Mission: Harbeasts of Mars

by V. A. Jeffrey

I crept further down the tunnel until I found myself inside another tiny, connecting chamber with a natural opening at the roof. The roof was only a few feet above me. I climbed the rocks carefully around me until I was outside again. I looked around, surveying my position. Something odd and momentous was happening on Mars. I could feel it. And now I saw evidence of it. It was a kind of terraforming plan that I wasn't familiar with. But terraforming, it had to be. Where else would one find lichen, fungus and shrubs, vermin and other mutant creatures? No matter how small and ugly they were, it was life, vegetation and created animal life. That could only mean one thing – Mars was being changed by its new inhabitants. Perhaps one day it would really be a verdant, vibrant world. But I had no time to ponder on such wonders.

  From my new vantage point, I could see the harbeasts' lair down below near a lower tier of rock caves within the hill complex. I saw, as my heartbeat quickened, one of the harbeasts, the female, making its way from the first cave opening of my hiding place with something in her mouth. It looked like the huge rat creature. Limping, she carried it back to her lair below. The larger harbeast was lying right outside of the lair, stretched out, watching me intently. The female deposited the kill in front of him and he tore it in two, devouring his share of it and then she went back inside with her half of the kill to feed the cubs. He feasted luxuriantly, his maw bloody and glistening as he tore into the flesh, fur and bone in savage, hungry gulps. If I didn't find a way out of here that would eventually be me. Or my carcass would fall from thirst and starvation right here in this dismal cave.

  Having satisfied his hunger with an early breakfast, he began grooming himself, just like any house cat would after a meal, licking even his whiskers carefully. Then he shook out his magnificent, thick sand and fire colored mane and then settled back down to watch me. I could feel his hungry stare. I couldn't try to escape by this way. It was being watched. The only reason I was still alive was because they couldn't squeeze through into my hiding place. Daylight was dawning like faded blood on a wall. I had no desire to stay here another day. I opened my bag, took out a flare and shot it through the air, hoping it could do me some good. I climbed back inside and set to work finding another way out. I wasn't disappointed, and in elation I yelped for joy at finding another tight opening in the floor of the cave. I strapped my rifle and slung it across my back, strapped on my dragon and climbed down, or rather, shimmied down the hole in the floor of this second opening and crawled my way through an endless array of tunnels and voluminous spun silk thread webs, thinking temporarily that perhaps I would be lost forever and the poor victim of some horrible creature beneath the foothills until I saw daylight again – on the other end of one of the hills. I could feel the thirst coming back again. But at least I'd found daylight, away from the harbeasts' lair.

  However, my joy was short lived. The female was less than ten feet away from the opening of this tunnel. I froze. Listening to the animal outside I noticed a distinct difference in the sound. She was wailing. A sound most pitiful and sorrowful sound. She was also panting. I was unable to move backward again as the rifle and dragon prevented me from doing so. I had no room to maneuver in any way but forward. If I did that, my head would surely be ripped off by the harbeast waiting by the tunnel opening. I watched as she licked her paw and then wailed again. Her paw was bleeding badly. And something was stuck inside it. The harbeast looked at me and then wailed again. I heard far off the sounds of her mate calling to her. Then she made an almost harmless mewling sound. I heard something stir behind me, a sort of light screeching sound and then something pulled at my leg again. Panicking I forced myself forward near the opening as the tugging became much more powerful as if something was trying to pull me back. A spider creature? I'd just trashed its home, crashing through its silk webs. I wondered in horror how many of those things lived in these caves. Caught between a massive mutant spider and the harbeast, I lunged forward with all my might and came barreling out of the tunnel with another spider creature hanging on to my leg. The arachnid, as big as a labrador, reared up on its back legs, making a scream that chilled my bones. The harbeast immediately lept into action. She smashed it down into the ground with her left paw, the uninjured one, and rended it apart, making quick work of the thing and then turned on me. The size of the creature up close was shock-inducing. She stepped upon her right paw and stumbled. Around her, I saw a small pool of blood darkening the sand. The creature wailed again.

