The Hunt - Megan Shepherd Page 0,9

messes? He looked at his nails, his breathing coming quick and unsteady, wondering how long before he was as scraggly as the rest of the kids.

The bobcat blinked.

“You said the Kindred hunt with rifles?” Lucky asked.

Pika’s mumbling ended. She chewed harder on her braid, darting looks toward the red door that led to the lodge. “Don’t get any ideas. The rifles don’t work for us, only for the Kindred. If you tried to pull the trigger, nothing would happen. Trust me, we’ve all tried.” She giggled again, more nervously. “The Kindred aren’t stupid.”

He watched the bobcat slowly close its eyes. He sank down next to it, wanting to hide his face from Pika, his breath coming faster, the panic he was trying to swallow back. There was no going home—that’s what he’d learned from their botched escape. Not for him. Not for Pika. Not for these animals either.

He gently stroked the bobcat’s mangy fur.

He wished he could do more. He wished he could do anything. Because if the Kindred hunted animals just for sport, what did they do to humans?

The backstage door opened, and two Kindred carried in sealed crates. Pika jumped up, tugging on Lucky’s jacket. “Fresh supplies!” she said, their talk of rifles already forgotten. “Oh boy! Sometimes they put in salt licks for the animals, but we get first dibs. They’re so good. Like potato chips. Only without the chips. So basically just salt, I guess.” She trailed off, mumbling to herself excitedly as she dragged him toward the feed room.

The Kindred set down the crates. “Is it only the two of you back here?” one asked.

“Yep!” Pika said, tearing open the crate.

“Do not leave this feed room until you have finished unpacking all the supplies.” The Kindred exchanged a look, then closed the door firmly behind them.

4

Cora

THE GAUNTLET.

Cora raised an eyebrow at the word Cassian had just spoken. “Why does that sound suspiciously like something that’s going to get me killed?”

Cassian motioned for her to follow him into the alcove, where they could speak privately. Through the wooden screen she could still hear the music and feel the breeze, but they were alone.

“The Gauntlet,” he said, “is a series of tests used to rate species on four categories of intelligence. It is run by the Stock Algorithm, which serves as an impartial third party. Because it is a computer program, it cannot be influenced by any outside factors.”

“And what does it have to do with me?”

The expression on his face softened. “Everything. It is humanity’s chance to prove its value, and thus gain freedom.” He paused. “However, it is true that the Gauntlet’s puzzles are challenging, even dangerous. If the test were easy, it would serve no purpose. It was originally established a million and a half rotations ago, when there were only two intelligent species: the Gatherers and the Axion. The Gatherers had taken my people under their guidance long before, and taught us to improve our minds and bodies over generations, until we had mastered the essential abilities. They wanted to admit us into intelligent society, but the Axion questioned our qualifications. They are an ancient species, but secretive and suspicious. And so the Gauntlet was created to prove our worth. That is how the Kindred became the third intelligent species.”

“I’m guessing that means the Mosca were the fourth. Did they beat the Gauntlet too?”

Cassian recoiled slightly at mention of the Mosca, like he had smelled something rotten. “Eventually, yes. For all their faults, the Mosca have incredible perceptive abilities. But they struggled with the morality puzzles. It took them nine tries until one of them could manage to curb his innate inclination to steal long enough to pass the test. Other species have not been as successful. The Conmarines. The Scoates. A half dozen others, in sectors very far from here. Even a chimpanzee tried to run it once—the Axion had experimented on it to give it higher intelligence. But they all failed the perceptive puzzles.”

He removed a device from his pocket and twisted the end. “This is how it works.” Lines of light spilled out from the device, stacking on top of each other with startling speed on the table surface to form intricate shapes. “The Gauntlet is a governance module. It is its own ship, just as our markets and research centers and private chambers are independent, interlocking ships. It travels from station to station, planet to planet, to ensure that all the lesser species through the known galaxies have a