Da'gat: Every Ending Has a Beginning

Da'Gat is really two stories in one blended together. It starts with three Bio engineering students making an unbelievable discovery while doing research for a Military sponsored project. They found it! Now the Government wants it.D/N/A manipulation and the combining of different animals species, bonded at a cellular level has given a very dangerous knowledge a very few. The secret of eternal life and youth, but this secret also has a dark side. If released it will make Pandora's Box look like a box of sugar cookies.But when the Military steps in and want the unexpected results for themselves it sets in motion a series of events that leads the world to disaster. When you open the bloody box how do you get the thing closed again?Greed, the lust for eternal youth and power, has done the unthinkable and unleashed the grim reaper and Armageddon fallen on the world.Though it is still Earth the world has changed from ours of today. Mind powers are no longer just laughed about in polite company, they are oh so very real and some of those who have them are to be feared.Along with a host completely new an different species from the distant D.N/A alterations from the past has changed the people and the creatures that now roam this world. Some very few were changed to the benefit of all mankind but those are few and far between. Most were made at the request of an eternally young woman that was driven mad by her hatred of any thing male, especially human males.

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Da'GatBy John RooneyAuthorHouseCopyright © 2011 John RooneyAll right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4567-2802-1 Chapter OneMiracle in the ValleyAs the first scarlet rays of sunlight struck the uppermost branches of a pine tree, which had been old when the world was young, the smaller tips on the very upper branches shimmered red and appeared ready to burst into flame with the sun's first gentle kiss. A young man stands there, beneath the huge old limbs. The chill autumn air of this frosty morning is causing a light shroud of steam to slowly encircle him. Sweat glistening faintly on his body like thousands of tiny diamonds fastened to his skin reflecting the fire light, his chest heaving from his exertion as he finishes his newest prayer song and its accompanying dance, he watches as the valley below him slowly unfolds its daylight face as the darkened mantle of night grudgingly releases its chill embrace. As its golden light slowly slides down the hillside to warm the chill earth, it fills him with wonder as the valley begins to fill rapidly with the white breath of the world. The fog rolls in and around the silent rocky sentinels who have guarded this place and paid homage to the ancient tree's valley. The sight of this misty blanket, being gently pulled into place, makes the valley seem alive, a place of "Magic" where all things are possible. Michel Hawksfeather smiles as he raises his arms again to the heavens. However, this time it is not in an asking prayer to the Allfather, but in a welcoming to the new day; a thank you to the Sun, as it once again lights the eastern sky. Michel sang out his welcoming song and thanked the Allfather for telling it to rise once more, and to the sun telling it of his intense joy in seeing it come once again. As his song ends, he drops back down on his knees, once more calling upon the Allfather asking him to hear his words! "Allfather! If we have angered you, I offer myself to you to appease your anger. If some other clan has angered you, show me who they are so that we may deliver your justice. Let us be your hand of vengeance. Though I am of little worth, I offer this." As if in answer to his final words, the sun's fiery breath broke over the top of the highest peak on Heaven's Ridge, a single shaft of light arrowed down, to anoint his naked body with its golden embrace. A shout of pure joy sprang from his heart and leapt to his lips. As he gave voice to his excitement, he danced in wild abandon, letting the whole world know of the joy he felt, his shouts echoing across the valley from peak to peak. At the first touch of the golden light, warmth had spread through him touching his very soul. He felt new hope surge through his body as he danced to show the Allfather of his joy as he held up his hunting weapons high above his head so that the Allfather could see them better as his dance continued. He held his grandfather's great bow: the best and oldest bow in the whole clan. This bow could still shoot an arrow farther and faster than any other bow that Michel knew of. Besides being the only one of its kind in Wind River, the bow had survived from the time of the old ones. No one in the nine clans could ever remember another bow like it (Except maybe for Ah'ma.) and try as they might, no one had been able to make another like it. The wood they used always failed and broke. The legends say that a bear made it, and that this Bear was named "Fred." This was known to be true! Because on the bow's riser near the handgrip, there could still be seen the brass picture of the bear, though badly worn, it was still there for all to see. Who knows why anyone would name a bear Fred? It was a strange name for a bear. For that matter, how a bear could make a bow in the first place was beyond him. Who could say why the old ones had done anything. They had had very strange ways! Still this "Fred Bear" had made a very good bow. "Allfather!" Michel cried out towards the heavens as he dropped to his knees "If I have pleased you, and you deem me worthy then bless these weapons." He carefully laid the weapon and his quiver of arrows on the prayer mound; Michel lifted his face towards the heavens again and started humming. However, his voice faded into silence as the new day dawned. Its light filled the valley. His eyes grew misty with wonder at the beauty that was contained here in this valley. "Allfather" Michel whispered in awe, "Thank you for my eyes! So that I may see the beauty that you have created!" The morning breeze shifted directions suddenly as a gentle rustling