Horizon Alpha: Predators of Eden

by D. W. Vogel

  “I’m sorry about the babies,” I said. It sounded inadequate, but Ms. Arnson turned and smiled at me.

  “It’s okay. In a strange way, it’s probably for the best. I’d be terrified every minute if I had little ones on this planet. I couldn’t imagine how much that must hurt, to lose a son or daughter like that.”

  She didn’t say what “like that” meant, but I knew she meant like Jack and our pilot. Like the other soldiers we’d lost in the shuttle crash.

  “I know my mom worries all the time. She cried for a month when Josh didn’t come back.”

  “That must have been awful.” She slapped at a bloodsucker on her arm. We were smeared with creek mud, but the buzzing insects found our skin through the cracks.

  “Yeah. It was pretty awful.” I hadn’t meant for this conversation to come around to Josh. That wound was still too open, too fresh. I wasn’t ready to talk about my brother yet.

  “Maybe if we ever find somewhere safe, my mom can figure out what’s wrong with you,” I suggested.

  “I’d like that. Finding somewhere safe enough for my reproductive cycle to be a priority.” She laughed softly. “In the meantime, I have plenty of kids. I teach every child in Eden.”

  We fell into silence. The air warmed quickly, and I drifted into another day’s fitful sleep.

  ***

  We all climbed down and reassembled at dusk. There was still enough light to see some ripe berries on a nearby bush and we all ate as many as we could. We wiped our stained fingers on our pants, leaving dark red streaks. My canteen was nearly empty.

  The General led us on through the night. Sometime after midnight, we started to hear the sound of rushing water growing louder as we plodded through the dense underbrush. The sky lightened up ahead and we stopped at the edge of a fast moving river. It was wide enough to cut a swath through the treetop canopy and the glow of Ceti’s biggest moon glinted off the splashing drops. The General looked intently up and down the river but said nothing.

  After a long pause, Shiro spoke up. “Do we cross, sir?”

  The General was holding his arm out as far as he could over the water’s edge, trying to get a sat signal without success. Did he know where we were? This river was large enough to show up on a satellite map, but I didn’t remember every detail of the path he had chosen when we last saw the terrain up on the hillside.

  “We’re too far south,” the General murmured. I wasn’t sure if he meant for us to hear him. “We’ve swung off course. We shouldn’t have come across this branch of the river at all.”

  “So do we cross?” Shiro persisted, looking over his shoulder through the trees. We all felt exposed on this open riverbank. My hand sweated on the metal of my pistol.

  “If we cross once, we’ll have to cross back over it to get to Eden,” the General seemed to be working out a mental map. “We should have stayed north of this whole tributary. It loops around south of base. I meant for us to stay on the north side of it the whole way.”

  “It doesn’t look very deep. We could wade across it,” suggested Brent.

  “Here, yes, we could,” the General agreed. “But how deep does it get later on? It dumps into our river eventually, and we all know what lives in there.”

  Actually, we didn’t know.

  The deep, fast moving water ran close enough to Eden base that we’d all seen midsize ‘saurs taking a drink from its edge. Sometimes a huge gray shadow would leap up out of the dark water and drag a ‘saur under before it could turn to run away. Whatever lived in the water had a head the size of a Rex’s and the speed of a Wolf. No one really wanted to see any more of it than the flash of yellow teeth and the spray of blood that flowed away into the water.

  We filled our canteens and splashed water on our faces one at a time. Nothing lunged out of the water and we all breathed easier once we backed away from its edge and the forest closed around us again.

  We kept the river on our left, trudging along in silence. The General held up a hand signaling a stop, and we all raised our weapons.

  A wide path opened across our way, a much-used game trail trampled down by herds of ‘saurs. They must use this path to drink from the river.

  A loud crash sounded too close for comfort, so we dove for the bushes. Shiro jumped down right behind me and clamped his hand over my upper arm. He pulled me close to him and I could hear him breathing. He smelled like old sweat.

  Whatever was coming down the game trail was making too much noise to be a Rex. Legs the width of tree trunks stomped into view and I relaxed.

