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This is a fic I wrote for a Pern-based fan club called Telgar Weyr. This particular story takes place immediately after a volcanic eruption in Telgar Territory and is told from the search dog's perspective.
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That Word!
Sniffer, a Manhunter and Her Handler, Miken
by ResQdog51.
(Dedicated to the Search Dogs who helped recover subjects after Mt. St. Helen’s, Oklahoma City, Armenia, the Guam crash, Mexico City and all other disasters, natural and man-made. The Search Dog motto: " We bark, that others may live.")
(the day after the eruption)
"Miken! Iknk doi aondlkd Search aientois!" My ears perked as I heard my partner’s name and That Word, in our pack leader’s voice. With an eager whimper, I started to stand up, to show I was ready, but then remembered that my partner had said Down and Stay. He would be disappointed in me if I forgot. I was an experienced bitch, after all! I settled for a long, protesting whine as my partner stepped off with the rest of the two-leg members of our pack. He grinned at me over his shoulder as he walked, telling me to Stay in a firm voice, as if I needed the reminder! I grunted in disgust, just to let him know how I felt about that command, but remained where I was.
Tracker, the biggest male four-legger in our pack, gave me a sympathetic look, then snorted, sneezing at the sharp smells that permeated the air. He sneezed again, clearing his nose, then lifted it to sample the breeze. Something odd was happening today. Finder, the black-and-tan male, grunted, then rolled onto his side and quickly fell asleep. He may have been one of the best Manhunters in our pack, but he was lazy too.
I shook my head, long red ears flapping, then rested my chin on a forepaw as I waited. Get’em, the blue-speckled bitch and the last four-legger in our pack, stretched her nose out to me, inquisitively. Did I know what was going on?
I grumbled at her, showing a little tooth. Did I look like I knew what was going on? Where were our partners? Obviously we were here to work... why else would Leader have said That Word?
Finally, finally! Our partners were coming back! We all sat up, ears pricked, as the sound of our partners’ voices came to us. We were going to work! I wiggled and even lazy Finder squirmed a little in anticipation.
My partner came to me and picked up my leash. I scrambled to my feet and sat at his side, looking up into his face eagerly. He smiled down at me, showing teeth (Why do two-leggers do that? Show teeth when they are happy?) and said to me, Sniffer, Heel! As I took my place by him, all but dancing in excitement, I could hear the other two-leggers in our pack saying the same thing. Heel!
My partner led me to a great winged one. The winged one turned to look at me and I wagged my tail. I’m friendly! The winged one turned away. Quickly, my partner dropped my leash, climbed up its side to sit on its back, then turned to me and called Come! Hup!
I took a running start and leapt up the winged one’s side and into my partner’s arms. He held me tightly as the winged one began to move. With a leap that made me yelp in surprise, we were flying! Then it was dark and cold... I would have struggled, but I knew my partner was holding me, even if I couldn’t feel him. He always took care of me. He wouldn’t let me get hurt.
Bright light! Wind! We were someplace new. The strange sharp smell was much stronger here, as the winged one touched down on the ground. My partner let me go and told me Down!, pointing to where he wanted me to go. I carefully slid/walked down the winged one’s side to the ground and waited impatiently for my partner to join me. The winged one turned its head to look at me again and I leaned over to lick it. Thank you!
"Sniffer! Indo oina doang?" My partner sounded amused. I grinned at him, and wagged my tail. He picked up my leash and we hurried to where Leader and Tracker were already waiting. Finder and Get’em and their partners joined us quickly. Leader pointed and we all started walking. Soon we came to a place that smelled very bad. The strange sharp smell was very, very strong and we all sneezed often to clear our noses, so we could scent well.
Leader pointed and made noises and Finder and Get’em moved away with their partners. They were to work in a different area.
My partner took my head and pointed it in the direction he wanted me to go. "Sniffer. Ready? Ready?" I barked, excited. I was ready! I was ready! Let me at ‘em!! "Sniffer, SEARCH!" He said it! He said That Word! With a gleeful bark and an excited wiggle, I leapt out of his arms and raced straight ahead, nose working.
