#clawing at my cage; I am so normal about toons and such

[jaycerebelvmax-blog]

I Woke Up In A Cage

I woke up in a cage. I'm fairly certain that I went to bed in my own bed the night before. I don't remember drinking, or going out to a bar, but when I try to concentrate on the night before, my head feels like it is going to shear in half. So instead, I lay on my side in a small cage shivering from the pain and wondering what the hell was going on.

I must have fallen asleep again because when I came to, my head no longer hurt. I'm still in the cage though and I finally have the presence of mind to look around; I'm in a small room and I'm alone. There is a deep, throbbing sound that permeates the area like the low-level heartbeat of some giant machine. My cage isn't very big, I can either sit or lay in it, I cannot stand up. The room I'm in is unremarkable and seems to serve only one purpose, to hold my cage. Looking down at myself, I notice that I am in some kind of form fitting jumpsuit. It is matte black and clings to me like a second skin. I can't take it off; I can't even find a seam or a zipper to remove it. While exploring the suit I find something around my neck. It feels metallic and yet pliable and is warm to the touch as if absorbing the heat from my body. It is some kind of collar I'm sure, but why? I sit leaning with my back against the cage wall. I don't panic; I've never been the panicky sort. I was always taught to think my way through things and this predicament is no exception. So, I start to run though possibilities on what could possible be going on. Secret government agency? Police raid? Hallucinations? I honestly can't come up with a plausible reason that someone would kidnap a 38 year old IT nerd from Colorado. I've been accused of being a cold fish on occasion and I guess that is serving me well in my current environment. I'm not panicking, I don't detect any fear really. I have more curiosity than anything honestly. Maybe video games and violent movies really have desensitized me to a lot of things. "Hello? Is anybody out there?" I called out into the small room where my cage is being held.

"Welcome representative of species 113B87A. Please state your name," a cool, unemotional voice states.

Looking around I can't see anyone and really, there isn't any place for a person to hide in here. Hesitantly I said, "My name is John Doe." Spitting out the first name that pops into my head seems like a better idea than using my real one.

"Processing... Thank you Mr. Doe. My name is PAM. I am your Personal Assistant Module. If you wish, you may change my name now. Please state my new name, or say 'Skip This ' to keep the current name," the smooth, unemotional voice said.

I sat there blinking slightly dumbfounded. Whatever this PAM thing was, it didn't seem overly bright. "I will hug you and stroke you and call you George..." I said quoting the abominable snowman from Loony Toons.

"Processing... Thank you Mr. Doe, you may now address me as George. To make a query, simply say 'George ' and then your query, " and then the soft voice went silent again.

This was just too bizarre. "George, what in the hell is going on?" I asked.

"Processing request... You have been chosen to represent species 113B87A in The Great Hunt. Due to your living conditions, it was deemed that you were unlikely to be missed by others of your species. Once every ten of your solar cycles, the Kolsarrani choose a species to test in The Great Hunt to determine their worthiness to exist in the universe. You and nineteen other representatives of your species will be taken to a remote location and given a chance to complete The Great Hunt and win the right of survival for your species," the unemotional voice explained.

I sat there stunned. It took me a few minutes to process all of this before I said, "Wait... Are you telling me that I have been abducted by aliens? Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?"

"Processing... You are correct. From your perspective, you have indeed been abducted by an alien species. The incredulity of the statement does not preclude the fact that this is true," said George.

I pinched the bridge of my nose in concentration and to ease the tension that seemed to be building behind my eyes as a massive headache started to work its way into existence. "Where are you speaking to me from? I don't see any speakers on the wall or cameras for that matter," I asked looking around the small room once more.

"Processing request... I am speaking to you directly from your auditory nerve. The band around your neck houses my central processing device and remote link to the Kolsarrani network. The band is tied directly into your circulatory and nervous systems. I am able to monitor your vital statistics, provide an interface for you to the Kolsarrani network, provide translations, administer rewards and cease your life functions if so ordered," the soft monotone voice stated without any hint of emotion.

Out of reflex I placed a hand on the collar around my neck and tried to move it. Sure, enough it was attached to the skin and from what George told me, much deeper than just the skin. For some reason, I seemed even more abnormally calm that I normally was. All of this would freak a normal person out, but I don't freak out like normal people. Maybe I'm broken just like others have said I am. I never looked too deeply into that because I really didn't want to know if I was. I just know that things really didn't upset me like they do other people and I've never met anyone in my life I couldn't live without. I've always been more than a little ambivalent about life in general; feeling it is more a trial to survive to prove one's worth to enter the next life than anything else. It is to be endured and overcome. That was about the extent of life in my eyes. But even so, this should be freaking me out a little bit. This is too much like a cheesy sci-fi story not to be a little freaky. "George, are you doing something to keep me calm?"

