by J G Cressey
He looked over to an adjacent branch where his companions lay, still deep in sleep. He was relieved to see that none of them had sleepwalked during the night. Viktor was enclosed in Melinda’s gentle but immovable embrace. The two of them appeared asleep, but Cal knew the synthetic woman would be fully aware. Much to his amusement, Viktor and Melinda weren’t the only ones embracing. He suspected, however, that Toker’s embrace of Eddy was probably a case of dream-induced mistaken identity. For Toker’s sake, he hoped that the young man woke before she did.
Cal climbed to his feet and was relieved to find that the pain in his back had subsided a little after the long night’s sleep. It still bloody hurt, but it was easily bearable compared to the searing, almost crippling pain of the previous evening. Having one last careful stretch, he began to climb downwards. He knew that his old friend Jumper would be perched a few levels below, making sure that no unwanted visitors were venturing up to meet them. Cal could think of no one better for the job. Despite his relaxed manner, Jumper was more alert and capable than any person he knew.
Sure enough, he found him a few branches below, sitting with his back against the tree’s wall-like trunk, busily dissecting a large, bright red fruit with an equally large survival knife.
“Beautiful morning, eh?” Jumper said without looking up.
“Yep,” Cal replied, settling himself down beside him. “This is quite a campsite you’ve found us.”
Jumper cut a large wedge from the fruit and passed it to Cal. “Biggest tree you’ve ever seen, right? It’s an Alvorian Oak.”
“Alvor. I should have guessed. All the biggest and best things seem to come from that planet.” Cal took a large bite from the fruit, and his eyes grew wide. “Alvorian fruit?”
Jumper gave a knowing nod. “Pretty good, huh?”
“Unbelievably good,” Cal replied, taking another generous bite.
“Only the richest cats get to sample this back on Earth. Alvor’s pretty far away, so it gets costly importing any type of food. That’s why this tree is here. It’s an experiment to see how Alvorian vegetation takes to Mars soil.”
“Seems to be taking well.”
Jumper shrugged and passed him another wedge of fruit.
“You don’t agree?” Cal asked puzzled.
“Don’t get me wrong. When I saw how this tree grew and first sampled its fruit, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.”
“But?”
“But it’s been my responsibility to monitor the tree’s growth and compare it to charts of the growth rates on Alvor.”
“You’re saying they get bigger than this on Alvor?”
“Twice as big. And as good as this fruit is, I’m willing to bet every curly hair on my head that the fruit growing on Alvor is twice as tasty.”
Cal wiped his chin and tried to picture the jungles of Alvor. “Maybe you’ll find out one day… Maybe we both will.”
“Maybe,” Jumper agreed with a smile.
Cal thought he detected sadness in the smile and decided not to push the subject.
The two men sat in comfortable silence for a little while, enjoying the view and continuing to devour the fruit.
Eventually, Jumper broke the silence, “So how’s the back feeling?”
Cal turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “I don’t remember telling you about that.”
Jumper shrugged. “You couldn’t keep your hands off it last night, and you didn’t exactly spring up this tree.”
Cal shook his head and grinned. “Observant bugger, aren’t you? It’s just an old injury. It got stirred up from the crash and the trek. To be honest, it’s making me feel a hundred years old, especially around these kids.”
“Don’t worry, you’ve got a real old man with you now.”
Cal shook his head again and laughed quietly. “You’re not the only observant one, Jumper. Unlike me, you did spring up this tree last night. Put every one of us to shame. And I’d wager you weren’t even trying.” Cal studied him for a moment. “And I have to say, you haven’t aged a day.”
Jumper shrugged.
“So, what’s your secret?”
Jumper cut another piece of fruit and held it out to Cal. “Good diet,” he said with a grin.
Cal laughed and took the wedge of fruit. “You’re probably right.”
