Green Humanoid: Begins with an interesting adventure (Fantasy World Book 1)

by Amelia Esla

  Maria got up and carefully approached, “Does it attack or can I touch it?”

  Roy petted the massive head of his beast, “No it won’t attack. It likes you, you can touch it.”

  Maria cooed, “Oh how soft its fur is! Just like Snuggle!”

  Norm waved his hands, “Maybe Roy is a Greenie, but that’s not a Green Hell animal. I bet he bought it on GalNet. It has four legs. Nothing on Green Hell has four legs. Maybe it’s a robot!”

  Maria shook her head, “That’s no robot! I know every robot model there is and this is not a machine.”

  Bob added, “How can you be so sure it isn’t native? We know less than one percent of what’s out there. No one really has been to the other side of the planet. Whatever it is, it walked with Roy in the Jungle and nothing off world can survive that.”

  Norm had no real answer to that and had to concede. “Yes you are right, it must be a native life form, it survives, but I bet my Water Snake is tougher than whatever that is! Maybe I should ask Zisch’s mom to fry it!”

  “I don’t know what’s gotten into you?” said Melissa and she glared at him with her big green eyes and they sparkled with emotion as she continued, “Why are you so aggressive towards Roy today? We have always been friends!”

  Maria slung her tool belt around her waist and closed it, and then she said from underneath her curtain of black hair, “Because we are growing up and we are not kids anymore. Norm has feelings towards you, and when you smiled at Roy it set him off. It’s hormones that turn males into idiots.”

  Norm blushed and Melissa gasped. Maria always said things in a blunt and direct way and nothing escaped her analytical eyes and sharp mind.

  Melissa stomped her foot, “You are all my friends. Please don’t destroy that with petty jealousy games. I am not interested in you Norm; I mean other than being friends and neither am I interested in Roy. Can we not remain friends as we always have been even though we starting to notice that we are not all of the same gender?”

  Norm sat down and said with a weak voice, “Maybe I did over-react a little and I am sorry. Roy is a Greenie I know. I would never dare to try to make it on foot to his house.”

  Roy shrugged again, “I can do it only because I live out there and have to do it all the time. I bet you could do it after a while just as I do, after all you are a Greenie.”

  Norm liked what Roy had said and nodded, “Sorry Roy. Didn’t mean to be such an asshole. I am sure you can bathe and swim all day long, Zisch’s mother is protecting us all after all, not just me.”

  Maria handed Norm the blaster and said, “It’s fixed and next time make sure the trigger assembly is completely snapped into place or it isn’t water proof.”

  He took his expensive Enroe DE blaster and said, “Thank you Maria, I will.”

  Maria cocked her head and said with urgency, “I can hear a Floater engine!”

  Everyone turned and tried to hide and duck between the rocks, but it was too late this time, a green painted armed hover tank with the logo of the Union ranger service on the sides appeared from above the Jungle and swooped down.

  Chapter 5

  Paul felt the fine stinging sensation of the suit’s Auto Doc administering drugs and injecting tissue and medical repair Nanites into his back. He tasted blood in his mouth and opened his eyes. He lay sprawled on the vegetation covered ground of Green Hell. He saw the wrecked skimmer not far away, a smoking and twisted wreck. Then he saw something he had never wanted to see up close, hundreds of Dragon Ants crawling over the faceplate of his helmet. The suit must have automatically sealed itself and that was why he was still able to open his eyes. Would the suit hold long enough for help to arrive?

  His next thought was about Helen, “Suit can you connect me to Helen Masters?”

  “Helen Masters is trying to call you, Sir. I will connect.”

  He heard the voice of his wife, “Thank heaven the Auto Doc was able to stabilize you.” Her voice, for the first time in years, reflected real emotions and he knew she still cared for him, on a level other than just being a good researcher and assistant.

  He cleared his throat and said, “What happened? Are you alright?”

  He could not move his head for some reason and still watched the Ants with their scary mandibles trying to bite through the transparent metal of the now rigid helmet.

