The sun had come up by the time the whole incident had finished and the crew was donning their body armor and prepping their weapons to exit the Destroyer. From every direction the surrounding area looked completely clear. The only living thing visible anywhere near the ship was a few dozen adorable little rodent looking animals that reminded Chase and Daniel of chipmunks. The little creatures would stand on their hind legs and let out an almost chirping type bark then scurry along the surface of the rock and do the same thing again. Lydia was the first to exit the ship and immediately began to walk toward the fuzzy little balls of fur. The dozen or two that had originally been outside the ship had grown to fifty or sixty by the time the exploration team exited the ship. The larger number of rodents rose to face the inquiring child that was approaching them. Then suddenly ran away toward the smelly carcass of the headless lizard. Major Hudson declared, “That thing looks like an over-sized Gila Monster now that I can see that it had legs. It sure acted like one.” As the group walked toward what remained of the lizard that wanted to eat their ship with them in it, more and more of the little chipmunk things began to pour over the edge of the solid rock walls and ascend on the dead beast. In minutes there were hundreds of thousands covering the remains. The entire group from Verron backed away in revulsion as the things looked like piranha devouring a slow swimming animal. It seemed like the stream of flesh eating chipmunks continued until there was nothing to be seen of their meal. The little creatures who couldn’t get to the dead meat where tearing into each other. Chase signaled the Major and said, “This would seem like a good time to leave, before the little monsters turn on us.” Lydia began to laugh as they walked away, saying, “I’ll probably have nightmares next time I babysit the MJs and they want to watch Chip and Dale.”
The climb down the side of the rock face was not as grueling as they thought it would be. The Marine scouts located a path that went most of the way down then there was only a 500 foot drop to repel down. The climb had them even with the surrounding treetops at the beginning and having to negotiate the limbs in their way the rest of the way down. Often, fifty or sixty of the small monkey looking animals would screech and yell their displeasure at these people invading their space. As they were nearly half-way down Ibrihim observed, “Hey, the little buggers have stopped their protests and climbed back up to the top of the trees.” In a short while one of the Marines spoke through his communications link and said, “Put on your 5x and look up.” What they saw left them spellbound with fascination. The monkeys had climbed up to within a few feet of the top of the trees and were hiding behind the large, lush upper leaves. A flock of birds circled the treetops for a short time and ascended to feed on the small berries that bloomed at the tips of the foliage. While they fluttered about feeding, hundreds of monkeys leaped upwards and caught as many of the small sparrow sized birds as they could then settled into the comfort of the tree limbs to eat their catch. Everyone was looking up silently when the silence was broken with Chase saying, “Show’s over. We need to keep moving.” Soon the 30 explorers were on the ground and as the Major had predicted, ankle deep in thick muck. If it had not been for the enhanced exoskeleton of the body armor, it would have not taken long for everyone to be exhausted from trying to walk in the glue like mud.
The view looking up was as spectacular as the view had been looking down. A misty haze of moisture covered the ferns, small bushes, tall grass and vines that covered the forest floor. Above them were the feeding monkeys and soon they were joined by some kind of baboon sized, six legged lizard thing, that leaped from tree to tree like rocky the flying squirrel. These viscous looking animals were making a sound much like a dogs bark, but not until they had already killed their quota of the monkeys. Occasionally a dozen monkeys would jump on one of the bigger creatures and fall from the high trees to the forest floor while trying to defend their pack. Both died on impact from the 500 foot fall. In minutes the same little chipmunks were scrabbling from under every bush to cover the fresh meat under the trees. While the Dragon Guard was looking at the carnage around them, one of the Marine scouts radioed that he had found a narrow trail. Chase noticed, it is pretty much like the deer trails Grandpa Kary had shown Chase and Daniel in the woods of Mississippi and Tennessee, except whatever had made this trail was a bit larger than a deer.