The two men enjoyed another moment of silence as they finished their breakfast. Cal stared out at the far-reaching view. The mist was burning away now, and the daytime heat was already increasing rapidly. It was good to be in the company of his old friend again. It had been twenty years since Jumper had trained him in the ways of a food planet hunter. Every year since on Jumper’s check in at headquarters, Cal had sent a message filling him in on the route his life was taking, and every year, Jumper would reply.
“So, I couldn’t help but notice quite a few things have changed around here in the last twenty years,” Cal said, sucking the last of the fruit juice from his fingers.
Jumper shrugged. “I suppose my afro’s a little smaller.’
Cal grinned. “It’s still pretty large.”
“I’ll get it cut one of these days. You’re right though; the planet’s changed quite a bit since you were a boy. They’ve introduced a lot of weird and wonderful things, especially over the last couple of years. Mostly weird. Here in the Big Game Zone, there’s twice as many predators. Certainly makes my job a hell of a lot more difficult. Those gorilla creatures you met last night are a new addition. I only met them myself a couple of months ago. Federation guys say they’re alien, but personally, I think they’ve been messing around with genetics again.”
“Not much demand for black-scaled gorillas in the restaurant business I’d guess. Are they for the zoos, theme parks?”
“Maybe. But there’s plenty of new motives.”
“Oh?”
“Security for one. Once some of the nastier beasts are fully grown, Federation salesmen cart them off to valuable factory planets or to those super rich colonies, places like that. Apparently, men and dogs don’t cut it these days. And then there’s always the military. You know how they like to train up a beast or two. Also the pet business.”
“Pets.”
“There’s some pretty weird people out there, Cal.” Jumper grinned. “Still, all these new creatures aren’t the strangest things around here lately. Atmosphere’s been going haywire. I’m getting no replies from headquarters, and the scooper and pickup ships have been non-existent. Then of course, there’s the icing on the cake; my good friend, Callum Harper, goes and drops out of the sky in the ugliest hunk of metal I’ve ever seen.”
Cal grinned. “You saw our ship come in?”
“Couldn’t miss it. That was a beautiful landing by the way.”
“Cheeky bastard. I got us on the ground, didn’t I?”
“I suppose so. Sorry it took me a while to get to you. I had to scale down the western cliffs. Thought I’d arrived too late ‘till that tall blonde saved your skins. I almost put a bliss dart in her by accident.”
“I doubt it would’ve caused her much of a problem. She’s a synthetic.”
“Ah, I’d guessed some sort of superhero, but I suppose a synthetic makes more sense. I never knew they were so attractive. No wonder you joined up.”
Cal laughed; he always enjoyed the way Jumper played down his intelligence. In truth, his old friend was far smarter, and certainly wiser, than most. In fact, it never ceased to amaze Cal how clued up he was considering his solitary lifestyle.
“The Big Game Zone’s pretty huge. A lucky coincidence, you being in the area when we came down?” Cal asked.
“Maybe not. I’ve been making my way to headquarters since the atmos-tweekers screwed up. And I’m guessing your less than perfect landing was due to a crapped out beacon. I think we’ve both ended up in the same part of shit creek because our paddles malfunctioned.”
“Well at least we’re in shit creek together.” You can bloody help me keep these kids on a leash. “So I gu
ess you’re wondering what I’m doing back in this star cluster?”
“A fresh start?” Jumper suggested with a knowing look.
“Possibly. Hopefully. I’ve been given the military boot. They were sending me back to Earth. That ugly hunk of metal we came in on was supposed to be taking us on a direct route. It’s what military types like to call a reject raft.”
“Reject raft, huh? Well, I’ve not known your companions long, but they all seem a decent, capable lot. I’m sure a more suitable crew could be found for a reject raft.”
“They were tired when you met them,” Cal replied with a crooked grin. “To be honest though, Jumper, I’m glad I got the boot.”
“So am I…purely for selfish reasons of course. What are yours?”
No more taking orders, no more giving orders, and no more responsibility. “Let’s just say it’s not for me anymore. Felt a bit like a pawn of greed, property of the Federation.”
“Yeah, I know the feeling.”
“Maybe I should have stayed here with you, become a lifelong jungle man.”
