The Queen's Daemon (T'aafhal Legacy Book 2)

by Doug L. Hoffman

  My God! Is everything on this planet trying to eat everything else?

  Though an astrophysicist, explorer, and traveler to the stars, Mizuki was a city girl through and through. This much nature was more than she ever wanted to see up close. Then she noticed the ichor smeared down the front of her jumpsuit—blood, guts and venom from the creatures who had tried to make a meal of her.

  Eww! Gross. How do I get this yucky stuff off of me? It might attract more hungry predators.

  Exploring her little bower she found some damp, moss like growth that would have to suffice. Rubbing as much of the gore from her clothes as possible, Mizuki calmed down and her breathing quickly returned to normal—the local air had a lot more oxygen in it than Earth standard. As she settled in for the night she reluctantly switched off the little UV lamp on her forehead.

  It's amazing I didn't lose it during the fight, she thought. No sense wasting the battery, and no more walking around during the night. If this is what the Carboniferous was like back on Earth I'm glad people evolved 300 million years later.

  Just as she was about to drop off into fitful sleep, a rumbling sound echoed across the hills. The sound that the natives thought was the roaring of a dragon was not nearly so mysterious to Mizuki—she recognized it as the sound of a jet engine, something that was as out-of-place on this primitive world as she was.

  HQ, Fakkaa Expeditionary Force

  “Commander?” asked the aide, “Sir, the aviation commander says that the flight sent to look for the downed alien aircraft has spotted nothing in the darkness.”

  “What?”

  The Commander was one of those individuals who could transition from a solid sleep to full awake in an instant. This was a good thing for the aide, as the Commander recalled that he left orders to be awakened when the reconnaissance report arrived.

  “Fine, tell the command sergeant that second squad needs to be on station at local dawn. And make sure they take heavy weapons, not just rifles.”

  “Yes, Sir. The squad is awaiting the arrival of the troop transport. They are anxious to see what these aliens look like.”

  “Fine, let me know when they are in the air so I can report to the Fleet Admiral.” The Commander rolled over on his cot and tried to get back to sleep.

  I'm not sure if we want to find these new aliens or not. Hell, we have no idea what the mysterious 'Wise Ones' look like and they are supposed to be our allies. There are too damn many moving parts to this operation, and that's a sure invitation to disaster.

  Chapter 18

  Mizuki in the Jungle

  In the thin light of the morning gloaming Mizuki awoke from a restless night's sleep. The cacophony of night sounds faded, replaced by less frequent but more urgent calls from creatures that prowled the daylit hours. As illumination increased Mizuki discovered that the tree she had taken refuge in was almost at the crest of the ridge she originally spotted from the crash site. She stood and gazed toward the impact point.

  The last tendrils of morning fog clung like evanescent lace to the tree tops in the valley, preventing identification of the shuttle's wreckage. Shrugging, she turned and looked the other direction, across the valley beyond the ridge. It looked pretty much like the valley she had treked through last night, a carpet of green stretching kilometers to another ridge. A ridge much like the one she was currently on top of.

  Face it, one stretch of jungle looks much like any other, Mizuki thought. But I seem to remember a valley with a river running through it just before we started crashing into things. That's as good a destination as any, I guess.

  Having chosen a goal, it was time to descend from her hide to the forest floor fifty meters below. Moving carefully down the trunk, using the multitude of thick vines for purchase, she was startled when a brightly colored flying creature dove right for her face.

  Snatching the squirrel sized creature out of the air with her left hand, Mizuki saw that it was not a rodent but a lizard of some kind. Iridescent blue green skin stretched between four splayed legs, each ending in hooked claws for hanging on to trunk or limb. It could almost have been an Earth creature, except for the mouth. The lizard's mouth was open wide displaying a tripart jaw—one lower and a split upper—lined with needle sharp teeth. The inside of the mouth was colored pink and orange with a yellow tongue, looking strangely like an orchid or other tropical flower.

