeping his ears open and shotgun well in hand.

Wow, nice prize! exclaimed Akkalo upon seeing his father.

The latter did nothing to conceal his pride:

Not bad! I'm quite happy, for sure.

Well, you didn’t even wait for me. I came for nothing.

Except to help me drag this beast up the pick-up.

Each pulling a leg, it wasn’t without difficulty that they dragged the bov over the grass.

Phew! gasped Akkal, I don‘t know if it is me who’s getting old or if this guy is particularly heavy, but it isn’t easy to move!

They had to rest several times while crossing the distance to the vehicles. They were parked on the side of the road that skirted the edge of the forest.

Finally emerging from the forest, they let go of the bov. After putting their weapons into their respective vehicles, they toiled to load inert body onto the back of Akkal’s pick-up. After much effort, this was finally done, but it wouldn’t have been possible if it had been a single kilo more heavy.

Then, a rustling startled them into quickly turning around. Something had moved in the bushes. Akkal opened his vehicle to retrieve his weapon, but then, aware that it was late and saying that it was surely just a marauding lizard, he sat behind its steering wheel. His son did the same.

You Will Have to Take Care of It all by Yourself

Leaning on the window sill, Akkaliza was gazing dreamingly towards the horizon in front, when she noticed two small clouds of dust rising there. It had to be her father and brother coming back from their hunt. Which was confirmed when the vehicles became visible. She promised herself to try to avoid criticizing them, to control her temper and bitterness. I’ll get much better results if I can cozy up to him, she said, thinking especially of her father.

When she was at her room’s window like this, she made an effort to look towards the right, to the forest side; she tried not to see the huge building that spanned the left side. High, two thousand two hundred and twenty meters wide, this construction was five kilometers in length. It was a place hermetically closed to the public. No one was welcome. Especially reporters! But, as the boss’s daughter, Akkaliza had opportunity to enter three times. Three times, she came back upset, dejected and depressed or in a temper. It was so overbearing that her father had finally decided that she would never gain entry again. He had given his supervisory staff instructions to this end.

The vehicles were getting nearer. When they stopped by the house, she could see what was in the truck’s back: a large male. The Akkaliza’s mother came out to welcome the hunters. Akkaliza looked on, dreary eyed. Her brother was going to whoop again, her mother also and once more, both were going to compliment the killer. Akkaliza chose not to descend. Having decided not to intervene, she observed them from above. As she had predicted, without real merit as it was too obvious, Akkalo, her brother, keenly expressed his enthusiasm with strong exclamations and much praise. As usual, Akkali, her mother, seeing the prize made compliments, but one could see from her more moderate attitude that it was more to please than by real conviction. Hunting was her husband’s undertaking. She had nothing against it, of course, but her interest in the sport wasn’t so great. Akkal retrieved his gun and asked:

Akkaliza isn’t here?

I think she's in her room, said Akkali.

Akkaliza retreated to hide, but she looked from behind the translucent curtain of the open left window pane. Below, three heads looked up briefly.

Akkaliza! called Akkalo.

Leave her be, said Akkal. She’ll come down sooner or later, for sure!

Since she remained invisible, the hunter and his two admirers disappeared into the house. Akkaliza stuck her head out for an instant to see the bov that her father had shot. It was truly rather large. What a magnificent animal! It was so different from those of their livestock! She imagined it for a while, standing tall, living among its kind.

No, she said to herself, I won’t make any unpleasant comments. No way would I make him a compliment, but I won’t criticize him.

Just as she was closing the window, she thought she noticed something that made her heart flinch in her chest. Had she dreamed it, or had the bov actually moved? She leaned down a little more and watched it with more attention. Nothing during the three seconds that followed happened, but at the end of that time she distinctly saw one leg tremble then slightly stretch. A soft moan accompanied this clearly visible movement.

Akkaliza bailed out of her room and flew down the stairs. In the living room, she rushed outside past her parents and her brother. Surprised, they looked at her exiting as if the house was going to explode.

*

Akkaliza reached the pick-up and fingers clenched on the edge of the truck’s back, she observed the creature; it was slowly regaining consciousness in a puddle of blood and making a cavernous groan.

Hey! What’s got into you? asked her father coming out.

Akkalo and Akkali arrived also not hiding their surprise.

He’s alive, Dad!

What?

Akkal took a look at his prize. He swallowed a curse and cried:

Get away from it. Especially don't touch it! A wounded beast can be very dangerous. All of you stay clear! I’ll get the gun!

Akkaliza clung to his jacket:

Dad! Let him live. Please! Don’t kill him!

She was grasping his garment so strongly that he couldn’t move without dragging her with him.

But... uh, he let out embarrassed.

Mother! Akkalo! Please! Tell him to not kill him! I beg you, help me to convince him.

Embarrassed and moved by his sister's reaction, Akkalo muttered some unintelligible sounds that seemed meant to come to her defense. Akkala approached her husband’s ear to whisper:

If it makes her happy...Put it in a cage. With its injuries, it’ll die alone in a day or two, anyway... She won't be able to blame you for having ignored her request.