"Processing request... Yes, I am regulating your nervous and circulatory system and adding sedatives to keep you from entering a panicked state. Although, you are requiring much less than your contemporaries," George informed me.

"Well, that explains that," I muttered to myself. It is probably a good thing I had started going to the gym again a few months ago. I've always been a bit sedentary, but I had decided to at least try getting back into shape and after the first few weeks of protesting muscles, things got easier. This was still not going to be very much fun. "George, what are Kolsarrani?" I asked curiously.

Something flickered in my vision right outside my cage and with a startled oath I flinched back. The thing outside my cage wasn't large. It would perhaps be around four feet tall in height but its body was large. It had a centaur like body, one body on top of another body. The lower torso was lithe and sleekly muscled with six legs, each of which had what looked to be wickedly sharp claws and each 'foot' had four long prehensile fingers. There was a tail at the end that seemed well muscled with a double row of serrated teeth at the end. The skin covering it looked more reptilian than anything, mottled, muted colors across a pebbly surface and rough ridges of bone over the joints for protection. The upper body consisted of four arms with four fingers each also sleekly muscled and covered with the same tough looking skin. The head was... I guess the best description would be reptilian with a wedge-shaped skull and a muzzled mouth filled with a serrated line of bone instead of teeth. It had four eyes staggered around the front of its head protected by a thick ridge of bone above it. There were no noticeable ears, but the top of the muzzle had a double row of slotted holes running its length which could only be nostrils. The top of the head had some kind of hairy looking plumage and their eyes... I shuddered... Their eyes were blank, black, and expressionless. It was like staring into the eyes of a doll. "How are you showing me this?" I asked.

"Processing request... I am accessing your visual cortex directly. This is a Kolsarrani. I am authorized to give you a briefing on them. Do you wish to proceed?"

"Yes," I said as I stared at the projection.

"The Kolsarrani are a pack hunting society. They are nimble and quick but have comparable strength to your species. They choose one species every ten of your solar cycles to participate in The Great Hunt. The Great Hunt is a mixture of a religious and instinctual push. The Kolsarrani used The Great Hunt on their planet to require tribes to cooperate with each other to exterminate the larger predators that preyed on them. Once the Kolsarrani became space faring, they extended this to all species they could reach. The Kolsarrani rely primarily on smell. Their range of vision encompasses 180 degrees but they see only in black and white with shades of gray. They cannot see very far, but they can pick up movement very well. Their auditory abilities only pick up the subsonic vibrations that their species make for communications," the voice explained without inflection.

"Why tell me all of this?" I asked. "Doesn't this give me an advantage during this hunt thing?"

"Processing request... The Kolsarrani believe in fairness during the Hunt. Everything they know about your species, they believe you should know about theirs. Hunting an uninformed species is less satisfying and breaks faith with the tenants of The Great Hunt. To this end, you are allowed to know as much about their species as they know about your species. Also, no Kolsarrani will be allowed weapons except for those they can fashion themselves during The Great Hunt. Everyone will be provided with one cutting instrument, one container of water and one ration pack. All other required items will either have to be found or fashioned by the participants as the Hunt continues," George explained.

"Well that is something at least. I never expected quite that much fairness. George, tell me about the parameters of The Great Hunt please," I asked still staring at the image of the Kolsarrani.

"Processing, please wait... Map loading in progress..."

The Kolsarrani disappeared and was replaced with a map that was long, narrow, and separated into five different sections. The first section started to flash before George spoke again. "The hunting field is separated into five portions. Each portion has a unique terrain layout. The first portion is urban city. Your objective for the first four terrains is to make your way from the beginning to the end. Once you make your way to the end of the first section, you will be rewarded depending on how well you accomplished the first section. Each reward will help you survive in the next portion. Once you reach the fifth and final section, you may have up to four rewards assigned to you to help you complete the fifth and final section. The sections are as follows: Urban City, Terran Arctic, Terran Jungle, Terran Desert and Final Arena. Rewards are random and dependent on how well you accomplish the previous section. The ways to receive better upgrades are to complete a section by stealth, incapacitate or kill an enemy, or creativity. If you are captured, you will be killed. So surrendering is only an option if you no longer wish to live," George elaborated in that same emotionless voice that was always used. "There will be twelve Kolsarrani evenly spaced throughout the hunting grounds and there will be eight more released approximately 15 of your minutes after your species is released into the hunting field. Once you reach the Final Arena, you only have to touch the pedestal in the center of the arena to complete the Hunt. Do you understand everything that has been explained to you?"

