“It looks too rugged to use the collapsible rover, but I’d hate like hell to be ambushed by those Lembroz, trying to get to people who may or may not be there; or even alive for that matter,” said Olga. “I’m going to call Capt. Pierce and see what he thinks. We can’t just throw more lives away!” She sounded frustrated at the futility of it and I couldn’t blame her.
Josh yelled from the back end of the shuttle. “Hey Eric! There’s a Fenninz back here, hiding in the bushes.” There was a screech, and then he added, “I’ve stunned him; maybe we can learn something about what happened here. It’s just possible that it’s not as it appears.” Josh was a good guy and usually kept a clear head about who to blame in almost any situation.
Josh came around the end of the shuttle with one of the other men helping him carry the little creature, while still holding their weapons at the ready.
Odd; this Fenninz was more red than purple, unlike the ones on Oz. I realized that we were in a more northern climate now and that the trees were themselves a redder color. Were these guy like chameleons, or was it possibly a seasonal thing? I had no idea.
Olga set a guard around the camp and assigned a detail of men to dig a trench, to bury the dead colonists. Her discussion with Capt. Pierce resulted in us being ordered to stand by while he informed the Mayor, Reps, and other community leaders of the situation. It sounded like he might order the Virgil to join us from their location on the little moon we called Remus. They had a small, collapsible copter-type flyer in their storage hold that could help us get to the area the comm signal was coming from. Meanwhile, we would find out what we could from our little prisoner.
It was nearing the end of the daylight, and for the first time I became aware of how much more risky being on watch was going to be. I remembered reading about night-vision goggles but I didn’t think we had any; they weren’t needed on Astro II, where all light was artificial. Now I was all too aware of the feelings of insecurity; of living in a non-controlled environment, as our ancestors had done on Earth. We weren’t used to security concerns, at least in terms of attack by hostile creatures; there were no carnivorous animals or hostile natives likely to sneak up on us on the Roid Ship.
This was not, and never would be our home; and as dusk fell the weird sounds began. That was probably the most terrifying night of my life, and to this day I have no idea what creatures made the strange sounds; though I’m certain the roars and growls were probably from the dragons. Despite the frightening night noises, we were left unmolested for the13 hours of darkness.
During that long night, Roger turned a corner in his recovery and sat up; as a matter of fact, said he was starving and Olga fixed something for him herself. He asked about his Dad and was, I think, glad he’d survived as well.
In the morning we finished the burials and dragged the bodies of the Lembroz out away from our ship. During the night our little Fenninz woke from his artificially induced nap; but we didn’t fare too well in communicating with him. His species did not seem as advanced in language or technology as his relatives on Oz or the islands; I did however start to see that he feared everything, not just us. I began to think the dragons here were not at all civilized like our friends the Lembroz; so this was essentially a savage continent. The little Fenninz lacked the curiosity of Oz’s tribe and I deduced they spent their lives running and hiding from predators. Perhaps that was why those along the coast had taken to boats and sailed to the islands.
That little nameless creature seemed perfectly content to curl up in a ball and sleep on the floor; and I for one began to dread putting him back out into his world. Doc Hebron spent a deal of time studying the corpse of one of the Lembroz and made some remarkable discoveries; the evolution of the species had been radically different than their cousins on the continent I call Oz. It had been—so our researchers on the Astro II concluded—some tens of millions of years since the continents separated, and the Lembroz here had, for an as yet unknown reason, not only developed the ability to walk upright but— unlike their cousins on Oz—their front legs were also three toed, one of which was opposable. Although we hadn’t seen a living one yet, it began to answer some of our questions about how the ship had sustained so much damage. It also explained to some degree, the reason the Lembroz here didn’t need to make friends with the Fenninz; they could do things for themselves. There was still a lot we didn’t know, but it was good to have a few clues about our potential enemies.
We’d been on the continent almost a whole day and the only living creature of any size we had seen was our prisoner. Olga was increasingly concerned that we be careful not to let our guard down, just because it had been quiet for so long; it would be easy to get careless under those conditions.
It was midday when the alarm was sounded, as a bunch of the Lembroz stepped into the clearing and stood there watching us. They carried stone hatchets, much like tomahawks, but heavier than a Human could carry and use effectively. They seemed to be waiting for us to make the first move; or perhaps they were trying to intimidate us into leaving.
Olga asked me what I thought our move ought to be; and having seen the carnage when we arrived I was hesitant to say we should attempt a parley; that was, nonetheless, my recommendation.
“I agree,” she said. “Do you want to lead the party halfway to them and wait to see what they do? That’s not an order, so feel free to decline,” she added.
“I’ll do it,” I said. “Just keep the cannon aimed at them; I don’t want to be lunch,” I added to break the tension.
“I knew you’d do it,” she said smiling smugly. “You pick three to go with you and I promise every gun here will have you covered; well, except those who will watch the perimeter so they can’t sneak around behind us.”
“Agreed,” I said. “I want Josh, Ira, and Ollie.” But I was interrupted before finishing.
“I want to go with you,” interrupted Roger, who’d come out for some fresh air. “You need someone older; I’m cleared by Doc, as long as I’m not hiking miles.
