by Jerry Aubin
The image of the warrior zoomed out and shifted perspective until its source became clear. It was footage from a Marine who wore a helmet cam and swiveled back and forth between the alien and three squad-mates. The four Marines stood quite a distance away from the warrior and talked to each other about what they should do about the lone creature which had materialized in front of them. The camera jerked and three of the weapon shafts the alien had been holding suddenly sprouted out of the bodies of the Marine’s three squad-mates. Two of them were in heads and one in a chest. The view of the helmet cam moved first to the blade protruding from the wearer’s chest and then back over her shoulder. The alien warrior used all six limbs and scurried towards the Marine at a disturbingly fast pace. She crumbled to the ground and the video faded to black
“Those blades were thrown with extreme accuracy and penetrated Marine armor from a distance of over 100 meters. The two head shots landed exactly between the eyes and the two body shots were dead center through the heart. Who needs a blaster, I suppose, if you can throw a blade equally as far with just as much killing power.
“We’ve talked about the aliens, but let’s take a moment to zoom out.” Nineem closed his eyes and used his Plug to replace the video with an image of the planet which filled the space above their heads. Zax was excited to view it for the first time. From space, it was a dark blue sphere composed almost entirely of water. There were two small landmasses visible, the larger of which had two spots marked on it which must represent the settlements Zax had heard the scout pilot refer to. Nineem continued.
“As you’re no doubt aware, our initial reconnaissance has confirmed the planet is fit for human habitation. The atmosphere has slightly less oxygen than what we are used to, but it won’t require the use of any supplemental breathers and your body will get used to it pretty quickly. The bigger issue is that its gravity is about 30% greater than what we’re accustomed to onboard the Ship. This value approaches the upper range of what we consider acceptable when we are choosing a planet to colonize but is still within the boundaries. You’ve already trained in similar conditions so I imagine none of this should pose a significant problem for you.”
Lieutenant Nineem closed his eyes again and a new group of images displayed around the room. Each was a short vid loop which illustrated a different creature in action. “Representative samples of the lifeforms present on this planet are now being projected. Other than our ant friends, all of the lifeforms have four limbs. Even the flying creatures have four wings, all four of which can be used as legs when the creature is on the ground or perched in a tree.
“Speaking of the trees,” the lieutenant perked up, “they’re definitely the most fascinating feature about this planet.” The lieutenant pointed at the projection of the planet which had shrunk but remained displayed. “As you can see, both of this planet’s landmasses are clustered around its equator and, therefore, are almost exclusively covered with the same dense jungle biome. All of the creatures I’ve shown you are herbivores which feed on the grasses and other smaller vegetation. We were confused at first about how few of the grazing creatures were present. It seemed odd when you considered the lushness of the environment, but was absolutely shocking given we initially believed there were no predators. Then, one of our drones captured a vid which solved the riddle.”
All of the images disappeared with the exception of a small herbivore which nibbled on grasses. The jungle was dense and its most prominent features were the leaves which hung from the branches of the trees. The leaves varied in size significantly with some being a meter in diameter while others were closer to five.
The creature started to walk and then wobbled. When it lost its footing, the animal’s body brushed up against one of the larger tree leaves. In an instant, the leaf sprang into action and enveloped the beast. The tree limb lifted the thrashing animal off the ground where it was then captured by an even larger leaf on a higher limb which had lowered down to meet the first. The transfer process from leaf to leaf was repeated until the animal was deposited into a massive leaf near the top. The beast thrashed within the final leaf for another min until its movements became less and less pronounced and then ultimately stopped.
“It’s so interesting we’ve found a planet with no apparent predator animals, but which is blanketed with carnivorous trees. Pretty cool!” The exobiologist practically squealed like a little kid and grinned from ear to ear.
“It’s great how you think it’s all so very interesting, Lieutenant.” The Marine major did not raise his head from his slate as he spoke. “Perhaps you would like to come on down as part of our recon mission tomorrow. Or even better, shall I put your name in as a volunteer to stay behind when we make Landfall? I’m sure our new colonists would appreciate your enthusiasm as they figure out how to spend the rest of their lives coexisting with such cool carnivorous trees.”
Many of the Marines laughed while the pudgy Flight lieutenant blanched. “My apologies, Major Odon. I meant no offense.” He looked around the room. “Any questions?”
One of the Marine sergeant’s raised his hand and spoke once he was acknowledged. “The herbivore you showed getting eaten was pretty small. Do we know if the trees would attack something as large as a human?”
The lieutenant closed his eyes for a moment and a new vid played. This one started with an extreme wide shot which showed a field full of hundreds of the ant creatures at work. The range of the shot was so great and there was so much activity Zax wasn’t sure what he should focus on. Then, he saw it. A tree at the very edge of the frame performed the same series of transfers from branch to branch which the first vid had shown. Three limbs stuck out from the final leaf as it was not quite big enough to fully encompass the alien the tree had ensnared. The limbs flailed for a min, but their movements eventually slowed and then ceased.
“Any other questions?”
When there were none, the lieutenant saluted in Major Odon’s direction and then left the compartment. The Marine commander walked down to the front of the room and spoke.