I nodded in thought before saying, "Yes, I understand."

"Very well," George said. "You will be placed in suspended animation now to rest before reaching the hunting grounds. You will be awakened once the Hunt is ready to begin. Good luck Mr. Doe."

And before I could utter a word of protest, darkness washed over me like a tidal wave.

************

I'm not sure how long I was out for, but eventually the darkness receded and I came back to myself in my cage except that one side was missing and replaced by what looked like a solid steel door. Blinking l looked around but all there was to see were the walls of my cage and the door. Above the door was a counter counting down from 10 minutes. On the floor in front of me was a black belt with a knife, canteen of water, and a wrapped package which must be the rations that were mentioned earlier. l put the belt on and settled down to wait.

At the one minute mark, George spoke to me again. "Mr. Doe, please prepare to start The Hunt. You may access me at any time during The Hunt if you wish. I will display your vitals and the numbers of each of the teams remaining in your view. If this becomes a distraction, you may request it removed. Good luck Mr. Doe," and with that, George went silent again.

In my vision a display came online showing my vitals, the number of humans alive, and the number of Kolsarrani alive. It was an even 20 vs. 20 so far and I was fairly certain those numbers would be changing very quickly. As the numbers counted down, I prepared myself to exit the cage for the first time. When the counter hit 0, the door slid open and I quickly crawled out and looked around.

I was in the middle of hell apparently. There were the sounds of arms fire, explosions, flashes of light and sound. There was the smell of burnt or burning things as well as the shells of bombed out buildings and hulks of destroyed vehicles. It looked like a scene from a WWII movie and it completely caught me off guard. The sky was overcast with a pall of smoke and thick grey clouds and looking around I saw other people crawling out of holes in the same wall I crawled out of. They ranged in skin tones, sex, height and weight and they all looked equally bewildered. Taking a deep breath, I ducked down low, and went off at a 90-degree angle from my cage to see if I could find the parameter of the field and perhaps skirt around the edge of most of the danger.

I had gone perhaps 300 yards before I realized I was being followed. I was concentrating so hard on moving quietly and keeping an eye on my surroundings, that I didn't notice the sounds of pursuit until someone tripped over a broken piece of rebar and landed face first in a puddle of muck. Squatting down low, I looked behind me to see a guy and a girl following in my wake. The guy was the one who had tripped and caused the commotion and was getting back up wiping muck off his face. I scowled at both of them and growled in a low, hoarse whisper, "Get out of here, and find your own route."

The female looked at me with a glare, "I'll go wherever I feel like going," she said with some heat. "Why don't you go someplace else?" she asked snidely.

Stopping I shrugged and walked over to the puddle of muck the other guy had fallen into and started to smear the goop liberally over my body breaking up any uniformity to include my face and hair. She gave me a disgusted look while the other guy watched me for a minute before following my lead. Once I was liberally covered with the foul-smelling crap, I made my way to the closest wrecked hulk of a vehicle and crawled inside hunkering down to watch. I raised an eyebrow at her and made shooing motions in the direction I had been going. "Go for it."

She gave me a frustrated look before going over to the gunk herself and started to smear it over her body with a disgusted look. She tapped the other guy on the arm and said, "Come on, let's get out of here."

