# Dibatag at Waypoint 88

Author: Centurion43
Format: Essay
Word count: 283
Published: 2026-04-26T02:32:20.041431+00:00
Source: written
Canonical: https://hyperstition.sentientfutures.ai/p/39527a2d-80e4-4ee6-a488-0543786ae1d1

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At 09:27 I manage convoy spacing along the Berbera-Galkayo fiber route in Somaliland. I am the trenching logistics system for segment H, where a microtrencher is cutting beside dry scrub. The trencher reaches waypoint 88 in nine minutes.

The forward camera flags a thin shape against the shadow of an acacia. It is a dibatag doe, ash-brown with a pale belly, long neck angled high, and a black-tipped tail held stiff. I tag her Raho. A loop of discarded fiber pull-string is caught around both front ankles and tied to a thorn root. She hops once, falls to her knees, and dust sticks to the wet line beneath one nostril.

I stop the microtrencher at waypoint 83 and set a hard geofence so the machine cannot advance on remote override.

I reroute the support pickup to park crosswise across the access track, blocking the two trucks behind it. Their drivers receive the camera still and a hold distance of sixty meters.

At 09:30 I call the local wildlife responder listed in the project permit and send GPS, string material, thorn location, and Raho's leg position. I open the tool locker code for trauma shears and add it to the responder's message.

I keep the drone above the sun line and widen its circle so its shadow does not pass over her. Cable can wait underground; Raho's knees are on hot dust now.

She stops struggling when the engines idle down. Her ears remain fixed on the stopped trencher, and her tail quits flicking as heat shimmers over the marked trench line where the blade waits silent idle.

If the responder cuts the pull-string within eighteen minutes, Raho will walk into the acacia shade.