This one must be an immature one, for it still was a nomad. The adults, Capel had learned via the death of his son, took permanent homes in caves and grottos.
A long, pink vine came sliding up from the center of the sand pit, waving gently. The limestone crater came alive, a sudden heaving of rippling membranes, thrashing layers of fleshy, carnivorous mold. The crivit's oral tentacle resembled a white viper, like a heaving flower or a mass of writhing tripe, slowly turning pink, a color that spread among the membranes to the edges of the pit.
"Ohhh, noooo ----" Capel froze. Maybe if he held perfectly still, it couldn't locate him.
The vine hesitated. Then it began wavering again.
It might work, for a while. But sooner or later, the thing would find him. Capel jabbed at his commpin and began to scream, "BeeeeTeeee!!!"
The vine trembled, aroused. It began poking the sand and mud, blindly. It moved as if it were searching.
"BeeeTeee!!! HHeeeellllpppp!!!"
The pink vine poked, poked again. It rose up, hesitating. It had never encountered anything like this before. It rested one end on the sand. Lightning flashed again, momentarily silhouetting the huge black shape against the white-flaring sky.
Capel, looking back blinked to recover his vision, held absolutely still. The tentacle was tracking the vibrations -- movement or screaming, it didn't matter. The rain and lightning and thunder seemed to be confusing it. The vine lifted ---
"BeeTeeee!!! Heeelllppp!!! Heeelllppp Meeee!!", the sound lost in a thunderclap.
The tentacle vibrated angrily, rain dripped from its pointed end. It swayed and circled and dropped within milliretems of Capel's horrified face. He froze. The tentacle hesitated --- the crater filled with the carnivorous pit-mold, which rippled furiously and reached for the commander's feet. Through the curtains of rain and the trunks of trees, Capel could see something moving ---BeeTee! The cybernetic was searching for him. It was starting to turn away --- "BeeTeee!! Over here!"
The cybernetic turned ---Capel threw himself sideways --- and the pink tentacle snapped whip-like around his leg. It constricted and started pulling ---the pain in his leg was fiery. The sand around him started sliding. Capel flailed --- a metallic hand grabbed his.
The cybernetic was lying flat on the sand, using its own weight to oppose the tugging of the tentacle. Rain pouring down its silvery, smooth arm making the grip slick. With its other hand it steadied its rifle. Capel was screaming with the pain now.
BeeTee fired its weapon.
The ground shook and roared --- and then a pink, hairless head came thrusting up through the sand and mire at the center of the pit. It was a long head with a mouth full of jagged teeth. The rain ran in rivulets down the pebbled skin of the muscular neck. The pink tentacle --- now half blown away ---was the creature's tongue, still protruding from its gigantic mouth, now flailing back and forth in burning agony. Capel was dizzy with fear, his heart pounding inside his chest as his body tensed, awaiting the inevitable.
The big head slid past him, in a wide arc back skyward. Capel felt the animal's startling hot breath on his face. With the crivit so close, he could smell the rotten flesh in the mouth, the sweetish blood-smell, and the sickening stench that belonged to a carnivore. High on the creature's head, two crimson eyes probed at them. In the glare of lightning, they saw those beady, expressionless crivit eyes moving in their sockets.
It was looking at them!
Capel's breath came in ragged, frightened gasps. His mouth was warm with the taste of blood intermixed with mud.
BeeTee fired again, the illumination scarcely seen as the darkness of the storm quickly absorbed the flaring bullet as it bore into the crivit; the fleshy part of the monster's head splattered away. A long sighing noise came issuing from its throat --- its smell was terrible --- and then the creature began sinking slowly back into its hole; it thumped down with a muddy splash.
The cybernetic held the rifle steady for a moment longer. Only after it was certain that the creature was truly dead did it begin pulling Capel out of the sand to firmer ground.
For a moment, the two of them just lay in the mud, feeling the vibrations of the disintegrating planet. The world around was wet and cold and filled with thunder and lightning strikes; and, they allowed their environment to close in on them -- giving them a sense of survival.