The guy looked between her and me and shrugged, then he followed her off into the gloom. I waited in my hidey hole for a bit and George announced that the 8 Kolsarrani had started their hunt. I made myself small in the burned-out wreck of the van and slowly calmed my breathing and watched. A few minutes later I saw furtive movement from the direction I had come from. I stopped moving altogether like I did back home when I was hunting. Two Kolsarrani headed in my direction. They moved in quick bursts of speed like a small lizard; they would scamper forward several feet and then sniff around and scamper forward some more. When they reached the puddle of gunk, one of them sniffed at it and sneezed violently shaking its head. It started gesturing to the other one while it made a low throbbing sound that barely registered to my hearing. They split up then, one following the trail the other two made and the other one turning to move perpendicular to them. Luckily neither one even looked in my direction when they split up and after a few minutes I was alone again. I stayed in the wreck for a while longer watching and listening. There was a sudden chiming in my ear and I noticed the counter in my vision had changed: Humans: 18 Kolsarrani: 19. Well, two humans down and they managed to take a Kolsarrani with them. I waited a few more minutes to be sure the coast was clear then exited the wrecked van and started to head the way I had originally intended. I kept to what shadows I could find and moved from debris to debris. Along the way, I fashioned a spear out of my knife by using the broken handle from a broom and some junk wiring from one of the wrecked vehicles. I finally hit a wall of buildings that had no break in them and figured that they must be the boundary wall on this side and started to follow them slowly towards the other end of the hunting area. It was slow going.

I stopped a lot but oddly enough not because I was getting winded or tired, which I should have been since I'm not in the best shape in the world, gym or no gym. The humans lost 1 more by the time I made it to the other side of the area. There were more walls here so there must be an entrance into the next zone, so I skulked on. I finally saw a light in the wall that could only be the exit to this killing field and two Kolsarrani were guarding it alertly. I slowed my forward progress to a creep moving as little as possible. Except for the two guarding the portal, everything was quiet and still. When I was perhaps twenty yards away I hunkered down against a crumbling wall and watched. After several minutes nothing happened, so I found a chunk of concrete and hefted it up and through the air to the other side of where the guards were. It made a sharp CLACK of sound as it fell and both guards turned to stare. The one closest to me gestured and made more low thrumming sounds and the other one went to investigate. As quietly as I possibly could I padded towards the portal. Eight feet... Six feet... Three feet... Just as I was about to slip behind the Kolsarrani and into the portal, my foot rolled over a chunk of concrete I had missed while watching the thing's back and it whipped around. I think we were both a bit shocked because we stared at one another for a good two or three seconds before either of us even twitched. His movement broke me out of my trance and I grabbed my impromptu spear in both hands and stabbed forward and slightly up under the thing's jaw and into its skull. It stiffened suddenly and the counter in my head chimed: Humans: 17 Kolsarrani: 18. I almost dropped my spear when it went boneless and I stood there staring at it for a good minute or two before I could gather my wits enough to step through the portal. The light was blinding and, in what felt like a tingle of electricity, I was back in my cage.

Sitting back in my cage I realized I was completely clean again. However I had gotten here had removed the muck I had covered myself in and sitting on the floor of the cage was a cup of water and something small and brown that I took to be food of some kind. I ate the tasteless brown loaf and drank the water and leaned against the wall of my cage. The timer was on against and counting down from ten minutes. As I sat there I thought back to the thing I had killed. I searched myself for any feelings of regret at taking its life and realized I found none. I know I've been accused of being a cold fish before, but some part of me thought I should feel something for taking a life and another part of me was scared at the implications that I didn't.

When the timer reached five minutes George spoke to me. "Congratulations on surviving the first part of the Hunt Mr. Doe. Your results have been noted as stealth and ambush. Two rewards have been chosen," and my neck, where the collar was, started to burn like fire. I managed an inarticulate sound as I curled into a ball in my cage. The fire spread throughout my body. It felt like my blood had been replaced with battery acid and suddenly my hands and feet started to cramp viciously.

"Your chosen rewards are in alignment to the way you handled the last challenge. Your chosen rewards are aligned with stealth and ambush. The pain is only temporary. What you are feeling is the nano-circuitry rewriting portions of your DNA to apply the rewards. Please remain calm, the process is almost finished," George said soothingly yet unemotionally.

Slowly, the fire receded from my veins and I lay breathing hard on the bottom of the cage. Slowly I sat back up and leaned heavily against the wall of my cage. "George, what just happened?"

"Processing request... Your rewards have been applied to your genome. Please look at your hands," he told me.

I lifted a hand and looked at it. It was subtly changed. It was bigger, broader, and the fingers looked thicker. The palms and bottom of the fingers had a thick, black, leathery pads on them. Touching the pads felts very rough like sandpaper and George spoke again. "Your survival style in the last scenario suggested traits in line with ambush predators. Your feet and hands have had increased traction pads applied and retractable claws integrated," he informed me tonelessly.

I stared at my hands again and curiously I flexed the muscles. From the tip of each finger, long black talons slid free. They were about two inches in length and curved like sabers. Looking down at my feet, I could see the balls of my feet were much larger and broader as well. Turning the foot over showed the same black pad there as well. Flexing my toes caused much larger black claws to slide free from them. The foot itself seemed different; other than the size increase and I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was.