I swung right and left, following the air currents, searching for the smell of two-leggers. The strange sharp smell made it difficult and the weird, soft dust and soppy, sticky mud made it hard to move. There! My head jerked around, following the scent, and my body followed like a whiplash. What was that? Hmmm... This was different from what I usually did. Usually we looked for two-leggers hiding in the forest. This two-legger smell seemed to be coming from... There! That hole in the ground!
I stuck my nose in the little crevice and took a deep sniff. Yes. That was it... But there was something wrong. It didn’t smell right. I whined, pawing at the crevice in the mud. Something was wrong with the two-legger in that hole.
My partner came over and looked. He patted me and said Good Girl, then said Next! Sniffer, SEARCH! Meaning there were more two-legs to be found. What fun!
I turned away from the hole and it’s strange smelling two-leg, noticing as I did that my partner was tying a piece of red cloth on a stick and jamming it into the ground next to the hole. With a happy wag of my tail, I bounced over a small drift of mud-covered brush and went to work again. Left and right, left and right, oops! The air current went up there, gotta back track and check it... nope! Nothing there. I worked my way across the wide, flatish muddy area. Behind me I could hear Tracker whining. He’d found the same hole I had... His whine sounded sad.
Hey! What was that? I backtracked again and stuck my nose into the air currents. They were eddying oddly and were hard to find... Ah, there it was... yeah... yeah... I think I found one! I whimpered in excitement, tail wagging hard then stilling and going stiff as I worked the scent. Follow it... follow it... Was that it? I stuck my nose under a bush and sniffed. Nope. Just an eddy. Ooh! This was a tricky two-legger! Thought he could hide from me! I whimpered excitedly again. This was fun!
I slowed down to work the air currents better, following the scent as it led me over rocks and under brush. I could hear my partner following, his feet squelching in the mud. My nose led me to a cluster of rocks at the very edge of the muddy area. I sniffed a sodden piece of cloth. Was that it? No... it smelled like the two-leg I was looking for, but that wasn’t it. I put my head down and sniffed around the rocks... Hmm... I hopped up on top of the rocks and sniffed again. Hmm! The tricky two-leg had hidden his scent well in these rocks. The air currents were eddying and surging here, making it hard to figure out just where the scent was coming from. I jumped back down again and circled the rocks, sticking my nose in every hole and crack I could find and taking a long, deep sniff.
My partner came up behind me. "Sinds aojnsfa, Sniffer? Aoin sdfnasd?" He made questioning noises at me. I wagged my tail once to let him know I’d heard him, but otherwise ignored him, intent on the puzzle.
That two-leg was in there, I was sure of it. I just couldn’t figure out where... I circled the rocks again. Wait! I turned and went back... There...? Yes! There! I stuck my nose into a little crack at the bottom of the pile and sniffed loudly. Yes! There was that tricky two-leg! I wagged my tail hard and began to dig, throwing mud everywhere. I whimpered excitedly, and, when that didn’t get a response from either my partner on the other side of the rocks or the sneaky two-leg, I began to bark. Here! I bayed. Here! Here! Hereherehere!!
Mud was flying, covering everything behind me, as my partner came around the rocks. I threw a little mud at him, too, just to let him know that he was late. That two-leg is in HERE! I belled, my voice loud and strong. Sneaky two-leg!
Tracker and his partner, Leader, came rushing over and Tracker caught the scent too. He bayed, long and loud and joined me in my digging. Together, we cleared out a good size hole before our partners pulled us back and told us, Good! Stay!
Tracker lolled his tongue at me in satisfaction as our partners got down to look in the hole. Whatever they saw made them very excited and they shouted and gestured at the people on the other side of the mud. Then they turned and came back to us, petting and praising us over and over. We did good!
***
After the rescue crews had dug the baby out, alive and reasonably well, Miken turned to his father. "Sniffer acted so excited this time, compared to when she found the body... Do you think she knew it was a baby and the baby was alive?" He caressed one long red ear, looking down at the red bitch-canine.
His father shrugged, patting his own black dog-canine. "Who knows? They sure knew something was wrong when they found the body. Maybe they knew this one was a baby. Maybe it was just that it was alive. Or it could just have been pride at a successful search, you know how they get when they find lost kids or holdless." Both canines’ ears pricked at That Word and both tails wagged. He smiled down at them, bestowing a pat to each. "Good work. Good search."
