grumbled Chub. "Venomous trees."
Rosie laughed a little at his discomfort as she shone her flashlight on the ground beside the creature's body. "Then don’t look at how it absorbs its prey." All around the carcass dozens of white tendrils had emerged from the soil and penetrated the flesh.
"Yuck," he groaned. "Let's get done and get out of this place."
The fact that animals of some sort definitely existed was still in their minds when less than a quarter of the way they came upon another creature. Something a short distance away took flight, crashing away into the forest. Jet had no idea what it had been other than big and he tried to pick up pace.
A little after that they had their first real encounter, when another broke cover: but much closer. Rosie yelped in surprise and the glow from Chubs plasma pistol lit up the ground underneath his feet. "Yuck," he said in a revolted way, just in time for Jet to see a carpet of insects in a radiated circle around the man's feet. Jet didn’t look down, but he knew that the ground around his own boots would also be covered in whatever bug he had briefly seen.
Their disgust was short lived as immediately they saw another of the forest victims. "Is that what I think it is?" muttered Chub.
"After what we saw back there it was going to be a given," said Jet looking at the decomposing remains of yet another creature.
"But it's such a pretty flower?"
"Deadly beauty," said Jet. "Lured in by odor or taste; and trapped to become dinner. Come on we can't lose sight of the job."
Creatures now seemed to everywhere: and they became bolder and closer: if that wasn’t bad enough they seemed less reluctant to run: It was as if they were testing, and learning. The fact distracted them and it was only a matter of time that one would get snagged; it was Chub.
He let out a grunt as a barb hooked into the web of his back pack and drew him to a sudden halt. "Jet?" he gasped, in a far more anxious way than he would have chosen.
Jet spun and lifted his light. He saw the problem vine, but also the others. Hundreds, if not thousands were hanging just above their heads as if the trees were fishing. It seemed the plants were learning too. Jet sliced Chub free with the laser and now began to cast the flashlights beam into the air as well as on the ground.
They were almost there when they heard the most terrifying roar. It was deep and throaty, and it sent a shiver of terror down all their spines. Whatever had made it wasn’t happy, but that wasn’t as bothering as around them the forest floor seemed to erupt. In every direction their other hidden followers broke cover to race away; some so close that they were almost in touching range; as close as anything had come. Setting off Jet felt he was now moving so fast that it was almost running.
Suddenly the ground beneath Jets boots changed and the sound became hollow and metallic. "This is it," he said in relief. "The hull section must be close by."
For a moment they seemed alone and he quickly ascertained their location. Beside him chub and Rosie's flashlights probed the gloom
"It's just over there," said Chub as his light illuminated a section of the KallagahnIII's hull plating.
They raced to and along; found the airlock and emergency mechanical mechanism and forced it open: jamming it shut behind them.
"Let's hope they don’t learn how to open doors," Rosie said in an only half joking way.
If outside was eerie; inside was spooky. Wherever it could vegetation had found its way into the hulk and hung from wall and roof. It also covered the floor but starved of nutrients it just lay as a thin carpet that squelched under their boots.
In silence and eager to leave they penetrated deeper into the crashed spaceship. Jet couldn’t help glancing around and thinking that bar some superficial damage: likely caused by the impact, the ship was in remarkably good condition. Another time he would have been compelled to explore a little, but this wasn't the time and they ascended to the upper levels and the bridge deck. The primary ships log was in the navigation section, and that was off to the rear and back of the spacious and cluttered bridge. They located it and Chub pulled off his pack and took out the tool kit.
"Let me get this straight; we've come all this way just to get the ships log?" He grumbled as he opened up the data rack cupboard.
"It's more than a log Chub; it’s the ships entire record, all the conversations and discussions. I don’t have a clue what makes these interesting to Rackham, but for some reason they are..."
"Let's leave the debate till later guys," interrupted Rosie. "We still have to find the second package and whatever's outside seems to be getting more interested in getting inside."
They all fell quiet, and listened; she was right, down below and outside they could hear faint scraping sounds.
Chub turned back to the rack. It took only seconds for him to speak. "It's gone."
"It can't have," stuttered Jet.