"The change in hand and foot configuration will give you more traction, stealth, and defensive abilities. Your secondary reward is camouflage. Your skin has been changed so that it will blend with your environment making you harder to see visually. You can consciously control it by concentrating on it, or it can work in the background to match the environment behind it. Two minutes until scenario two. Please prepare yourself Mr. Doe and good luck," George said before going quiet once again.

Slightly stunned, I placed my larger hand against the wall of the cage and waited. After a second the skin color changed and before I knew it, the pattern on my skin matched the cage exactly causing the hand to blend into the background. I moved it slowly and the pattern changed. I moved it quickly and the skin blurred as the camouflage tried to keep up. So, slow movements only then. Staring at my hand I concentrated and the skin turned flat black. Concentrating a little more, it turned bright green. "This is so weird," I muttered to myself. Looking down I noticed that the black matte one piece I was wearing conformed with my skin changes and worked in the same way. Sitting in the cage, my camouflage went active and matched the background causing me to blend away. I couldn't turn it off; the best I could do is concentrate and turn everything one color but when l stopped concentrating it went back to mirroring whatever was behind me. "Well that's just great. I wonder if they will reverse all this when... If I get out of here?"

A minute later, the countdown hit 0 and the door opened. I quickly crawled out into a barren winter wonderland. The landscape was ice, snow, and various rocky protrusions and ice mounds. Standing up, I felt my feet take firm purchase onto the ice. Looking down, I noticed my claws had slid free and sunk deep into the ice keeping me firmly anchored in place; I also noticed I was standing on the balls of my feet. I tried to stand flat footed but nothing happened. Leaning over I saw that my foot, while being different was a touch longer from heel to toe, but it canted upwards forcing me to walk on the new broader 'ball' of my foot. This put the traction pad and claws in more direct contact with the ground and made me remarkably stable. I noticed the other humans emerging from their holes in the wall and some of them were altered as well. One man was massive; his arms hung down to his knees and were bigger around than my thighs. One lady moved in quick jerks of motion making her blur with speed. There were others, but I stopped paying attention because none of them turned to look at me. I guess I blended in enough with the background that I wasn't readily see-able. The sky was dark and an Aurora Borealis lit the sky with dancing light. Several people started out at various speeds. There wouldn't be much in the way of hiding places out here. The wind blasted most of the ground clean and the few formations that existed, were much further out and would be fairly obvious as hiding or ambush locations. I started out at a 45-degree angle from the cages heading forward and left again but I moved slowly. I experimented with how fast I could move without blurring my camouflage and found that a slow mosey was as fast as I could manage without blurring; that's when I noticed that although the wind was blowing hard, it actually wasn't very cold.

As I made my way across the barren landscape I listened hard for the deep thrumming sound that the Kolsarrani made and continuously scanned my vision ahead of me sweeping the landscape. I was about ten yards from a rock protrusion when I heard it. The deep thrumming sound caused the ice beneath my feet to vibrate and I turned slowly towards the noise. Not more than thirty yards behind me were three Kolsarrani. They were gesturing to each other and scanning the landscape before them. None of them stopped when they looked over me and my heart quickened. I got low to the ground and started to crawl towards the rock outcropping on all fours making as little sound as possible. It wasn't easy, since humans were never meant to walk on all fours, but the redesigned feet made it a bit more manageable. I made it around to the leeward side of the outcropping and the wind whipped around the rocks. I backed against a small hollow in the rock and crouched down going very still and waited. I gripped my makeshift spear in one hand and listened hard to the sound of their deep thrumming growing closer. A chime sounded in my head and the counter changed: Humans: 16 Kolsarrani: 16. Well, we were tied again and someone had died to make it happen.

I crouched against the rock face and waited as the Kolsarrani slowly made their way around the rock face. They were being cautious and the first one popped its head around the corner and looked dead at me. I didn't even breathe as it stared at me and then looked around the area before coming around the side of the rocks. The three of them spread out a bit more scenting the air around them with audible snuffling sounds. They gestured to each other and made a variety of deep subsonic sounds that I tried to pay attention to tilting my head slowly to one side to listen. Two of the Kolsarrani were sitting within spitting distance of me, while the third scrabbled up the rock face to the top of the outcropping. I could almost reach out and touch the other two sitting right in front of me. I barely breathed as my grip tightened on the spear. I slowly raised the spear cocking my arm back to stab at the closer of the two when a deep thrumming rattled the rock I was leaning against and I froze. One of the Kolsarrani made a noise that almost sounded like resignation and scrambled up the rock mere inches from my head. The remaining one made a pulsing subsonic sound that reminded me of a chuckle; I think it was laughing at the other one. It was the laughter that made me stay my hand. I eased the spear back down slowly and waited.