Typically a deer trail will lead you to a favorite watering hole or feeding area. Whatever had made this deep trail was no different. The trail followed the thick foliage of the forest floor for at least four or five miles until it came to a deep but narrow stream. I looked as if the creature that made the path actually followed the stream in one direction or another since the trail ended at the streams edge. Major Hudson suggested that they follow the stream in the direction of its flow since that would most likely lead them to the larger body of water they had flown over while approaching the solid rock landing zone. The Marines led the way and wasted no time pulling the Klelta steel machetes designed specifically for this purpose. While the Marines were hacking away to clear the path ahead, those behind began to notice constant medium to light impacts against their legs. Ibrihim looked down to see what it was just as a snake shot out of the knee high swamp grass and struck his well shielded leg. He immediately said, “Look down guys.” Over the com unit he heard no shortage of exclamations from those with him and a screech of disgust from his little sister. To everyone’s shock, Lydia reached down and snatched the next snake to strike her. Being held up for the others to see, the three foot long serpent wiggled, squirmed and spit. It was a remarkable animal. It had fangs like any other snake and spit like a Cobra, except it spit an acid strong enough to instantly wilt the leaves around them as it bounced off their armor. This particular model of snake was deadly at both ends. While biting you with its long fangs it could also strike you with a sharp stinger on the end of its tail. It was one vicious and angry snake. Lydia threw it to the ground in disgust. Instead of running like any normal snake would have done, it began to attack once again along with hundreds of others hidden along the grassy trail.
It was slow going through the thick rain forest and everyone was getting annoyed at the pesky snakes that did not give up. About the time they had endured all they could and one of the Marines turned to spray the field with his shoulder mounted 5mm Gatling, the snakes ceased to strike. It suddenly grew silent without the sound of snake heads dinging off steel armor. Then the teams saw why. Coming through the grass was a hard-shelled creature that resembled an armadillo, except it was the size of a St. Bernard dog and had a long scoop-shaped snout. It was also obviously immune to snake bites. The big snout would scoop-up a dozen snakes at a time and swallow them without chewing, then put his head down to scoop-up some more. It didn’t seem the least bit interested in or afraid of the nearby Marine squad. Evidently it was too busy enjoying its lunch. While the Marines and Dragon Guard was watching, mesmerized by the unusual snake eater, out from behind one of the forty-foot wide trees charges an eight-legged animal the size of a hippopotamus. It was one of the most ferocious things any of them had ever seen. It was wicked fast for an animal that had to weigh a couple of tons. It snatched-up the snake-eater so quickly the thing didn’t even have time to see what got him. The gigantic jaws of his attacker snapped him in half in an instant, leaving the other half of the body bloody on the ground. In a flash, the beast turned and the other half disappeared. Evidently one small snake eater was not enough to satisfy the things appetite. He raised his head and roared a blood-curdling scream that shook the entire forest and made the steel body armor vibrate. It lowered its car sized head to charge his next meal and didn’t make it three steps.
Evidently his macho roar meant to announce his intended meal of his soon coming, also alerted the next beast on the food chain. The ground felt like an earthquake as the sixty-foot tall Godzilla looking monster raced into the grass and clamped down on the Marines would-be attacker. His steam-shovel sized jaws clamped down on the rear half of his fleeing meal and he shook it so
hard that the truck-sized animal tore in half, the upper half landing mere feet from the explorers. The thing then turned and leaped directly for his intended meal, actually knocking over a few 50 foot trees that got in its way. It snatched up the remainder of his kill in one gulp and without hesitation grabbed a fleeing Lydia with his next, catching her bodies upper half and clanking down on the hard steel shell trying to bite it in half. It decided to simple swallow it whole. The entire squad quickly turned when they heard Ibrihim scream, “It’s got Lydia.” They all stared in horror just in time to see her little legs disappear into the snapping jaws. The Marines drew their weapons ready to fire and the three members of the Dragon Guard reflexively pulled their light sabre.