  I must admit that I had taken leave of my senses when I knelt down slowly, trying to keep myself from shaking, and tried to look into the creature's paw. She had a sharp, long piece of rock embedded deep into the soft flesh of her pad. Should I try to pull it out and get torn apart? If I tried to run she would surely catch me now. I groveled before her like a penitent on pilgrimage and then when I saw that she did not attack me but merely gazed at me with those fierce eyes I slowly reached out my hand. She snarled and I snatched my hand away. And groveled again. I reached my hand out again towards her injured paw. I touched the blade of rock and she hissed at me which made me flinch. I reached my hand out again, fully expecting to bring back a bloodied stump. But she watched me keenly as I grasped the sharp blade of rock and slowly began pulling it out. She mewled again, sounding nearly like a large house cat. Then she shuddered. I stopped moving, watching the creature as she settled down again. My own heart was flailing away, knocking against my ribcage as if it would burst through. I suddenly grabbed it and pulled it out. She howled and stepped away from me and then she licked her injured paw furiously and then looked at me. Her face turned up into a snarl. She stepped forward and swiped at me, snarling even more ferociously now. Then she turned and bounded up upon a rock and turned and watched me as I backed away. I turned and ran, thinking I'd lost my mind. I heard the call of the male harbeast somewhere in the hills. I looked back to see the female silently watching me from her rock perch. I kept on my way, expecting to be followed, killed and eaten and thanking Divine Providence that so far, it hadn't happened.

  3

  I felt at my dragon and noticed the nearly imperceptible hum that I'd become accustomed to feeling when it was holstered at my side, knowing it was powered up and working, wasn't there anymore. I looked at the power indicator and saw that it glowing red. It looked like another malfunction. Damn! Damn Genevieve and her so-called fix! And after using it only once out here!

  Terror soon engulfed me and it took all my mental strength to calm down. You've got to get out of here, man! Panicking just won't do! I told myself. I'd miraculously escaped death once. It wouldn't happen again.

  I started making my way swiftly across the desert once again, heading due north. I noticed on my way green shrubbery patches dotted the landscape in tiny clumps every so often and then during long stretches of traveling I wouldn't see anything but red sand, rocks, craters, and wide sea beds of regolith. The terrain was at times flat and at times I could see in the distance to my left and my right sharp craggy peaks or hills. I also noticed the signals within my helmet had displayed a mysterious oxygen spike as I traveled along through this area but not enough to be safe for me to take the helmet off. The temperature, however, was downright balmy. I wondered then at the strange, ferocious animals that I'd encountered. What manner of use or importance did they contribute to what I could only guess was the burgeoning ecosystem of a desert planet being resurrected from the dead? What would Mars eventually look like, or rather Yiral, to the aliens who had made it their home? Mars had at one time according to scientists been a verdant planet lush with water. No human knows what it looked like back then. We could only make educated guesses about its appearance. I had always been fascinated with these computer generated models as a kid, so beautiful and exotic. But alien science was never factored in. What would the Erautians' terraforming work look like in the end?

  In my reveries of the slow and strange transformation of the planet, I'd briefly forgotten that I was still in danger. I glanced backward fearfully but didn't see anythin
g. Renewed in my spirit and exhilarated by my escape, I quickened my pace. Maybe I would find a station sooner than expected. I saw a small outcrop of rocks a few yards ahead and made my way toward it to sit down and rest a bit. I pushed myself, reaching it quickly. But after an hour of traveling my hopes were dashed to pieces. The male beast had tailed me. When, I don't know, but he gave a sudden, lordly roar and bounded straight toward me, his prey now out in the open desert, unprotected with no hiding place. I knew running away would be futile. I slowed, turned and stood my ground, feeling my body shaking involuntarily. Whether he could smell my fear through my expensive environ-suit I had no idea but it didn't matter. This creature was trying to feed its family and I was dinner, as far as it was concerned. Even though I had helped his injured mate. He was a wild beast. Why would gratitude concern him?