sound rose up the ridge from the valley below. It gently whispered its own good morning, to the dawn of this new day. The sound, filtering through the dew-wet leaves that lined the hillside, created its own special music that no man could ever hope to duplicate. A pair of small birds sat on a low branch in front of him and sang a morning welcome to the sun with their own special song. This brought a twinge of guilt to Michel and he felt ashamed that these little birds were singing the morning in better than he had. The birds were right to tease him though, for the way that he had just rushed through his morning song so that he could get back to his prayers. Hopefully the morning had not been too offended by the way that he had rushed through his welcoming of it to this new day! He promised himself and the morning to come that he would give it a proper welcome tomorrow - plus a little extra. Michel's head snapped up and his heart skipped a beat as the morning calm was suddenly and violently shattered by a pair of squirrels who had been playing on the lower branches of the Allfather's tree! Michel smiled to himself, not sure who had startled who more. They're suddenly noticing that he was here and scolding him for sneaking up and scaring them so badly by his sudden appearance or him, for letting his mind wander like that, when he had an obligation to fulfill for his people. Michel raised his face and his voice toward the heavens once again. "Bless me with your courage, Allfather, so that I will not despair! Bless me with the wisdom to know where to look, so that I may find food for my people! Please Allfather! Grant me a sign that I may know that you have heard my words." For two days and nights, Michel had stayed here on the prayer mound. The only things that had past his lips were the words of prayer and praise, the songs of love and of life, and the shaman's bitter prayer water. Though, try as he might this morning, Michel's thoughts would not stay still. They kept drifting off to the past. The new shaman, "Sweet William", or "Bill" had given him the prayer water so that he would be better prepared if the Allfather were to bless him with his presence. (Of course, when you are given something of great value, it is only good manners to give something of equal value in return!) In this case, he had given the last of his family's beef-a-lo meat in return for the gift of the prayer water! The prayer water, "guaranteed" to cleanse his body and to make him ready to receive the Allfather's spirit if he was to be so blessed. Cleanse! Ya, it had cleansed him all right!" He had stayed right next to the privy the whole day before he had started his prayers. "Ol Billy Boy," Michel thought to himself, "you had best hope that something really remarkable happens or we might just have need of another new Shaman!" Because Michel was one hundred and ten percent sure that "His best buddy Ol Billy!" had spiced up this batch of prayer water just a little. That he had put just a pinch more of this or an extra pinch more of that and maybe even a little something in there that wasn't actually needed to get the job done. Bill was known to be something of a prankster from his earliest childhood days until now! Even though his father had punished him repeatedly for teasing others, he still did it. It was as if he just couldn't help himself. Michel did think that some of Slow Otter's stories about Billy were somewhat funny. For instance, Slow Otter, Bill's father, had told him about one of Bill's pranks. The funny part wasn't about the prank itself, which Billy had played on the blind Elk cow that his family had kept as a pack animal! Bill's father had caught him feeding her a small carrot that he had tied to a string. The carrot, being way too small to be chewed, was just swallowed. And of course Bill, being the kind of person that he is, was having great fun at the cow's expense. Every time that she would swallow it, he would pull the sting and the carrot would come back up. The poor animal would get the most disconcerted look on her face and she would roll her blind eyes around wildly and stamp her front feet at him. Of course that would send Billy into another fit of laughter. Bill's father had followed the sound of his son's laughter, knowing in his heart that anything his son Bill thought was that funny probably wasn't funny at all, to the person or whatever the object of his mirth was aimed at. Slow Otter had been so upset by the whole thing, that he had come to the chief's council dragging his so, by his ear across the entire village for an answer to his problem. Mainly the question was what to do with his son; to find a punishment that would fit the crime. After a few hours of debate, the council of elders had decided that sweet William should apologize to the Elk cow. "In front of the whole tribe" and, as part of the apologies since the cow wouldn't understand his words, he was to bathe and groom her to the satisfaction of everyone assembled. In addition, since he had teased her with food, he would have to give her food; her favorite food which was sweet grain. Slow Otter said that William had thought that it was funny and that it served him right. That his father would have to pay for the way that he had humiliated him like this. Now he would have to pay for bringing him here. "That is", Slow Otter said, a grin coming to his lips as he remembered back. "That is, until Michel's father had told William no. His father was not to pay anything for the crimes his son had committed. That in fact the money to pay for the grain would come from the sale of Williams personal things and that as soon as all of the villagers could be assembled and all of Williams's things had been brought out, an auction would be held. All of the sale's proceeds would be given to the miller, and he would make as much sweet grain as he thought it would buy." Slow Otter had smiled broadly as he related the story of how his son's mouth had dropped open with shock at the news. William's apology to the Elk cow had taken the better part of two weeks. It seemed that almost all of the people