by Jay Toney
I drew more power into my body and envisioned the shuttle bay. Ten Lycan ships lined its runway. Defenders were firing at the intruders. "Not without me," Persephone grabbed hold of me. We were both transported to the shuttle bay.
She pulled her sword, and I drew my blaster and began firing at the intruders. In just moments, another ten ships landed, dispersing more hunters.
"Bad dog!" Persephone yelled, swinging her blade at an attacker. Its head rolled to her feet, and she kicked it away from her. Our defenders were quickly becoming outnumbered. Every attacker I shot, regained their feet moments later, their flesh regenerated, and ready to continue the fight. The only ones that didn't heal were the Lycans Persephone dismembered.
Persephone made an announcement, "All defenders, use swords." Some members of our security detail had swords, a few had energy swords, most had to return to the armory, their blasters were useless. What was a stalemate turned into a retreat. The Lycans gained more territory into our ship with each passing minute.
One Lycan stood out from the others. His snout was held high in the air, testing the scent. He was taller and more muscular than the other Lycans. I made my way towards him.
Most Lycans avoided Persephone and me, after a few examples. Now they charged, defending their leader. Some of the Lycans fought using their teeth and claws, others used swords. They were incredibly fast and furious. We struggled, trying to avoid both tooth and nail.
One of the Lycans got through our defense attacking from the rear. His jaw clenched down hard, tearing flesh away from my left shoulder. My body released nanites to start repairing the wound. I turned swinging my sword, the Lycan fell dead at my feet, cleaved in two.
Every foot we gained to reach the leader was paid for with blood, mine and theirs. The alpha waited patiently. The young from his pack continued to attack, proving their loyalty and fighting ability. The deck of the shuttle bay was slick with both Lycan and human blood.
When we got within 20 feet of him, he signaled the attack to stop. Persephone was separated from me. She was not attacked, just isolated, surrounded by Lycans. The Alpha stood ready for me, his sword drawn.
"You and your mate bleed easily," the Lycan snarled. He swung his blade. I met it with mine. The force of the blades clashing was transmitted down the blade to its handle. I nearly lost my grip on the hilt.
The runes glowed brightly. I found myself parrying blow after blow. The Lycan was fast. I was left with no time to attack. With each blow, my sword became heavier and the runes dimmed.
I had no time to draw more power, and I was expending my energy fast to match the alpha's strength. One of his blows slipped past my guard, slicing through my thigh. Had it not been cybernetic, it would have ended the battle right then.
I felt the pain of the wound as if my leg was still flesh, blood-like fluid flowed from the wound. Readouts flashed in my head describing the level of damage and the need to divert more power to the limb. It reminded me of my reserve. I still had a second source of power stored within me. I tapped into that power.
The runes no longer glowed, now they were aflame with power, the sword burned with blue fire. I stopped the Lycans next blow and pushed him back. It was his turn to defend. I attacked with all the furry I could muster, knocking his sword free from his hands. He fell to his knees.
"Make it quick," He snarled, lifting his muzzle to expose his throat.
The tip of my sword found his throat. The smell of burning fur filled the air. "Yield and call off your people."
"I yield."
He took a communicator from his belt, "All wolf packs, cease hostilities and return to your ships! The hunt is over."
The Lycans growled but obeyed. They gathered their dead and returned to their ships. The fresh meat would not be left behind and wasted. The attacking ships shut down their drives becoming invisible without their drive plumes.
I wasn't sure what to do next. Did I kill the Lycans or did I imprison them? The Lycan Alpha made that decision for me. "All wolf packs, return home." All but one ship left the Persephone. The last ship waited for their Alpha.
"What is to be my fate?" he growled.
There were enough dead and injured on my ship. I didn't need to add to the tally. I was tired, exhausted from the battle. "Go," I pointed to his ship. He turned and headed towards his ship, without looking back. Persephone teleported us to the bridge.
"I am sorry Nathaniel. All those who were bitten are infected with the Lycan virus. There is no cure. We have an elixir that will help by slowing down the effects of the virus but only for a few weeks. Everyone infected will either need to be killed or marooned where they can do no harm. When they change the need to hunt will be overwhelming."
"Jewel, let Doc know the bad news. He needs to make a list of everyone who has been bitten and administer the medicine."
"Ares, do we leave them here?"
"No. They would be seen as fresh meat and ripped apart. They will need their own world. There isn't a lot of time to search. When they change, it will be too late."
Our database showed that Theta Crateris was a solitary blue dwarf sun. Chances were good that we might find a habitable planet orbiting the sun. If so, and if there wasn't a civilization already established on the planet, we might find a home for our infected crew there.
"Nugget, set our course for Theta Crateris."
****
Amber and Jewel were eager to celebrate our victory. "Nathaniel, hurry, come join us."
"I can't."
"We thought so, there are other ways to share pleasure until you can get some help."