Capel gasped and looked at the cybernetic grateful. Catching his breath, Capel managed a quiet, "Thank you, BeeTee. Thank you for saving my life."
BeeTee's light grid flashed, but before its audio response circuits could activate, a series of tentacles suddenly ejaculated from the muddy pit and cracked around the cybernetic. It had been closer to the depression than Capel and instantly became the captor of the dozen or so pink tentacles.
In abject horror, Capel stumbled to his feet; his feet kicking desperately for footing as he slipped in the slick mud. In the process, one of his struggling feet booted the rifle out and over the sand pit's edge.
"Dear Ancients of Terra..." Capel stuttered as the tentacles began to retract with the cybernetic trapped helpless with their grip.
"Flee, Commander!" BeeTee managed to warn. "We have happened upon a nest of them!"
"A nest!" Capel screamed.
There was no time for reaction. The cybernetic disappeared as it toppled over the sand pit's edge. Capel stood frozen, horror-struck, as he continued to stare at the pit, still as death itself. All around, a hundred paces in all directions, iron-gray trees reached into the air, then twisted down, twinning around each other like gigantic vines. They formed a wide circle around an area of clear trees but choked with tangled, spiny bushes. His heart began to pound in fear as he realized he was standing too near the depression. Before he could move, the ground shook and vibrated as the occupants of the nest tried to digest their most recent meal.
BeeTee was sent flying in thirty directions around the pit. Its silvery arms and legs crashed against the nearby trees and settled in a smoldering heap with the rest of its mechanical body. Smoke funneled from the center of the pit, accompanied by a series of explosions, which ripped sections of the pit apart and fountained several of the infant Things into the air.
Capel found himself suddenly standing amid the scattered pieces of metal and tangled wire that at one time had been linked together to form the beloved syntheform. Accompanying the rain of silvery bits and pieces, there were several of the adolescent crivits; a few landed near Capel, life still within their hideous bodies. They squirmed after the stunned commander, mouths agape shrieking from hairy, scarred, madness twisted faces -- tentacle tongues probing for him. They were the size of large house pets with ferocious front claws and worm-like torsos. Their eyes were crazed blanks.
Like fish out-of-water, they flopped in his general direction. They were coming fast. Quickly coming to his senses, Capel began to run -- darting off toward the Landrover. Thorns ripped into his clothing and hooked into his hands. The scratches burned as if they had been touched with salt. His sole hope was to reach the end of the glade and get into the bus. Sucking in a deep breath, he focused on that thought. His long legs pumped out in quick sprinter strides, carrying him toward his goal.
Pain!
A lash of fiery agony slashed across his right calf. The skin of his lower leg was starting to tingle and burn. It was almost like he had been touched with acid. The parent crivit's tentacle must have been poisonous.
Groaning, he fought against a wave of torturous pain that swelled to engulf him. He staggered and stumbled over tree roots in the darkness, clawing his way past dripping branches. Up ahead he caught a glimpse of lights shining through the vertical wall of rain. His right shoulder slammed onto solid metal. A familiar whine filled his ears and then the cool currents of air-conditioning.
The 'Rover's exitportal! His brain managed to recognize that he had fallen against the starboard exitportal's outer control panel. The hatch swung gull-wing upward and the landing stair touched solidity to allow him access.
As a wave of nausea and dizziness swept over him, Capel clutched his leg with his right hand and dragged himself through the swirling pain and the 'Rover's interior dimness; and walked straight into a barrier of cold, hard metal. This time his brain took what seemed like nodes to focus and recognize the fact that he had collided with the drivepit's safety door. Capel gritted his teeth to fight back the searing agony consuming his right leg, leaned against the padded bulkhead, and used his left hand to tab the door's opening mechanism.
The triangular hatch slid open.
Amid curses and groans, Capel hauled himself through the threshold and into the compact drivepit. He felt rather than saw the contoured seats on either side of the aisle where he staggered. He pulled himself into one, and then laid on his back with his eyes trying to focus on the winking indicator lights before him.