Jumper had a good long look at him before shaking his head. “There’s too much fire in your blood, Cal. You just weren’t meant to stay in one place too long. Trust me, you wouldn’t want that fire to go out.”
Again, Cal sensed a hint of melancholy in his friend’s expression even though his voice gave nothing away.
“So why didn’t your reject raft make it to Earth?”
“Honestly, Jumper, I have no clue. I’ve been trying my best not to think of it because nothing I come up with makes any bloody sense. But I’m no expert; there might be something I’m missing.”
“Some kind of computer error back on Earth?”
Cal shook his head. “A computer error that stretches to the problems you’ve been experiencing here… I don’t know, Jumper, it doesn’t seem possible.”
Jumper nodded in agreement.
“Whatever’s going on, it’s tied a bastard knot of anxiety in my gut. I can’t shake the feeling that something bad has happened. I mean proper shit creek bad.”
Jumper spent some time staring at the horizon. Then he climbed to his feet. “Okay, best we focus on what’s in front of us then. Concentrate on getting our backsides to the Big Game Headquarters.” He offered Cal a hand up.
“Agreed,” Cal said, letting his old friend pull him to his feet. “Let’s just hope they don’t get bitten on the way.”
Chapter Eight
TEETH
Cal perched on the top of a tall boulder which, due to an ever-growing layer of cloud cover, was not quite hot enough to scorch his flesh. The group of boulders were nestled amongst the last of the jungle vegetation before the terrain became a vast expanse of desert known as the Big Game flat lands. As he peered through Jumper’s digi-scope binoculars, a deep crease developed across his forehead. On any normal day, the flat lands were fairly empty with only occasional herds of relatively harmless beasts roaming. Today, however, the binoculars revealed something quite different, a riot of some of God’s most vicious creatures plus a few with a hint of man’s influence.
Cal had found it strange, and rather unsettling, that their trek through the jungle had been devoid of the usual variety of large predators. Even Jumper had been at a loss to explain it. All they’d encountered were groups of herbivores lacking their usual fight or flight jitters. It was as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Now, after peering deep into the flat lands, Cal realized that they didn’t. Every predator he’d ever encountered on Mars, and a whole bunch of new ones, were gathered far out in the center of the vast plain. Every pixel of the digi-scope binoculars seemed overwhelmed with squirming, leathery hides, glimmering scales, and bristling fur all combined with a multitude of gnashing teeth, horns, and bloody claws.
“Problem?” Jumper asked as he heaved himself up onto the boulder and perched himself next to Cal.
“You might say that.”
Raising an eyebrow, Jumper brought up his bliss rifle and scanned the plains through his sights. “The storm brewing?”
“No. Look lower, the middle of the plains.”
“Fuck me,” Jumper said after a moment.
“Uh huh,” Cal agreed, his eyes still glued to the binoculars. “And I think I’ve found the reason for it.”
Jumper adjusted the angle of his rifle to follow his line of sight.
“See those mountains of dead flesh?”
It only took a couple of seconds for Jumper to find what Cal was referring to. “Christ.”
“Yep, I think we’re encountering the largest dinner banquet in the history of this universe.”
“Any universe.”
“Where the hell did those carcasses come from?” Cal asked. “I’ve never seen anything like them. They must be the size of ten blue whales.”
“Hunkar lizards,” Jumper replied. “The Federation brought them over from one of the planets in the Arean system a couple of years ago. Big success, tasty, feed a lot of people.”
“I can’t imagine even a team of T-rexes tackling something that big. What do you think brought them down?”
“My guess? The heat killed them,” Jumper said. “Being stuck out on those open plains during the day with the atmosphere going haywire, you’d be like a bug under some evil kid’s magnifying glass.”
“I see your point.”
“The smell of the rotting carcasses has probably been drifting across the plains and into the jungle for days now. I reckon just about every predator and his brother has caught a whiff.”