“The good news from those videos is the leaves don’t attack unless you touch them. That makes sense given the trees don’t appear to have sensory organs other than the leaves. Don’t touch a leaf equals don’t get eaten by a tree. Seems like a pretty simple equation to me.
“Our mission tomorrow is just as simple. The Captain wants a Landfall on this planet and she needs the Marines to clear the ants to make that possible. We know full well how to handle these bugs given past encounters, so I don’t expect any issues, but we need a complete first-hand recon of the situation before we send down the full extermination force. Are you ready to get to work?”
“Sir, yes, sir!” shouted the Marines as they jumped to attention in unison.
“Excellent.” The major allowed himself a tight smile in response to his unit’s exuberance. “Please share all of the appropriate details with your squads tonight. Everyone is dismissed except Lieutenant Mikedo and her cadet.”
The Marines filed out in silence. The major waited until the hatch closed and then spoke. His smile was gone.
“Lieutenant—I can’t tell you how thrilled I am at the prospect of having you and this fine young cadet join us down on that planet tomorrow. Allowing Flight staff to go on nice little field trips with my Marines is one of the more amazing ideas to have ever come from the Flight Boss. I’m honored to play any role in the endeavor.”
Zax gulped involuntarily as the Marine’s words dripped with sarcasm. The respect for Mikedo which Zax had witnessed repeatedly among the Marine sergeants was obviously not shared by this major.
“Cadet—I need you to listen carefully because I’m only going to say this once. You will report to the armory at 0630 tomorrow. You will be issued a kit bag with Marine ChamWare and a blaster. You will then report to the hangar at 0700 for our departure aboard scout shuttle 5436. While we are on the planet, you will do nothing except what you are explicitly told to do. You will stay so close to you
r lieutenant I will have a hard time discerning where she ends and you begin. If you do anything which puts my Marines in any sort of danger, I will make sure the last thing your eyes ever witness will be the inside of one of those tree leaves.” The major turned and stomped out of the compartment.
Mikedo waited a couple beats after the hatch closed behind the major and then sighed loudly. “Don’t pay him too much mind, Zax. Majors in the Marines get sticks implanted in their butts as a condition of accepting the promotion. The Boss has had cadets tag along on their missions before without any problems, so it’s really not that big of a deal. Odon just believes the Marines should be in charge of the Ship instead of Flight, and he never lets us forget that opinion.” She grinned. “He’s actually more charming than most Marine officers, but I’ll call you a liar if you ever tell anyone I said so. Do you have any questions?”
“Yes—he said I would be issued ChamWare. If there aren’t any of the warrior ants on the planet and if the worker ants ignore our presence altogether, what’s the point of dealing with a chameleon suit?”
“Great question.” Mikedo stood up. “If you recall, what Nineem said before Odon scared him away was we haven’t seen any of the warriors yet. I’m guessing they aren’t down there since we have thousands of hours of drone vids and they haven’t shown up in any of the footage, but I can understand how the Major won’t risk the lives of his Marines on that bet. The suits are a pain to deal with, but if by some rotten luck we manage to run into any of those warrior ants I can guarantee you’ll be happy about being invisible.”
Mikedo walked towards the hatch. “Let’s get out of Marine Country. I’ve got final preparations to make for tomorrow and you should get some rest. We’re scheduled to be on the surface for two days and you might not get much chance to sleep during that entire time, so I suggest hitting the rack as soon as you get back to your berth.
“One last thing, Zax.” Mikedo stopped, turned to Zax, and grabbed both of his shoulders. She stared him straight in the eyes and smiled. “I don’t want you to worry about anything. You’ve prepared for this and I have complete faith in your abilities. If I didn’t think you were ready, I wouldn’t be risking my own life going down there with you. You’re going to do great!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
You ready?
Zax did not share Mikedo’s confidence in his preparedness and spent a sleepless night obsessing about how he would perform down on the planet. When reveille sounded, he felt no more rested than when he had hit the rack. Since he couldn’t eat breakfast, he used the time that would have spent in the mess hall on an extra-long shower (twenty demerits). He put enough nutripellets for a week into his pocket and set off to the armory.
The Marine armorer eyed him bemusedly when Zax arrived and approached the counter. “What can I do for you, cadet?”
“Cadet Zax reporting, Sergeant. Major Odon said I was to receive a kit bag.”
The armorer was a far older man than any of Zax’s instructors and yet was still as rock solid and physically imposing. “Hmmm—we don’t get too many Flight cadets around these parts. Let me check the system.” He closed his eyes and raised an eyebrow once he found what he needed via his Plug. “Very interesting. It isn’t very often I deal with something new, but handing out ChamWare to a Flight cadet as young as you definitely qualifies. Let me go grab your bag.”
The sergeant disappeared into the armory and then returned with a black bag he placed on the counter. The bag had three compartments. One was the perfect size and shape to contain a blaster. The other two were each about half as long as the blaster compartment. Zax assumed his chameleon suit was in one compartment, but the third was a mystery. He attempted to pull the bag off the counter by one of its straps only to be flummoxed when its solid mass threatened to rip his arm out of its socket.
