Bartoc Secret

by Clara Woods

  The creature stood, regarding them for several seconds. Its eyes met Lenah’s, and she felt intelligence in its gaze. It appeared as if it were assessing them. She reached out her senses, trying to get a feel for the creature, but it turned and took giant step toward the end of the plateau. It ran on its four back legs, not using an additional pair that it cradled against its horned chest. Once at the plateau’s edge, the thinner legs shot out, propelling it off the ground and several meters forward. It landed with surprising elegance on the next plateau.

  Martello lifted his weapon and made to shoot it, but Lenah lay her hand on his arm. A few seconds later, the beast vanished, leaving nothing but a faint trace of dust in its wake.

  “What in the stars was that”?” Corinna asked into the silence.

  “I don’t know,” Lenah said. “But it might have left us some food.”

  Martello, still holding his gun up, nodded. “Let’s go see.”

  The climb down was even more tiring, and they often skidded several meters or had to rely on Cassius to help them down. He could make big jumps, and without him and his enhanced spine, maneuvering these canyons would have been impossible. Lenah could see the appeal of having six legs like the horned beast.

  They finally made it to the plateau and approached the bright yellow carcass. It looked similar to a lizard, with a shorter tail though. The head was large, with many stalks or tendrils sprawling around it. The animal’s torso had been torn open and was spilling almost transparent blood onto the stone. To Lenah, the body looked hollow.

  Cassius and Doctor Lund crouched next to it, the latter bending close to take the creature in from all angles.

  “I believe that other beast was feeding on the bones,” Doctor Lund said thoughtfully. “The meat is still there, even though there isn’t much of it.”

  Some bones were half pulled out of a large gash on the creature’s belly, but indeed, many seemed to be missing or partially chewed off.

  “Yuck,” Corinna commented before turning away to inspect the plateau.

  “Does that mean it can’t be food?” Cassius asked. “If it only appeals to this bone-eater guy.”

  “It is still useful,” Doctor Lund said. “It tells us a lot about the planet.”

  “Such as what?” Lenah asked, finally looking away from the carcass and over to the orange horizon.

  “I believed the lakes would be acid. But that might not be true,” Doctor Lund, sweaty as he was, seemed fully in his element as a discoverer. “They might be mineral lakes. There is such a severe lack of nutrition on this planet that local species are specialized in taking in minerals directly from the lakes or their prey.” He beamed at Lenah. “That’s why they have these horn protrusions. They are mineral deposits.”

  “The bone-eater is literally feeding on those bones?” Cassius stared at Doctor Lund, then swallowed hard as if someone had made him eat one of the bones.

  “It doesn’t matter now.” Lenah turned in a semi-circle. Her neck was itchy, and she felt watched, even though there was nothing there. “Let’s move on and hope we find something that has actually something edible on it, not just mineral deposits. I doubt we can eat those.” She turned once more and squinted in the direction the beast had vanished, but all seemed quiet there.

  They marched on, following a downward path toward where the plateaus seemed to be getting flatter.

  Lenah kept looking over her shoulder, then spread out her mind’s senses. As before, they were surrounded by weak presences, but most of them were buried deep into the stone.

  Lenah noticed she wasn’t the only one who kept shooting backward glances. Zyr flew in constant circles around them, staring intently in all directions, and both Cassius and Martello shot regular glances sideways and backward.

  They finally reached the bottom of the downward path and stood right at the mouth of a tall but narrow canyon. It was almost perfectly straight, and beyond it, Lenah saw the heat flare over a large plateau that stretched all the way to the horizon. Cassius stopped them with a hand signal, but everyone had already halted, staring up at the walls as if they were about to start collapsing on top of them.

  “Incredible. It seems natural.” Doctor Lund’s voice echoed down the corridor and repeated numerous times.

  “Mmh,” Martello said, much lower than Lund. “It is the perfect spot for a trap.”

  “We haven’t seen anyone capable of trapping us.” Corinna sounded almost bored, yet her knuckles were white from clutching her weapon.

  Lenah expanded her senses as far as they would go. Weak presences came to life in front of her inner eyes, most above them on top of the canyon. “There’s no one down here. We should go. It’s not far to the other side.”

