Pain pounded in my skull. My heart hammered in angry thunder. I pounded my chest with both fists and roared into the black cave. “Hivelt will have his glisten-fish!” My voice echoed off the walls until it sounded like laughter and hissing.
I stormed through the passageway, seeking out the risewell near Joaxma’s ship. Death to all who resisted Hivelt on this day.
13
I let the rainwater seep into the floors of the EEP where the recycler would work at purifying it, but my attention remained on the beasts in the glade. They tramped through the water, heedless it was rising, and dodged flotsam being carried out of the forest.
My makeshift tripod had long since been washed away, as well as my drying rack and the last stash of rodent meat. The wolves had found bits of it floating and had gobbled them up. They dove into the grasses at the edge of my perimeter and came away with mouthfuls of rodents, reptiles and amphibians, each longer than my leg. They swallowed smaller creatures down their gullets and played tug-of-war with longer ones until they’d been ripped into manageable bites.
At once, they all stopped gorging and lifted their heads. Their huge ears twisted. They had heard something.
Safe in my EEP, I gripped the porthole edge, curious. Soon a reptile larger than the EEP emerged from the same woods I had laid snares and gathered deadfall from. My mouth dried up.
Its hind legs were huge and powerful, bent in a permanent squat. Its body was narrow, but its shoulders were wide and muscular. Its forelegs bent with elbow-like joints and its claws boasted long, sharp talons. A bright orange throat sac inflated as it opened its maw of a hundred teeth and craned its neck to peer at the white wolves on the ground.
The wolves slunk as they approached it, their bellies in the rising floodwater.
My heart raced when I counted five more white beasts shiver out of the wilderness like ghosts drifting in the night.
As rain continued to slash unremitting across my view window, I watched. “VELMA, do you have a classification for the giant reptile about fifty-five feet from the EEP?”
“Without access granted by Overseer mode, I am unequipped to answer accurately.”
I cocked my head. “But I disabled the Handler chip.”
“They are separate systems.”
I whispered a curse but continued to watch the wolves.
Three danced in front of the reptile, drawing its ire and attention, while four flanked its haunches. Three more snuck up behind it, their tails pointing straight back and their ears lying low on their pointy heads.
The reptile didn’t seem concerned yet. It paused mid step, then stomped on a wolf that had tried to slide between its legs. I cringed when it went down. The rest of the wild beasts paid no attention, eyes on the prize in their midst.
The reptile swiped at another and caught its belly with long talons.
I averted my gaze and bit my lip, then forced myself to watch the fight. I needed to know how each of these species fought. For better or worse, I was a part of the food chain on this planet. I hoped to climb to the apex soon enough to stay alive.
I studied their tactics, observing how the reptile used its tail as another strong limb.
The pack worked together, filling in places where another fell injured or dead. Two more had melted out of the woods to join the fray.
The reptile continued to fight, swinging its forelegs in lazy arcs and billowing its throat sac.
I felt a thundering in the floor of my EEP and lurched toward the command console. “VELMA, seismic report.”
“I detect common microtremors. However, a group of large reptiles approaches from across the stream.”
“… the heck? VELMA, deploy drone and enable hDEDs. Show me the group onscreen.”
“Deploying drone. hDEDs activated.”
I watched the monitor when the video feed lit the screen. Three more giant lizards trampled through low brush and scrubby trees to the east of the stream. They didn’t slow or stop once they breached its banks but stormed through, tearing the roots from the ground, and obliterating the streambed and shore with their giant clawed feet.
The wolves sensed rather than heard their arrival, since my exterior mic didn’t pick up audio of the reptiles.
I imagined the sounds of lions or bears roaring, but it was still silent.
The wolves adjusted their attack, slinking into a thin line just out of reach of the first reptile’s long curved claws. They pawed at the ground and kept leery eyes on both the bleeding but aggressive lone reptile and the stream through which the others plowed.
The milieu met in my cleared area, knocking down my cairns and smashing my perimeter. The alarm sounded for a mere three seconds before it lost signal. With giant beasts clashing violently outside, I feared for my life inside my vehicle.