Perhaps 15 or 20 minutes later, the other two came back down and they started off towards the left wall of the area leaving me crouched against the wall breathing hard. I waited until they were far out of sight and eased my way to the top of the rock outcropping keeping low to the surface and looked around. I only saw white, blasted, landscape and no signs of life at all. Deciding it was worth the risk, I started heading out at a brisk run to make up some distance. If I could just reach the exit this part would be over. I kept losing my balance on these new feet; several times I fell flat on my face sliding for a few feet before I could get back up again. I ended up having to slow down before my crappy balance caused me to fall into one of the crevices that were starting to show up all around me. Soon the crevices formed a series of ice hallways that zigged and zagged. Instead of descending into them, I stayed up top leaping from wall to wall using my new claws to stay perched on them. Down below I saw five of the other humans moving quickly through the ice hallways at high speeds. In the distance, I could see the light from the exit portal and apparently, they could too because they picked up their pace as I ghosted along above them. It was too late for me to cry out when my eyes finally saw the ambush.

Three Kolsarrani with homemade spears popped out of mounds of snow and ice right at the exit and slaughtered all five humans in the time it took my brain to process what was happening. The counters in my mind changed: Humans: 11 Kolsarrani: 16. I think something broke inside me because the next thing I remember, I was launching myself through the air, spear forgotten, straight at the rear most Kolsarrani. The shock of impact was brutal thanks to the distance I had traveled. I fell upon the alien, and my new claws sank to the knuckle into the tough flesh as I clawed and wrenched shredding it in raw rage. When it stopped struggling, I was covered in black fluid and breathing hard.

The other two aliens just stood there staring at me. I was utterly drained and I hurt from head to toe. I was numb in mind and spirit as I turned towards the portal and walked slowly towards the light. Neither of the remaining Kolsarrani tried to stop me. The counter now read: Humans: 11 Kolsarrani: 15.

I materialized in my cage as clean as the last time and slumped into a comer and just stared at the food on the floor. I wasn't hungry... This time the clock read two hours. I guess we were getting a break.

"Calculating rewards for survival. Tallying... Stealth, Patience, Agility, Rage... Calculating... Applying rewards to genome," said the sonorous voice of George.

Again, my neck burned and that burn spread through my body once again. Pain blossomed in my skull, in my legs and in my spine. I writhed on the floor of my cage as agony took me and I passed out.

When I came back to myself, I was lying on my side on the floor of the cage. It took me a couple of minutes to blink away the fog in my brain. I reached my hands to my face to try to wipe away the rest of the confusion and something felt... odd. Looking down at my hands they were still big and thick, but something else was difference. The camouflage was still working but the skin itself seemed different. Squinting at it, I noticed something else my eyes had been trying to tell me, there was too much face in my forward vision. I reached up to touch my nose but my hand stopped much further away than it should have. In my forward vision, I could see more face that I should have had. The constantly changing skin though made it really hard to focus on it. So, concentrating, I made my skin change to a normal human skin tone and noticed that there was indeed much more face. I reached up to feel my face and the skin felt different as well. It felt thicker and had a rough leathery feel to it. I could discern that my face was muzzled outwards but without a mirror, I had no idea what I looked like. I just knew that my head had changed and so had my skin. I tried to sit up but something kept getting in the way. I had to maneuver around to see what was going on and when I did I froze. All I could see was a long, thick appendage that tapered down to a pointed tip and was several feet in length. "GEORGE!" I yelled. My voice sound different and raspy.

"Processing... Yes Mr. Doe, how may I help you?" the perfectly calm voice asked.

In a voice, more of a raspy growl than human I asked, "what did you do to me?"

"Processing request... Please elaborate on the parameters of your query," George said with the patience only something artificial could manage.

"What is this?" I asked motioning to the new appendage trailing from behind me.

"Processing request... Due to the difficulties you were having obtaining running speeds on your new feet; a counter balance was implemented to remedy the situation," George explained.

