Mission: Harbeasts of Mars
By V. A. Jeffrey
Copyright © 2015
All rights reserved.
Artwork by Streetlight Graphics
An Epistle Publishing book
The stories contained in this book are works of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, past or present is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved.
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1
Dawn's light limned the distant mountains in rust orange and red hues. All around I was engulfed in seas of blood colored sand and regolith. The variegated landscape of desert stretched out into infinity at every point around me, and myself, a singular point, a sole speck of flesh and blood in a bloody looking land.
I didn't see any sign of the harbeasts, even though I'd just heard them a few minutes ago. I did have my guns with me and that was some small comfort.
But guns did nothing to relieve thirst and dying from lack of water out here before I could reach a station started to weigh on me.
My helmet's compass screen skewed and buzzed out of view for a few seconds and then the helmet restarted its systems. I waited anxiously, listening out for the fearful roaring of those hideous, engineered creatures again. Finally, after righting itself I could read it properly. I needed to head north.
Heading north.
The overlay map in my helmet was still showing signs of malfunctioning with corrupted characters and images that would scroll down the screen and erratic skewing and fading out of any temperature and air suitability readings. Frustrated, I banged my helmet, as that was the only thing I could think of to deal with the issue. It stopped misbehaving, for the time being. It also indicated that the nearest way-station, or any sort of civilization for that matter, was about three days away, traveling by foot. I had no idea if I would be able to hold out that long without food and water. I'd had several moisture pills, along with a small meal pellet the day before, which could help stave off the dangerous symptoms of dehydration and starvation as they also contained minerals and other minute elements of protein to keep death at bay, for a time. But moisture pills and meal pellets were no miracle nor a match for too many days in the Martian desert without more nutrition and at some point I knew that if I didn't keep a steady pace or find someone willing to help me before then, I would be in dire trouble.
Ahead in the distance directly in front of me I saw what seemed a small group of rocky foothills. I'd heard before that there were often criminal and political asylum hideouts hidden in these kinds of places. That was just as deadly as being stranded in the desert alone. Hideouts were usually the domain of dangerous folk. Perhaps enemies of the human race. But I couldn't afford to dwell on such thoughts now so I quickened my pace toward the hills. I had to make short, reachable goals and I'd decided that this was my first one. Just make it to the hills, man.
During my hike, I kept looking back and also checking my helmet. The helmet's view-screen and recalibration processes were not working at optimal capacity and were putting most of its energy toward the breathing and air filtration processes, so I wouldn't be able to detect any living creatures approaching without using my own vision. I caught sight of a few bleached skeletons of unknown creatures, and one from what looked like may have been a Glia. It was startling to come upon. It's thin bone vertebrae protrusions in its back where the wings would have been seemed to crumble and fly off into the air as I bypassed it. I had no idea if the wretched soul had been male or female.
The work of harbeasts, was my guess. Harbeasts, from my previous encounter, seemed to blend in, in parts, with the surrounding environment. Very well engineered, if I had to say so. If they were there, and I knew they were, I couldn't detect them. The sneaky bastards were keeping their distance. Sure enough, as if to let me know that they were indeed present, I heard an aggressive roar from far off behind me. Far enough that I had time to get my weapons ready but close enough that I would never outrun them to the hills if they decided to run me down.
They seemed intent on waiting, for some unknown reason. And I was hell bent on getting to what I saw as at least some scant protection in the foothills. Making my way for hours, striding through the sand I felt myself growing tired. I slowed down slightly and paced myself to conserve energy. Suddenly, I felt another presence approaching. I whipped around, breathing hard, to see one of the creatures striding casually after me. I would never outrun it. It came to a halt as I did and I turned around with my rifle in my hands, ready to fire. Was it toying with me? It's huge maw was open, baring obscenely long fangs, its red tongue lolling in and out of its mouth. There had to be another one around. I wondered if this was some ploy by the creatures to distract me with one at the front while another came at me from the rear. I whipped around in fear at the fleeting thought and then turned to see both creatures leaping toward me. The first one was almost upon me when I raised my rifle, aimed and fired. The harbeast, with lightening speed, had swerved and flipped over in an arc, barely and gracefully missing my killing shot. It now stood boldly some yards away and stared me down. I aimed and fired a second shot. Only to find that the creature was now just out of shooting range. But that shouldn't be! I should have killed it! I looked down at the rifle's energy counter to find that it was fast running out of laser power! The other one had disappeared from view like a phantom. Perhaps it was only a matter of minutes when I would feel its claws tearing into my suit, ripping into my skin underneath and ending it all. The first beast strode proudly to the side, as if taunting me, all the while emitting a deep, menacing growl. Fiery nerve sparks of fear and excitement shot up and down my spine. Where was the other one?