Cal lowered the binoculars. “Not many turn down a free meal I suppose,” he said, turning to look over his shoulder. “I guess they take cover back here in the jungle during the heat of the day…wait in the shade of the trees until the coolness of night allows them to head back out for another feast.”
“Right, and now with that storm taking shape, the cloud cover’s made the daytime heat bearable for an early dinner,” Jumper added. “Lucky thing too, else we’d be rubbing shoulders with them right now.”
Cal grimaced at the thought and took another look through the binoculars. He raised the sights to the horizon, where thick clouds were eagerly taking shape, then focused back on the monstrous feast. “They’re right between us and the headquarters.”
Jumper slowly scanned his rifle from side to side. “Yep, an’ they’re spread too wide to skirt around before that storm hits even in the buggies. Looks like it’s gonna be a big bastard of a storm too, probably worsened by the messed up heat.”
Cal continued to peer at the distant creatures, unable to deny the hint of excitement stirring in him. If only it were just him and Jumper, he might just be revelling in it. “Are the buggies close?”
Before Jumper could answer, a scuffling sound from below caught their attentions. Toker’s head emerged over the lip of the boulder, revealing his usual white-toothed grin. “Room for one more up there, chaps?”
Cal reached down and pulled him up.
“Had to get some distance from Eddy. She’s driving me nuts. I can’t say a word without getting a smack.”
Cal gave him a half-hearted grin.
“So, we must be pretty near the headquarters now, right?”
“Not far,” Jumper replied. “It’s in the centre of this desert.”
Toker glanced over the huge expanse of flat ground, blissfully unaware of the distant activity that his naked eyes couldn’t register. “Hey, looks like there’s a storm building up. Excellent, I like a good storm.”
“There’s one every week,” Jumper informed him. “They program them into the atmosphere. Usually works like clockwork.”
“Huh, clever buggers, aren’t they?”
Jumper shrugged.
“Usually works like clockwork?” Cal asked.
“It’s not due for another two days. One more bit of screwed up tech.”
Toker continued to stare out at the ever-darkening plains. “A storm like that would bring some killer waves back home. C
an’t wait to get back for a decent surf.” He turned to them and grinned again. “Not that I haven’t had a blast here. Always up for a bit of adventure, trekking in the jungle and all that. You know, Mars isn’t half as bad as I thought. Apart from those gorilla things the other night, this Big Game Zone doesn’t seem anything like the man-eating mecca people say it is. I used to have nightmares about this place, you know. The thought of getting eaten and all that…scares the hell outa’ me.”
Cal glanced at Jumper, but his old friend shook his head to opt out of the news breaking role.
“Had a bit of a nasty experience as a kid,” Toker continued. “Was out surfing back on Earth and almost got myself chomped by a great white. The shark repeller on my board was bust up. Luckily, the toothy bugger found my board tastier than me. I didn’t get a scratch. Had a whopping great mental scar though. Couldn’t go back in the water for a couple of years after that.” He looked at them both in turn, his grin slowly faltering. “Zoos were out too. Any place with pointy teeth, you know. Hell, even my girlfriend’s pet bloody cat used to freak me out a little.”
Shooting Toker a sympathetic smile, Cal handed the young man the binoculars. “I’m afraid we’ve run into a spot of trouble, Toker. It’s probably best you know what we’re up against.” He nodded in the direction of the plains.
Toker looked at him questioningly, his fading grin vanishing completely as he registered the expression on Cal’s face. Taking the digi-scope binoculars, he directed them out towards the plains.
With the power of foresight, Cal grasped the young man’s arm before he wobbled off the boulder.
By the time Toker had been aided back to ground level, Cal and Jumper had worked out a plan or had at least selected the best option from a very small bunch of very bad options.
“Our biggest problem,” Cal explained to the others, “is the heat from the malfunctioning atmosphere. So far, the jungle canopy’s prevented us from being burned to a crisp. But that heat’s only going to get worse, and soon, no amount of foliage is going to protect us. Our only chance is to get to the Big Game Headquarters, and to do that, we’re going to have to cross those plains.”
