Dragon Team Seven

by Toby Neighbors

  “Sergeant,” he said softly, despite the fact that no one could hear him other than his NCO—not even an animal with a keen sense of sound.

  “What is it, Nichols?” Tveit asked.

  “I’ve got movement in the forest,” he said. “I see eyes glowing.”

  “The fires are attracting the animals,” she replied. “Are any close enough to see?”

  “No, they’re all just shadows.”

  “If they get close enough to make out their shape, let me know. I doubt they’ll be much trouble.”

  “Will the ring keep them out?”

  “No,” Tveit said abruptly. “It might slow them a little. And it should alert us if one tries to sneak in close.”

  “They’re afraid of fire though, right?”

  “I doubt they’ve ever seen fire before,” she explained. “Lightning strikes are rare on this world, and the rainfall makes fire rare.”

  “So they’re just curious,” Nick said, trying not to get spooked.

  “Yes,” Tveit replied. “But don’t let your guard down.”

  Nick knew that was an impossibility. He doubted he would even be able to sleep once his watch ended. Not with so many creatures slinking through the jungle around them. He watched the creatures for a long time and was finally starting to settle down when a low-pitched rumble reverberated through the trees.

  Chapter 31

  “What the...”

  “Easy, Private,” Tveit said. “Do you have a visual?”

  “No, Sergeant,” Nick said.

  “Okay,” she replied. “Stay alert.”

  Nick didn’t know how she switched between the private channel on their helmet com-links and the channel that included everyone. There was no indication on his end that he was aware of, although he had to admit his focus was entirely on the forest around him. The shadowy movement seemed to have disappeared, and everything was eerily still.

  “On your feet, team!” Tveit ordered. “We have a problem.”

  “Dang,” Kal grumbled. “I was having a sweet dream.”

  “We don’t want to hear about it,” Jules said. “There’s no telling what goes on inside your twisted head.”

  “Can it, people!” Gunny Tveit ordered. “We’re in a situation here.”

  As if to punctuate her concern, a loud, menacing growl rumbled out of the darkness. It reminded Nick of a dog’s growl just before it attacked.

  “Holy...” Ty stammered.

  “What was that?” Ember said.

  “We don’t know,” Nick said.

  “Phillips, Gracie, take position to the west. Lonzo, Ormond, you take east. You see something, you report it.”

  “Yes, Sergeant,” they said in unison.

  Nick checked his karambit. It was mounted in a small sheath on his chest and came free with a tug. He pressed it back into place, then held his spear in both hands. It was a primitive weapon, but it gave him a little self-assurance to have something to defend himself with.

  “What are we going to do if we see this thing?” Kal said. “I doubt these spears will be of much use.”

  “You might be surprised, Private,” Tveit said.

  Nick saw the beast first. It was so big that its shadowy form filled the space between two trees. The creature’s head was high, maybe ten meters off the ground. Nick had to tilt his head back to look up at it.

  “Oh my god,” Nick said. “It’s a dinosaur.”

  The creature had thick, rough-looking skin. Its plump body was held up by two massive hind legs. Higher up, Nick saw small forearms just below a thick neck and a huge, elongated head. The dinosaur’s eyes reflected the firelight as it slowly approached.

  “A what?” Ty said.

  “Dinosaur—the scary kind,” Nick said. “Forty-five meters from my position.”

  “Alright,” Tveit said. “Nichols, you hold your spot. The rest of you move back. Get to the raft and get it in the water.”

  Nick felt suddenly alone. He’d seen movies with dinosaurs. The last thing he wanted was to stand still as the huge creature approached. Nick was transfixed by the huge beast and didn’t notice Gunny Tveit until she was standing right beside him.

  “I’ve heard rumors,” she said. “But that’s my first dino.”

  “Rumors?”

  “Yeah, they’re known on this world, but they’re rare,” she replied.

  “So what do we do?”

  “We’re getting out of here, but I need you do it slowly. Keep your spear held ready. If it comes for us, remember that the weak points are the eyes, under the chin, and inside its hind legs.”