around had been on the receiving end of one of Billy's "jokes" and had something to say about the way that the Elk looked. The miller was instructed to use the best he had and since the best cost more, it took every bit of Bill's money. The cow had received the sweet grain three times a day for the better part of a month. Michel's head jerked up and back so quickly that he almost fell over; he shook himself trying desperately to clear his mind so that he could settle down for another day of prayer. He was tired, so very tired and his mind kept wandering, refusing to stay focused. He couldn't afford to let sleep come over him though. If the Allfather did grant him a sign and he was asleep, he would miss it, and there wouldn't be another one. A feeling of unease stirred at the back of his mind. As the hair on the back of Michel's neck suddenly stood straight up on end, a cold shiver ran up his spine. He tensed slightly, knowing that something was wrong; someone or something was trying to sneak up on him. All of his thoughts of sleep evaporated like the thinning mist in the valley below him. A soft, muffled thump on the ground behind him made him tense. It had made very little noise and was more felt than heard, but it had alerted him. Michel tensed a little more, waiting for just the right moment when suddenly and without warning he whirled to the right, his hunting knife appearing as if it had grown out of his hand! Then he rolled to his left, in an unexpected feint, coming smoothly to his feet in the easy practiced movement of an experienced knife fighter even though his legs were stiff from kneeling. A huge sigh of relief hissed passed his teeth and escaped through his lips. "Wapato! Just what the ...! Damn it!. You did that on purpose!" The only sign that she was satisfied with the effect that she had just created was the slight flick of her long silky tail and the unashamed way she sauntered up to him and rubbed her side against his leg. She sat down next to him on the prayer altar and started washing away some nonexistent dirt from the back of one paw. Wapato was a "DA'GAT", one of the creations from the time of the old ones; whose beginnings came before the time of Death! The plague of 2042 had run rampant for ten years over the entire planet and in the end caused the death of almost everyone in the world! Except for those very few animals that had already been genetically altered in some way who were spared this horrible cleansing of the world. However, there were a few people and animals that were just so isolated or lucky enough to be at sea where the chance of contacting a carrier was slim to none. It seems that there had been a rash of what was called DNA experimentation and something else called gene splicing in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. The old ones had misused this gift from the Allfather to create a completely new world of plants and animals. They had been able to somehow combine the DNA of two or more completely different creatures, or to add or subtract different qualities in the plant's or animal's to make them do whatever they wanted. Who could know the ways or whys of the Allfather? After all, he let most of the things that were die, and had kept alive those things that the old ones had made. It was baffling to Michel; he doubted that he would ever truly understand, but that was the beginning of his world. According to history, the Da'Gat was created from such a bonding of creatures: half dog and half cat, created by using the DNA of a Russian wolf hound and bonding it with the DNA of the North American Cougar. Michel had seen pictures of the two different animals before the merging and the Da'Gat looked more like the cougar than the wolfhound, though much larger than either of its parent creatures, though the resemblance was closer to that of the cougar. But if he hadn't known they had a common ancestry, he would have never guessed it. Then there was the all-important "Beef-a-lo" which was a lot easier to understand the reason they were created, since they were so closely related to one another. Half North American Bison and half Black Angus Bovine. The Bison had almost died out in the late 20th century and that was the only way they had of keeping the animals alive as a species. The resulting animal was much more adapted to the land and the hard to digest scrub grass of the Midwest, and, as far as Michel was concerned, the meat tasted much better than either one of the two, though to find a pure blood of either one of the other two now was a hard hunt. The list of the alterations goes on and on, with a few of the nastier ones taking the top of the list. However, there were some of the old ones' plants that were really a good thing. Those plants were designed to grow and make food with little or no water, or those that the bugs didn't like because of the smell or the taste and those that would grow very fast with little attention! However, most of them were just strange and terrible creatures that had been designed for one specific purpose in life. Though they did what they were designed to do very well. That was killing. The old ones had seemed to really enjoy war. At least those that didn't have to fight in them themselves had seemed to enjoy it. Those who just sat back in their comfortable overstuffed leather chairs telling someone else to go out to fight and die. Though Michel wondered how eager they would have been to go to war if they had to live with the laws of his world, where the first to fight and die was the chief of those who they ruled over. Sometimes their wars (the old ones) seemed to have had no more justification than as an excuse to do another live test on one of their new "Super weapons." Just to see how much damage, it could do. How many people one of their new bombs could "Kill", then study it, to learn how to make it destroy even better and they made their new animal weapons the same way. (Continues...) Excerpted from Da'Gatby John Rooney Copyright © 2011 by John Rooney. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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