“Whoa there, cadet. You’re going to want to be a little more careful and lift with two arms. It has a third as much mass as you do.”
Zax grabbed the bag with both hands and grunted as he maneuvered his arms through the straps and settled it on his back. “Holy crap! What’s in this thing that makes it so heavy, Sergeant?”
“Welcome to the world of the Marines, son. Though, this is actually a pretty light kit compared to what some of the other folks on your team will be carrying.” The sergeant cracked a reasonable approximation of a smile as he came around the counter and pointed out the various compartments of the bag. “Of course, your blaster is in this first compartment here on the side. It is standard issue other than having been coated with the same material as the suit. This second compartment here at the top is the actual ChamWare suit. This third compartment here on the bottom is the weight you’re feeling. It’s the control unit for the suit and what puts the ‘chameleon’ in ChamWare.”
“Why is the control unit so heavy, Sergeant?”
“You seem reasonably smart for a Flight puke,” the armorer grinned, “so I think you can appreciate the massive energy required to make something disappear. The power supply is minuscule in size but so dense it accounts for half of the weight. Most of the volume of the control unit and the remainder of its weight is taken up by the heat sink. ChamWare wouldn’t be nearly as useful if it made you invisible but left you shining like a beacon on infrared. The human body generates a ton of heat, and we’ve got to put it somewhere if we’re going to keep you hidden. These units are rated to absorb enough heat to keep someone my size camouflaged for a week. It should be far more than adequate for your puniness over a two-day mission.”
“Understood. Thank you, Sergeant.”
“Good luck down there, cadet. The recon company you’re traveling with is a pretty amazing team so I wouldn’t worry about running into any trouble they can’t handle. Just be sure you don’t do anything to get in their way or piss them off.”
Zax checked the time as he turned to make his way to the hangar. The chitchat with the sergeant had left him barely enough time to get there by 0700. He double-timed it—at least as much as the excess weight of the kit bag allowed. His desperate scramble was fueled by concerns over what might happen if he violated the armorer’s advice and angered the Marines right off the bat by showing up late.
Zax reached the hangar dripping with sweat and gasping for air with secs to spare. He jumped into formation a couple of steps behind a group of Marines wearing their kit bags. Mikedo, standing next to Major Odon at the shuttle’s entrance, acknowledged his arrival with a subtle wink.
“Good morning, Marines. Along with our usual drivers for the bus today, we’ve got a couple additional guests from the Flight corps. Standing next to me is Lieutenant Mikedo. Some of you may have had reason to work with her previously in her role as the Marine liaison from Flight. She is chaperoning a cadet who is standing over there.”
One hundred pairs of eyes bore into Zax when the major gestured towards him—most with simple disdain but at least a few with outright malice. The major continued. “The lieutenant has assured me neither she nor her cadet will interfere with our mission in any fashion. If either do, you have my permission to do whatever is necessary to halt the interference. Please keep in mind, though, it would be better for relations with the Flight corps if we could at least attempt to get them back here in one piece.”
There were quite a few chuckles among the Marines, though it sure sounded to Zax like the major was not joking a bit. One bell rang to warn everyone of the pending FTL Transit. “They’re getting ready for the Ship to jump into orbit,” said the major, “and we’ll be off the boat three mins after it does. Load up!”
“Sir, yes, sir!” came the throaty response from one hundred Marines. They filed into the craft and Zax trailed behind. Mikedo did not board with the major but instead waited by the hatch for Zax.
“Good morning, cadet. You ready?”
Mindful of the Marines still within listening range, Zax replied both more formally and more loudly than he typically would have with Mikedo. “Ma’am, yes, ma’am!”
“Yup. Learning to fall asleep instantly is one of the most important skills a Marine picks up during training. When you spend your life getting dumped into combat with no idea how long it might be until you get a chance to rest, taking advantage of every opportunity is a great strategy. By the way—you haven’t been eating, right?”
“Not since breakfast yesterday, just like you suggested. I didn’t even have any nutripellets this morning. I loaded a bunch into my kit and will eat once we’re out of FTL.”
“Excellent. I really don’t want to spend the next two days ground-pounding in gear covered with your puke.”
Zax started to protest, but the pilot’s voice cut him off. “Welcome aboard, Marines. Flight plan today has us taking off three mins after the Ship completes its Transit. We’ll be clear of the Ship ninety secs later. Thirty mins after that we’ll be feet dry and within a min of touchdown at the first landing zone.”
The pilot’s voice was followed by the major’s. “You heard the woman. Most of you should be asleep already, but if you aren’t, you’ve got another twenty mins for shuteye so grab it while you can. Final mission brief and prep fifteen mins before we land.”
Zax closed his eyes and breathed deeply in an effort to calm his nerves. The FTL Transit came and went in a blissfully puke-free fashion, and a few mins later his inner ear suggested the shuttle was moving. Zax gazed out of the window next to his seat as the craft departed the hangar. The pilot turned wide and a huge expanse of the Ship’s surface came into view.