‘Maybe it all happens at night’, he thought, but he was not too keen to wander about at night to find out.
Kal had been walking along for some time, when the end of the track came into sight. It just stopped, and he didn’t like the thought of having to go all that way back again.
As he was so close to the end he thought he may as well see what had caused it to terminate. Maybe a clue as to what created the track in the first place would come to light.
Kal was surprised to find that the track didn’t just end here, but took a sharp right angled turn to the left, and then went on into the distance.
The next unpleasantness to be presented to him was only a short distance after the turn he had just made. Beside the main track there was a small clearing, and in it what looked like a pool of muddy water.
The actual water was only about half a metre across, and it was skirted by a muddy patch of about the same width. The whole thing was quite a neat circle, and that aroused his suspicions straight away.
Somehow it lacked something that a pool of water should have, but he couldn’t make out just what it was. He decided to sit down in the middle of the track and keep perfectly still to see if anything happened.
He was just about to give up on his vigil, when one of the caterpillar type creatures came into view, its head swinging from side to side. It must have sensed the water, for it made a straight line towards it.
The muddy section did not seem to impede it at all, and it left no track in the mud, and that was when Kal realized that the pool wasn’t all that it seemed to be. The caterpillar reached the ‘water’ and lowered its head to drink - and was stuck fast in a glue-like substance.
The outer edges of the ‘mud’ then curled up to envelope the caterpillar completely, and a heaving muddy lump was all that there was to be seen of it. Only moments later the lump unfurled itself and the ‘pool’ was back to normal, with no sign of the meal it had taken.
Kal was getting used to the fact that very little here was as it appeared to be, but the last episode emphasized the point, and he resolved to be even more careful in future.
The track was now getting a little narrower as Kal progressed up it, and in the not too far distance it really did look as if it had closed in completely.
There was nothing for it but to go on and see what lay ahead, if anything apart from solid forest, and he certainly wasn’t going to venture into that.
Kal could not help thinking about the huge bones he had seen in the thorn thicket. There had been no sign of any large animal, and because there was no bare earth to speak of, as the gross seemed to cover every piece of available open space, he had seen no footprints. Of course, this didn’t mean that it did not exist, but he would feel a little easier if he knew a bit more about it.
The track had now narrowed down to about three metres, and he was beginning to feel a little uneasy. There was still room to manoeuvre if need be, but the closed in feeling was getting to him.
Fortunately, the sides of the path were not too densely populated with vegetation as it had been earlier, so did this mean that the track still existed as such, but the various trees and bushes were trying to encroach on the track itself?
He plodded on to a point where some larger trees had actually spread their canopy over head to make the track into a tunnel for a short distance.
Kal checked the tunnel forming trees for any hidden traps, such as the Whip variety, or anything else which could reach out to him as he went underneath them.
It all looked innocent enough so far, and he carefully ventured in a short distance to see if there was a change of circumstances ahead.
The uneasy feeling was getting stronger, and as he had got used to listening to his senses, he stopped, and looked around.
He could see nothing untoward at first, and then he noticed high up in an overhead tree a large greenish plate-like object, spread across several smaller branches.
He hadn’t come across anything like this before, and he wasn’t going to get too near it until he found out what it was or did, if anything.
A small pile of rocks, the first he had seen for a long time, lay to one side of the pathway, behind which was a bush of a type he hadn’t seen before. It consisted of a series of thin stems atop of which grew large clumps of fluffy white fronds, as fine as hair.
It was a very delicate looking thing, but Kal was taking no chances, and gave it a poke with his pole. Nothing untoward happened, it didn’t try to bite the end of the pole off, or wrap itself around it, so he thought it was of the non aggressive type, and was therefore relatively safe.
As Kal wanted to use the rocks as a place of safety to observe things for a while, and the white bush would be at his back, he would be hidden from that quarter and would be able to concentrate on what lay before him. He settled down to wait for whatever happened here when no one was around making a noise.
A closer look at the strange plate-like thing in the tree revealed it to be rather like a sheet of a leathery substance, about fifteen millimetres thick and spreading over an area of one metre in diameter.
Roughly circular in shape and a dull olive green in colour, it blended in well with the growth around it. A tiny sparkle of light caught Kal’s attention, and he realized that it was a drop of liquid that had fallen from the thing in the tree.
Where it had landed, the gross had grown profusely, and was very lush and thick as it had beneath the other bush he has seen earlier. Maybe this was a lure for whatever the leather shape above had in mind for a meal, for he felt sure that a meal was involved here somewhere.
Kal must have dozed off for a while, for he awoke with a start and was aware of movement off to one side of the track, and it was not long before the creature hove into sight.
It was almost comical to look at, a pear shaped body supported on two stumpy little legs causing a wobbly gait to its movement. On top of the body, a small elongated head with large brown eyes, bobbed up and down, as it cropped the gross between the trees.
Two long thin arms completed the picture, and it brought a smile to Kal face, the first for quite a time.