I could destroy them all with a few rounds of my repeating rotator weapon, but every molecule in me resisted the idea. Let them battle it out.
“Nature’s red in tooth and claw, Pattee.”
“But Dad, she was my friend!” I stroked the owl’s feathers. She had died in my hands, felled from the sky by a different raptor.
“It’s never easy to lose a friend,” Dad conceded. For once.
The battle waged on. When I thought the wolves would die, they would rebound in strength and number, bleeding out of the forest like ants. Then the reptiles would rally, and more wolves would fly broken through the air.
I watched until my white-knuckled hands went numb gripping the porthole. Their stamina was unmatched. Stepping away from the window, I shivered, even though I was safe and dry inside the EEP. Between the rains and the carnage outside, it wasn’t a stretch to realize my life would never be the same.
Trapped inside the EEP, it was necessary to survey my meager preparations. I had a couple days’ worth of trapped and smoked meat, since smoking it took hours. I had my case pelts and the single leathery skin from the odd and fierce creature. There was a bit of rendered fat for making pemmican, as well as twirly green “vegetables” I called fiddleheads, because they reminded me of budding ferns from back home. VELMA had approved them for safe consumption.
I exhaled and sunk down the inside wall.
“VELMA, what’s the status on the particulate scan?”
“Eighty-six percent complete. Minimal pathogens discovered.”
“What is the likelihood that remaining microbiota will be lethal to humans?”
“That information is not available.”
I pounded the back of my head against the wall and closed my eyes. “How long until your analysis is complete?”
“Twenty-nine hours, thirty-seven minutes and forty-two seconds.”
“One more day,” I muttered. The computer had stopped several times and frozen but had then resumed.
I ate a cheerless meal of dried meat, wilted greens, and a pouch of freeze-dried ice cream, and curled up against the wall. My alcove was now cozy with the soft fur from the case pelts, if mind-numbingly lonely. But I needed some semblance of comfort as I waited out the fight.
“VELMA, record the activity outside the pod during the night. I want to know where those animals are at all times,” I said. “Deploy the drone to follow the reptiles to their nesting site.”
“Recording,” VELMA said. “Deploying drone.”
With VELMA’s technology at my fingertips, I was still at the mercy of the monsters on this planet. Every day brought a new way to die. I was trying to stay one step ahead of the predators, yet every move I made had a counterstrike. I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep for a long time. Something was coming. Something big. I could feel it in my bones. I could feel it in the slight trembling of my ship. My fists clenched around the soft fur of one of my pelts, and I squeezed my eyes against a fresh flood of tears.
14
I rocked my double-blade back and forth into the wall, cleaning the gore from its metal. My anger matched that of the agothe-faxl males that had yet to find suitable sister pairs to mate because I killed them
.
My planet was in turmoil. Earthquakes changing the cave tunnels. The glisten-fish deteriorating before they spawned. Rains coming early and agothe-faxl mating before their season.
I huffed and prowled the tunnels, searching for the correct one that would lead me to the gulley below the glade.
To my annoyance, I stumbled upon one more sister-pair of agothe-faxl. Another anomaly. They never nested so close to each other in the caves.
My mind wandered to my brethren, and Naraxthel and his traveler. Had they begun the quest without me? Did they also battle agothe-faxl by the barrel? My brows furrowed deep under my helmet. My brethren needed the strength of Hivelt. But then I remembered the Court and the pretty little kama who threw her wine in my face when she realized I would be leaving for Ikthe. As if I had had a choice.
Fire burned in my chest at the thought of the Ikma Scabmal Kama. How many cycles had she flaunted her power in my face? How many wasted plantings of my seed that would never beget offspring due to her selfish pursuits?
I roared and slapped a cave wall. Rumbling shook the ground beneath my feet, and I crouched. Silt floated down from the ceiling and gravel trembled at my feet.
The quaking stopped, and I resumed my hike. I would not be trapped in this cave.