  She said, “I am stuck to my waist in a mud bog and a Burrow Digger is trying to chew my leg off. As long as I have Suit energy I think I will be all right. You have a broken back and the Auto Doc immobilized most of your muscles so you don’t move and kill yourself doing it. Mortimer is alright too, he is nursing broken legs and a few bruises.”

  The voice of Dr. Evans came on, angry and annoyed, “It was your foolishness that got us in this mess. We will all die here! I can see the Ants are already making progress on your suit and I am stuck in a Trappers palm with Buzz Saws swarming all over me.”

  Martha did not sound too confident as she said, “I called for help, but there are no Marines in town at the moment. I was told that they left for Harper’s Junction for some R&R. They are alerted and will come back, but it will take a while.

  Paul watched as a small stream of Ant acid begun to eat into the transparent metal of his folding helmet. There were hundreds of them and eventually they would get through. In all this he somehow remembered his own words to Roy, when he called the marines ‘dumb brutes’.

  He wondered what he should say to his wife before they died. He was afraid of dying, but it was the drugs that kept him pain free and immobilized that made him somewhat lethargic.

  Paul heard Martha say, “I don’t believe it...”

  Before he could even ask her, he heard a new deep voice, “Not to worry, I’ll have you out of here in no time!”

  Paul could see a man wearing a much lighter combat suit without a helmet, he was tall and dark skinned and with him were two tremendous looking war machines. Roy’s father of course recognized Charles the robot as one of them, so the other must have been Henry, the other Cerberus on this world.

  Charles bathed Paul in a bright ultraviolet light that scanned all over his suited body and then the robot picked him up, despite the 3 ton armor suit and said with his warm voice, “Master Paul, one has destroyed the ants that infested your suit. One will fly you to the city for medical attention. Henry will assist Mistress Martha and the third person.

  The man who Roy called Uncle Sam grinned and said, “I came as fast as I could when I heard about the accident. There is nothing faster on this planet than a Cerberus doing a ballistic jump. So don’t worry, we’ll be in space only for a few seconds and you’ll be at the hospital in no time.”

  Martha watched as the impulse jets in the robot’s legs glowed sun bright and air, heated to a million degrees by hot energy plasma, burned, charred and blasted the ground.

  Charles disappeared into the sky like a rocket with her husband in his arms, his aggressive Trans Dim Battle shields punching a hole through the foliage of the trees and everything else that might have been in the way. She could hear the loud boom as Charles broke the sound barrier a heartbeat later.

  Martha was pulled out of the muck by the other robot with one of its arms while another arm grew meter long razor claws out of its fist’s knuckles and cut the burrow digger away from her with machine speed and precision. Military hardware she despised, soldiers she thought of as mindless, lesser beings that now rescued her and her husband.

  Hovering only four meters above the water surface, facing the rocks, the front hatch opened and Ranger Solomon climbed out and stood on the bow of the tank, his fists stemmed into his sides and looking over them with unveiled disbelief and amazement on his face, “I don’t believe what I see with my own eyes!”

  His hand darted to his service weapon as he saw the big spider rearing up behind his son and he screamed, “Son, duck there is a Moolax behind you! I have to shoot!”

  Bob spread his arms, “If you want to shoot my Wobbler you have
to shoot through me, Dad!”

  The Ranger slowly lowered his gun and after a long moment he said, “It is true, I didn’t really believe it but it is true! I knew you guys went outside, but ... but you are out here completely without armor suits! And now I see you play with ... with life forms no one has ever survived seeing close up!”

  “Armor suits are stupid and for Off-Worlders!” said Norm, repeating the words all kids used a lot when talking among themselves. Then he pointed with his chin towards the lake and said, “Zisch’s Mom is watching over us better than a Platoon of Marines could!”

  The ranger noticed the big snake slowly coming closer, clearly alerted and ready to strike, “Good Lord!” He shook visibly and knew even his powerful side-arm would do him no good if the snake had tried to kill him. It would have been too late to try to get back inside the tank. If the snake spat fire, or used her thorns, he would be dead long before he managed to get inside. He finally found words, “The snake is protecting you?”

