Rain is the fourth planet in the odious circuit; it is the only earth like planet orbiting an adult sun in the 14-planet solar system. Its distance of about five hundred light years from earth made it unattractive for all but the poorest nations who could not afford to pay the enormous amount for resettlement in choicer planets that are the preserve of richer nations of earth.
The United Nations, wanting to lay claim to the odious circuit before the anthropoid Wads, had undertaken to cover the cost of transport and supplies for any nation willing to send people there. That and other less important reasons was why Rain became the only planet with an entirely African population and that was how my great grand father, Ii, came to Rain, aboard an IMF charity linear.
Apart from her distance from her human inhabitant’s home planet, Rain, as its name indicates is a planet with peculiar weather conditionality, due to some yet unknown natural phenomena; it rains almost all through the length of its ten-month year, with irregular breaks occurring in the second and third months.
With wet weather and water logged terrain. Rain was of little interest to the rich nations of earth who have hundreds of more appealing planets to choose from-I hear that in New Eden the weather is so clement that wearing of clothes is now seen as a ceremonial practice that most people chose to do without- so they stayed away from Rain which was allowed to grow at her own pace, her human inhabitants only occasionally sending the odd representative to their home continent.
It seems I have run a bit away from you, but story telling is not my strong point, though I will try to tell as much as I am able before we all perish, for that is what the rich nations intend for the people of Rain. However, before I tell you how that come about I will talk a bit about the native plants and animals indigenous to Rain, which, I assure you, are an integral part of this tale.
Since Rain is a wet planet all its indigenous animals are herbivorous amphibians who unlike those of earth give birth to live young and are truly mammals in the real sense of speaking. Some of them are sentient to the extent of communicating among themselves, but the Manuts are an exception to this rule, they are, to say the least, as sentient as man. These Manuts, as gentle as earths dolphins though more intelligent, it was that changed the story of Rain and her inhabitants, for worse or better? I think it is time that will tell.
Again, I rush, but you must understand that I am in a great haste and have only a little time, so bear with me. I was talking about the Manuts, how they changed the history of Rain and the human universe, as we know it. Yes, it all began behind my house in the high plains of new Kano. As you would have guessed, Rain is a planet of swamp forests with few high lands reserved entirely for cultivation of the earth type crops that cannot survive the swamps. Since space is so limited and we chose not to compete with our farms for space, we live as best as we can atop the massive conode trees that grow for thousands of years and are hundreds of feet across with massive trunks on which we build our houses, or in new Benin where the Conodes are not available, in large stilt houses. A well thought out balance with nature. Peculiar you may say, but it works for us. Even our great port city of
It was the third year of the landing in Rain when my great grandfather discovered the trapped Manut in the back of his makeshift lodge. It had apparently been trapped there for days and since it’s vocal cords are too small, as was soon discovered, it could only make small piping noises which was lost to the noise of the constant downpour, it would have remained there until certain death had he not chanced on it. He promptly cut off the large trunk that was pinning it down and set it free. It had lain there for a long while staring with its solemn eyes at him, then after a long while it turned and lumbered off , three legs pumping in rhythmic unison, soon to be lost behind the curtain of rain drops, but not before turning to regard my grandfather with red pupil eye .
My grandfather forgot all about the incidence until two days later when he awoke to a loud racket outside the shelter, grabbing his ray gun and raincoat he had rushed out to investigate, to the distress of his wife who would rather he stay indoors and call the order officials on the telmi. Outside, he was shocked to his marrow by a scene that he retold a thousand times and which became a part of our oral history. All around the house, as far back as the eye could see through pouring rain, Manuts were assembled, males behind large females with imposing mammary glands prominent between their three legged torso. Had he been a less sensitive man he would have thought that they meant him harm, biological assessment or not. However, the mild air of peace around them checked him. As he watched, the lead female nodded her deer like head towards a large heap of fruits and herbs by her side and the males carried them to his side, moving slowly on their three legs, that done they turned and left, all of them walking slowly toward the sea like a large army doing slow time.
The import of that visit did not hit my grandfather until later when he went to report to the authorities. It appeared as though the Manuts had come to thank him for saving one of their own, a collective reasoning the hasty UN research team did not discover in their rushed pre-settlement analysis of Rain. This incident was not the last but the beginning of an enduring relationship between the Manuts and the settlers for they seem to record a good turn in their biological memory, and pays back same over and over. Unfortunately, they seem to forgive wrongs all too quickly. They soon learnt to speak galatic and some of us learnt to flute simple words of their complex language.
All was rosy between Manut and man until last year when an enterprising scientist on earth, discovered a cure for H251, a disease that has been running rampage on earth and other planets killing thousands within days of first outbreak. A good thing you may say, but to us a bag thing, for we have been spared the rampaging killer, as we get few visitors and our ambassadors are sworn to stay away until they are certified clean of the virus, an unnecessary precaution for most would rather die than bring sickness and death to Rain. Another more important reason is the one that turns our collective stomachs; the vaccine is a cultured Manut brain.
Now the UN is coming to claim their debt from our society, we are to give up the Manuts to certain slaughter for their large brains as a token of our appreciation for escape from the crowding of
We too have met, a decision taken, we have communicated our intensions to the docile Manuts who seem to take their fate solemnly since violence is alien to their culture. Anyway, we are going to resist the enforcement, we lack a functional army because we have never had any need for it, but we are far from helpless.
I sit in my room, a pair of my Manut friends watching with bemused interest as I sharpen my jungle knife in readiness for the coming battle whose advent bemuses them too. I know death will surely be the result of our folly, but like my grandfather would say ‘he who has been bitten by a snake knows it’s pain better than he who was told of the pain’. I await death.
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