  I raised my malfunctioning dragon, threatening to fire, but the creature seemed to know that was an empty gesture for it kept its pace straight for me without let up. Once it was nearly upon me it lept into the air with a terrific yowl. I swung my rifle off and into a wide arc, but it batted it away and fell upon me, all cruel claws and long fangs and teeth. As I crashed to the ground I put my arms around my throat and tried to roll into a ball onto my stomach, not that that would have done much to save my life.

  I heard and felt a loud eruption of laser fire. A large wave of dust flew up into the air and then more shots were fired along the ground where the hungry devil tousled my curled up body in the dirt. It raised a massive paw with outstretched claws, blotting out the small white sun and I'd thought that this was the end for me when it suddenly lept off me, roaring in pain and rage. Blood spattered onto the front of my suit as I rolled over on my back. It dashed to the side as more shots were fired. Another powerful laser shot blasted forth into the air and it swiftly ran away south. I was still too stunned to understand what was happening.

  As the harbeast retreated into the distance, I slowly looked up through the cloud of dust to see a lone figure approaching. He was hooded and cloaked and wearing the strange alien environ-suit garb run through with many tubes across his body, and the odd breathing apparatus they often wore in the open desert. As I tried to focus my eyes, having got the wind double-knocked out of me, I thought he looked familiar. I glanced around me and saw bloodied paw prints in the sand darting off away in the direction the beast had fled. Well, he injured it. Good. I thought. That would weaken the creature and maybe stop it from hunting me. But there was still its mate to worry about.

  He came and stood over me, staring down with dark yellow eyes. Finally, he extended a hand. Breathing deeply and struggling to get my bearings, I took his hand and with an effort, lifted myself up from the ground. As I dusted myself, trembling and feeling elation and gratitude, I thanked him profusely for saving my hide.

  “That thing nearly rended me in two! How can I ever thank you for saving my life! What's your name?” I asked. He didn't answer immediately. I wondered if he spoke any of the Earth languages. He gazed at me coolly for a few seconds and then he smiled. It was a look that froze my insides cold, as predatory and hungry as any harbeast or wolf that had just come upon easy prey. It was then that I finally got a good look at my rescuer.

  “This would be the second time I have saved your life. You owe me more than you know,” he said. “My name is Furat.”

  4

  Furat. Furat. . . Furat!

  I finally I understood where I'd recognized him. He was the one who had saved me from the former CFO of Vartan, Abor, whom I'd chased all the way to Mars. He'd rescued me from a certain and horrific death at the Fist by the rogue's pet snagars. I still had yet to see one of those.

  He had extracted from me some of my bone marrow before he would free me. A high price that I had not thought deeply on. Furat was also the one I'd happened upon at the blevdas in the failing gorgon ship in the desert outside Syzygy. At the time, I didn't know his name and he never gave it.

  And now I'd recently found out that he was at odds and had eventually become a dangerous enemy to the worshipers at the temple Noctis Labyrinthus; and an arch-enemy of my friend, Sworda.

  I now found myself in the unenviable position of relying upon the kindness of this stranger once again, a stranger whose motives were mysterious and most likely perilous to my life. I had no idea what to think. But as I looked around the open desert I saw nothing but red sand and red sky and no way else out of the mess I was in. To put a finer point on the matter, of my voyage off into unknown regions and dubious adventures with this strange element now added in, there were the distant roars of the harbeasts again. They were still tracking me. Which situation would I be more likely to survive?

  “Harbeasts. They are relentless hunters,” he said approvingly. “Supreme in their ferocity and strength.” There was a quiet reverence in his voice.

  “You only wounded him. You could have killed the male. Why didn't you?” I asked. He threw me a disdainful look.

  “We are in their domain. They are not in ours. I don't needlessly kill animals.”

  “Well, I didn't ask to be out here in the middle of nowhere,” I said, feeling put out. He looked me over.

  “Yet, here you are. Do you want to get out of here?” I nodded, not seeing any other choice.