  It was Brachis. A whole family of them ambled single file down the game path toward the river. Unlike brachiosaurs from Earth’s textbooks, their necks were shorter and their heads larger, but they walked on four legs and ate only plants, stripping whole trees bare as they browsed through the forest.

  The female led. Enough moonlight filtered through the trees for me to see her bluish-green hide, scaled and smooth. Three young ones followed her, dappled green and brown, and the huge male brought up the rear. His bright eyes scanned the forest around his family. A whole Wolf pack could take down an adult Brachi, and a Rex could snap their necks with one crunch of its jaws, but the male knew he wouldn’t be the subject of any attack. Any predator that targeted his family would be after the young ones.

  We squatted in the bushes, inhaling the sour smell of their huge bodies. No one moved for at least five agonizing minutes after the male’s huge tail swept out of sight. We hid and waited, making sure no carnivores were tracking the Brachis. On the General’s signal we rose to our feet and dashed across the game trail, crouching low.

  I rubbed my arm as we continued our trek. My arm felt bruised where Shiro had gripped me. Making sure I didn’t bolt and run. My face burned with embarrassment. I hadn’t panicked, hadn’t bolted, but Shiro had assumed I would. Had Brent jumped on Ms. Arnson the same way? Or was it just me, just rookie Caleb who couldn’t be trusted not to freak out and get us all killed? I hoisted my pack higher on my shoulder and shuffled on.

  Chapter 12

  The river curved in front of us and the General stopped, shaking his head.

  “It shouldn’t be turning like this. We should be coming around the side of it to track it to the southwest.”

  I slapped a huge bloodsucker bug off my neck and my hand came away bloody. I wiped it on my shirt and scratched the new bite. My empty stomach twisted sourly.

  We were lost.

  I had been so sure the General knew where we were going, I had never considered we might get lost out here. How far off course were we? How much time had we added to the trip? Brent swung the pack holding the heavy power core off his shoulders, setting it on the soft ground.

  “Maybe it’s just a smaller branch or something. Maybe we just need to cross it here and follow it around,” he suggested.

  “Maybe. But we’re scats if we’re wrong.” The General didn’t swear much. It wasn’t reassuring to hear it now.

  “I can climb out and maybe get a fix on the satellite,” Shiro suggested, pointing across the river. A huge tree leaned out across the water, probably knocked down by the tail of some huge ‘saur. It had been dead long enough for most of the leaves to fall off. Clear moonlight shone down on the empty branches.

  “You stay here and stay together. I’ll go,” the General began, but Shiro cut him off.

  “I’m the best climber, sir. I can get out there the fastest and get us back on track.”

  The General looked like he wanted to argue, but it was true. Shiro was a great climber. He was fast and light. Josh used to tell us about training with him. My brother would laugh and say Shiro was the only person keeping him from being top of his class. Shiro had taken the news of Josh’s death stoically, but the next day there was a fist-sized hole in the wooden wall of the new lookout tower, and he showed up to training with two broken knuckles on his right hand.

  “All right,” the General agreed. “Be quick about it. Get our position and mark our path. Call in
to base and let them know our location.”

  Each soldier had a sat trans in his pack, for all the good they did us in the thick jungle. Shiro checked the battery on his unit and headed off toward the uprooted base of the dead tree.

  He clambered up the branches to the thick trunk and climbed out over the river. His trans lit up when it reached the satellite.

  Ms. Arnson murmured, “He’s got a signal,” and everyone turned to look. Shiro stood there for a few minutes, talking too quietly for us to hear. Eden base would be shocked to hear from us. They’ve gotta figure we’re dead by now. I smiled a little, picturing my mom’s face when she got the news that for now, at least, we were still alive, still headed home.

  The light winked out on his trans unit as he climbed back toward the riverbank. A high-pitched shriek split the night, some ‘saur meeting a swift demise. All our heads whipped around toward the sound, including Shiro’s. The sudden movement made his foot slip on the damp tree trunk and he fell ten feet to the ground.