  “Oh, God,” Nick said.

  His legs felt weak and he feared he might faint.

  “We’re alright, Private. Just a slow walk backward,” she said.

  Nick felt her hand on his arm. It was a simple gesture. She didn’t squeeze or pull him, but that one touch focused his attention like nothing else could. He realized he could walk and began shuffling backward. The dinosaur growled again, but it didn’t rush forward. Nick could see that its mouth was open, but he couldn’t make out much more in the darkness. His night vision turned murky green as he looked up into the beast’s face.

  “It’s focused on the fire,” Tveit said.

  “I hope it stays that way.”

  They had moved back to the rear fire when the dinosaur crashed forward, bending low and roaring at them. Nick froze in place. He was completely sealed in his BIO-suit and armor, but he felt the force of the beast’s breath as it blew across them. The flames on the fire bent and fluttered before flaring up again.

  “Keep moving, Nick,” Tveit said. “Nice and easy.”

  They reached the jumble of limbs that encircled the camp. It wasn’t tall, and they both stepped over it at the same time. The dinosaur was leaning over the far end of the camp, its small arms above the fence as it sniffed at the smoke rising from the fire.

  “That was too close,” Nick said.

  “But amazing,” Tveit replied. “How many people can say they’ve walked with dinosaurs? We just saw something that no one on Earth has seen before.”

  “That’s true,” Nick said. “I guess I just wasn’t expecting it.”

  “That’s the best way,” she replied. “Just to get taken by surprise by something amazing. I’ve known people on Earth who live for decades—centuries, even—in the same city, doing the same job where nothing ever changes. My God, I could never live that way. I wouldn’t even call it living.”

  They reached the riverbank and found the others waiting for them.

  “The good news is, the raft floats,” Kal said.

  “The bad news is that we left the parachute silk back in the camp,” Ember said.

  “We’ll have to do without it,” Gunny Tveit said. “I don’t want to hang out here, just in case that dinosaur decides we’re more interesting than the fire.”

  “Isn’t it irresponsible to leave a fire burning in the forest unattended?” Jules said.

  “In most cases,” Tveit said. “But this place is too wet to burn. It will rain again soon, and even if the fire spreads, it will be extinguished naturally.”

  She stepped out onto the raft, which rocked a little. Ember and Jules followed her. Kal and Ty were holding the lines used to keep the raft at the riverbank. Nick stepped onto the raft and was surprised by how unsteady it felt. He’d never been on a boat, even though ferries were still in use moving people across the sound in Seattle. He knelt near the front of the craft and picked up an oar as Kal and Ty stepped onto the raft behind him. The logs shifted, the water sloshed, and the rear of the boat started to spin out away from the bank. Nick used his oar to push off.

  They were moving sideways at first, but with a little rowing they got the small vessel oriented. Nick was on edge, and he feared seeing more monstrous creatures come smashing through the trees. But the gentle movement of the raft as it floated downstream began to soothe him. Despite his nerves and the fact that he couldn’t see into the forest with h
is night vision, traveling down the river somehow felt right on an instinctual level.

  “Not too bad, cap’n,” Kal said, patting Nick on the shoulder.

  “Sure beats walking,” Jules added.

  “I can’t get over it,” Ty said. “I think that was a Ceratosaurus.”

  “A what?” Nick asked.

  “Ceratosaurus,” Ty insisted. “It’s a little smaller than a Tyrannosaurus, and notable for the small horn on its snout and above its eyes.”

  “You saw horns?” Jules asked.

  “I couldn’t stand to look right at it,” Ember said. “It was terrifying.”

  “You need to broaden your horizons,” Gunny Tveit said. “In this job you’re going to see a lot of strange things. We’ll be on alien worlds with things you can’t imagine. Our job is to blend in, stay calm, and complete the mission.”

  For an hour Nick sat up, occasionally dipping his oar into the water to straighten their course. The river seemed deep, the current strong. He had no way of judging their speed, but he knew they were moving faster than he could walk. Eventually he moved to the center of the raft and let Kal take his place at the front of the ship. Nick dozed while they drifted down the river and covered dozens of kilometers in the process.