"It's not that. I can, what I mean is that I was bitten. It wouldn't be fair to make the two of you suffer my fate. Persephone was bitten too. Both of us will be exiled shortly. It will be up to the two of you to find Earth." I pulled off my torn shirt to show the girls the wound. It would be days before the Nanites could finish the repairs.
"There isn't anything wrong with you. You look perfectly healthy."
"Your body is finally learning how to regenerate itself," Persephone examined my shoulder looking for any evidence that I was bitten. "You need not worry about being affected by the Lycan's bite. Their bites only infect mortals."
"Then neither you or I need to leave?"
"Only if you want to."
Now I had a reason to celebrate.
****
I borrowed a bucket of fresh manure from the Sequoia. Persephone did the transformation while Astrea and Nugget slept. Both of us admired our handiwork. "They look happy together," Persephone laughed. I looked down at the dung beetles and couldn't help but agree.
"How long do you think it will take them to figure it out?"
"I give it a day at most. Until then, they will be happy together."
"What will happen when they figure it out?"
"Astrea will transform Nugget and herself back into their true forms. She will be upset but will not dare retaliate. She knows that she and Nugget crossed a line. After she has had time to calm down, our games will continue, as before. We have been playing this game since I was a child. We will keep playing our game for a long time to come."
Dark Crater
"Captain, we may have struck gold in this system. The fourth planet is habitable with a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere. There is plenty of water, and woodlands teeming with life. Its temperature is a little on the cold side, but not freezing. There is no power generation or structures that would be present on any civilized world."
"Captain, the system is quiet, I am not receiving any communications signals. I am not getting any response from navigation or communications satellites."
As far as I knew, Nugget and his girlfriend & partner in mischief were still enjoying the bountiful feast that Persephone and I left them. They were still in his quarters. Persephone manned the helm station in his place. "Set course for the fourth planet, best speed, and enter orbit."
With no one to monitor our speed, we weren't going to spend days or week
s reaching orbit. It would only take hours traveling at .1c. We could cruise much faster, but we would lose most of the time gained by having to decelerate earlier and longer to reach the inner planets.
An exploration party would have to go to the surface to ensure that our people had a chance, not of just surviving, but of thriving. I owed it to them for the service they did to the fleet. It wasn't their fault that they were bitten and now carried the Lycan virus in their blood.
The medication that Ares supplied slowed the virus but soon the infected people would undergo the change into their Lycan form until they learned how to control their form and change back. After the transformation took place, there would be a constant urge to hunt. In time they would learn to control when they transformed into their Lycan form, but wouldn't be able to resist the change itself.
To control population and over hunting, Lycans rarely bit people without making sure they killed their victim. They only let a select few join their ranks, after careful consideration of the skills they would bring to the pack. Accidents happened, during the act of making love. Love bites were shared ensuring their wives or the partner they chose to be their mate were likewise infected.
Wolves and their Lycan cousins mated for life. Only in rare cases did Lycans take a new mate after the loss of their previous mate.
****
"Captain, we have entered orbit 20,000km above the planet's surface." The viewscreen changed from the view ahead of our ship to the planet's surface. Most of the planet was covered with green plant life. There were small spots of desert regions. Water was plentiful with large freshwater lakes, rivers, and oceans.
Persephone started feeding sensor information directly to me, through my cybernetic link, before Amber could begin her report. I could hear Amber in the background, but my attention was on the information flowing to me:
Gravity - 0.9g
Mean average temperature - 72° F
Atmosphere - Oxygen 25%, Nitrogen 65%, Carbon
Dioxide 4%, Helium 2% Carbon Monoxide 1.5%,
Argon 0.5% and the last 2% were a mix of trace
amounts of other gases.
Land Mass - 60%
Water - Fresh 36%, Salt 2%
There were also abundant signs of animal life. The planet's readings were about as close to perfect as it could get. There were no readings that would indicate civilized life. There were no cities, towns, or villages. There was no indication of power generation or pollution that would account for developing life.
"Dung beetles! How original, couldn't the two of you come up with anything more original?"
"Where is Astrea?"
"She is trying to clean the manure off of herself. None of the naiads will let her bathe in their waters. I had to shower five times before I felt clean."
"Why doesn't she just use your shower?"
"It's a goddess thing, showers aren't good enough."
"Persephone uses our shower, then if she feels she still needs a bath, she doesn't have to worry about polluting the water in her private bath. She is already clean."
"I'm not about to argue about something as trivial as bathing with her. I was already transformed into a dung beetle for upsetting a goddess."
"You're in luck. While the two of you were enjoying your bucket of manure, we arrived at a planet that needs exploration. There is plenty of water down there that Astrea can bathe in."
"I'll flip you for it."
"Not this time. We will be sending down 10 exploration teams to determine if the planet is suitable for colonization. You and Astrea will take a team, Amber and Jewel will take a shuttle down, Persephone and I will also be going down to the surface."
"That is only three teams."
"Red will be sending two teams, Beverly will be sending a team, and Mike will be sending the scientists down with four of his teams. We will all be exploring different landing sites."
"What will we be looking for, that our sensors can't detect?"