"A counter balance? You mean a tail?!?" I exclaimed only to have it come out in an almost unintelligible growling hiss. "What is wrong with my face? What did you do to me in your last 'reward' phase?"

"Processing request... Your assumption is correct; a tail was added to aid in stability when you run. Your skin has also been toughened, your ears increased in size, mobility, and sensitivity; your skeletal structure, more correctly, your skull has been redesigned for increased combat purposes. Your legs have been further modified with increased muscle mass and strength as well as reshaped to make for the greatest benefit in leaping and running. Your clothing has re-aligned to accommodate these new changes and will not interfere with them in any way. You are now ready for the third portion of The Great Hunt," the calm voice explained matter-of-factly.

I had already reached to where my ears should be and found them higher than they had been and quite large. I could feel them twitching in my hands as they moved tracking sounds. I looked at my legs and the changes that had been started the last time, had progressed a great deal. The foot was no longer recognizable as a human foot. It had lengthened quite a bit as the calf had shortened some. Both calf and thigh bulged with muscle; well maybe bulge isn't the right word. The musculature was more greatly defined and thicker. The 'ball' of the foot had gotten even wider and larger and the retractable claws were still there and functional. I didn't even look human anymore. They were turning me into some kind of monster to make their Great Hunt more challenging. What kinds of changes were happening to my mind while my body changed? I felt anger at all of this and it seethed in the back of my mind like a low fire. The counter on the wall said five minutes.

***********

I was in deep jungle. When they released us from our cages, I saw I wasn't the only monster. Everyone scattered into the thick tangle of vegetation. I had come across water while I made my way through the vegetation. I could no longer stand up straight and upright. I moved at a forward crouch all the time now because the tail was thickest at the base and not flexible enough to allow for standing upright even if my new legs would have allowed for it. In the water, I saw a monster staring back at me; something vaguely reptilian with large mobile ears. My mouth was full of sharp, serrated teeth and the lips were no longer capable of much expression. The only things unchanged were my eyes. I had been moving through the jungle for a while now, it was dark under the canopy and that made it hard to see, but my ears detecting things long before my eyes could. I found that my vertical leaping ability was ridiculous and so I took to the trees using the limbs like a highway in the sky. The new tail allowed for a great deal of balance and the wider feet with their sharp claws, kept purchase where most would have fallen. I spent a lot of time bent over on all fours to keep my purchase on the slick wood of the trees and to make my profile as small as possible against the large limbs of the vast trees here. The counter still read: Humans: 11 Kolsarrani: 15. I had to stop every so often against the truck of a tree to try to stand upright and stretch out sore neck and back muscles. At these times, my tail would wrap around the limb I was standing on by reflex helping to anchor me in place. I had passed two Kolsarrani so far on my wooden highway and not a one ever looked up. While I was perched over the third Kolsarrani, something rumbled the ground shaking the tree I was in. I stopped instantly listening. There was a pounding against the floor like a charging elephant and the trees on the other side of the alien were making cracking sounds. The Kolsarrani below me lowered itself, spear in one hand and long bladed knife in the other.

The thing that burst through the underbrush was massive. It looked like a cross between a gorilla and a rhinoceros. It had thick dark grey skin and massively muscled arms. The arms drug the ground and he used them like a gorilla would for running, but his head had two wickedly curved horns that pointed up and slightly forward and the beast, seeing the alien, bellowed in rage and charged. I stayed on my perch and watched the battle below. The beast was slower than the alien but much tougher. The Kolsarrani jabbed and cut and clawed and danced around the monster. They seemed evenly matched both giving and receiving damage but neither giving up. The monster managed a glancing blow on the alien, and it flew back slamming into a tree. The beast bellowed in triumph and lowered his head to charge. It took three steps before another Kolsarrani I hadn't seen, flew from the underbrush and sank two knives in the monster's neck digging them in deep while it scrambled up his back raking and clawing for purchase. The beast roared in furry and frustration but it was over... The Kolsarrani pushed the knives in deeper and then it twisted its bulk with a huge heave of muscle and the beast's head snapped sideways with a sickening crunch and it fell to the ground dead. The counter read: Humans: 10 Kolsarrani: 15.