  Martello grunted a response, then, when no one argued, took the lead with Cassius.

  Lenah almost tripped twice, keeping a firm lock on her inner eye and staring upward. She just couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched by intelligent eyes. “There!” she exclaimed when many horns peeked down on them.

  “Just one of those bone-eaters,” Cassius said, staring up as well. “They seem friendly enough.” His tone indicated he was trying to convince himself as much as Lenah. None of them liked the exposed position they were in.

  Lenah almost suggested they turn around and find somewhere else to hunt, but they were already several hundred meters in, and the flat terrain was a call to her desire to stop having to crawl over boulders and climb walls. She squared her shoulders and walked on, never dropping her mind magic.

  They were about halfway through when a shadow fell onto their path from up ahead. Dark beady eyes stared directly at them out of a giant face as the bone-eater nimbly climbed down the wall, using its thin front legs to grip onto any crevice the rock provided. It looked a lot bigger than the first one they had seen. Its horns and protrusions were even more colorful, switching from red into yellow, green, and bright purple like an intricate patchwork carpet from Arcadia.

  Cassius whirled around and cursed. Lenah looked over her shoulder. Another beast was swinging itself down the wall and then landed with a soft thud that defied its size in their path.

  Everyone froze until a third and a fourth bone-eater landed in front of them with a light spraying of pebbles.

  Like one, Martello and Corinna lifted their weapons.

  Movement from above caught Lenah’s attention. All those presences that had been scattered about just a few moments before had congregated, and several more beasts hung down the wall high over their heads. Two more jumped down in the back, joining the first.

  Martello pulled Lenah by the shoulder to get them all into a circle. Lenah ended up shoulder to shoulder between him and Corinna. They stood, waiting, listening. Lenah could almost feel the heat and the tension. Why weren’t these beasts attacking? It was as if they were waiting on something. But what?

  As if in answer to Lenah’s thought, the biggest bone-eater opened its mouth and gave a roar that echoed maddeningly through the canyon. It was answered by many voices from above, creating a sound wave that was deafening. As one, the bone-eaters lurched forward.

  Martello fired at the first beast coming for them. Lenah jerked up her weapon, targeting the creature behind it. Laser fire flickered through the shadows of the canyon bottom but with no visual effect on the bone-eaters.

  Grunting, Martello knelt, taking careful aim. The large beast in front stumbled, gave another roar, then toppled sideways. “The eyes! Aim for the eyes!” Martello shouted over the noise of the echoes.

  Another ear-piercing roar went through the canyon when Corinna hit one of the bone-eaters hanging above them. It didn’t fall, however, but stopped its descent. Cassius gasped, stumbled backward into Lenah and dropped his gun to cover his ears.

  Martello aimed at another beast while Lenah stepped away from Cassius and took aim at one of the bone-eaters still coming toward them. They were coming slower now, yet they were only ten meters away, and she could see much more detail of its sharp hor
ns. Grunts went through the group, then all the beasts turned sideways, coming at them at a slow pace with averted eyes. Had they talked to each other? How could something with such a weak mind presence communicate on such a level? Lenah stared at the wall of mineral horns coming at them.

  “This is not going to work,” Corinna yelled right into Lenah’s ear. She lowered her gun and closed her eyes.

  Lenah, having come to the same conclusion, summoned her mind magic with the idea that the creatures should attack each other instead of the group of humans. Nothing happened, and the beasts kept approaching. Even more of them were climbing down the canyon walls to join the two groups on the ground. Lenah sent a stronger idea. Nothing.

  Another roar, this one human, snapped Lenah out of her concentration. Cassius had gotten up and was running at full speed toward the group in front. He picked the smallest bone-eater and headed straight for it. The creature didn’t slow down or step out of his way. Instead, it turned straight and lowered its horned head. Cassius, apparently having expected that, changed direction with one powerful step. Instead of his body being in line with the bone-eater, it was now his c-nano arm that was pointed directly at the beast’s face. The bone-eater roared straight at him, and Cassius stumbled, his enhanced hearing too sensitive to ignore the noise. His misstep brought Cassius right back into the path of the bone-eater. The two collided with a nasty sound, but then somehow Cassius threw his body out of the way, and his enhanced hand gripped the bone-eater by its horns. He threw himself sideways, causing the much bigger beast to stumble. He lifted it off the floor, then swung the whole body against the canyon wall. It crunched and the bone-eater dropped to the ground.