  When the sun finally rose, Gunny Tveit roused him. The sunlight cast a golden pink color across the sky. The dark green forest looked mysterious as mist rose up from the river and hung in the air.

  “Let’s get a reading on our course,” Tveit ordered. “I want to see if we’re still moving in the right direction.”

  “Yes, Sergeant,” Nick said.

  He brought up the directional controls on his helmet’s Heads Up Display. The HUD showed them moving north. Nick had to zoom out of the map program to find the evac zone. It was already over seventy kilometers closer than the day before.

  “We’re making good time,” Nick said. “Only seven hundred and thirty klicks to the evac zone.”

  “That’s a lucky break,” Tveit said. “If this river can hold out the rest of the day, we should be able to cover enough distance to travel over land if we have to and still complete the challenge.”

  “I’m not too keen on getting back on land,” Ty said. “I don’t want to stumble into a dinosaur’s buffet line.”

  “Let’s just focus on what’s ahead of us,” Tveit said.

  “Hopefully not a waterfall,” Kal joked.

  “That’s not funny,” Jules said.

  They had breakfast, which was another protein shake. Nick still missed chewing his food, but he couldn’t deny the benefits of the Proxy protein shakes. His body absorbed the vitamins and minerals much more efficiently than by chewing. He was not only in better shape, but he felt better, stronger, his mind clearer than ever before. And, surprisingly enough, the shakes were filling. He had worried that simply drinking his meals would leave him feeling unsatisfied and hungry all the time, but the shakes did their job. They fueled his body and left his mind free to focus on other things.

  An hour after dawn, they passed a troop of chattering monkeys. Nick had been to the virtual zoo when he was a kid. He remembered seeing a variety of monkeys, but none like the ones on the bank of the river. They had small, furry bodies and long tails. Most hung upside down from tress that grew out over the riverbank. As the team of recon specialists watched, several dove into the water and came up holding large fish, which were taken by other monkeys and carried high into the trees to be eaten. More monkeys hauled the divers back up, where they once again hung from their tails waiting for another chance to dive into the water. The monkeys had strange faces, with a cranial ridge that ran from their forehead down to the center. Their eyes protruded on either side of the ridge. They had no nose—just nostrils below their eyes and small mouths that stretched forward into small, round muzzles.

  Nick and the others were staying in the center of the river, watching to avoid rock or anything that might damage their raft. They had seen logs floating in the river, but most were by the riverbank. Nick was watching the monkeys when what looked like a log floating past suddenly leapt up out of the water. It wasn’t a log, but rather a creature that reminded Nick of a crocodile. It had a long mouth that tapered in toward its snout. The mouth was filled with teeth that clamped down onto one of the monkeys. The entire troop reacted to the attack, jumping and screaming. Some threw branches and fish bones toward the creature, but it had already splashed back into the river, dragging the helpless monkey under the water.

  “Oh, man,” Kal said.

  “That was brutal,” Nick added.

  “I told you there were creatures in the river,” Tveit said.

  “That looked like an alligator or a crocodile,” Ember said. “Why are there Earth animals on this planet?”

  “Why, indeed?” Tveit said. “Do you remember what we gave the Proxy in the Great Trade?”

  “Animals,” Jules said. “A wide variety of Earth’s wildlife.”

  “Exactly. I can’t say what the Proxy did with all those animals, but it seems they didn’t didn’t waste the opportunity to seed worlds with creatures from ours.”

  “So Delphi Green is a second Earth?” Kal asked.

  “No,” Tveit replied. “There are other creatures here too. And most have adapted to this world. Those monkeys may have begun as animals from Earth, but they’re native to this world now.”

  “That’s kind of cool,” Jules said. “Why not let humans colonize this world?”

  “We could, but the Proxy have decided not to share it. The worlds in the Delphi system are used for recon training and nothing else, as far as I know. I’ve heard some of the Proxy take safaris here, but I’ve never seen that side of the Foundry.”