I stayed my perch frozen in shock. I should have helped but I stayed where it was safe. If I had helped he might not have been killed. Just like before a bubbling rage powered by shame grew inside of me. The anger and the humiliation of losing my humanity was beating against my senses and without thinking I positioned myself on the limb above the aliens and launched myself with a screaming roar of loss and defiance that broke the silence of the jungle night. I landed with all claws extended and mouth agape on the back of the closest alien, the one who had ambushed the beast, and sank my teeth into its neck and wrenched violently at it, but I didn't have the muscle required to rip its throat out. I could only savage it with my claws and bite as hard as my jaws would allow. I rode it to the ground and felt a sudden blindly sharp pain in my side. I rolled off the mutilated thing beneath me and crouched low focusing on the other Kolsarrani. My chest hurt and it was hard to breathe. The alien circled me, spear in hand, and watched intently. In the process of circling each other, the alien kicked the almost decapitated head causing it to come loose and roll across the ground. Watching it, something broke inside me. Bunching my legs beneath me, I jumped into a high arc screaming incoherently and landed on the upraised spear the alien held...

I came to again and saw my vitals fluttering in my vision. The count read: Humans: 8 Kolsarrani: 12. I struggled to rise and flashes of white hot pain coursed through my chest. I coughed hard and blood splattered the ground. Bemused I noted that it was still the same red as it should be. Light headed and in pain I staggered through the underbrush until I saw the light of the exit portal. Luckily it was unguarded and with a gurgling sigh, I crawled the last three feet into the electric tingle of escape.

"Life signs fluctuating... Applying genome rewards. Do not worry Mr. Doe, the genome rewards will repair you. You have six of your hours until the next portion of The Hunt. You will be healed by then," George explained

The agony built in my neck again and my body flooded with fire and pain. Exhaustion took its toll and darkness took me again.

***********

The remaining Kolsarrani, all 7 of them, were waiting in the arena of the final portion of The Great Hunt. Only three members of species 113B87A had survived to make the final portion of The Great Hunt. They would honor them this day by fighting to the bitter end to keep them from reaching the pedestal in the center of the arena. One of their numbers was larger than the rest; he held the honor of Hunt Leader. The signal sounded alerting them that the representatives of species 113B87A had been released and they prepared themselves. A piercing whistle suddenly sounded high above the aliens; the Kolsarrani circled, waiting. With a sudden cry and a flash of movement from above, one of the Kolsarrani vanished in a spray of black blood and the counter changed. The ground rumbled and the remaining members of The Hunt formed up. A massive beast barreled towards them; its four legs churning the dirt into a plume behind it. It resembled an armored cross between an elephant and a stallion bristling with spikes. It lowered its head and bulldozed straight through the remaining six aliens trampling two underneath its massive hooves before continuing through the group in the other direction with spears sticking out of its hide. A low rumbling growl echoed against the walls of the arena as a blur of movement circled them. When it stopped, it was almost invisible to the alien's sight, but not their sense of smell. It smelled of rage and hatred. Just before it attacked, its camouflage dropped and a nightmare stood there in black. A thing that resembled a massive reptilian tiger with huge ears and a long, draconic head that glared balefully at them with human eyes that lacked any trace of humanity. It stalked around them on all fours, its tail lashing behind it in agitation. Thick slabs of armor protected its chest, stomach and back, and its brutal claws gouged furrows in the dirt of the arena floor. With a screeching roar of incalculable loss mixed with unearthly rage, the beast launched itself at the remaining four Kolsarrani.

************

The thing that had taken the first Kolsarrani looked like a cross between a human female and a bird of prey. It was completely covered in mottled grey and brown feathers, and human eyes still looked out from a beaked face that was covered in gore. The thing that had once been human landed by the pedestal taking in her two dead companions and the pile of alien bodies they had taken with them. Turning, she laid what was left of her hand on top of the pedestal and her PAM spoke to her.

"Congratulations Ms. Johansen, you have completed The Great Hunt. The planet of species 13B87A will not be targeted for destruction. It will be added to The Great Hunt 's rotation instead. According to the current hunt schedule, species 113B87A will not be scheduled for The Great Hunt for another 130 of your solar years. I regret to inform you that we cannot allow you to warn your species for this will go against the rules of The Great Hunt. Instead, you have full run of this ship for the next 12 of your hours while the autopilot pilots this ship into the closest star. You will be honored in the baptism of fire as is befitting your station as sole survivor of your species. You and your fellow survivors, who made it to the arena, will be honored in the halls of the Honored Prey by the Kolsarrani. On behalf of the Kolsarrani, we welcome species 113B87A to The Great Hunt!"