“Ok, Josh, Ira, and Roger; will do nicely; thanks, Roger,” I said, knowing Nettie would be happier if her brother stayed back.
I and my little group prepared to leave when Nettie turned up. “Going to play hero without me?” She asked; and I knew I was in trouble.
“Olga will only let me take three,” I said, passing the buck. “Besides, you need to be back here covering my ass; and watching out for your brother,” I conned.
“You make it sound good anyway,” she said, excusing me, somewhat. “Just don’t think you’ll get away with this twice,” she added sternly, but with a half smile. “Don’t get yourself killed; I look awful in black.” She gave me the standard hug and kisses for good luck; then stepped back away and grabbed one of the Laze rifles from the entrance to the lock.
“Ready as we’ll ever be.” I told Olga; she gave us a nod and we started slowly across the open space toward the ferocious looking creatures. “Here goes nothing.” I mumbled to myself, hoping nobody could see my legs shaking. Half way there we stopped and waited.
It didn’t appear that the Lembroz here had a clue what we intended; they just sort of swayed back and forth snarling and making other such growling sounds.
“What do you think, Olga?” I asked over the comm and trying to keep the shake out of my voice. Before she could answer, one of the creatures stepped forward and hurled his axe at us. As several others followed suit, the cannon blazed forth over our heads. It cut the front line down; as a matter of fact; it cut at least six of the creatures clean in half; but that didn’t stop the tomahawks from falling. Josh yelled, “I’m hit!”
Projectiles were crashing around us; these guys didn’t seem afraid to die. I dropped and turned in one motion; we were only twenty feet from our defense perimeter, but some of the dragons were coming in from our left. I open fire on them and dropped one instantly, but the second continued as if it didn’t even feel it and, as it raised its axe to strike, someone shot its head clea
n off. Roger was dragging Josh toward me, as the dragons nearest were shattered by the cannon. We crawled the rest of the way to the perimeter—safe! I thought; well, kind of. I then at least had a moment to observe our situation; these beasts were coming from everywhere. No one could have survived here from the first shuttle; not without the cannon; I thought to myself.
Olga was shouting orders left and right; I had to admire her for keeping a cool head in that chaos. We were holding our own, and that’s the best we could hope for. Then I heard a bunch of clanging, and realized the Lembroz were pounding away at the hull of our ship, on the other side. I knew we had to attack them back there, before they did too much damage, and stranded us here. We definitely couldn’t hold them off forever.
“Olga!” I yelled. “I need five or six guys with rifles to attack behind the ship.”
“Pick ‘em yourself.” She yelled back; and I did just that as quickly as I could. We crept under the nose of the ship, where they were too big to go, and caught them off guard. I can’t say how many we killed in the first onslaught; but it was a bunch. Still there must have been thousands of them gathered to attack in such a reckless abandon; there was no end in sight. One of our guys, Carl, a big strong guy, went down under a body slam by one of the beasts; I wasn’t in a position to shoot it without hitting him while he was still fighting with it. I thought I would see him die, unable to assist as I was. I heard a sizzle, and the beast screamed and fell away. Jumping back, I saw a dozen or so men charging out of the woods behind the monsters, shooting at them from every angle. The missing colonists? Had to be; I yelled info to Olga though the comm.
“I think we have what’s left of the colonists here helping us; you want us to fire a final volley of shots and try to get out with our skins?”
“Olga’s down!” It was Nettie’s voice, and behind it I could hear shouting. “You’d better hurry around, now; we’re close to being overrun.”
“We’re on our way.” I called back and gave the order to retreat, waving my arm to include our unexpected reinforcements in the order. Carl was lying on the ground, but was still breathing. “Josh; help me drag him; he’s still alive!” I called, and he obeyed immediately. The colonists joined in the retreat, and together we were able to keep the attackers at bay.
It took a few hard fought minutes, but we all made it around the nose of the ship. Those who could gave us cover fire from the entrance of the Lock as we all compressed our way in at the last minute, abandoning the mount from the cannon.
“All in,” I said on the comm. “Get us in the air, Brad; but don’t leave the atmosphere. There may be a breach in the hull. Fly us to the other continent to make repairs. Doug; get a call though to the Captain and give him a run down; as much as you know, for now, and we’ll get back to him as soon as we can,” I ordered; peeling off the headset.
By the time I finished, we were in the air, and cruising along pretty fast. I had Brad slow us down until we got the chance to set down and check the hull; “don’t want to blow apart,” I told him.
“Maybe we should set down on one of the islands to inspect it?” Brad suggested.
“Only if you see one that’s definitely uninhabited.” I answered. “We can’t handle another battle in the condition we’re in,” I said, looking around at the battered group in the ship. It was then that I realized just how many injured or possibly dead we actually had. We had just barely escaped complete disaster. As I looked at the crew and began assessing our situation, I saw just how badly we’d been hurt.