  The quick grab resulted in Mizuki holding the squirming creature by the neck as it futilely tried to bite and scratch her. Its intended trajectory would have landed it, mouth agape, on Mizuki's face. Realizing that the little predator’s delusions of grandeur could have caused her to fall, Mizuki angrily crushed its throat and threw the body out of the tree. As the lizard fluttered to the ground something dark and fast jumped out of a clump of leaves, snagged the dead animal in midair, and disappeared back into the foliage with it.

  It would appear that daylight is just as dangerous as nighttime around here. I had best get moving.

  Descending the tree, keeping a careful lookout for more hungry local fauna, for the second time since entering the rain forest, Mizuki heard a sound that could not be natural. Peering through a gap in the canopy she sited a strange craft several kilometers away, a quad tiltroter with ducted props. It was obviously some kind of troop carrier and it was most likely looking for her.

  Rapidly finishing her descent she paused to don the poncho from the survival kit. It was not raining and certainly not cold, but the poncho provided adaptive camouflage, much like the Marines' battle armor. Hopefully it would help hide her from those who hunted her, be they in the troop carrier or lurking in the forest.

  2nd Deck, Peggy Sue

  Everyone on board was pressed into service, helping to repair and upgrade the Peggy Sue's damaged shields and other systems. In a crawl-way off the port side torpedo launcher Dorri and Zeke were in the process of fixing shield circuitry that had stopped responding. Wielding a cutting torch, Zeke finished carving an access hole in the inner hull to expose the circuitry in question.

  “That should do it,” observed Dorri, “use the hand grapples to lift the plate clear.”

  “I'm on it, keep your pants on,” the large Marine replied. Since the two had been assigned the repair task Dorri had assumed command, somewhat to Zeke's annoyance. After all, she was only fourteen and he was almost twenty.

  “I have no intention of taking my pants off,” she replied.

  Using a pair of hand grapples to seize the meter by half meter chunk of ceramic metal, Zeke carefully pulled the plate free, sliding it aft and out of the way.

  “All right, Commander Dorri, have at it.”

  Dorri stuck her tongue out at him.

  “I'm not sure why Chief Engineer Baldursson trusts you to repair critical gravitonic circuitry, you're only a teenager. Shouldn't you be playing with dolls or something?”

  Shooting Zeke a scorching look, Dorri unpacked some test equipment from the pouch on her belt. Over her shoulder hovered a small drone, about the size of a softball—the eyes and ears of the ship's computer.

  “I am here fixing the shield circuitry because I am best qualified, whereas you are here to provide muscle.”

  “No need to be insulting,” Zeke sniffed.

  “Just because I am the youngest person on board doesn't mean that I'm not good at things. I've been outscoring Shadi and even some of the junior techs on test in gravitonics and other stuff. And you insulted me first.”

  “Sorry, I didn't mean to. My brother and I are often treated as though we're dummies. I guess working for a kid rubbed me the wrong way.”

  Dorri sighed.

  “I don't think you're a dummy, Zeke. You or your brother. I guess we are both a bit over sensitive.”

  As she was apologizing she attached a number of probes to the exposed superconductive wiring. Looking at the readouts on the hand-held scope she frowned.

  “I think this thing is fried.”

  “How can you tell, it looks like a jumble of spaghetti
to me.”

  “The test probes show no signal continuity. We are going to have to remove the whole mess and regrow a new control nexus.”

  “I concur,” the ship's computer said, speaking through the drone. “remove the old unit and grow a new one with the nanite template in your kit. Once it is done test for continuity before regrowing power connections.”

  “Yes, Peggy Sue, I have been briefed on the procedure.”

  The computer remained silent.

  Dorri took out a cutting torch, smaller than the one that Zeke used to cut the access hole, and started severing the leads to the shield nexus. With the precision of a surgeon she quickly isolated the damaged circuitry from the ship's power grid.