Just as they were ready to open fire on the big man-eater, it stood on its huge hind legs and let out a ground shaking scream. Everyone was so focused on the roaring jaw filled with three foot long teeth, that at first they didn’t notice the big hole suddenly appear across the belly of the beast and a light sabre sticking out. Then Daniel screamed, “Look!! Look at the stomach!!” At that point, the cut across the abdominal section formed a large “X”. The beast was screaming in pain and anger as his guts began to spill out on the ground in front of him where Lydia had sliced through thick meat and bones to make her escape. Marines opened fire at his big head while Ibrihim raced towards the hole that now had a blood and guts soaked Lydia pushing her way through. Chase and Daniel arrived simultaneously with Ibrihim and they grabbed the struggling Lydia and pulled her through the “X” shaped opening. Not bothering to look behind them, they raced for the safety of the Marines. Once the four were safely away from the dying beast, two rounds from a shoulder mounted 20mm Plasma Cannon blew holes the size of a Volkswagen through the chest of the animal. It fell with enough impact to break surrounding trees and shake fruit from the trees overhead.
Lydia was disgusted with the entire ordeal. Ibrihim tried to humor her by comparing her to Jonah in the belly of the whale. She let him know straight-up, “That was no whale and it had no intentions of transporting me to Nineveh. It was disgusting. I could see, smell and feel everything it had eaten for the last few days. If it hadn’t been for this armor, I would be digesting along with his other meals. Yuck! It was disgusting and I need to clean all this icky stuff off of me, NOW!” Once everyone was sure she was alright, they began to joke her about being an M&M, with the hard candy shell and gooey inside. The others started giving her a hard time about how bad she smelled with the monster guts covering her armor. One of the Marines asked, “Hey Prince Daniel, you’ve made all kinds of changes to this armor – maybe you should try for a self-cleaning model just for Lydia. The group was having so much fun they didn’t notice what was happening where the big beast had fallen. One of the Marines pointed behind them and said, “Good God, does everything on this planet eat meat?” They turned to see the vines that covered the ground and surrounding trees enshrouding the dead animal. In moments, before their eyes, the entire 60 foot body was covered. The vines were feeding off the dead meat and fresh blood. It wasn’t long before the little chipmunks arrived, but they could not get through the ferocious vines. When they attempted to feed on the corps, they were eaten as well. The vine was not a picky eater. Everyone looked at each other and Lydia commented, “Well, I wondered why this place stayed so clean and pristine. We may not have self-cleaning body armor, but they have a self-cleaning jungle floor.”
Everyone was so wrapped-up in watching the vines quickly devour a semi-truck sized animal, they didn’t notice the creatures mate nearby. They heard the ear-piercing wail of the mate and turned to see it looking off across the thick woods instead of at them. It then took-off as fast as it could in the opposite direction. Chase and Daniel looked in the direction the beast-mate had been looking and saw nothing at first. They both switched to thermal imaging and were terrified at what they observed. Hidden completely from sight in the thick forest were over 100 of the scariest freaks of nature either had ever seen. Chase only said one word to the Marines, “Thermals” Daniel added, “Let’s get out of here. We didn’t come here to fight.” Lydia switched her vision to thermal and activated her headset camera recorder. She had not had it on the entire time. It would have been cool to have film of her sliding down the throat to the belly of the beast. What they saw was a frightening sight. Major Hudson figured anything that could scare off the creature like that one must be the top of the food chain on this planet. The Major was born in Montana and had heard the stories of “Big Foot” or “Sasquatch” all his life. He knew it was just a fable, but these things looked like the real deal. Standing 15 to 20 feet tall and covered in course looking short fir, they had massive clawed hands and a face that only a Grizzly bear could love. What amazed them the most was that they were all armed, no modern weapons, but they carried the longest spears, bow and arrows, clubs and long handled axes anyone had ever seen. These were not jungle beast; these were intelligent life-forms and prepared to defend their territory from unwelcomed guests.