  “Is that where they make their ships?” Ember asked.

  Tveit nodded. “We’re not allowed on that side of the space station. The work there is considered top-secret.”

  “You mean that’s where they develop their interstellar drives?” Kal asked.

  “That’s what most people think,” Tveit said. “No one can say for sure.”

  “Guys, we’ve got boulders up ahead,” Ty pointed out.

  Nick looked down river and saw several round protrusions in the water. But there was something odd about them; they looked like rocks, yet the water didn’t break around them. It flowed past with hardly a ripple.

  “Are we sure those are stones?” Nick asked.

  “Either way,” Tveit said, “we need to avoid them. Let’s paddle closer to the bank.”

  “I hope there aren’t more crocodiles waiting over there,” Kal said.

  Ty moved back from the front edge of the raft.

  “Let’s all stay cool,” Tveit ordered. “Let’s get closer to the bank and just drift past them.”

  “What are they?” Ember asked.

  As if in reply, one lifted its bulbous head. It had small ears and eyes above a fat, round snout. It belched a warning as the raft floated by, and water sprayed out from the back of its throat. The interior of the creature’s mouth was white, and while it had large teeth, they were flat and dull-looking.

  “Hippos, I believe,” Tveit replied.

  “You mean hippopotamuses?” Ty asked. “Oh, wow! I wish we could see them better.”

  “No, you don’t,” Tveit said. “They’re deadly if they charge.”

  “They don’t look deadly,” Nick said. “They’re kind of funny-looking.”

  “But they’re incredibly strong,” Tveit went on. “I’ve heard stories of them attacking ships back on Earth. They’re kings of the river.”

  “Man, I thought the crocs would shred them,” Ty said.

  “Nothing messes with an angry hippo,” Kal said.

  Chapter 32

  Nick didn’t feel that their first day on the river was tranquil, but they did cover a lot of ground without being accosted. As night fell, he checked to see how far they had gone in a full day’s travel. They were now only five hundred kilometers from the evac site, which meant tha
t the raft had carried them over three hundred klicks since they launched—almost two hundred kilometers from dawn till dusk. It didn’t hurt that the river current was strong, or that they didn’t need to land to eat or rest.

  In the long afternoon, everyone had taken turns napping. Gunny Tveit wanted everyone awake through the short night. It was easy enough to let two people watch while the other four squad members napped. Nick had even gotten a solid two-hour rest. The raft wasn’t comfortable, but the gentle rocking of the river and his night without sleep were both conducive to rest.

  “Man, this isn’t so bad,” Kal said.

  “Don’t jinx it,” Jules demanded.

  “I’m just saying there are a lot of worse things we could be doing,” Kal continued. “It’s almost peaceful.”

  “You say that until one of those hippos charges us,” Ty said. “Then all bets are off.”

  “Are there any hippos left on Earth?” Ember asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Nick replied. “I saw some when I was a kid in the VR zoo, but I think they were extinct.”

  “Most wild animals are,” Jules said. “No more habitat back on Earth.”

  “At least they’re thriving here,” Ember said.

  “Yeah, I’m all for it,” Ty said. “As long as they don’t have us on the menu for dinner.”

  Nick’s night vision didn’t allow him to see the stars overhead. And lounging back with his focus on the sky wasn’t safe, so instead he focused on the river; it looked like a black ribbon that occasionally reflected the starlight overhead.

  They floated for several hours without incident, but with only a few hours until dawn the river began to grow louder. The current, which was steady and strong, seemed to speed up. Nick strained to see ahead, but couldn’t make out anything more than ten meters beyond their position, where the darkness of night closed in.

  “Gunny,” Nick said. “Maybe we should put to shore?”

  “I agree,” Tveit said.

  “Wait. What’s going on?” Kal asked.

  “The river’s speeding up,” Jules said.

  “So? That doesn’t mean anything, does it?” Kal asked.

  “Better not take chances,” Nick said. “We don’t want to wreck our raft.”