  “Stay back, I'm going to spray some removal nanites on the dead device. The should pretty much turn the damaged stuff into a layer of gunk stuck to the hull.”

  “Gunk?”

  “Yeah, we can reuse the raw material in the decomposed circuitry to grow its replacement. But you don't want to get any of the removal nanites on you, they can also turn organic material into gunk.”

  “No problem.” Zeke backed away from the opening and slid down the crawl-way next to the piece of covering material. “So why isn't your older sister out here doing this stuff?”

  “Like I said, I'm better at this than Shadi. I mean, she's smart about a lot of things, just not tech.”

  “Like what, for instance?”

  “Well, like history, economics, and politics. I'm more interested in making things, or raising animals, or building a new city.”

  “Sounds like you have big plans. Maybe Shadi would like talking with Mel. He's always been a history buff.”

  “What about you? What interests you, Zeke?”

  “Me? I'm more interested in military things, weapons tech and such. I really like being a Marine.”

  “But you really haven't fought in any big battles or anything, have you?”

  “Not yet, but I have a feeling that there will be plenty of fighting coming up. First to knock out that alien ship that waylaid us, and then going down to the surface of the local planet to look for Dr. Ogawa and the others.”

  “There is an old saying, be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.”

  “You say that like it's a bad thing.” Zeke grinned and Dorri raised her eyebrows.

  “Hey, look. The old nexus has been reduced to raw goop. Now I have to apply the new nanite template to start growing a new one...”

  Princess Timushi's Party, Nightfall

  The lead elements of the Princess's column had reached the bridge that spanned the river. They had been paralleling the slow moving stream for most of the day. The Castellan called a halt and set the servants to pitching camp for the night.

  “Your prediction was correct, my Lord Castellan,” said Timushi, observing the controlled chaos swarming around her. “We have, indeed, reached the river crossing before nightfall.”

  “Not all of us, Highness. There will be stragglers stumbling into camp til an hour past sunset. Those who don't end up providing the local wildlife with dinner.”

  “I see we are camping well away from the river, a prudent precaution.”

  “Yes, my Princess, no need tempting the river beasts with an easy meal. Once we have gathered the remaining host we will set out across the bridge in the morning, well fed and well rested.”

  “Then on to the highlands and the pastures where the queen's herds graze.”

  “With any luck we will camp in safer territory tomorrow evening.”

  Mizuki, Ridge Above The River

  Pushing herself mercilessly, Mizuki crossed the next ridge and then the one following that. As daylight was waning she ascended another tree, seeking shelter for the night. As she climbed she reflected on her day's journey. In all, not as exciting as the previous evening—she was only accosted by predators twice.

  The first time was by another oversized spider, striking from ambush. Mizuki spotted the trapdoor covering the spider's lair move slightly before it pounced, giving ample time to draw her katana and dispatch the meter and a half long beast with a single stroke. As before, small scavengers quickly emerged to harvest the sudden windfall of food. The second attack was more harrowing.

  * * * * *

  As she hurried through the forest, staying on roots and runners as much as possible, Mizuki detected occasional scuffling sounds in the underbrush. These persisted for more than a half a kilometer. There was no doubt that she was being stalked. Arriving at a break in the forest cover, she decided to confront whatever was hunting her.

  Sprinting to the center of the opening she halted with a clear field of action and drew her blade. Seconds passed with agonizing slowness until finally a large black shape burst on her from the right. It was at least ten meters in length, with an elongated, segmented body. From each body segment sprouted a pair legs, giving the creature the appearance of a gigantic centipede. Rising like a serpent the beast struck out with its forcipules—venom claws—thrust toward Mizuki from either side of the creature's flattened head. But she was prepared and in a proper stance.

  The katana's blade was a blur as she struck first right, then left, relieving the attacking centipede of its poisonous grapples. The next stroke took off the creature's antennae, causing it to pull back and gather itself for a second strike.

