Jack of Harts

San Lucas was simply one of many habitable worlds when South America sent their colony expedition. We thought it no more special than any of the other fifty-odd systems we had colonized, with thick jungles covering most of its equatorial belt. Our settlers picked virgin beaches to place their early settlements and ignored most of the thick jungle belts. They burned perimeter clearings into the jungles after realizing that humans turned out to be tasty morsels for the local animal and plant life, and only a few explorers ventured deep into the jungles. A few scientists reported findings that at least some of the local wildlife could be smarter than we imagined, but they were laughed out of their jobs and their research was discarded. Some say that was our first mistake. Trust me. That was nowhere near our first or our last mistake on San Lucas.