  A few steps earlier and he’d have landed in the water, cushioning his landing. Or a few steps later and he’d have been over soft mud. But the snap of bone echoed like the cracking of a small twig. Shiro muffled a cry, a single exclamation as he landed on a hard rock sticking up out of the river’s edge.

  We all broke cover and ran to him.

  He pushed himself up onto his elbows, gritting his teeth as we approached. His left leg stuck out in front of him but the right bent back at an unnatural angle.

  “Oh, stars, no,” Ms. Arnson muttered, crouching next to the fallen soldier.

  “I’m okay,” he said through clenched teeth. “Just help me up.”

  He tried to pull himself up on the rock and fell back, grunting in pain when his broken right leg bent underneath him.

  “Hold still. We need to get it immobilized.” The General pulled a pale roll of bandaging cloth out of his pack. “Caleb, find two strong branches we can use to splint the leg.”

  I darted into the trees, pulling out my knife. It was serrated on one edge and I sawed through a small branch, stripping off the leaves. I handed Brent the first branch while I stripped another one, which I carried back to the riverbank where pale Shiro sat.

  He stifled a scream when the General pulled his broken leg out straight and laid the branches down each side. He bound Shiro’s leg tight to the wood from his boot all the way up to his thigh. Shiro moaned softly with each knot of cloth.

  I looked away from the white bandages on his leg. Too much like Jack. Way too soon.

  “Okay, son, let’s see what you can do on it.” The General and Brent each took an arm and lifted Shiro to his feet. They pulled his arms over their shoulders, standing three across.

  Shiro shuffled his good leg forward and made a small hop, leaning heavily on the men who supported him. He slid the splinted leg under him and tested its strength.

  “Scat it!” he grunted, too loud over the noise of the river.

  General Carthage and Brent grabbed his waist as he collapsed, easing him back onto the softer ground.

  “It’s no good, sir,” Shiro said weakly. “I can’t walk.”

  “Then we’ll make a sledge and drag you.” The General turned toward the trees and took a step before Shiro’s quiet voice called him back.

  “I’ll slow you down. You’ll never make it dragging me along. You’ll all die because of me. You have to go on.”

  The General didn’t speak. He stood silent for a moment, staring out across the dark river. His shoulders slumped as he knelt down in the mud next to the young soldier and put his hand on Shiro’s shoulder.

  “Never thought I’d go out like this, sir.” Shiro’s voice sounded stronger, more certain. “Figured I’d get eaten by a Rex, swallowed by a river monster . . . didn’t think I’d slip off a tree.”

  “We won’t leave a man down,” the General insisted.

  “You have to. You know it, sir.” Shiro said it kindly.

  Ms. Arnson turned away from the group. She struggled against tears, her breathing ragged.

  “I can stay with him, sir,” Brent said. “You go on and send help back from base.”

  “Negative. I won’t leave two behind.” The General’s eyes were downcast. Maybe he wouldn’t leave two. But he was going to have to leave one.

  “Help me back up onto the tree,” Shiro said. “I can crawl back out over the water and talk to Eden by satellite. It’s the safest place for me. I can hold out for a few days, maybe long enough for you to send me a shuttle.”

  I couldn’t tell from his face if he really had hope that we might somehow win through and send rescue or if he just said it so we wouldn’t feel so guilty for leaving him. He and the General conferred for a few minutes, loading the map from Shiro’s trans onto the General’s. We weren’t too far off course. If we had just followed the river for another kilometer, we’d have made the turn and known where we were. I shivered, picturing Shiro alone here in the jungle, crippled and afraid. How could we leave him here to die? But what else could we do? We couldn’t carry him.

  He was right. If we didn’t leave him, we’d all die with him.

  “Hang on, son. We’ll send a shuttle just as quick as we can.” The General filled Shiro’s canteen and packed some food into the lightest backpack.

  We helped him stand and boosted him up into the branches where he pulled himself along, sliding on his belly out over the water. The rest of us walked away from the dead tree, leaving our bravest soldier to his lonely fate. I lingered, watching his painful progress. He turned back and our eyes met. He gave an encouraging little wave, a small gesture shooing me away toward the retreating figures entering the forest. He smiled as if to say, Go on, I’ll be all right. I wasn’t fooled. Shiro was going to die here, alone over the rushing water.