  Norm looked very proud and his voice was confident, “Yes Sir, Mr. Ranger. We are in no danger.”

  Ranger Solomon sighed and then said, “Seeing all this made me forget the reason I came in the first place,” from the corner of his eye he still watched the big snake and then he sai, “Roy, there has been an accident. The Institute floater with your parents crashed in the Emerald Shade Valley.”

  Before Roy could react to this news, the Ranger raised his hands, “No reason to worry, Sam Brown was actually not far from their crash site and called in the two Cerberus he owns. He rescued your parents and Dr. Evans. They are injured and are currently at the Ant Hill Med Center.”

  Roy’s mouth was open and he was still gasping as he asked, “How are they?”

  The Doctors say they all going to be all right, your father suffered the worst injuries but is expected to recuperate fully.”

  Bob put his arm on Roy’s shoulders, to make sure his friend knew he was not alone and said, “They will be fine I am sure. Let’s go and visit them.”

  Bob’s father gave his son a scolding look, “If you guys would ensure you had your PDDs on I would not have had to come out here and could have called!”

  Norm, sheepishly clicked his PDD back on and explained, speaking for all of them. “We always turn them off when we come out here, so we can’t be traced.”

  Melissa stepped forward, “Please Mr. Solomon don’t tell my parents about Silver, they’ll take him away from me! I love Silver!”

  The Ranger made an apologetic gesture and sighed, “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Melissa. I am out here on official business. I kept my eyes and ears closed to the rumors that kids sneak out of the city to be outside but during the last City Council meeting, concerned parents asked me to find out if it was true.” He sighed again, looking at the sad and concerned faces of the teenagers as he continue, “I knew about Roy sneaking out sometimes, but as long as I had no evidence, I could pretend not to know much about it.” He gestured across the small group with a sweeping motion of his right arm, “but I have that evidence now right before my eyes, not that I actually believe what I am seeing.”

  Melissa started crying and Maria said defiantly, “There is no law that prohibits us from being here, Sir. What business is it of the City Council? You are a Federal Authority, local council meetings neither make law nor instruct the Ranger Service what to do!”

  Bob’s father had, of course, known Maria since she before she could walk and knew of her brilliant mind. He replied, “While you are correct in general terms, young lady. There is a City ordinance that requires all expeditions and intended excursions outside City force fields to be registered with the Ranger Station, ever since that unfortunate stunt of those Off-Worlders a few years back. I do have to report it.”

  Bob squeezed a few tears and clenched his fists, “That’s rotten, Dad! We aren’t Off Worlders and we have come here for years. Not one of us has been harmed or seriously injured in all that time and I know many other kids do it too, we are not the only ones.”

  “Son, I am the Ranger and I must enforce the rules. I can’t make exceptions, especially not for my own son.”

  Roy had almost forgotten about his parents and stood with his friends while they all stared at the law man. Bob’s father felt sorry for them and smiled, “I don’t have to report it right away and that gives me time to think of a way to approach this situation. You didn’t break any laws and I am sure we can work things out. I will talk to your parents and I think we can convince them to change their point of view.”

  Norm barked, “No one is going to take Zisch away from me or tell me I can’t have him.”

  Roy looked gloomy and said, “No matter what you tell my parents, nothing will make them change their minds. They don’t respect anything but their stupid science colleagues and they will want to dissect our pets. Tell my parents I love them but I am a Greenie and I will never go back. I can live in the jungle and no one will ever find me there!”

  Roy turned and was about to leave.

  The Ranger yelled, “Don’t run away Roy, please! I would have to stop you! You and my son are good friends and I have always treated you as a part of my family whenever you were with us. So please trust me.”

  Roy stopped and turned back, “I respect you very much Mr. Solomon, but not even you could find me out there.”