  “Yes!” Martello cheered.

  Cassius’s body vanished under a cascade of several horned bodies as a whole group that had so far been hanging off the wall let itself drop down. Cassius rolled away from under them and jumped into a low crouch, his arm outstretched to grab the legs of whichever adversary was coming for him. But they were three against one. Martello started shooting at the three, snapping Lenah out of her freeze. She pulled up her power, sending all her emotion—most of it fear— toward the beast. Before the flash of her power had crossed the distance, Cassius’s body was lifted in the air. With a terribly loud sound, he landed on the canyon floor at another bone-eater’s feet. But instead of attacking, the creature bolted backward as Lenah’s mind magic hit it.

  Without thinking further, both Lenah and Martello jumped toward Cassius, Lenah quickly overtaking Martello. She found herself face to face with two bone-eaters and formed a wall of mind magic in front of her and Cassius. They didn’t bolt back like the others but didn’t approach either.

  Lenah grabbed Cassius by the shoulder and pulled him up. He rose clumsily, leaning heavily on Lenah’s side. The closest bone-eater was less than two meters away, and Lenah doubled up with another visualization on how they should attack each other. Just as Lenah and Cassius had reached their group again, it jumped forward.

  Martello had knelt and shot it straight in the eyes with almost impossible precision. He swiveled his aim toward the second one, and, under a painful roar, it fell a moment later.

  Pulling Cassius, who had collapsed onto his knees at the loud sound, Lenah scrambled to figure out what she had done differently before, why they were attacking again.

  She’d sent emotions, equally strong as right now, and they had worked. It wasn’t that, though. Now, every single bone-eater, at least two dozen of them, was climbing down the walls. Their multiple feet loosened dust on the ground as they surrounded the group in a tight circle. Then they stopped, as if assessing, as if waiting for the kill.

  “Shit,” Zyrakath said into the silence.

  “In terms of last words after six thousand years, this one is grand,” Martello remarked between pressed lips. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

  “Why did they stop?” Lenah said. “What’s changed?”

  No one answered at first, then Zyrakath pointed a small hand. “They are protecting a youngling.”

  Lenah followed the direction of his outstretched hand toward a group of four bone-eaters that stood furthest back, not really part of the circle that was slowly closing around them.

  “A calf? Is that important now?” Martello asked, aiming his weapon, but all the bodies had turned away from them, only presenting bodies covered thickly in mineral scales.

  “Repeat what you did before!” Zyrakath hissed toward Lenah and Corinna.

  “I can’t! It doesn’t work!” Lenah said, instead lifting her gun. She wasn’t going down without a fight.

  “No, no. You did it. Think! Does it have something to do with the calf?” Zyrakath once more broke Lenah’s concentration.

  “I think I sent them the message that I feared for Cassius.” Lenah was distracted. She was eyeing a large bone-eater a couple of meters in front of her. It was about to turn its horns to come at her, and that would give her only a moment to shoot the eyes.

  “It doesn’t work, drone,” Corinna said, and Lenah saw her aim her own weapon.

  Lenah’s heart beat rapidly in her chest as she stood waiting, and she thought about Persia and Uz who would wonder why they weren’t back with the promised food. Would they be able to repair and fly the Star Rambler? At least leave this hellish world behind.

  Zyr fluttered into Lenah’s field of vision. He’d even lowered his gun. “Lenah, did you send the message to protect Cassius or to protect in general?”

  “Now is not the moment for irrelevant details, Zyr!” Lenah growled at him, trying to duck away.

  “Send the message that they should protect their youngling! They went back to it before. Do it now!” Zyr yelled, his voice breaking from the urgency.