  The General and Brent were walking ahead with Ms. Arnson between them. She was still crying softly when I caught up to them. I turned back to catch one last glimpse of Shiro as we rounded the bend in the river. His sat trans was lit up in the open air above the water. I stared for a moment, watching the blue flickering light, a lonely beacon in the night.

  “Caleb, come on,” Brent murmured from up ahead.

  I took a few steps toward the rest of the group and turned back one last time, but Shiro’s trans had gone dark.

  Chapter 13

  My eyes burned and I blinked back tears. How were we walking away from one of our own? I bit my lip, plodding after Brent. It could have been me. I was a good climber. I could have crawled out across the tree. If I had, I’d be sitting there now, alone in the forest, waiting for a rescue that had very little chance of getting back in time to save me. Scat it, Shiro. We’re coming back for you. Shiro hadn’t cried for his own fate, and I wouldn’t either. But my throat was full and my vision blurred as I followed the three other surviving members of this decimated team, Eden’s last hope, carrying the reactor core through the dark jungle.

  The General looked back and saw me scuffling down the path. His eyes lifted and he squinted back through the trees, looking for one last glimpse of Shiro’s trans light in the darkness. I watched his face as he searched the night, and I held his gaze when he focused on me.

  “We’ll be all right, son,” was all he said, and the word “son” didn’t grate on me the way it usually did.

  We camped in the trees again, four of us together in the high branches of a great old hardwood. First watch was the easiest, and the General gave it to Ms. Arnson. We tied ourselves to the branches, but by now my cramped body was getting used to sleeping in the craws with my arms dangling over. I longed for the luxury of sleeping on a flat surface. Somewhere safe behind electric wire.

  I woke to the smell of ‘saur and reached for my knife, but Ms. Arnson shook her head and pointed at the tall domed heads of some herbivore I didn’t recognize. Dappled sunlight glistened off moist scales of bright blue as the creatures browsed the leaves of our tree. We sat still, watching them from above as they ambled through the
forest. Their unhurried forage reassured me that no carnivores were hunting nearby, and I relaxed a bit, laying my head against my shoulder.

  I was supposed to take the final watch, but since I was already awake I decided to serve my time now and let Brent and the General sleep.

  “Sweet dreams,” I whispered to Ms. Arnson, and she gave a halfhearted laugh.

  “Not likely.”

  The morning heated up toward noon as I watched the jungle below us through heavy-lidded eyes. A shrill cry echoed through the trees, and my heartbeat quickened as the day suddenly fell silent.

  I couldn’t see the ground from my vantage point, but I drew my pistol and checked my ammunition. The sound of gunfire was a sure way to attract any predators that had smelled humans before, so we only fired under grave duress. But it felt good to hold the cool metal in my hand as I peered down through the leaves.

  Movement on the forest floor made me tighten my grip on the weapon. A dull gray body darted beneath our tree, too fast for a good look. It was followed by another, and another, a single file of shadows moving silently along.

  Code W.

  Wolves.

  They were dinosaurs like all the rest, but what they lacked in bright colors or huge size they made up for in intelligence and communication. Long, stealthy gray bodies were covered from nose to tail with bony plate armor. Chest high to a man, Wolves prowled on four legs, silent and lethal. Someone had compared their pack-hunter style to the wolves of Earth, and the name had stuck. They trotted along with their snaky heads to the ground, sniffing for scent trails to follow. They made complicated clicks deep in their throats which must be a primitive language of some sort, one we had yet to decipher in our limited studies. Earth paleontologists never found anything like them in the ancient rock strata of our lost homeworld. Wolves were pure Eden. And pure death to any prey they chose.

  I held my breath as they passed by. Humans were an easy meal for a Wolf pack. Even armed, we were no match for them. Their serrated teeth could cut through a ‘saur’s tough hide in one bite. Our soft skin must have tasted like candy when they discovered us. They would surround their prey and attack from all sides on a signal from the leader. In our three years here, they had been observed killing everything from the smallest lizards and snakes to the largest Brachis.