  The Ranger sighed, “Given the fact that I have received a call from you once over seventy kilometers into the Jungle, I believe you. Just give me a chance. For now you should think of your parents and go visit them and let me work out the rest.” With these words he climbed back into the pilot seat, but stopped and looked around, “I don’t see any floaters, that means you all walked here!” He shook his head, still in disbelief, gave the snake and the Moolax another look and then said, “I’ll keep it quiet for now, but I expect you all to be outside Ma Swanson’s Boathouse tomorrow after school, and bring your animals, too.”

  Melissa sniffed, “Then you arrest us and shoot our animals when you got enough fire power and the Marines are back from R&R?”

  The ranger had already reached for the hatch-closing button, but he stopped and shook his head, “Of course not. You should know me better than that and know that I keep my word. I think that if your parents see you outside walking over a considerable distance and in the company of local life forms that not only don’t harm you, but have somehow bonded with you, it will change their minds. If you can demonstrate that you have some control over your animals, I will issue the first pet-owner licenses ever on Green Hell.”

  It was clear to the ranger that the kids did not trust him, so he delayed his departure a few moments longer, “I give you my word, no one will shoot, capture or dissect your animals. Despite the apparent dominance of the Science Council Institute, I represent the law and that trumps it all, so please be there. I trust in you doing the right thing.”

  Chapter 6

  Roy had left his animal with heavy heard heart and foreboding gloomy thoughts in the mostly gutted ruin of Research Outpost 2. Even though he was sure the animal understood and would wait for him, he feared he might see his new friend the last time.

  Bob always left Wobbler here, when he had to go inside and Wobbler was always there the next day. Norm’s Zisch always came right out of the water; so Roy sighed and petted the humongous head of the black beast and received a dry lick across the chest and face. and He then went to Ma’ Swanson’s where Nick, one of Ma Swenson’s employees took him over to Ant Hill.

  Nick was a tall, and thin and, half Andorian. Unlike a full Andorian, he was over three meters tall and flew the Toyo-Sung Ajax 453 from the first passenger seat, -row; the actual pilot seat had been removed long ago. Nick and Roy knew each other for a long time. Nick and Ma Swanson and everyone else of the Boathouse knew that he was walking the Jungles without much gear.

  Nick wore the same type of Light Armor as the Ranger and most adult Greenies and he had the helmet completely off. He chewed on a wad of gum as he
steered the fast flyer towards the city and the force field membrane entrance and said. “Lucky they were, your parents I mean, Sam being out there just 100 clicks from the crash.”

  Roy only nodded.

  Nick offered Roy a piece of gum. “You and that crazy Marine are the only ones who would dare to go that far into the thickets. I mean unprotected and all.” Roy took the gum and said, while he unwrapped it. “I am not unprotected, I use the Thompson Ma Swanson gave me all the time, besides I am a Greenie.”

  The tall flier mechanic slowed the flier to a full stop as a robot arm extended from the cities city’s Entry ring Ring and took the Toyo Flier, passing it underneath a curtain of high pressure superheated steam. This procedure was done three times and the flier was scanned and bathed in a lethal soup of chemicals and steamed of again. Only after almost ten minutes of intensive cleaning and checking, to make sure no Green Hell life form had clung to the outside and thus gained access to the inside of the city; . the The Flier was shoved in a debarking bay,

  Nick extended his well wishes and Roy took the next Inter City Mover cabin and dialed for the Hospital.

  He had been here a few times before and he knew the Head doctor well, as he was Melissa’s father. The cities medical center was deep below the surface of the island and separated from the water of the lake by half a kilometer of solid rock and thick Ultronit walls.

  Like the rest of the city, this level was well lid lit and the there were wide corridors with silently moving slide belts that sneaked past islands of greenery, gurgling water spouts, open area seating areas, vendor booths, restaurants and bistros.

  Everything was smooth and bright, plaster-skin covering the impenetrable Ultronit.

  A group of three scantily clad girls, giggling and talking passed him on the opposite slide belt as he approached the hospital.