“We can get ships down now, we can’t get them off again. If we get rain tomorrow, we may be delayed beyond that,” Gabby reported.
“I am reviewing the images you sent,” Rachel said. “I see what you are talking about. I will have our people go over these in detail. Excellent work. It would be good if you can catch a couple of these bad boys in motion. I am ordering Lt. Rattigan to retreat to your position. Get the AARV’s in the air and cover the retreat.”
Under the cover of a torrential downpour the following afternoon, the massed force of the native animals attacked the retreating column. The AARV’s reprogrammed sensors detected the movement in enough time to sound the alarm. The four MMARV’s fanned out and advanced on the animals as they appeared from the forest. Clouds of steam rose from the MMARV hot plows as the rain water hit them forming something of a smoke screen. Raising their plows up and down to appear as formidable as possible and broadcasting a drum beat of their own from their speakers, the MMARV’s attempted to drive back the animals. The largest of the animals, obviously the leader, picked up a rock and hurled it at the closest MMARV. The rock shattered harmlessly against the plow. The other animals responded by throwing stones and broken branches at the MMARV’s and the AARV’s circling overhead. The MMARV’s and their human cohort huddling behind them, advanced slowly toward the stationary line of animals.
The leader of the animals rushed against the first MMARV and was burned by the heat of the plow. Its roar of pain and anger echoed through the forest. The animals fell back as the MMARV’s advanced. One of the smaller animals raced in from the side and jumped on top of one of the MMARV’s. Lt. Rattigan shot it with his ballistic rifle. The sound of the rifle’s report stopped the animals’ advance. On Lt. Rattigan’s command, as many of the Marines as would fit climbed on top of the MMARV’s to gain a better firing position only to be driven back by a hail of rocks and branches. Lt. Rattigan gave the order to open fire. The MMARV’s, AARV’s and Marines opened a firestorm of ballistic rifles, lasers and cannon clearing away a wide path through the forest and starting a fire which spread ahead of them.
The surviving animals retreated and regrouped behind the humans and their machines. The column of humans and machines advanced across the still smoldering remains of the forest which was being doused by the downpour. They picked up the bodies of some of the smaller animals to keep for evidence and analysis. The hail of rocks and branches continued as the column moved forward. Firing continuously, the column made slow progress across the burned section of forest ahead of them. Suddenly the rain stopped. The animals turned their backs and disappeared into the forest. Taking advantage of the lull in the fighting, Lt. Rattigan formed the column into a single line with two Marines on top of each MMARV. The AARV’s had no difficulty following the fleeing animals. After the battle their temperature was significantly higher than it had been before the battle.
“That fits with our observations,” Captain Simpson said after Rachel had briefed him on the combat reports.
“Why didn’t you tell us this before?” Rachel demanded.
“Didn’t they tell you I was chasing legends? Bigfoot? The Abominable Snowman or some idiocy? Didn’t they tell you I was a complete fool?” Captain Simpson retorted.
“Yes,” Rachel admitted.
“If I had told you the truth, would you have believed me?” Captain Simpson asked.
“No, but I would have had my ground forces better prepared.”
“Perhaps.”
“So what do you think is going on down there?” Rachel asked.
Captain Simpson paused in thought. “Your people gave us a piece of information that we did not have and now it all makes sense. These are cold blooded animals. Combat raises their body temperature. Captain, have you ever seen an alligator?”
“Not a live one,” Rachel said.
“Nasty creatures. When they get too hot or too cold they get lethargic. In the summer you can see them sunning themselves on the bank all day long. They are too hot to move. Come sundown, they’ll be swimming around again. For these animals, lethargy in combat could be deadly. So, my guess is that they have figured out that the rain will keep them cool while they do battle. Once the rains stop, they retreat rather than risk their opponent being just slightly less overheated and slightly less lethargic than they are.”
“Then why aren’t they active at night when it’s cooler?” Rachel asked.
“I don’t think they can see well at night,” Captain Simpson replied.
