Actual quote from an actual three-year-old: "Children fight the bad guys! I sharp him with my little teeth!" -- Anon Guest
[AN: I did briefly play with the idea of this being a Pib line, thank you for wondering]
The universe is a big place. There's plenty of areas that haven't heard about the inherent dangers of Deathworlders in general and Humans in particular. Therefore, it's understandable that the same mistake can happen in several different places during several different time periods. It's things like this, including deep time colonies, that only serve to magnify the legends going around about them.
Well. The legends amongst the survivors, anyway. Those who escape to tell their tale make sure that the terror transmits just as effectively as the warning. Deathworlders are dangerous. Humans are even more dangerous than that. Some still insist on learning this for themselves.
Conqueror Harak had the perfect plan. "It's only a small colony of hairless mammals," they said, demonstrating a near fatal lack of talent for accurate threat assessment. "Once we hold their supremely vulnerable young hostage, the rest of them will fall into line and give us whatever we want." This has gone on record as possibly the universe's worst known idiotic plan and to this day, anything of the ilk is referred to as Pulling a Harak.
Stage one went relatively well, rounding up the small and squishy young while a majority of the adults were out establishing their infrastructure. The remaining caregivers were quickly overwhelmed, leaving a small crowd of equally small beings, some of whom were still learning bowel control.
Harak and their crew of marauders learned several things in rapid succession.
Humans, as pack animals, take great offense when anything threatens their pack. This includes their young. Humans can unleash great violence, even as infants. Humans have a bite pressure strong enough to cleave bone. Even very small Humans can throw solid objects at high velocity.
Baby Humans' new teeth are very, very sharp.
Crowning this series of rapid discoveries is the knowledge that there is no greater bedlam than a room full of young Humans who have collectively realised that the only adult in the room has absolutely no idea how to control them. The collective consciousness of King Mob rapidly overwhelmed Harak and their raiders.
Some of those who escaped the initial melee discovered some interesting facts about other qualities of a Human bite. Namely the swarming throng of bacteria and other microflora and microfauna that inhabit the average Human mouth.
Then they discovered that some of the adult Humans were chasing down Harak and their surviving crew, vengeance hot in their minds.
Humans can be relentless against any threats to their pack.
They could try to run. They could try to hide. They could never feel safe, because Humans could communicate their attempted crime and set rewards. Thus, it wasn't even the wronged Humans who were after them. It was all Humans.
Humans have a way of extracting an excruciating revenge.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Shakzu]
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