Capel paused, listening to the rhythmic thrump of rain falling in drenching sheets. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
Rain drummed loudly on the roof of the Landrover, but even so Capel could hear the rumble of the approaching crivits as they tunneled their way from their tainted nest in search of him.
They were coming closer.
Capel grimaced as he reached out with his right hand and found a handhold on the controls. Subconscious memory had his fingers of his left hand tabbing appropriate controls to seal the bus and activate the motor.
Lightning flashed and the holoscreens flickered.
His right calf brushed the soft upholstery of the acceleration seat. Waves of fresh agony swelled, washing over him, dragging him down into a churning maelstrom of blackness.
"No!" he cursed aloud. "Must reach the Pioneer Four!"
A weak finger probed and found a dark weight-sensitive control. It illuminated as Capel's finger brushed over it. Unconsciousness swallowed him just as the on-board computer confirmed that the auto-drive was activated.
CHAPTER TWELEVE:
The prairie whipped underneath the hull of the hurrying aerofoil as Retho and Nicraan locked onto the Pioneer 4's tracking beacon. The steel sky above bore the ever-present blistering suns and a few spotted clouds. In the distance, along the horizon they could see the hazy outlines of a herd of native animal life on a trek south.
"Sensor report?" Nicraan requested of his co-driver. "Any sign of that relay signal?
Retho was situated in the passenger seat and studied the series of captions floating on the dashboard's holoviewer. "Nothing. It's just disappeared from the scope. But, look at that herd ahead. Thousands of them," he said in awe. "Diverse alien life forms. Mainly vegetarian, docile indigenous animal life."
"Heading?" Nicraan was curious.
"South." Retho nodded toward the moving masses just beyond the aerofoil. "Looks like migration. But, why?" He raised a thoughtful eyebrow as he observed the moving animal life quickly passing by, then said, "It can't be. There are too many species moving together. Something up North must be scaring them."
Nicraan shrugged. "It is getting cooler and rainfall has risen. Perhaps the local animal life returns South where it is warmer and has a lower water table."
"Highly unlikely. It seems we've one more mystery to investigate, after we solve the other six we're already working on."
"Minor in zoology?" Nicraan chuckled.
"Yes, as a matter of fact," Retho grinned, and cocked his head slightly in the pilot's general direction.
Nicraan laughed and tapped Retho gently on the shoulder, quipping, "You liar."
"I'm not a liar," Retho guffawed in retort.
The levity of the moment quickly was quashed by the sudden appearance of the Tauron coded transmission. It filled the holoset on the dash and it's unintelligible chatter filled the immediate air.
"That other signal!" Retho gasped. "It's back!"
"Track it!"
"I am," Retho said, tabbing the scanner control and desperately trying to get an answer to materialize on the occupied holoviewer. "I can't get a fix!"
"Estimate!"
"Trying!" Retho retorted tense. Tabbing the controls franticly, the lieutenant finally got an answer on the viewer. A small caption rolled forth from the holoset in front of him. Retho scanned it for information. "Estimation is back near the irrigation well!"
"Coordinates?" Nicraan requested, fingers poised over the navigation keyboard. Instantly, he had them and tabbed the direction into the small board.
As the aerofoil zoomed in on the hostile signal, Retho thumbed the communication control and tried to reach the Pioneer 4.
Dara stared puzzled at the upper deck's communication wall, which held a series of holoviewers. At that moment, each was occupied with the familiar hieroglyphics. As an accompaniment to the scrambled chatter of the transmission, she could hear the broken parts of an incoming message from Retho.
"...going to...investigate trans... Located in Area Quad... -seven point two..." he was going on hoping that Dara was receiving something, "...will report...if possi...Repeat, Getabout... Pioneer Four...Retho calling...am on course to investi... mission.... Quadrant Bee Four ninety-... report back if.... ble..."
Static from the Tauron scramble overrode the hardware and Retho's voice flailed and was lost in the noise.
Moela was suddenly beside her whispering in her ear, "I've got the Main Computer doing a complete systems check and cleansing program. We should have a full report shortly. Then we'll have a clearer idea of where we stand as far as a launch point."
