In The Beginning by Gail Daley (top 100 books of all time checklist .TXT) 📕

She looked at him a little sheepishly and said, "I’m sorry, I guess I was just so angry—"

"I think we made a mistake in the Handfasting Ceremony," he remarked.

"What?" she cried.

"Yes," he continued. "We should have done the Forever and a Day one, not the Year and A Day. It’s obvious you need a keeper and I’m elected."

Katherine gave a gasp of relief. "Damn you Zack, what did you scare me like that for?"

He smiled sweetly at her. "Payback’s a bitch, isn’t it?"

Katherine threw her pillow at him.

Historical Notes On Vensoog

V

ENSOOG FOUNDERS considered themselves fortunate because their new planet was a semi-tropical paradise. Two ice-covered regions were found at each of the magnetic poles and five large continents were spread between the northern and southern hemispheres. Islands along the equator were strung between the large continents and provided an ideal base for starting a new colony. It was on these islands that the Clans first settled.

Like all planets though, Vensoog wasn't quite perfect. Every year the planet was subject to swarms of insects that pollinated the entire planet. The double moons in a close orbit created heavy tide surges during the hurricane strength gales that followed the invading bugs. The tempests killed off the hordes of insects, leaving dead bodies to decay and fertilize the land masses. Fortunately the fierce storm season was short, and the planet soon returned to its normal temperate weather patterns.

Vensoog had been blessed with abundant mammalian and avian life, and varieties of edible fish lived in the sea. Very few species of reptiles were discovered, although some of the larger mammals found resembled the legendary dragons and dinosaurs of Old Earth. Among them were several species of enormous herbivores the settlers dubbed Nessies or Water Dragons, and Sandies or Sand Dragons because of their resemblance to the fabled mythical beasts of old earth.

The oceans too had their unique species. Whale sized omnivores who fed on fish and kelp and resembled the fabled water horses of legend (“Ech-Ushkya” or as the “each-uisce” in Ireland) sometimes came close enough to the outer islands to trouble deep sea fishing boats.

The colonists found a fist-sized, empathic, chameleon-like vermin predator they named Quirkas. Because the Quirkas were small, cute, and bonded easily with humans, they were quickly adopted as pets proving adept at hunting vermin and insects that infested dwellings and animal enclosures. Quirkas adopted humans because humans provided a satisfying emotional bond and a readily available source of food.

Unique to Vensoog were mammalian flyers the settlers nicknamed Dactyls because they brought to mind the Old Earth Legends of the Pterodactyls. Dactyls were found in three sizes: large enough to prey on the Nessies feeding along the channel. Seldom seen, although images appeared on the first-in scout vids was a petite variety of dactyl about the size of a spaniel. These were rare on the islands, usually they were only seen in the mountain areas on the continents. Flocks of a variety diminutive enough to fit in a human hand when fully grown were the sort most commonly found in human areas. Like Quirka, the very small dactyls were popular as pets, but they were shy and hard to catch. In the wild they competed for food with the avian population along the shores where most of the settlers had located.

Vensoog's temperate climate was hospitable to both man and the cattle, horses, goats and sheep the settlers brought with them to suit their agrarian lifestyle.

A spaceport was developed on an island central to a large chain of islands not too far from the northern continent of Kitingzen. Unfortunately, the settlers had copied other spaceport designs without taking into consideration Vensoog’s fierce hurricanes. The high winds generated during the first of these gales toppled the Orbital control tower. The settlers were forced to rebuild, adopting a dome architecture style for the buildings; the new spaceport was renamed Port Recovery and became the capital city of the planet.

The Clans first settled on the eight Islands closest to the spaceport for convenient access to supplies brought in from the Confederated worlds and Free Traders. Each of the Clans was given possession of an Island to use as their main Clan embassy and the entire Clan lived there for the first five years, gradually moving to the Outer Islands which were intended as their Clan territories.

When a large deposit of Azorite was discovered on Kitingzen, they immediately began developing a joint Clan project to mine the crystals for sale to their space traveling visitors. Azorite crystals, used to power spaceship engines, were a valuable resource for the Clans. Income from this venture provided the new colony with funds to enable each Clan to move to the outer islands much sooner than projected. The profits from the mine also made possible many of the non-mechanical solutions to the difficulties facing the Clans.

Much of Vensoog's other continents remained unexplored except for a few adventurers whose journeys were sponsored by the joint Clans. The outbreak of the Karamine War cut these expeditions short.

The Confederation of Planets, of which Vensoog colony was a part, was a loose Amalgamation of human and humanoid worlds tied together by treaties which secured trade routes and provided for mutual protection. All member worlds contributed to the interplanetary organization IPP (Interplanetary Planet Patrol) charged with enforcing mutually agreed on laws and treaties.

The society created by the Vensoog colonists, like a number of other Confederation colonies came out of one of the social experiments designed on Old Earth after the last planetary war. Space colonization had become cheap because of the discovery of an efficient faster than light drive. Many Settlers colonized a planet to carry on their sociological theories undisturbed by conflicting viewpoints. All it took was enough money to register a claim to a planet with the Confederated Worlds and to buy ships and supplies to launch out into space with like-minded colonists.

Vensoog had been