"Well there's nothing in the rack where it should be."
Jet was feeling anxious. "You sure your looking in the right place?"
Chub gave an exasperated sigh. "Jet I did my traineeship on hulk ships like this."
"If it's gone, then why would Rackham tell us to get it?"
"You're assuming Rackham knows Jet?" said Chub. "Maybe someone else wanted it too?"
"It makes better sense if they took it during the crews rescue," said Rosie. "They'd need to know what happened."
"Surely Rackham would have realized that?"
Cub was still on his knees his head inside the cupboard. "Well retrieved or stolen, it's still gone… Rosie: hand me the sensor will you…" he glanced back. "No the other one… thanks. If memory serves me right there's a couple of recorders: the primary one records everything from takeoff to landing; but data is routed through a short term recorder as well. I don’t know how far it goes back but maybe Rackham will be satisfied with that how far it dies."
"He'd better be," muttered Rosie. "I don't want to come back here anytime soon."
"Me neither," said chub shuffling backwards clutching a medium size metal box. "And there is a consolation; this is a lot smaller and lighter than the primary."
Jet relaxed a little as he helped place it on the gurney. "So where is hold three-B?" he asked the question without need, as he already held the plan.
They descended a different and shorter way to arrive on the equipment storage deck. It was deeper inside the spaceship and had not been penetrated by the vegetation, but it wasn’t any less ghostly. Other than the odd tool, or fitting everything had been well secured and remained as it had when the KallagahnIII was an operational mining vessel, and it was easy to picture the crew at work. They tried not to as they passed day quarters and stores until they were at hold three-B. Suddenly there was a problem; three-b was a secure room, and there was no mechanical opener.
"Your sure it’s the right code?" said Rosie tactfully.
Jet didn’t answer the question directly. "The code isn't opening it."
"We need power Jet," said Chub.
"I gathered that; but there isn't any."
Rosie waited before she nervously said what they thought. "Well what are we gunna do guy's?"
"Were gunna get inside." Jet said determinedly.
"I hope so," she said. "From his attitude I somehow don’t think Rackham will accept that we couldn’t get inn?"
"He aint gunna buy that?"
Jet's reply was tense. "No Chub, it's not if he buys it or not, it’s the truth."
"Anybody like to race back and get some explosives?" said Rosie with a forced smile.
"There's explosives?" Jet said as some hope returned.
Rosie's smile faded. "No I just thought… It was a stupid thing to…"
Chub gave her a supportive smile. "Anyway it wouldn’t do any good Rosie; well not without a…," he hesitated in thought. "Come to think of it this is a mining ship there could be some somewhere."
"That could be our next move," said Jet as he stared in frustration at the keypad.
Chub waited as Jet e
ntered the numbers a fourth time before the idea had sufficient merit in his mind. "I'm not sure but I think it could be possible to feed a short burst of power through the system: no guarantee; but it maybe could work?"
Jet looked at him seriously. "You think you can?"
"No; but I think I can try, and maybe it's the only way: any explosives would be in secure holds, and we'd probably have to blow the door off the explosives hold, to get explosives to blow this."
"What do we do?" asked Jet eagerly.
"It's what I need to do; find the input, get the pistol into the circuit and discharge…."
"Discharge," interrupted Rosie. "Your going to use the pistol?"
"It's safe; well safe enough."
"If we empty the pistols charge," said Rosie nervously. "It will be useless when we go back outside; I don’t like the thought of being out there with an empty weapon."
"I won't empty it."
Jet wasn’t sure it was possible. "But you can do it?"
"Actually thinking about it, that’s the easy part; problem is as Rosie pointed out; it'll empty the pistols charge in no time, so you have to be ready to enter the code the instant the powers running."
"Then we'd all better make sure we don’t waste time." Chub walked back down the corridor. "I'll go back to the control deck, find the loop and isolate it. If I can I, maybe: and I mean maybe; I'll be able to feed the pistol into the circuit, and we're gunna be away real soon."
Jet nodded; he wasn’t a systems person but it made sense.
In the silence as they waited, Jet could hear the distant noises; he was certain the period of time
Jet Black and the Impossible Forest #4 Page 3