Although he sensed something unpleasant was about to happen, it still came as a shock when the ‘Leather Flap’ detached itself from the tree, and glided down to land with a dull plop on top of ‘Pear Shape’s’ head.
It promptly slumped to the ground as though stunned, as the Leather Flap wrapped itself tightly around the head and upper trunk of the poor creature. A few twitches, and Pear Shape lay as still as the rest of the forest around it.
After a few seconds the body seemed to swell almost to bursting point, and then deflated as the ‘Leather Flap’ grew larger, and then uncurled itself from the bag of skin and bone that was left, and wriggled a short distance away.
Having chosen a suitable site, the Leather Flap then proceeded to screw itself into the ground until all that was left to show its whereabouts was a small olive green tube-like structure poking out just above ground level. Even as he watched, the tube adjusted its height until it was only just visible, and then the gross curled around the top, hiding it.
Of all his discoveries so far on the planet, this was quite the most unpleasant thing that Kal had witnessed so far, and it was some time later, when he had time to spare, that he fully uncovered the true life cycle of the Leather Flap.
Although it was his policy not to take life unless it directly threatened his own, this revolting creation instinctively made Kal want to destroy every one he came across, and he had great difficulty in suppressing that urge.
It was some considerable time later when he managed to work out the complete life cycle of the revolting Leather Flap, and it was no less unpleasant than the way that it caught it’s food.
Taking the life cycle from the point where it was up in the branches of a tree, the abomination sent a series of probing shoots into the living tissue of the branches, and withdrew moisture and any nutrients it needed.
From this, it manufac
tured a form of liquid fertilizer which it then dripped onto the ground beneath, and the gross in the treated area grew thick and fast, forming a tempting lure for any grazing creature that was passing.
Somehow the Leather Flap sensed the presence of its intended prey below, and glided or dropped down onto it.
As soon as contact was made with the quarry, a set of hollow claws on its periphery sank into the victim, and injected a paralysing fluid which was quickly followed by an injection of one or more enzymes, the purpose of which was to rapidly break down all internal tissues so that they could be ingested by the Leather Flap.
When this had been done, and it didn’t take long, the creature left the corpse and located a soft piece of ground where it literally screwed itself below the surface.
Kal was not sure how long the next stage took, but in essence, the Leather Flap underwent some form of metamorphosis, and in time disgorged about six or so replicas of itself, leaving behind an empty leathery bag underground, which, no doubt, something else found a use for.
The offspring were akin to very large grey slugs, about the length of his forearm and twice as thick.
These then found a suitable a tree, climbed up to the branches over a clearing and stretched themselves out to begin the repulsive cycle all over again.
Kal supposed that in time something would come along and make use of the sad remains of Pear Shape’s skin and bone, as nothing seemed to go to waste for long here.
He sat for a while thinking about what he had just seen and wondered if there was a size limit to the creature that the Leather Flap would take. He supposed not, and resolved to be very careful indeed.
Kal scraped a quantity of Finger Nut flakes into his hand and followed his meal with a drink from his water sticks. He had seen quite a few bamboo clumps along the way, so he was not too worried about his water supply at the moment. It was time to head up the track again under the archway of overhanging trees, and he noticed to his relief, that the path was getting a little wider the further he went. It was not long before he was out of the tree tunnel again, and felt a lot better for the relative safety of the open.
A few kilometres along his way the ground changed, the gross getting more and more sparse as gravel and then fine stones showed through. The forest still continued on either side of him, and this gave the track a man-made look, although he doubted very much that it was.
There had been no sign of intelligent life so far, but then again, he had not travelled all that far, when taking the whole planet into consideration.
The vegetation on either side of him still provided the odd surprise, with different coloured fruits and odd looking shapes adorning the trees and bushes.
New types were tempting to try for food, but he reasoned that the brighter the colour, the more harmful they might be, at least they were according to his past trials.
The old faithful Finger Nut trees showed up every now and again, as did the Whip Trees, but he had not seen any of the drinking Water Traps for some time.
Occasionally he thought about the old Ship, and his fellow crewmen, but it all seemed a considerable time ago, as his attention was fixed on survival.
‘Strange how one can adapt so easily to new circumstances if you have to’ he thought, and promptly stumbled over a ridge in the track surface.
He staggered a few paces before falling down in a heap and that probably saved his life as a giant tendril as thick as his thigh arose from the ridge and thrashed about, no doubt guided by his body heat.
Kal rolled away from it as fast as he could, and then leapt to his feet to get as much distance between it and himself as possible. The snaking tendril having missed its intended prey, wriggled itself back into the ground, this time not leaving such a large ridge, and Kal began to worry that he would not see the next one.
Very carefully he walked on, looking for anything that was not quite as he thought it should be, but decided what should or shouldn’t be on this world, was getting rather more difficult as time went by.
Up ahead the terrain was showing signs of change as the trees and bushes were becoming sparser, to be replaced with large and rugged rock formation.
At least without trees either side of him, he didn’t need to worry about the giant tendrils, or did he? He never did see if the last one was attached to anything, or was a lone entity.