  Dodging its second lunge, Mizuki skipped to the left avoiding large, fanged mandibles that snapped shut where she had been standing. The centipede's strike left its body stretched out on the ground before its intended prey—an opening for a counter attack. Mizuki hopped onto her attacker's back holding her sword in a two handed grip, blade pointing downward. On the back of the monster's head was an oval membrane surrounded by a dozen unblinking eyes. She sank the katana's blade deep into the membrane with a stabbing stroke.

  Writhing in agony, the centipede bucked and threw Mizuki off. Sword in hand she did a back flip and twist, landing in position next to the beast, ready to strike again. It was not necessary, the oversized carnivore was finished.

  “I thought centipedes were nocturnal,” Mizuki said to her fallen foe, cautiously circling around the still twitching body. “I guess when you are on the top of the food chain you can hunt whenever you like.”

  Still pumped up from combat, Mizuki took several deep breaths, cleaned her blade with a piece of cloth, and resheathed her sword. A last look around the open glade and she quickly resumed her trip toward the next ridge.

  * * * * *

  Reaching the upper branches of the tree Mizuki's spirits soared. Ahead she could see a river slowly winding through the valley below. Not only that, along the near side of the river was what looked like a road, or at least a well traveled path. As she watched in the fading light, a number of creatures moved along the road. Some carried things on their backs, other carried spears!

  “Well,” she said to the forest surrounding her. “I guess we have found what passes for civilization around here.”

  Night was falling fast, and Mizuki did not want to chance continuing to the road in the darkness. She would seek the road in the morning, and try to pick up the trail of the creatures she saw. Perhaps she could make contact with the natives, they couldn't be more dangerous than trekking through this green hell alone.

  Chapter 19

  Mizuki in the Jungle

  Mizuki awoke feeling as though her left ankle was on fire. So intense was the pain that she cried out and almost lost purchase on the branches she had slept among. Looking down, she spotted the source of her misery, an ant as long as her index finger with mandibles two centimeters long—the mandibles pierced her boot and the flesh within.

  Kicking out with her right food killed the ant, removing its body from its thumb sized head. The head, however, remained firmly attached, even in death. Releasing the miniature attacker's hold required using the survival kit knife to pry open its oversized mouth parts. Bending down to inspect her wounded foot, Mizuki glanced down the trunk of t
he tree.

  Below her the trunk swarmed with more ants, several headed toward her position. As she watched, an ant crawled into her hideaway and she stabbed it with the knife—it emitted a strong, disagreeable odor that seemed to attract even more of the miniature predators.

  Giant centipedes and spiders I can handle, but how do I kill hundreds of finger length biting ants?

  Gathering up her things and strapping on the backpack she fled in the only direction she could—upward. Picking the largest fork she climbed toward where it intersected a branch from a neighboring tree. Once near enough to grasp the other branch, Mizuki reached out and swung from one tree to the next. Not daring to look down, she wrapped her legs around the limb, feeling safe for a second. Then the new branch tilted down with a loud cracking sound.

  Fracturing near where it joined the main trunk, the branch pivoted back toward its parent before severing completely. Mizuki found herself falling head first toward the forest floor thirty meters below. Twice she collided with protruding limbs until she finally managed to grasp one and hold on.

  Hanging upside down like a tree sloth, she edged down the branch to the main trunk. Struggling to sit upright on the branch, Mizuki finally dared to look down. She was ten meters above the ground, sitting astride the last sizable branch before her fall would have ended on the jungle floor. The next thing she noticed was that the jungle floor was moving.

  More ants! They're everywhere! What do I do now?

  As she watched, the carcase of a scorpion thing moved past the base of her refuge, carried along by a carpet of ants. There was no sense in climbing down the rest of the way just to be overwhelmed by an army of ravenous insects. Forcing herself to stand up, she resumed climbing, looking for a way to cross to another tree, farther away from the tide of insects flooding the surface below.