Chapter 19 – Success, at Last!

Mk23 -IRJ Droplet – Class 7 – Carpe Victoria (Wrecked)

Sector - Unknown

Planet - Unknown

10rth August 2341 (BSST)

<24 days later>

The bow bucked in my hands with a smooth powerful jerk, flowing effortlessly through its range of motion as a knife cutting through water. The arrow, a straight dry shaft of wood made from something resembling an elm tree. As the twine bowstring straightens in perfect unison, the arrow is kicked forwards bending towards the side the arrow doesn’t rest on, before kicking back and flexing back the other way. Part of the archer paradox, if the nock is in line with the bow and then also the target yet the arrow rests to one side of the bow then how does the arrow fly true?

Arrows have a certain flexibility which allows for an oscillating wave along the arrow as it flexes from side to side. The arrow then bends around the bow and continues towards the target. Modern competition bows have a hole in the bow through which the arrows fire to eliminate this issue.

This goes through my mind as the arrow pushes into the bow to begin its flexing. The leaves used for fletching’s scrape across my metal gloved hands and straighten out as it flies past in a flash.

My eyes seem to focus only on the arrow as the surroundings blur into a seamless background as the arrow flies true.

With a dull thud, the arrow lands, just below the neck above where the left foreleg joins the torso. A kill shot! I watch, totally absorbed in the moment as the pelt ripples from the impact before splitting over the sharp, jagged edges of the arrow head. Crimson red lines well up around the puncture mark and a bead of blood forms into a droplet before slowly rolling down the flank and matting the hair together.

With a mad scramble the deer like creature turns and runs away. The cracking and rustling of the foliage breaking sounds out a cacophony in my ears that rings with startling clarity. Though it moves in a flash it doesn’t get far before it stumbles and falls.

With careful steps I approach, wary of the animal. The dark bands around the green pelt help hide the animal in the longer grasses upon which it was grazing not long ago. Conscious of the danger the antlers pose I wait as the strength drains away along with the life blood of the animal. As it looks at me with a pitying gaze I line up a shot and bury another arrow through its brain. With a soft squelch like a melon smashing, the arrow bursts out the back of its head and settles into the ground disturbing some of the fallen leaves and kicking up some of the dry dust. I breath in, savouring the rich metallic smell and the exhilarating rush of a freshly hunted prey.

As the last essence of its life disappears into the abyss I stare at it, emotionless. Years of battling far more dangerous, and sentient foes has left me jaded and distant to such a task. It’s just a deer after all. Something to feed me for a while, something I have to do, something I don’t spend another thought on.

Once the animal is slumbering alongside mistress death, I clear the area as best I can and move the animal onto its back. The antlers get stuck in the ground as I roll, and it takes me a few moments to settle it properly. Getting out of the suit and setting Enigma and the suit to guard me makes me feel more secure when focusing on the animal.

With the sheer power in the legs the animal is fairly unstable, so it takes a little ingenuity to secure the beast. I take a log and slam the antlers into the log, their razor-sharp edges and sharp points pierce the wooden support with an unnerving ease. Once the deer like creature is stable and not prone to moving around I begin a field dressing. I go about it like I would a deer since I’m assuming the biology’s are very similar, hopefully I don’t cut something that’d ruin the meat.

First, I retrieve my arrows, since they are not broadhead arrows I can pull them out gently without too much trouble a slight twist and rocking motion allows the suction to escape and the arrows come out easier. The metallic tips are stained red and the joint of the shaft with the arrow head has a blackish coagulated bloody coating that smooths over the change in material. The wood has absorbed the blood and been dyed a darker crimson brown colour. A stain that will likely never come out.

As the animal appears to be a male I take the knife and cut to one side of the genitalia before tracing down to where the tail meets the body. Cutting down to the pelvis bone and around, the goal here is to try and separate the colon from the hide. The colon goes through the pelvic canal before growing into the hide on animals like this and I must take care not to puncture the colon and taint the meat. In addition, throughout the whole process I must avoid contamination as much as possible and it’s for this reason that I clear the area as much as possible.

On deer, the stomach sits just above the pelvis bone and so I cut through the meat until I reach the pelvis and then take small incisions of the surrounding muscle until I manage to expose the stomach.

From here I reach into the animal and lift the hide from the body along its belly with two fingers and cut with the knife resting between my fingers and extending into the animal no more than 4cm depth. As I move along the belly the guts bulge and billow out of the cut as they seek to escape the confines of the animal. Covered in a silvery waxy membrane the guts shine with moisture in the gentle morning light going from bulge to bulge of the different organs the membrane stretches taught in places and slack in others. A slight steamy mist escapes into the morning air from the entrails as they emerge from the creature.

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This cut continues all the way up to the sternum. Where, at the joining point of the guts and the cardiovascular system the diaphragm sits, I proceed to cut that as well. Down along one side of the ribs to further open up the torso.

Reaching deep into the animal, up towards the neck I search for the oesophagus. Once I find it, a slightly springy tube that feels slightly slick – though what doesn’t at this point – I grasp firmly and cut through the throat at the only other point of contact with the hide and musculature.