We stood at length for what seemed an eternity, weighing each other's circumstances, studying each other until to my left at the corner of my eye, against the hazy backdrop of the Tholis Elysium mountain range I finally caught the swift movement of the second beast stalking me but it was too far off to shoot down. The other one now sat on its haunches with its large, ringed tail curled around it like a cat in repose, the tail whipping out every few seconds, beating the sand in front of it. The beast had a tough hide that looked a mixture of lichenified rhinoceros armor and shaggy tufts of thick fur around its limbs and joints. It looked something like a cross between an African lion and a saber-toothed tiger. Or a liger with huge protruding fangs and a hard tough exterior skin. A strange sight indeed and terrifying.
I moved backward toward my only safety and oasis, the hills. The harbeast in front of me didn't move as I expected it to, but merely watched me with its keen, fiery orange eyes in probable amusement, like a cat would watch a mouse who thinks itself escaping cruel death.
Except this, the mouse had two guns at his disposal. I watched for any signs for the other creature farther out, but it was not my main concern right now. A memory of an old story I'd read when I was young came to me about a man who had gone through a portal and suddenly found himself on Mars and found through his own body mass on Earth that he could leap high into the air on Mars.
In excitement at this sudden thought, I turned in a flight of adrenaline rush and ran toward the hills, jumping and leaping up high in the air, buoyed by the thin atmosphere. While I didn't leap nearly as high as John Carter, it was sufficient enough for me to get a far enough lead on the harbeasts. I think my sudden speed startled them. Behind me I saw the creature now standing and waiting and I wondered why and then suddenly it roared, bounding forward in great leaps.
I made it to the foot of the plateau of hill rocks and aimed and fired again, sending a blaze of laser fire exploding so quickly that it nearly sent me reeling back, but I held steady. But this action only served to frustrate me as the creature seemed to know, preternaturally, when I would fire and where the aim might hit and it dashed off to the left and rolled backwards, just beyond the reach of the rifle's range. I fired again and could tell by the sound that the rifle's laser power was running down. The energy from the laser fire exploded in a small boulder next to the harbeast, shearing off and sending shards of rock out into the air. Dust settled down in fine, thin strands. Ragged from exertion, coughing and feeling a deep thirst for water, I slung my rifle upon my back and scrambled up the rocks. The rifle grew warm and I felt its slight vibrations. I swung it around and checked its energy counter only to see that it had nearly run out of energy and needed charging up should I need to use it again. And I would need to use it again.
I saw the first beast circle round the base of the rock and then slip across eastward around the foothills. The second one, which to my eye now that I had climbed up high enough out of reach, was larger than the first with a grand blond mane around its head, shot through with streaks of orange, and I surmised it was the male mate of the other. With growing fear and horror, I saw the two then climb up the rocks, nearly nimble as mountain goats on the other side of the hill from me. I watched closely, not taking my eyes from them as they slipped into a cave opening. With my binoculars, I could see the movement of a small creature near the other two harbeasts. It was a cub. In fact, as I watched I saw that there were three cubs. This was a family of harbeasts and the parents were hunting for food for their young. I turned and climbed, stumbling along as fast as I could in the opposite direction. As I scrambled and struggled my way up, I could feel the presence of something coming after me. One of the beasts, the female I assumed, was bounding after me again after having checked on her young. Nothing like a protective mother on the attack! Unfortunately, I found myself now an invader in their territory. If I hadn't known better I'd think I'd landed in an episode of Cosmic Geographic. But I had no intention of being any creature's dinner.
She landed several yards away from me on a small, rocky plateau. She growled low and powerful, her teeth and terrible looking fangs bared. Saliva dripped from her mouth. Her eyes were now orange slits as she gathered her haunches ready to pounce. I could see the powerful muscles in her forelegs rippling through the skin armor and fur. I grabbed my rifle and looked around desperately for a hiding place. I had only a few more shots before the rifle would be rendered useless.
This time the rifle did not seem to give her pause at all. I climbed and then leaped up onto a higher plateau, turned and fired. I hit a boulder at the edge of the plateau. Part of it cracked and slid off. The harbeast had nearly cleared the boulder but its hind leg caught on it and it slipped and fell down with the boulder. Even as she fell she twisted with the lethal grace of a cat in mid-air. I watched in fascination as she fell back toward the lower plateau. Again, she leaped in for the kill and had swiped at my weapon, her cruel claws extending out from those powerful, scaly paws, and barely missing the barrel of the rifle. While I'd pressed the trigger to kill the creature, the loss of energy caused the reaction time of the weapon to slow down considerably and what would have killed her had missed. However, the last, singing blast of the rifle threw me back and had blown another large piece from the boulder. I forced myself up and climbed farther, half leaping, half climbing until I reached a small cave. Thankfully, its opening was so small that only one person at a time could get through. It was too small for her to get to me. I sat down with my guns in front of me. The atomic rifle was completely spent of energy and without an extra power supply it was only useful now as a stick or a makeshift bat as a weapon. But I still had my dragon left which I would need to use judiciously. I peered out at the orange sky and the shimmering white sun, now sinking on the horizon. I heard the bone chilling, full-throated roar of the female harbeast outside my hiding place and the answer from her mate farther away. She peered into the mouth of the cave, her eyes like two flames, piercing the safe darkness. And I wondered what to do next.