Olga’s shoulder had been ripped opened and she lay unconscious, either from the injury or perhaps a sedative from Doc. The big guy Carl had been hurt in a similar fashion; two of the rebels were being tended, one of whom had lost his right arm, but not in this last volley; it was clearly an injury from several days past and he was very pale. The other rebel had a bite out of her neck; she didn’t even look alive, and it turned out I was right. Doc put a sheet over her head. Linda Brinson, I learned later, a young engineer and musician.
Ira’s leg was definitely broken and Mike had a bandage around his head and his left leg. Someone was covered on the floor and I realized it was Wade Turley. Roger was just looking at him, stunned. I later learned that Wade had saved Olga’s life by attacking the Lembroz mauling her. He only had his knife, having been unarmed at the start of the battle, and even injured and with a primitive weapon, his ferocity took the beast down. Not without cost, however; the Lembroz slashed him across the chest so deeply that he bled out before anyone could get him back into the ship. When it came down to the real thing, Wade had shown himself to be a better man than I would have given him credit for.
There were many lesser injuries, and I discovered that I had lost a bit of blood, myself, from a claw down my back; no idea when that happened.
There were also a number of our people with minor alcohol poisoning, which in the end explained why so many of the injured were asleep. Nettie looked bruised about her face but otherwise unscathed.
“You okay?” I asked her.
“Better than you,” she answered, turning me around and pulling up my shirt; that was how I found out about my injury. “Let me clean it up and put some antiseptic on you,” she ordered; I didn’t argue. “I almost got killed, if not for our little Fenninz,” she told me as she worked. “I got whacked in the face by one of those beasts but before he could finish me the little tyke here jumped on it from behind and ripped its eye right out with his bare hand. It bought me time to shoot the beast.”
That was the first time I noticed the Fenninz was still with us. “I think we should name him Hero,” I said; looking at him a in a whole new light. I think he knew it, too; he stood taller and seemed to stay within a certain perimeter of Nettie all the time. Not too close, but he didn’t seem inclined to let Nettie get very far away from him. “I wonder if we should keep him, or leave him with Oz and Diz?” I asked her.
“I think she’ll make her own choice.” Nettie said, smiling, and we laughed because we had no idea how to refer to creatures without gender.
“There’s a small island or atoll just ahead; it’s too small to have much of anything hiding on it,” Brad said, with a question in his voice. “Shall I set her down?”
“If it looks good.” I answered. “I really do think we need to check the ship, now rather than after we crash.”
Brad set the Homer down without even a thump; he really was getting to be one with it.
It proved to be a good thing we decided to set down and check it. There was a rip through both layers of the hull; Mike and his two assistants welded a good patch and glazed the surface to be friction free with the same Teflon-steel type material the outer hull was made of to begin with. We were lucky to have such a good technician with us.
While we were there, Roger approached me. “Dad loved this Planet,” he said. “Despite his faults, I believe he really did. I’d like permission to bury him here.” He looked at me solemnly and I realized he was asking my permission.
“Do you think you should call the ship and see how your mother feels about it?” I asked, trying to avoid later problems.
“I already had Doug make the call for me,” he answered. “Mom’s pretty upset; said she should have stayed with him. I told her that I was glad to not have lost them both. Anyway, she agreed with me about what he’d have preferred.”
I gave my assent; I didn’t feel I had any right to object. “I’ll assign a detail of guys to help,” I offered.
“Got it covered; there are a number of his friends here who remember him from before he got so carried away with his desire to have so much control.” Then, more quietly: “He really wasn’t a bad person, Eric.”
I hesitated, then asked, “Did you know that he was killed saving Olga’s life?”
Roger nodded. “But I don’t know all the details of what happened. I’m proud of him for coming around in the end.”
I asked Roger to send someone to get me when it was time for the actual bur
ial; I thought it appropriate to pay my respects, and he agreed to let me know.
It was decided to bury Linda Brinson at the same time; mainly because we had no real storage area capable of keeping a body from decaying. It was a sad time for all of us, though we had much to be thankful for.
The rebel colonists were a battered bunch and it was time to get their story. I soon spotted the apparent senior member of their group; a man in his early forties who seemed to be directing their organizing. I’d seen him around, but didn’t really know him; he was introduced to me as Max Burnum, a Professor from the Anthropology Department on Astro II. I asked him if he’d be willing to help me record the documentation of their ordeal—from the time they took the shuttles to the time they rejoined us during the battle. He said he’d be more than willing as it should help to avoid such poor decisions in the future.
Waiting Game
I turned on the recorder and let Max begin his story; there was no need for me to do more than listen, since he was a professional at recording events. These records would be tight-beamed automatically to Astro II to be part of our permanent log; in the event that something happened to us and for any reason and we failed to return to our base.
The Log as recorded.
Log Date: September 27, 2287 CE Earth Years.
Speaker: Max Burnum.
M. BURNUM: After a lengthily debate among the organization for researching the planet now known as Sne-az; we the members of said organization reached the conclusion that the planet demanded further study, and agreed to take—forcibly if necessary—two ships down to the planet surface for our use. The ships were to be obtained by organization member Wade Turley and his selected crew. That event is recorded separately in the logs.
Starborn Odyssey (The Starborn Odyssey Trilogy Book 1) Page 11