Lt. Rattigan and his group marched through the night and reached the end of the runway shortly after dawn. They gladly sought the sanctuary of the med ship leaving the group of soldiers who had arrived on the med ship to tend to the area’s defense. They tended to their injured before collapsing in exhausted heaps in whatever convenient corner they could find.
All eight of the MMARV’s dug in to the runway project in an attempt to finish it before the end of the day. The rains came early that day and washed out parts of the cleared runway. With the rains came another attack. Where before, the humans had been surrounded by thick forest on all sides, they now had defensible cliffs on three sides and only one side from which they could be attacked. That open side was meadow and grasslands with few tall plants to provide cover. The forest had provided cover for the large animals allowing them to approach within throwing distance without being seen. Approaching from the grasslands would mean that the animals could be seen from further away providing the humans with a strategic advantage. The advantage was not as great as Lt. Rattigan had hoped.
The forest, however, had protected the humans from an airborne assault, which the open plateau and its runway under construction did not. Rock throwing bird-like animals appeared with the first drops of rain. The P I ships, programmed to fend off missiles traveling at much faster speeds than these creatures could fly, picked them off with their lasers. The fliers were harder to detect than the missiles, so the ships had their work cut out for them. The fliers were invisible to radar. The rain bounced back the sonar. The fliers’ temperatures were only slightly higher than the rain, but it was enough. A single laser strike would generally bring one down.
The skies cleared before dusk and the attack abated.
“Did you know about the fliers?” Rachel asked Captain Simpson after reading the day’s reports.
“No, we did not see them,” he replied. “ I think what we are seeing is far more dangerous than anything I had previously envisioned. We have multiple species in cooperation to repel an intruder. I am not aware of that happening before. They are smarter than we give them credit for and they do not want to talk to us.”
“As soon as we can get our people out of there, we will file our report and they won’t ever have to deal with us again,” Rachel said.
“Don’t be so sure,” Captain Simpson cautioned. “Do you know how much money there is to be made bringing big game hunters to a place like this? It’s the ultimate challenge. Bring home the head of a T Rex. I know people that would spend their life savings for an opportunity like that.”
“Sad, isn’t it? There isn’t enough killing, we have to kill innocent animals,” Rachel sighed. “It’s not like we need them for food.”
“I agree. I’ve been trying to find an answer for months. We can’t let this planet turn into a giant hunting preserve.”
At mid day, a med ship touched down, the runway having been declared safe to use. The ship Esther had piloted down days earlier and this ship carried the scientists and combat personnel back up to Elizabeth in orbit. A third ship touched down as soon as the runway was clear and two of the MMARV’s were carried aloft. A fourth ship arrived and departed as the rains began carrying two more MMARV’s. When the rain started, the two P I ships, their crews, four MMARV’s and two AARV’s remained to defend the runway.
On a hunch, Gabby deployed one of the AARV’s to check the cliffs at their back and discovered a legion of small animals scaling them. She deployed both AARV’s to the
cliffs to cut down the animals. The MMARV’s set up a sweeping pattern with their lasers that cut a swath across the cleared area. Nothing over half a meter tall could get through the scanning lasers. The P I ships attended to another wave of fliers and again, their bodies littered the ground. Stu and Fatima recorded the combat from the relative safety of their positions between Buddy’s and Daisy’s landing gear.
Once the rains stopped, the four teenagers began pushing dirt to fill in the gullies left by the running water knowing that the morning sun would harden the mud and produce a surface they could take off from. In the morning, the runway dried as hoped With the sun high in the sky, the first med ship came in and took two of the MMARV’s. The second came in and took the last two. The third ship came in and took the two AARV’s.
Stu and Fatima picked up the stationary cameras as the last of the med ships left. As the clouds started to build on the horizon, Stu, standing at the mid point of the runway, recorded Daisy’s departure with her three crew members who were grateful to be alive.
