Last night, when World’s hide was stripped of all but two dogs of every littersworth^, I howled with Pack. Not just for lost Rise-Pack but for the Sets ripped from Soil. I may never value a Set as I would a Rise, but they belong on World not on a strange ball of rock in the sky. I am honoured to stay on World. I couldn’t do greater Service to Rise than what I can now. It is times like this in which greatness is whelped. I have my first notch out of training less than a cycle! I intend to be notched again before the end of the cycle. I have already been assigned to report to 4-Notch Mighty Rise and he is only a tail’s-length from All-Pack Guider^ No-Eyes First Eyes Runt^ Rise, and she has, as is only right, taken responsibility for Unified Pack on World.
We were briefed by 4-Notch Mighty Rise amongst the littersworth of small scouting-packs preparing for departure, with information from the sick, without-Pack creatures that have done this to World. Where I stand, above the valley that leads to the wasteland of the Broad Spit of the Central Continent, I know I observe the “compounds”. Five compounds filled with horrors from other worlds, cached here like too much provision. On other worlds, dogs are in a compound. I am shocked by how unapparent they are, containing as many individuals as we lost or more! I feel I can smell out to the edge of land and, beyond huge, smooth Soil-Sentinels^, big-saltwater. I shudder at the thought of other species on other worlds observing dogs in compounds.
We have free range on World, at least in this disturbing situation, a Soil-dog on World may still go where they choose. Each “migrating” species is enclosed until both those Inside and Outside agree to authorise contact. The “overseers’” idea is that they eventually integrate. I retch at the thought of World trying to scratch off parasites They never encountered. However, All-Pack Guider No-Eyes First Eyes Runt Rise has instructed Guiders on each world not to leave their compounds until communication between Packs opens, in roughly a cycle. Then we can share information about how to defeat these strange creatures. On World, we must find a way to collect these data.
The Broad-spit, used to compound the invaders is not valuable. It is at a tactical disadvantage, in an uninhabited valley and has to no significant prey. To be safe, providers moved provision-animals away from the area over the last season. Set within the Pack-rift, it is neither Rise nor Set. I do not know how much All-Pack Guider No-Eyes First Eyes Runt Rise was able to dictate where compounds went, but they could hardly have been placed better in the whole of Rise. I do not yet know Set, but I can’t imagine them having anything so well-suited to this unusual purpose. This land has never been used by dogs, except maybe occasionally by a stealth-pack.
When World was empty, the Rise after dogs were stolen, this Rise, I set out with another Rise and a Set. My first command, a three-dog scouting-pack to observe anything through the scentless, soundless, invisible barrier. We have a sixteenth-season^, the compounds are a day^ from the outpost we were briefed in, deep in the Pack-rift. All-Pack Guider No-Eyes First Eyes Runt Rise remains at the outpost in preparation for any relevant findings, making it the temporary den of power on World.
This is the first time I will den with a Set in-pack. I know I shouldn’t, but my skin crawls and my tail twitches at the thought of it. The Set, Fierce Set, cannot have been whelped much after me, she is slight but agile and, as are we all, gifted at tracking, having achieved top Service in exploration. If this is a successful mission, then these two will be notched when I receive my next notch. We will rise through notches together and form the centre of our command-pack. I will have to trust this Set. Unless she proves as good as a Rise, I will be monitoring her carefully. That is easier with a Rise in-pack. Swift Rise is a good dog from what she has demonstrated so far. She is observant and quiet, perfect for a scouting-pack.
Observing the valley, I decide we should den here for the night since it has a good vantage point from which to plan a clear approach in the Rise and easily defensible. There is no-dog to defend against anymore it is better to be prepared than dead. The pack start clearing a spot to den, then piling a small curving ridge, open perpendicular to the valley, to keep the worst of the wind from our backs. The wind sprints out of the valley, up over the den-spot and out over World’s hide. The Set hunting-degree is nearly over, I must provide before it gets too dark. I make for the scrubby plain to find a sufficient provision.
This is the first time I have provided alone (part of a notch’s first command mission, showing their commitment to their pack). I never found providing lessons interesting in training; why waste thought trying to outwit an unthinking being? I drop my nose to the ground and smell for fear and other tell-tale signs of provision-animals. I quickly locate and catch some fat scrub-rats. A large one each should be satisfactory. I flick them into my cache-pouch as I make them prey.
It is almost dark as I return to the den-spot. It fulfils our needs. I might make this a fixed den for a sixteenth. We won’t find any better spot and it is less effort to return to an existing den-spot than preparing another tomorrow. I disgorge my cache-pouch and toss them each scrub-rat, the largest for me, the second largest to Swift Rise and the smallest two (though they are substantial enough) to Fierce Set. Neither of them comments but lower their heads in acknowledgement of the provision. We do not communicate while eating, as is appropriate. When it is time to den, I offer to take the first sniff^ while they curl up together and are both rapidly asleep.
Few sounds have been made since Sun sank into Soil to rest safe until They serve again, but this silence is different. It is the kind that causes thought. As I observe the valley, I start to try to discern a track down to the valley floor. This is rewardless of course, the dark is complete and, although I can track the path of a caprine ungulate by nose down the precipice, I know that they can tackle drops that dogs cannot. I, instead, try to get some clues of what we will be approaching. There is the smell of… nothing. Well, there are plenty of smells, the woods, the river far below, the animals that live in fear and lust on these slopes and my scouting-pack sleeping beside me. Under it all, there is a silence, a no-smell, that is not of-World.
All I can hear is the valley and that is only the beginning of the space dedicated to the “migrators”. It seems a large amount of land to give to not-Packs, even if it is useless. I know Pack had no choice, each species gets 25 ranges^ and apparently some even have further ridiculous demands as if stealing World was not enough.
From on the valley floor leading to the spit, widening as the river gets wider, and as far as the big-saltwater, is theirs now. We are going to get it back. All-Pack Guider No-Eyes First Eyes Runt Rise hopes to do that without having to persuade them to lower their walls. If there is some way to get rid of them without having to engage in battle, then Pack will. There are many of them, even separately. It would be a formidable task to defeat 5 enemies. We need to get them gone before they get a chance to talk and form hideous alliances that would make their removal even harder. We have to investigate this barrier and find a way to cross it.
The thought of Not-World insects and monkeys and crows crawling over World makes me feel sick. We must rid World of these freaks and prepare Them for the return of the rest of Pack as soon as we can. It is eerie, last Set I passed through a Risement^ I didn’t know that dogs were whelped in, creched in, trained in and saw the empty den-complexes, creche and provisioning-spots. It is almost as unnerving as trying to eat while smelling Set-stench in “integrated” provisioning-spots. I pace the ridge listening and smelling for anything. There are few animals nearby, they must have felt the wrongness of this place. I can imagine the smell of nothing radiating through the continents, sweeping over the big-saltwater, pushing all the animals of World back and eventually taking over.
As I shake myself from nose to tail, Fierce Set is beside me, belly down but alert. The night has moved while I thought, and it is time for me to rest. I go to Swift Rise and rest my head on her flank, lying in the still warm patch left by Fierce Set, I smell her Set essence on Swift Rise’s back and can’t help but clean her before I settle down to sleep. She doesn’t move, she does not need to wake until the last part of the night and has allowed herself deep-sleep. I deep-sleep.
I am running, and I cannot smell anything.^