Kal stopped in his tracks, and thought a moment. If the area up ahead was all rocks and no vegetation, he might be short of water, and now would be a good time to stock up on his water tubes.
He turned back and retraced his footsteps, keeping a lookout for a bamboo clump. The other problem was the belt he used to hold the bundle of canes together with, which was not really long enough to secure a decent sized supply.
The Whip Tree could provide a tendril to use as a rope, if he could retrieve one without getting caught in the process.
A bamboo clump came into sight before long, and he set about cutting a pile of canes with the Jaw Saw. Getting a tendril from the Whip Tree was going to be dangerous, and he thought a small tree would be the safest to tackle, and would provide a more slender tendril.
The light was beginning to dim a little, and he wanted to get back to the rocky area before it got too dark so that he could find a safe place to sleep. Leaving the track, Kal made a note of the direction from which the light from the sinking sun was coming from, so that he would not lose his bearing and would be able to find the path to the rocks again.
He was about to give up his search, when he came across a denser area of strange growths, and sure enough the ubiquitous Whip Trees were among them. Finding a small one was not so easy, and he had to settle for one that was far too business like for his comfort.
Kal stood just outside the range of the Whip Tree’s tendrils, and wondered just how he was going to get what he wanted without becoming a meal for the tree, and then he remembered the sharp teeth of the Jaw Saw.
It was a chancy idea, but it might work. To keep out of the range of the ‘whips’, he needed another dead bamboo pole to add to the one he already had, and went to get one.
Joining the two poles together with the belt was easy, but the difficult part of the operation was prising a ‘tooth’ from the Jaw Saw without cutting himself into the bargain.
Using a small stone, he chipped enough bone away to release a tooth, and marvelled at its sharpness even after he had been using it to cut the bamboo poles. Cutting a slot in the end of the pole, he carefully forced the base of the tooth into it, and was ready to get his tendril.
Kal approached the smallest of the Whip Trees, and making as sure as he could that his double pole was a little longer than he estimated the chosen tendril could reach, he slid the pole forward, lining it up with the base of the growth.
The first stab brought about an unexpected reaction from the tree, all the tendrils lashed out and writhed about, looking for the thing which had dared to attack it.
He waited for the tree to calm down, and tried again with the same result. Luckily, the tendrils did not go for his pole, as it did not give out any body heat, and he thought that heat was the key factor the tree used to sense prey.
At long last, after multiple slashing and stabbing, a tendril was severed from the base of the tree, and lay writhing about on the ground, seemingly with a life of its own.
Using the pole, Kal eased it away from the strike range of the tree, and waited for it to stop moving, not knowing if it still posed a danger if he got too close to it.
The claw on the end of it could inflict a nasty wound if it struck him, so he was very careful to watch it.
Kal put his foot on the severed end of the tendril, and applied a little weight. A thick brown liquid shot out, and the tendril gave a little wriggle.
The main length of it was only about half the thickness of his wrist, but this was still too thick to use as a rope. He applied a few more squeezes with his feet, and found that when the liquid had been expressed the tendril was reduced in diameter
, and had become a little more flexible. This was what he wanted, and he set about squeezing the rest of the length to clear it of the unwanted contents.
It took a little while to clear all the thick liquid from the tendril, but having done so, Kal had a strong and flexible rope to tie up his drinking poles, and returned to the pile he had cut earlier.
By now the light had dimmed a little more than he would have wished for, as he still had quite a way to go to reach an area of rock that was completely devoid of vegetation.
Hurrying along, he got to thinking as to why so many of the trees were hell bent on feeding off animals, and the only conclusion he could come to was that this place was short of ‘fixed’ nitrogen, and this was the only way a plant could get a good supply, by taking it from something that had already obtained it.
When Kal reached the rocks, he was tired and thirsty, and set about finding a comfortable recess in which to spend the night. A good scraping of the Finger Nut washed down with the slightly sweet perfumed water of the bamboo pole and he felt a lot better.
As Kal lay in his rocky niche, he wished that he had had the foresight to have gathered up a quantity of gross on which to sleep, as it would have been a little more comfortable than the unyielding rock.
The sun finally sank below the horizon and the stars came out like twinkling jewels in a black velvet sky. He looked at them for some time, and was surprised to see so many of them were coloured.
Or was it a trick of the atmosphere? Finally he drifted into a dreamless sleep, and the night and its strange happenings passed him by, silently, as far as he was concerned.
Again, dawn was a beautiful sight, and stretching his somewhat stiff limbs he suddenly froze. A clatter of falling stones echoed around the rock pile, something was out there, and of a respectable size to have caused such a noise.
He was armed with his pole with the sharpened end, and another one with the tooth, but that would be little defence against a large animal, and he felt that something big and hungry was out there, looking for breakfast.
Kal thought that being on top of a large rock might be the best place to ward off an attack, but then he would be in full view and advertising his presence by so doing.
The Inosculation Syndrome Page 4