The tunnel rose and fell, the dips home to puddles, and the rises slippery and difficult to navigate in my heavy armor.
I kept a watchful eye for more alarms, but the cave was quiet.
I came to the risewell. Dim light shone from above. The risewell was narrow. Much narrower than I remembered. It was also wet. Ah, the rains. I growled. I may have to remove my armor in order to fit through the passage.
Once I emerged from the cave, I would have to climb up the embankment to the glade, avoiding the agothe-talazel serpent as I went. I would also have to avoid the detection of Joaxma. If I wanted to avoid her spying gaze, I would need to scale the waterfall. I would rather avoid it, as the rains of yesterday had probably caused a floodwall of water.
I would wait for nightfall. Joaxma never left her vehicle at night. She was smart.
I broke off pieces of dried sister-bread and ate, thoughtful. How had Joaxma fared once the pazathel-naxl had arrived? A gnawing anxiety nibbled at my gut. She was clever. Savvy. She had a weapon and a vehicle.
But did she know not to run? How strong was her suit? Naraxthel had seemed convinced his traveler’s suit was indestructible. But how could a race from another star system know to craft a fabric that could withstand the bite of the rokhura or the sting of the agothe-fax? I scratched at my face.
This traveler did not need my help. She sat in her ship drinking cold water and eating the smoked meat of the jokapazathel. Of course, she would not know that the red-eye berries made a delicious piquant sauce to dress their meat.
My stomach rumbled. Still Hivelt had not tasted the stew of the glisten-fish with bits of toasted jokal grass and ikquo peppers grown in the fields of Ikshe. I finished my bread and leaned my head back to rest just a moment.
The cool mountain summit mist caressed my face. Once again, the Goddesses stood before me. Elder Sister leaned forward and tilted her head. “Get you to the glade, Hivelt Matheza. Now!”
I startled awake, blinking the image of the fervent request from my brain. I had received my message from the Goddesses. I must go to the glade.
With my pack secured, I decided to attempt the risewell in full armor. With a huff, I began climbing the muddy channel, my spiked gloves digging into the dirt walls. My armor shaved the walls as I climbed, but I would make it. An ear alert for dangers behind me, I made my way up.
At last, I reached the surface and poked my head out. This risewell accessed the caverns from a hanging ledge below the glade. Once out, I must be wary of the wet gravel at the stony edge and take care not to fall into the gulch. A rocky river full of hungry night-fish waited below. After the rains, they would be fat and slow.
I pulled myself out of the risewell and found purchase on the rock wall behind the access hole. The sky was black with no moon or Ikshe shining above and the rains had ceased, but the cloud cover remained. I climbed hand over hand, stealth settings engaged. Joaxma would not leave her ship during the night, but one could never be too careful with these unpredictable travelers.
I reached the lip of the cliff and peered at the glade.
A ferocious battle between the mighty scaled rokhural and the deadly pazathel-nax wolves carried out before my eyes, and not five veltiks from Joaxma’s ship. The size of the bellowing rokhural made her ship seem like a child’s toy. It appeared to teeter for a moment but remained stable for now.
Panic seized my heart. Was she inside her ship?
Watching the fury, I pulled myself up and over the ledge, cautious not to draw attention to myself. The battle could persist for zatiks. The little builder would be forced to stay inside her ship until the beasts tired. Had she enough supplies? I frowned at my heart’s odd cadence. Yes, the Goddesses seemed invested in my protection of the human, but it need not progress further than that.
A fresh pack of pazathel-nax stalked another rokhura, its alpha hazing the hind legs of a sister rokhura. The rokhura’s throat sac swelled as she enlisted her fellows for aid, but they were likewise engaged with several other devil dogs.
I crouch-walked to the side of Joaxma’s ship, placing a hand on the smooth metal. Standing, I crept to the porthole to ensure she was safe.
At the window, I peered in. The thick glass obscured my view, but what little I could see revealed a pile of large rocks and wood shavings. I scanned its interior and saw her bare feet and legs. She slept on a mat. I counted the digits on her feet, amused to see so many of them. Ten digits! I flexed my six in my boots and turned away, a half-smile creasing my expression.