  “Stars!” Lenah lowered her gun. Even the small chance that Zyr was right was better than trying to shoot one single bone-eater before another got to her. Lenah visualized her power, sending a strong emotion. The calf was in danger. It needed protection. Corinna’s magic streaked out in the other direction. Loud roars, the loudest so far, broke out, and Lenah had to cover her ears with her hands. All the beasts moved backward, a large group of them surrounding the calf.

  Silence fell for one dizzying moment, then the ground vibrated as all the bone-eaters leaped away at full speed. When they were several hundred meters away, Lenah dropped her power and looked at Zyr in amazement.

  “You were right!” She engulfed the small drone in a hug, trying not to touch his wings. He squirmed in her embrace, and she quickly let go. “Sorry, but you just saved all our lives!”

  “Just as well,” Zyr said, sounding grumpy, but his face looked smug. “You are my only way home. I would always do my best to protect you.”

  Lenah grinned at him. “That’s twice you saved my life.”

  “Grandson, are you alright?” Martello’s voice carried over, and Lenah looked down to where Cassius was half lying, half sitting on the ground.

  He nodded weakly, holding his head. “Yeah, hell of a headache.” He touched the back of his head, and his fingers came back bloody.

  “You have the thick-headedness of a Lombardi. You’re fine,” Martello said with a grin, but Lenah noticed that he couldn’t fully hide the worry from his voice. “Get up and let’s get out of here.”

  He and Doctor Lund each took one of Cassius’s arms and pulled him upright. He swayed at first but steadied after a few steps and looked around. “Let’s get to those plains. At least no one can ambush us there.”

  15 Spitter

  When they stepped out into the openness of the plateau a few minutes later, Lenah couldn’t control a violent shiver. That had been too close.

  The bone-eaters had come from this same direction, yet there was no trace of them.

  Lund and Martello walked in a circle, then Martello pointed at the ground.

  “Ah!” the doctor said.

  “They took the way back up.” Martello nodded grimly.

  Lenah realized he was looking at t
he markings of several bone-eater feet on the ground. She gazed toward the horizon, reaching out her senses as wide as they would go. There were many presences here, all weak minds, but that fact no longer calmed Lenah. Lakes glittered in different colors against the sun, the closest one a deep crimson and purple. Something silvery flickered in the distance next to it.

  Lenah tensed. “Do you see that?” she asked Cassius, who was trotting next to her.

  “What?” He looked up, following Lenah’s outstretched arm, then squinted. “Huh.”

  “Looks like something man-made, or rather creature-made, doesn’t it?”

  “It does,” Corinna agreed, also staring in that direction. “Some kind of street or a pipeline. Should we go?”

  Lenah thought about it. “Yes, we go. We’re here to find food, but also to learn as much as we can about this world. We might also be lucky and find something about humans in the sector.”

  “I’d love to have your optimism,” Corinna muttered but didn’t contradict Lenah. Instead, she went first in the direction of the lake.

  Lenah followed behind while Zyr and Doctor Lund took up the rear.

  No one talked and the silence was only interrupted by their footsteps on the rough and stony terrain and Cassius’s pants. He was sweating, looking as if he was barely keeping himself walking upright. Once, he caught Lenah’s worried glance but simply shook his head. Lenah didn’t know if that meant he was okay or if she should leave him alone.

  The horizon seemed to constantly turn a deeper orange and red, and gray clouds were now coming from that direction. A fire? The air had a burnt smell, though not more than it had from the start.

  When the group reached the lake, something scurried away from the shore as if it had been drinking the bright purple water. Martello lifted his gun. “The same creatures the bone-eater fed on,” he sounded wary. “Should we give it a try?”

  Lenah considered, imagining how something feeding off a purple lake would taste when Cassius grasped his grandfather’s shoulder. “Lower the weapon. Down, everyone.” His voice sounded urgent, and they all complied. Lenah blinked in the direction he was looking. It was toward the orange glow and hard to see anything but blue terrain against the orange sky, the transition blurred by the heat. Was there something moving there? Something huge? It looked long and low, like a Bartoc, but several times larger than any Bartoc Lenah had ever seen. The creature moved across the plane at a fast speed, traveling away from the silvery line of pipe or rail.