Since the clouds appeared to be some distance away, Stu requested permission to record Buddy taxiing to the end of the runway and preparing for departure. Barney saw no harm in it, although Delmar was uncomfortable with the idea. Stu took his time and recorded Buddy sitting on the runway from many angles. The last was down the hill from which the attack had come the previous night.
“That’s enough, Stu,” Barney said, “it’s time to go home.”
“One more shot, I promise,” Stu replied.
“Stu, get back in this ship!” Barney ordered becoming agitated.
“It’s the shot of a lifetime! First Contact!” Stu shouted back as he charged off down the hill towards where they knew the animals would be advancing shortly.
An independent observer, like Fatima, might have thought what happened next to be comical. It would have if Stu had not put all their lives in jeopardy. Delmar’s father, Reuben, was white. His mother, Suwanee, was black. Delmar was taller than all his friends and almost as tall as Lt. Rattigan. He inherited his mother’s coloration, tight curly hair and strength of build. Tall and broad shouldered, he was an alpha male. Being an alpha male was not always appropriate nor politically correct. Being raised Jewish, Delmar recognized this and kept it under control most of the time. It would appear sometimes during competitive sports or in combat simulators, but those were recognized as appropriate outlets for his natural power.
When Stu took off down the hill, Delmar’s alpha male instincts kicked in like a werewolf on the full moon. Delmar dove through the escape hatch without waiting for the ladder to be extended and took off down the hill in hot pursuit. “That scrawny, candy ass, honky, white boy is not going to get himself killed on my watch!”
Barney was no slouch in the alpha male department either, but a full head shorter than Delmar, lacking his musculature and with soft ringlets of brown hair, it was not as easy for his masculinity to be accepted. Matching Delmar invective for invective, he exited the ship and took off down the hill after the two of them well aware that the rains may start at any moment. When the rains started, they would be in the open. If they waited too long and the rains destroyed the runway, they would have no way to leave the planet.
Carrying a camera with waterproof housing that weighed almost as much as he did, pasty white, frail looking, with stringy hair that fell into his eyes, Stu ran toward the approaching animals which they could plainly see massing on the open meadow in front of them. Screaming and waving his arms to present as hostile an image as possible, a two meter tall black man charged behind him. Behind him raced a smaller white man with pretty brown ringlets shouting for them both to come to their senses and return to the ship. Behind him, like an overgrown puppy, followed a spaceship named Buddy. A spaceship that had been built before any of these humans had been born silently rolled backwards behind them. Only the crunching of the sand and rock under its tires revealed its movement.
For five minutes the four ran down the hill. Not waiting for the rain, the largest and most forward of the creatures threw a rock that hit Stu squarely on the head. Not thinking to get out of the way, his camera followed the rock’s arc until it struck him and knocked him out.
Mere steps behind him, Delmar, still cursing up a storm, caught Stu before he hit the ground. He tossed the camera to Barney and took off toward the ship with Stu over his shoulders. A lightning bolt hit the ground and the rain fell in a torrent. Amid a fusillade of rocks, Delmar and Barney raced for the ship. Buddy opened his side weapons pods and trained his lasers on the approaching horde. Barney tossed the camera into the ship and helped drag Stu’s unconscious body through the hatch.
Not waiting for the passengers to strap in, Buddy fired his engines and rolled forward. With his laser pods still extended, sweeping the surrounding terrain and his thrusters drying the ground in front of his wheels, Buddy built up speed for take off. He closed the laser pods as he reached the beginning of the prepared runway. Pouring full throttle to his thrusters for as much lift as they could provide, he aimed for the end of the runway. Impeded by the mud the runway had become in the few seconds the rain poured over it, he barely had enough airspeed when he cleared the end of the cliff. A brief loss of altitude as he cleared the cliff provided the additional airspeed he needed to establish stable flight. Within a few heart stopping seconds, Buddy had attained level flight. He continued full power to his main engines and his thrusters until he had built enough airspeed to climb up to rendezvous with the Queen Elizabeth.