The group pretended to not see their observers and slowly turned to head back toward the ship. To avoid the vines and snakes, they took a slightly different heading back to the stone landing zone. If they hadn’t altered their course the short few hundred feet, they would have never discovered the nearly ocean sized body of water right next to where they stood. The stream they had been following did in fact end at a larger body of water. Lydia was dying to slip into the water and wash her armor clean of the drying blood and guts and just about to do so when they observed hundreds of 30 to 50 foot gator-fish swimming near the shore watching them as they walked by the water’s edge. With a sudden halt of the Marines, Major Hudson pointed up. Every eye was on three large flying creatures circling the water below. They weren’t quite as big as Zeus. They more closely resembled a Pterosaurs, with their long beaks and lizard looking bodies. Without warning one of the big birds swooped from the sky right towards the explorers. Thirty weapons were prepared to blast it from the sky, but it suddenly skimmed the surface of the water and clasped onto one of the big gator-fish. Everyone watched in wonder as it flew away with its meal. They stood to watch the next one dive at an unbelievable speed toward the water’s surface. Just as it extended its long claws to scoop up his catch, a leviathan of a water creature exploded from beneath the surface and took the gigantic bird in one bite. No one had ever seen a creature so large. The wave it caused as it crashed back into the water washed a good two feet high as it reached the shore. Ibrihim stood with his mouth opened, then turned to his sister and asked, “You still want to wash off. I’ll keep an eye opened while you do.” No one had ever seen Lydia strike her brother before, but they were pretty sure it was not done with affection.
The thirty exhausted explorers reached the summit of the rock just before it was beginning to get dark again. The 100 foot long lizard that welcomed them to Paradise was nothing but sun dried bones. With nothing left to eat, the Chip and Dale scavengers were nowhere to be seen. Daniel sent out drones once again to recover soil and vegetation samples, water samples and hopefully something that lived on the planet. They had no desire to venture out into the inhospitable place again. They remained on the rock until the last of the drones arrived about four hours later. After discussing the planet with the Marines, it was agreed it was way too dangerous a place to even begin thinking about colonization or exploiting the planets resources. A full report would be filed and Tlase would be given the opportunity to take a scientific team to the planet to determine what, if any, natural resources it may have. Just before they were about to leave, Lydia came to the control room all clean and fresh after two showers. None of the guts and goo actually touched her skin, but the thought was so disgusting, she just had to be sure. One of the young Marines volunteered to clean her body armor for her. Lydia made a point of suggesting that the young corporal would be excellent sergeant material. Daniel inspected the ship for any damage or stowaway animals and flew one slow pass over the area where they had seen the a
rmed Big Foot. Using his thermal imaging and life-form recognition, he soon flew over a narrow valley holding several thousand of the creatures. There was no indication that they had even discovered fire as yet. Chase wondered what the anthropologist that now lived on Verron would think of this place. On the trip home, Lydia was given a surprise video screening of her first meal; her first time being a meal that is. She didn’t realize that the helmet video was indeed running as she was being chewed, swallowed and digested. She made everyone promise not to show the film to Tlase or Zimuel. She didn’t want to be the first member ever grounded from the Dragon Guard.
Chapter 15
Katelyn’s trip to Australia for her birthday was just what she needed. She loved the life and the friends she had developed there. Back home on Verron her identity was always Princess Katelyn Verron – niece of the King, member of the Dragon Guard, Hunter’s cousin, Chase or Tala’s brother or Prince Marcus’ oldest child, she could never simply be Katelyn. Her new friends never mentioned her family or her positions, to them she was just a good looking sun-bleached blond who surfed like a pro and sang like a songbird. She was fun to be around and recognized as a talented entertainer. She hated to return to Area 51 after a weekend of surfing, singing and playing in the sun. The recordings of her previous concert had been circulated to enough people that Sony Music Entertainment – Australia had attended her performance over the weekend and asked if she would be interested in signing with them. She almost leaped at the opportunity, but decided that even if she was now twenty, she was completely ignorant of the business world and the nature of contracts. She wisely informed them that she would have to discuss it with her father, Uncle Michael and Uncle Paul before committing to any such obligation. She knew that the kind of commitment required of her would interfere with her other responsibilities and she wasn’t about to do that anytime soon. Before she left, she told her closest friends, that had visited Verron, she was working out a plan to own the island where they had been enjoying the surf while on their visit and that there was even an interest from someone in building an entire resort on the location. She finished with, “I’ll need people I know and trust to run things. Let me know if you’re interested.”
Serve and Protect Page 46
