Challenge #02249-F059: Hunter Hunted

Some Havenworlders and some Humans are playing Cops and Robbers as a training exercise and the Havenworlders quickly learn that Humans can control their predictory aura, by either increasing it to a degree that it would make even a Vorax run in fear or decrease it to the point of nonexistence. And the worst part is that the humans aren't even aware of it. -- Chara Dremmurr

Humans have so many games that hinge around the core mechanic of 'chase and symbolically kill the other guy'. There's sub-variants, including 'track down and..." as well as "evade detection in order to...", but the most common version is 'chase', and appears in almost all Human sports with more than two players.

This variant is called 'Cops and Robbers', and involves pseudo-hunter 'Cops' attempting to capture the clever-prey 'Robbers' who also have to infiltrate a base and covertly acquire a goal object. The hunters hunt, of course, and the prey have to avoid the notice of the hunters. Some are naturally better at this than others.

It took Frin some time to notice what the Humans were doing. Certainly, her species was improving at stealth and stealth games thanks to their exposure to Humans, but... This was something else. A Human in 'hunter mode' had something... else... about them. Call it an aura. Call it a sub-telepathic field. Call it a vibe. Whatever the true word for it was... these Humans were controlling it.

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