22 October 2017
As outlined in part one of this synopsis last month, the Florida Vikings had taken McLane ( Hawke) prisoner and have returned with him( by the captured airship) to their settlement in the New world where they are beset by genetically bred Dire Wolves. Duncan Lunan, the original writer, takes up the story:
“It’s winter time, however, and the wolves have the upper hand. The Vikings have had to retreat to their fortified farmhouses and travel between them is no longer possible. People are running out of food, medical supplies etc; but still McLane is unable to persuade them to let him communicate with the Space Force. Finally the airship is ambushed by Dire Wolves at an outlying farm where they’ve managed to overrun the stockade and hide in the outbuildings. At last McLane ( Hawke) persuades the suvivors to let him call for help, and they create a diversion to let him get to the transmitter in the wreckage of the gondola.
In the meantime Fortuna has been heading for Earth, bringing a set of Dik-Diks which she intends to use in the search for McLane ( Hawke). She arrives in time to take part in the dramatic rescue of the task force and turn her powers to the question of whether any accommodation can be reached with the Dire Wolves – but the answer is no, their hostility is implacable. Even Fortuna’s powers stop short of changing the mind-set of an entire species. Whether or not the Vikings evacuate to Cornwall, this isn’t a long-term solution because the Wolves will simply find other targets, and will be able to threaten higher-technology groups like the Base-builder settlement as their numbers grow. Nor does the Space Force have the resources to seach the whole of North America to make sure all the Wolves are found and killed – especially when they’re in winter coats and very hard to spot.
The answer is to programme the Dik-Diks to protect settlements – all settlements – against the Wolves. The same sensors they used to home in on heat sources on Mars will be adequate to find such large creatures in the snow, but without reacting to human beings, with the approriate programmng. The Base-builder settlement has high enough technology to turn over part of its facility to build Dik-Diks. Even if the Vikings don’t want a high-technology ‘fix’, there has to be one for the sake of other communities, so they may as well accept it. If they do establish a settlement in Cornwall, maybe they’ll start talking to the Bordeaux Vikings eventually…”
It is interesting to note that there has been a resurgence of interest in the Dire wolf, due to their recent appearance in the hugely popular “Game of thrones” TV series, but Duncan got there first in the eighties! Skipper Prossitt