"We need to test the water to make sure it is safe to drink. We also need to make sure there is enough wild game to hunt, and the vegetation is safe to eat. If possible, we need to find out why there is no civilized life on the planet."
Persephone chose ten different landing sites, each with a different topography. I made sure Nugget got a mountainous region. I promised him that there would be plenty of water for Astrea to bathe in. The area he was given had a cascading river coming from an underground source, complete with waterfalls. Near the base of the mountain was a lake that the river emptied into before continuing its way to the ocean. The water would be freezing, but there was more than enough for Astrea's use.
Jewel and Amber got a forest area to explore. Persephone and I got an area of tundra, surrounded by woodlands. The other teams explored the coastlines and oceans, the polar regions, desert areas, and the great lakes and river areas.
****
The Medusa fighter settled down on the grassland we selected for our landing sight. Its landing gear sunk nearly a foot before stabilizing. We waited a short time for our ship's pressure to equalize with the greater air pressure outside. We already knew that the atmosphere was breathable and opened the hatch as soon as we could.
The smell was the first thing I noticed. It had been a while since we were last planetside. Gone were the smells of lubricants, deodorizers, and disinfectants. They were replaced with the smell of vegetation, wildflowers, and pollen. We stepped into grass that was knee high and spotted with wildflowers of every color and fragrance.
The buzzing sound of insects returned within minutes of our landing. I pressed a button on a small device on my utility belt. A field covered my body, designed to repel insects. A swarm of insects surrounded Persephone, but none landed on her or bit her. "This reminds me of home. Look at all the beautiful flowers." She selected a few, picked them bunching them together in a bouquet, and admired their fragrance.
We walked towards the woods. The grass grew shorter the nearer we got to the woods. We broke through the tall grass into an area that was cropped close to the ground. Piles of fresh dung littered the ground. We couldn't see any of the creatures that ate the grass.
The nearest trees were fruit trees, bearing what looked like oranges. Persephone picked a couple and tossed me one. She peeled the fruit with her hands and separated the wedges and ate them one at a time. "They are oranges, just like home. Try it, they are sweet and juicy." Not to be outdone by her I peeled the thick skin and bit into the fruit. Juice poured from the fruit onto my face. It was sweet, plentiful, and sticky. Persephone laughed, "You are supposed to eat it in pieces."
I had seen oranges on the Sequoia, drank the juice, but had never eaten a whole orange before. The closest I got was eating the cut slices in the Sangria Amber made. There were other fruit trees nearby. Some had fruit I recognized like apples and pears. Several had fruit I didn't recognize, in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes.
We also found our first creatures here. They were well camouflaged in shades of green and brown. Despite their color and ability to hide, they did not remain hidden. They were loud, screeching at us for invading their territory. There were thirty or more perching in the trees we were looking at. Most were small about 30cm with the largest reaching about 60cm. A few were eating the star-shaped fruit that the tree provided. Even though they appeared harmless, individually, they had sharp teeth and claws that we could see and they stayed together in a group.
We backed away from the trees that were occupied by the creatures, right into an Iguanodon. Doc told me about prehistoric creatures and made me study them when I was young. When I was much younger, I was fascinated by the creatures. I had never seen any outside of the holovids. But, I had heard stories about their existence from other starship pilots.
The Iguanodon didn't even seem to notice us, even after we bumped into it. It was smaller than what I expected, being only a little over four meters from the tip of its tail to its snout. It walked the few remaining feet to the tree, reare
d up on its hind legs and began feeding on the fruit, leaves, and small branches. From more than a few feet away, the creature blended in with its background. It had the ability to change its color to match colors with either the bright green of the grass or the darker green of the tree leaves.
We moved out of range of the feeding animals. The Iguanodon took no notice of the other screeching inhabitants in the tree it was snacking on. As we passed by the fruit trees, we collected samples of the fruit to be analyzed by Doc and the biologists. Some of the fruit we sampled ourselves. My cybernetic stomach could probably handle anything I could get past my taste buds.
Persephone didn't have to worry about the fruit. As long as she liked the flavor she would eat it and collect more. Occasionally she would throw the fruit she picked to the ground as being not ripe enough, to sour, or bitter. It made the task of collecting and carrying the fruit harder for me. Persephone wouldn't gather any fruit that didn't pass her taste test, and she felt the need to sample everything that she picked.
****
Nugget piloted his shuttle, following a river and looking for a place he could land. The terrain was full of tall trees, only occasionally broken up with rocky boulders. At the base of the mountain, there was a bright blue lake being fed by a waterfall cascading down from the nearby mountain. It would be the perfect place for Astrea to bathe if there were no water nymphs to stop her.
He found what he was looking for. There was a small clearing ahead, large enough for him to land his shuttle in and only a short walk to the edge of the lake. He changed course, and headed to the clearing, beginning the landing cycle.
With the landing gear down, his speed was reduced. The shuttles repulsorlift engines allowed him to ease the shuttle over the clearing and descend. His landing was smooth. Only a few branches were bent on his way down to the surface.