  “Come, then. We don't have much time to lose. They will hunt us down, waiting us out until we drop from hunger and thirst.”

  . . .

  Luckily, Furat had a speeder bike, though it seemed to move rather sluggishly in my opinion. However, I was grateful to get moving on something else other than my own tired feet. We had made it to a small crater and Furat set up camp there as night was soon about to fall.

  Furat had taken out a personal camping security device that I'd seen Fred use on camping trips back home, and unfolded it out of a small box. He surrounded the perimeter of the small crater until it looked like we were encased within a low fence. He then turned it on and the energy field around it crackled softly for a few seconds before settling down into a near silent hum. It glowed softly in the evening light. It looked flimsy, but it worked as a decent alarm system that provided some security for campers from animal or bipedal intruders and gave one time to pull out a lasergun if need be. He also had a few glow sticks that he cracked against the side of the shallow crater wall until they lit up and then he threw them down to make what looked like a false fire. They generated heat and kept us from freezing. This particular night, though the day had been warm, was growing cold. The sky was clear as glass and the first few stars started to peer down. The thin clouds of the previous day had disappeared. I pulled myself closer to the pile of glow sticks to keep warm. I could feel my hunger crouching at the edges of my sanity. I kept it at bay at present by focusing on the minutiae around me; on the smoldering glow sticks, the grains of sand stuck to my bloody suit, my dirty boots, and finally my savior-captor, whom I didn't trust at all. He was the last person I wanted to see out here in the desert, but alone but with one weapon out of fire power and the other one malfunctioning, no water nor any way to get to my meager food rations to eat and two harbeasts on our trail, I couldn't exactly voice my displeasure at his presence.

  We had not said even two words to each other during our travel to the crater. But at least now I knew his name.

  Furat broke the tense and ominous silence. I made out as if I were merely relaxing, but he seemed to have no problem training his intense, unsettling gaze on me while we rested. There was no way I could go to sleep with him staring me down and I thought how in the world was I going to get through the night! In the innermost depths of my soul, I felt that I was now in more danger than I was with the harbeasts.

  “So, what are you doing all the way out here, alone?” He asked. I cleared my throat carefully before answering.

  “My speeder crashed. I couldn't get it working again.”

  “But why out here? Where were you going?” He asked mildly.

  “Just to watch the stars, really. Nothing important. I'd just co
me from a celebration party.”

  “Celebration?” He asked. I cleared my throat again. It hurt to do so.

  “From the new victory on Europa,” I said hopefully. He snorted derisively.

  “Victory. That remains to be seen. I have seen a thing. And it did not include victory.” I wanted instantly to know why he'd say such a thing but thought better of it and kept my mouth shut. He continued to stare, hard, unblinking. I shuffled slightly under his gaze but did my best to hold my composure.

  “So,” I countered, “what brought you all the way out here?”

  “My travels take me to many places, seen and unseen,” he said, his gaze seemed to turn inward. “My labors and meditations have shown me many things past, present and future. I come out here for contemplation, away from the filth, pollution and noise of the mundane lives of others.”

  “Interesting,” I said, wondering what he was talking about. “And what have you seen?”

  “I have seen the cleansing of Yiral. I have come to the nexus of vision, the answer within many answers and questions.” His answers, as before at the blevdas, were eerie and cryptic. But I did find them intriguing.

  “Does dark seed ale give you this ability?” A flicker of surprise flashed across his narrow face and then his expression soured into disdain.

  “Dark seed ale is for acolytes and precocious children. Marrow is the true seer's meat. Through it alone, I have seen great visions for my people. Yiral is but the forerunner of the new worlds to be inhabited. I have come out to the desert to cleanse my mind of all the pollutants of foreign and heretical ideas that I might see visions more clearly and hear the wisdom of great ones. I am at war with every thing, thought and creature not obedient to the law of Ancus. I would even wage war with the Nine Princes of the Realm and all their weak, corrupt kin,” he spat venomously. “Soon, I will lead the righteous to cleanse this star system of all filth.”