Akkal felt that the idea had merit. Akkaliza, who watched for the slightest expression on her parent’s faces during this brief secret conversation, seemed so tense one would believe that it was her own life that was at stake. Moved by the supplicant face of his daughter, Akkal countered in a tone that he tried to make somewhat gruff:

Okay! We'll find it a cage. But... you’ll have to take care of it all by yourself. I have other things to do than to take care of it! I hope you’ve underst...

Akkaliza’s tears of gratitude halted the demonstration of authority that he strove to give forth in retaliation to the weakness of conceding to what she asked for.

Well... okay, he said. I'll tie it up and put it in a cage right away. I just told you that a wounded animal can be dangerous. Don’t stay near it as long as it isn’t enclosed.

Willing to do anything to keep her parents in a good disposition, Akkaliza backed away a few steps.

Bring me a rope and a muzzle, her father told her. Go see in the garage.

While she was leaving to seek the requested objects, he spoke to his son:

Find me a cage from the laboratory. Be discreet. I’m not to keen on the idea of the staff asking questions.

In the giant food production building, the laboratory was the place where all experiments designed to improve productivity were performed. To obtain ever more profitable animals, they were testing on some of them the amount of hormones or anabolic steroids needed to increase muscle mass. They were testing various mammary stimulants to produce more milk by beast. Finally, both for meat and milk, they were also making multiple crossbreedings through artificial insemination.

The two children having left, Akkal said to his wife:

I think you're right. It won’t be alive for long. It’s barely breathing. But, you never know, I prefer to take precautions. It could still bite or scratch.

*

Multiple sources of pain had finally woken Etos up. He had a terrible headache, but also pain to the left shoulder, neck, nape, on the left side of his face and in both legs. Trying to get up, he was only able to raise a few groans. He remembered the two terrifying noises that had brought him down and a blazing burn, then... nothing. Regaining his senses face down on a hard, cold surface, he had the hardest time to make the slightest movement such was the pain that sanctioned it. Shortly after this return to consciousness, he had heard some of the particular chatter that he knew and feared. He knew that these chirps emanated from lightning-slayers, such was the name that his kind called these chattering creatures. So now he remained still, faking death so as not to draw attention to himself. Heart squeezed by fear, he listened. He soon understood that there were several sources of chirps and they were all close. Terrified, he stayed quiet.

Shortly after, he felt that he was touched. They were grabbing his hands. Then he was pulled quite brutally. A cry of pain escaped him.

*

Daddy! cried Akkaliza. More slowly, poor thing!

Sorry, daughter... answered Akkal in a slightly surly tone. I’m doing what I can. The beast is wounded.

And for good reason! She said to herself holding back her resentment.

Akkal tied the bov’s wrists to secure them behind its back. Then, equipped with strong gloves for bite protection, he slipped the muzzle onto its head. Small muffled cries could be heard.

Akkalo, he said while opening the truck’s tail-gate, "put gloves on to help me tighten the muzzle over its mouth before pulling it into the cage.

*

Etos clenched his teeth to avoid yelling. They turned him over. He saw that he was in something with a flat bottom and flat edges, but pain and fear didn’t leave him with any sense of wonder about that. His terror increased again when he saw that he had been seized by two chattering creatures. They were one to each side of him. They were holding him firmly by the thighs and arms. Feeling lifted up, his eyes, dilated by terror, turned to all sides. He was so afraid that he felt almost no pain when he was put down on the grass. The lightning-slayer continued to chirp. They dragged him inside another thing that also had a flat bottom, but the sides consisted of strange very straight upright branches and with no ramifications. To his inexpressible relief, the creatures let him go and wandered off. His terror having dampened his pain, he was able to partly raise himself. It was on his knees that he looked all around him. One of the sides of the thing in which he was now included a passage that the lightning-slayers had used to go out. But one of them closed this entrance. So, there was no longer any visible way to flee. All around him were upright branches, and above, a horizontal surface rendered futile the idea to climb the sides to take flight that way. Go over, he couldn’t, but could they be broken? With both hands, he grasped one of the branches on the farthest side of the chattering creatures and began shaking it with all his strength. But his injuries began to bleed profusely and the pain became stronger than his fear. He dropped to the floor of his prison and contorted a groan. Mahisa’s image entered his mind. Was she looking for him? Where was she? How was she? He fervently hoped that she hadn’t been struck down.

*

You see, my daughter, that we have done well to confine him, said Akkal while removing his gloves. Even with two bullets in its body... see how this animal is enraged! It would have bitten you through to your blood! Okay, I'll go fetch the mobile crane to move it. Where do you want it put?

Well, not in the garage or nor in our shed! launched Akkali. I prefer to avoid the stink...

Let's put it just under the cover of the first trees at the edge of the forest, proposed Akkaliza.

Deeply worried as she watched the bov bleed, she was eager to be alone with him to provide care.

It’s okay with me,