With the guts, and cardiovascular system disconnected from the hide, muscle and skeletal systems I roll them out of the animal by pulling on the throat connection and then the tail connection to rip away the last connective tissue still clinging to the entrails. It’s slippery and slightly nauseating to feel the slick, sticky remnants of the animals life. Gathering them up and removing them I take them far enough away from the carcass to prevent any contamination occurring.

Observing the animal’s guts, I can see the heart has a small nick and the lungs have been punctured by my arrows. The large smooth bluish section is the liver and when I check it over I can see no damage that could have contaminated the animal. That’s always a good sign.

With a field dressing done I search for a pool of water to wash my hands and arms in before heading back. I climb back into the suit and lift up the animal’s carcass by the antlers to shoulder height letting any pooling blood drain away from what’s left over. Quite a bit as it turns out, I had nicked the heart after all. With the animal slung over one shoulder I head back to camp.

As I near camp I head down towards the stream below the camp and also far downwind. Anything to prevent the smell of a fresh kill from lingering by camp.

Once again, I place the deer on its back and get out of the suit.

“Enigma, can you run me through this again, its been a while since I’ve done it?” I ask getting him to help me.

Whilst listening to Enigma and following his advice I get to work. I first take the knife to the joint in the forelegs and cut around in a circle before pulling against the range of motion to snap the bone and remove that section of the foreleg.

Moving around I take my knife and set the tip into the top of the hindlegs where the hoof meets the leg and slice down with the knife facing up in a pushing motion all the way down until the cut meets up with the cut of the field dressing.

After doing both legs I take the knife and split the joint in the bone before breaking it in half. It snaps with an awful popping, wrenching sound that makes me shudder slightly. At the knuckle the Achilles tendon joins the leg and I string up the animal in the trees using this tendon to support the weight of the animal.

With my knife I slice around the musculature of the leg leaving the silvery membrane intact and, on the meat, where possible. Pulling the hide down sing the section of the hindlegs I’ve broken off as handles, I slowly remove the hide from the animal’s legs in this manner.

I continue cutting around the hind legs and hips until the hide is as detached as I can make it before pulling the hide down to the rump. Before proceeding with the rump, I chop off the tail hairs and knot them together before slinging it over a branch for safekeeping. Strong hairs will always be useful. Cutting through the tail bone takes a little while but I get by.

The tail bone and anus are cut out with short sharp jerking motions of the knife and I’m careful to get everything out.

Using my clenched fist, I place the joints of the proximal and middle phalanges next to the animal where the hide meets the muscle before rolling my fist into the animal and forcing the hide down. With a combination of this and the knife I make steady work of the animal until I have to raise the animal to stop the hide dragging on the floor.

The hide pulls cleanly over the snapped forelegs and down to the neck. After exposing most of the neck the hide is cut from where the field dressing stopped, at the sternum up to the neck and around to the front curve of the lower jaw.

Continuing to pull here will likely rip the membrane and so I use my knife far more than for the body.

At the joint to the skull I cut the head off and then cut the hide away as well before discarding the skull with the forelegs. Cutting the snapped off hindlegs from the hide, they join the pile as well.

With that, the animal is skinned, and the hide preserved. Whilst still hanging from the tree I proceed to butcher the animal. Removing the straps of muscle on the inside of the spine towards the rear of the animal. The shoulders are held on purely by muscle and so I just slice through to separate them.

With the first load of meat – the shoulders and straps from inside I head up to camp.

Offset from the pool of water tucked back behind my hut I have a small tower of wood and clay. It is about 2 metres high and half a metre wide. A small semi rectangular building of clay.

Hammered into the clay walls are a series of metal hooks made from the tent pegs I had found alongside the tents a while back. I hang up the two strips on one hook and the shoulders get one of their own.

Next is the flanks, back straps and rib meat. That similarly gets hung on one peg. Below the hooks is a fine grate that I lay the small sections of meat onto so that they aren’t touching the ground.

Lastly are the hindquarters. A bit of pressure and some fiddly knifework and they pop right off as well. I go hang them up before taking the carcass and moving it a good mile off into the forest away from camp to further protect camp from scavengers.

Back at camp I take the scraps and straps and strip any fat or membrane that’s still left off it and chuck it into the stream to be carried away by the gently flowing water.

They go back onto the hooks when I’m done. Moving on I begin breaking the hindquarters up into the shank and the rounds, it lets me remove the femur and any other undesirables that might taint the meat before hanging up the cuts again.

Once all the meat is broken down and the remnants disposed of I build a fire in the bottom of the hut with charcoal, though I am in fact running out of charcoal, I’ll have to make some more soon. Once the fire is going I pile on the greenwood I cut this morning and close up the front of the smokery. Letting the meat smoke for a couple of days before salting it will help preserve the meat properly.

Some of the scraps I remove and spear on a sharpened branch before roasting on the main fire for dinner.

The hide goes on my bed as another layer on the wooden sticks. Hopefully its more comfortable. The suit stays outside to recharge when morning comes.