Dara nodded, then said, "Retho's message is lost. But I think he and Nicraan have found the source of this new transmission and are going to investigate."
Moela nodded.
"Any word from Capel?"
Moela shook her head worried. "Nothing."
Dara crossed her arms and subconsciously rubbed her hand up her triceps as if warming a chill. A furrow coursed her forehead, and she looked at the tracking viewer. A moving blip indicated the 'Rover and its advance toward the ship.
"The Landrover is within range. Do a scan."
Moela moved to the life science control console and tabbed the appropriate controls to commence a survey of the approaching vehicle. The information was channeled through to the printer, and the readout flowed from the labeled slot.
"All mechanical functions are green," Moela reported as she walked. "Yet," her face went pale, "and, yet-t..."
"What is it?!"
"BeeTee is missing, and MediComp reports Capel to be unconscious! The Landrover is on Auto-Drive!"
Retho paused to take readings as Nicraan drove, the aerofoil's on-board techcoder showed strange and fluctuating electro-signs. Retho flipped the setting quickly from electro to microwave and got the same disturbing readings of instability.
Submissive to his inner sixth sense, Retho changed the sensor again. The techcoder's warble remained the same, its frequency band indicator lights flashed wildly as the sensors they reported on seemed to be seized with excitement.
A metallic mass Retho remembered as a derelict spaceship lay very near. He glanced in the direction of the reading.
Before them the trees thinned out into a blaze of suns. The air was very warm and very humid. Retho could not see beyond the suns' dazzle in the steamy haze. He directed Nicraan toward the source of the readings. Before them, just out of sight, lay a crumpled hull that held the remains of an alien crew Retho and BeeTee had discovered some months prior during a water recon mission. A chill ran up Retho's spine as he remembered suddenly the horror of the incident that had led the cybernetic and himself to stumble across the spaceship. One of the local carnivorous predators had hunted them and trapped them within the wreck. The chase eventually ended with the death of the reptilian beast. It hadn't been a pleasant experience, and Retho suddenly found himself listening for cries from the creatures noted to inhabit this sector.
There was silence. And, it was eerie. Retho looked at the Getabout's biocoder and discovered that most animal life was moving away from the area; heading south. Retho raised a puzzled bro
w as he looked back at the techcoder as Nicraan settled the hovercar’s progress to a gentle halt.
Nicraan exited the Getabout and pushed his way through the thick fronds of the 'fernish' trees and into a clearing beyond. The sunslight burst upon him and he stood still, blinking. Retho followed and moved more slowly out of the green shade, giving his eyes the few moments they needed to adapt.
"It's the alien spaceship BeeTee and you discovered during the irrigation mission!" Nicraan said. He squinted at it, trying to screen out the light.
"Nicraan..." Retho pointed to the bow of the derelict.
A small beeping emitted from the concealed cockpit.
"The source?"
Retho nodded. "That ship had a computer system very similar to that of The System's planet of Venita," he said, probing his memory for pieces connected with the derelict's discovery. Facts, which now, could prove vital in solving the mystery. "The Taurons have always been thought to be an exiled race, or an off-shoot of one of The System's races! Perhaps they are Venitans by ancestry!"
"That would be a clever connection, and explain a lot of unanswered questions," Nicraan said. "But, right now we've got to stop that transmission. For all we know, it could be sending for reinforcements!"
Retho nodded and unholstered his sidearm.
Nicraan followed suit. His unclipped techcoder bleated and clicked, registering the increased intensity of the transmission flux and confirming the derelict spaceship was the source. He grimaced, and then forged ahead with Retho.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Darkness swirled about Capel Perezsire, then shattered into splintered fragments when he jerked his eyes open. He lay in the drivepit, his cheek pressed against the side control spread, and he felt the roll of the 'Rover in motion. He drifted slowly back to consciousness; he wanted only to sleep. He shifted his position and felt the pain in his right leg where it lay on the contoured seat leg rest. His whole body ached, his arms and his legs and most of all his head -- there was a terrible pounding pain over his eyebrows. All the pain made him want to go back to sleep.
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