2
I awoke with a violent start, almost slamming myself against the wall of the tiny cave and then realized I was still alive and whole. The beasts had not made their way in. I immediately practiced breathing techniques to calm myself. I felt along the sandy floor for my weapons and finding them right by my foot I allowed myself to relax a little.
It was early dawn and pale slivers of light fell through the cave opening. I'd tried desperately to stay awake last night but eventually fell to sleep to the wild sounds of the cubs mewling and their parents' gruffer noises. They had apparently caught something in the night though I could not fathom what it might be. I'll bet the guys over at the Herbert Genetics lab would be thrilled to have one of these as a specimen. I thought darkly. I heard a grand roar from one of the beasts echoing through the hills and it made my heart melt to hear it. Looking around and getting ready to move I felt the aching soreness in my body increase. My body felt as if it had been slammed into a speeder. I noticed some kind of faint glow behind me on the ground. Pulling myself up and sliding farther in against the wall to investigate, it looked like a tiny colony of mushrooms, or moss-like vegetation. I stared at this, puzzled. How is this stuff growing here? It occurred to me to pay attention to my helmet view-screen for a clue. I looked to the right where the indicators for air levels were displayed, but it seemed my helmet was still putting most of its energy and functions toward making sure I could breathe. Auxiliary functions were no longer operational. There was a small green blip at the bottom of the screen that measured oxygen levels. Strangely, it said: “Oxygen level in atmosphere higher than normal.” But that was all I could ascertain. I did my best to stretch my body, going through a few exercises, feeling the slow, gratifying lengthening of my joints. There were a few satisfying cracks in there as well.
When I'd finished with my stretching I grabbed my weapons and bag and began investigating my surroundings while I remained in relative safety. Behind me was a small tunnel and I thought I saw, just beyond it, another cave opening that lead deeper into the complex ring of hills and rock. I thought I detected a faint light source of sunlight but I couldn't be sure.
I crept farther down into the cave toward this other opening. The walls grew closer and higher around me until finally I had to squeeze through the opening, trying my best to flatten myself against the walls. Some scraping and scratching noises could be heard coming from the other opening. I grabbed my laser dragon, thinking the harbeasts had found another way into my hiding place.
Making my way deeper into the caves I noticed that the smooth walls in the rock and the ground eventually gave way to a rough surface, filled with holes that looked like deep pock marks or small craters in the rock, some large enough that stepping into them I nearly lost my footing and fell inside. As I lifted my foot up I saw what looked like some silvery, silken strings dragging on the bottom of my boot.
“What the blazes?” I muttered. As I accidentally stepped into a hole that was unusually large I found that I couldn't pull my boot out. I wiggled my leg and pulled harder, trying to lift my leg out of the hole when I got the distinct feeling that something down beneath in that hole had caught hold of my foot! I pulled and pulled in vain but no matter how hard I tried to lift my leg out, it seemed stuck fast, and then I felt myself being pulled in! I struggled mightily to get my leg out and knew then for a certainty that something had grabbed hold of me and was trying to pull me in. Frantically, as I felt my right leg slowly slipping in and knowing I'd be pulled apart if I didn't do something, I took my rifle and jammed it in the hole beside my leg with great force and I kept jamming it down against whatever had my leg, becoming more violent with each punch down until I felt a release and then I pushed myself up from the ground and lifted my leg out of the hole. I fell back against the other side of the c
ave wall and right afterward I saw long hairy legs shooting out of this hole. They clustered together and I began to realize just how massive this creature was. As it squeezed its huge, gross looking, segmented, hairy body out of the hole, using its many legs against the rock around as a springboard, it's numerous piercing eyes appeared above the hole that was its home, gleaming red eyes sitting up on thin stalks. It's tail was long and armored, looking like a wicked whip. It looked like a giant, primeval arachnid or scorpion of some sort, a disgusting, monstrous looking thing! My primitive brain screamed.
I pulled out my dragon as it made to jump toward me and blasted it back down its hole. Blood or some other grayish green bodily fluid streaked out and up against the rock walls. I saw steam emanating from these droplets of the creature's fluids and where it touched the rock it looked as if it ate tiny holes into it, like some kind of acid. I scrambled and hurried away farther down. I noticed, to my great relief, that the holes in the walls were becoming smaller and soon the walls of the cave tunnel became smooth again.
Suddenly, something else shot out at me, crashing against my knees. It was a furry creature about as big as a small dog and it had wickedly long claws It screeched in rage at my presence in what was probably its home and then climbed up my leg and torso to lash at my head. I took it, grabbing it by the scruff, roughly pulling it away before the thing tore through my suit. Its claws raked at my arms and I struggled, grappling with the dragon when finally I could finally fling it up in the air and then I shot it. The thing shuddered and then went limp. I threw what was left of it outside the other end of the cave and held the dragon in front of me, expecting a whole circus of freakish Martian creatures to come lunging out at me from various hiding places. But none did. The creature I'd just killed looked like a mutant rodent.
Mission: Harbeasts of Mars Page 1