What an odd little race of people. No hides, no fangs, no claws.
Now to drive the clashing beasts from this place, if possible. My mouth formed a permanent frown, realizing my … the … glade had never entertained a battle of this magnitude before.
I counted the devil dogs. Twenty-three. And five rokhural. My hand drifted to my sword’s empty scabbard. Kathe. I could not do this without my brethren. I traced the scene until my gaze fell on the large tree. If I scaled it, I could fire flares into the conflict and disperse them, but without more weapons and companions, it was the best I could do. The only problem was the contest warring between me and the tree.
With a murmured prayer to the Goddesses, as well as a curse to Them for pulling me into the traveler’s orbit, I drew my secondary weapon and charged.
15
Despite last night’s chaos, I had fallen asleep. Curiosity drove me to the window before I even reviewed the recordings. What had happened after the rains and the dire wolves and the dinosaur-like beasts had torn through the glade?
As expected, the meadow was thrashed, but all signs of the carnivores were gone. Check that. A lone giant gray millipede encircled the bones, its belly mouths devouring scraps on every surface, while huge black birds swarmed the bones like seagulls at the shore. When I toggled the mic, the only sounds were the brush of wings and the scrabbling of insect legs.
“VELMA, play back the video from overnight.”
“Playing on Monitor A.”
Since the recording had been performed using the night vision camera, it was dark and patchy, but I could still make out the ferocious battle. Their eyes and teeth gleamed; dark sprays of blood splashed against the white fur. Every inch of the screen had something biting, clawing, kicking, scratching, or pulling. They showed no signs of letting up, each breed fighting to the death but impossible to kill.
A shadowy blur caught my attention.
Using the touchscreen, I expanded the view with two fingers, zooming in on the shadow.
A bipedal figure!
All my muscles tensed, but hope sprang in my chest.
My heart kicked up, and I white-knuckled the washcloth in my hands. But it wasn’t human. At least … it was
hard to gauge. I needed a frame of reference. It slinked among the animals, something flashing before one of the white wolves collapsed, but then it would disappear. It looked as if it was making its way to the tree, but its movement drew the attention of nearby wolves. Where they once were attacking the dinosaurs with harrying bursts, now two or three sought out the figure. It rose taller and brandished multiple weapons. I could see now; it wore a helmet and armor.
Where had it come from? Why was it here?
One of the dinosaurs spotted it. Kicking a wolf away, it maneuvered closer to the armored being. My heart in my throat, I watched as the fighter swung its blades in seamless motions, one form bleeding into another, as if choreographed. A swift count showed the number of wolves diminishing, but only by a few. Was it gaining ground to the tree?
I lost track of time, my hands fisting and heart racing as I watched the scene play out. The figure danced its way closer to the trunk, employing its full body in every strike, stabbing and thrusting, jabbing with its elbow or kicking out with a well-aimed boot.
The four-legged reptile with numberless teeth was within striking distance. I reached for the wall and pushed my hand against it, biting my lip as I watched. I forced myself to remember this was a recording and not happening live.
In a shocking display of agility and strength, the figure leaped to the tree and clung to it with its right arm, its left free to wield its oddly curved double-blade. It kicked its boots into the bark, and I realized it must have spikes for the purpose. It gradually scaled the tree, dodging the snapping jaws of the reptile and administering strategic blows. An eye. A snout. A shoulder. At last, it pierced the throat sac when it billowed out, and the reptile stumbled and fell, collapsing onto a wolf that didn’t dodge in time.
The remaining wolves dove at it, their hunger soon to be satisfied.
I roamed the scene with my gaze and spotted the other battles playing out in a cluster to the west of the tree. I flashed back to the drama in the tree and saw the being sheathe its weapon and climb out of reach of anymore carnivores. The figure disappeared into the branches.
Tracked on Predator Planet (Predator Planet Series) Page 7