The cheers Buddy’s announcement of his attainment of level flight engendered on Queen Elizabeth’s bridge were short lived. From her distant patrol location, Aida called in that intruders were entering the system. Eight cruisers of a type commonly used by pirates and a host of other fringe organizations had appeared on the system’s edge.
“Hail them,” Rachel commanded. “See who they are and determine their intentions.”
Rachel tallied her combat resources. Alexander and Valerie were within striking distance of the intruders, but two P I ships, even sentient ones, were no match for six cruisers. The Thor Heyerdahl had a dozen pickets, but they would barely be able to take on a single cruiser. Daisy would be docking in a few hours, but she would need to be completely rearmed and her crew was exhausted. Buddy was climbing through the atmosphere and he would not be ready to send out for a long time. Unless the cruisers could be drawn in range of the two capital ships, there was little that could be done about them.
Aida reported back, “They are the Creighton Society and they demand we vacate this system.”
Jane Turner reached out to Rachel. “I know these guys. They are a bunch of irrational lunatics and wackos. The good news is that they can be bought. Tell them that you will give them safe passage. Tell them that Jane Turner of CNC is here with the news ship Edward R. Murrow and would like to meet with them in the Queen Elizabeth’s captain’s conference room.”
Rachel relayed the information to Aida.
“They say they do not consider the Queen Elizabeth to be neutral territory and request the meeting be held in Studio One aboard the Edward R. Murrow.”
Jane Turner nodded her assent.
Rachel replied, “Tell them to bring two officers. We will bring two officers. The Heyerdahl will bring two officers. Miss Turner will bring as many officers and studio personnel as she deems fit.”
“They agree.”
“Escort them in.”
Rachel turned to Jane Turner, “So who are these people?”
“The Creighton Society was named after a twentieth century author who wrote a book about a theme park with resurrected dinosaurs that went bad. They seek to prevent indigent species from being over run by humans.”
“That doesn’t sound so crazy,” Rachel said.
“Wait until you meet them,” Jane laughed.
Daisy arrived at the hangar bay with her exhausted crew. The munitions technicians quickly rearmed Daisy in case they needed to do battle with the c
ruisers. Rachel and Jane Turner agreed to Fatima’s request that she be allowed to stay with Gabby and Caroline to document the conflict should it occur. They retired to their quarters to await their recall.
Buddy arrived a few hours later. Stu was greeted by security officers from the CNC and thrown in the Edward R. Murrow’s brig. Technicians swarmed over Buddy preparing him for the potential of combat with the cruisers as Barney and Delmar retired to their quarters.
The six cruisers from the Creighton Society staggered in one at a time. The animals on the surface showed more coordination than these people. Two of the cruisers docked at the Edward R. Murrow’s docking ports. Rachel, Captain Simpson and Jane Turner were there to greet the person who came aboard.
The person who came aboard was a woman wearing high brown leather safari boots, jodhpurs, spurs, a web belt, a loose short sleeved bloused top with an open collar that showed ample cleavage, a bush hat and a monocle. She carried a riding crop that matched her outfit. Her long sandy blond hair was pulled back in a bun and her face had the look of too many hours in a tanning booth.
“Captain Bligh of the Velociraptor requests permission to come aboard.”
Rachel choked on a laugh.
“Permission granted, Captain Bligh,” Jane Turner said. “I almost didn’t recognize you. It has been, what, ten years?”
“I don’t understand why you would not recognize me even after all these years, Newswoman of the Decade.”
Jane motioned to one of her assistants. “Talia will escort you to the studio.”
“I would think you would escort me yourself.”
“Were your colleague not late, I would,” Jane replied.
Captain Bligh left in the direction that Talia pointed. When she was sure they were alone again she said to Rachel, “Ten years ago, she was a he.”
Captain Simpson exploded in laughter. “That Captain Bligh! What a fruitcake!”
“I take it you are familiar with Captain Bligh,” Jane said.
“We traded punches fifteen years ago in a spacer bar. I caught him cheating at cards. When he couldn’t beat me, he sat on the floor and cried about cruel I was.” He shook his head at the memory.
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