"Wait!" She said. "Look out for--"
Some sort of frog fish creature leaped out of the mud right in front of me. A wide open mouth that could swallow me whole lined with tiny, sharp teeth. It was a fairly flat creature with stubby forelimbs and powerful spring loaded hind legs.
I must have stepped right into its trap. It launched out from under the mud right for me.
Luckily, I was able to catch it and stumbled off to one side. It flew right past me. Hit the bank of the river and turned on the spot. Its dozen or so beady, black eyes looked all three of us over. With a croak, it turned and jumped into the river to swim away.
"What the fuck was that?!" I said, sitting there on the ground. I was covered in mud from the waist down.
"Hell if I know!" Yaaranam held a hand out to help me up.
I completely ignored the gesture and got myself up.
"Looks like an ambush predator." Nostra said. "Good thing it missed you. I'm not sure we would have been able to catch it."
"That's reassuring." I scanned over the mud.
"I saw those creepy eyes sticking out." Yaaranam said.
"Keep an eye out for more. Looks like we have other things to worry about than just eos."
"I wonder if there's something big we could take down."
"I hope. The bigger the catch the more it'll feed."
"At least we won't return empty handed!" Nostra displayed a smiling face.
Something hanging off a bush caught my attention. A wet rag. I picked it up. Definitely wasn’t a rag. It was hairy. Fine, sharp hairs matted together in some sort of liquid. The underside was soaked in some tacky, black liquid. It still dripped.
“An eos?” Yaaranam asked, looking at it.
“Maybe?” A sharp stab to my stomach. A little voice in the back of my mind said it was Fenris’. It looked like a piece of his cloak, or maybe that fur around his neck.
“May I?” Nostradamus reached towards the patch of fur.
“Go for it.” I dropped it in his hand. He took it into one of his compartments.
We crossed a small stream and headed uphill. Up here we found a blue, spiky fruit growing from a bushel of sharp leaves spread out like a star. It was about the size of my head. With a quick scan of it, Nostra determined it was edible once the skin was removed. I put it in my bag for safekeeping and made note of others growing nearby. They liked the shade of the larger trees and moist soil.
A whale’s song echoed right out of sight. We froze in place. It sang another note, sounding much closer than before. We looked for the source. Right past a couple of trees was one recently broken at the base of the trunk.
A massive metallic face rested upon the tree, moving slowly. A smooshed in face with a crest down the middle of its head. Its teeth resembled a dual saw blade, each fitting perfectly against one another. It sang again, its head moving to the side at the sight of us.
I stepped out into the clearing slowly, rifle at the ready. Yaaranam followed right next to me, watching our surroundings.
That head, as big as I was, was attached to a neck that stretched into the shade of the trees. I could barely make out the rest of it, several meters away. It had been laying on its side.
“Is it...hurt?” Yaaranam asked.
“I can’t tell. Its body just goes on forever. It might be a snake.” I answered, getting closer to the head.
Its body jerked against the shadows. It sung again, lifting its head up a few meters before dropping back down against the tree.
“There’s more of that oil here.” Nostradamus pointed to the ground.
Not far from the head, black stained the grass. It splattered over a rock and against a tree. Squishy sounds of tearing flesh and spraying liquid sounded out from the shadows. We dared to get closer.
My heart raced. Every fiber of my being told me to run in the other direction. The shadows stretched out towards us. Plumed from the ground and rolled backwards like ocean waves. The brilliant cyan glowing down through the canopy of the jungle gave way to a trunk shaped leg lifting up from the ground. It kicked the air once before thumping the ground for the last time. Something was hidden just beyond it. The oil pearlescent in the light, shimmered as it rained down from above. The blackened creature was tearing bits of flesh away from its gut. Tossing the pieces up to better position them in its mouth.
Yaaranam waved at me to not get any closer. I couldn’t help myself though. I was drawn to the creature. To see it closer. To see if it was what I wanted it to be.
The smokey shadows blanketing the ground made me think of Fenris. Could this creature be him?
The wind blew in such a way it shifted the branches above. More light shined in just long enough for me to catch sight of two massive metallic arms barely reflecting any light at all. As big as the creature, the arms ripped apart large chunks from the long necked beast. Two extra arms rose over its shoulders, one torn off at the midsection, the other twitching up over its head. I couldn’t see any other limbs. That smoke fell over its back.
“Fen…?” I whispered.
Yaaranam grabbed my shoulder.
The creature paid me no mind.
She pulled on me, forcing my legs to move backwards. The little voice in the back of my head took over; I backed away. I let Yaaranam guide me to safety out of sight. Slow, deliberate steps. We watched the ground to avoid any twigs, or crunching leaves.
My gut turned to stone at the sight of the creature. We didn’t say a word until we thought we were safe, possibly a mile away.
“That thing was not Fenris.” Yaaranam said.
“I must agree.” Nostradamus added. “It was certainly an eos and so was that other creature it was eating.”
“Imagine how big that thing probably is to take that down.” Yaaranam shook her head.
“I don’t know...That smoke… It looked just like the one Fenris uses.” I said.
“There are many creatures that share the same properties. Fenris is most likely not the only one.” Nostradamus held up a finger.
She took a breath. “You know he’s fine.” She stated. “This is what he was built for.”
“Shouldn’t he have come back by now? It’s been three weeks and not a word from him.” I said.
“Can he not speak with you telepathically?” Nostradamus displayed a question mark.
“He can, but...he hasn’t.”
“You should be able to reach him the same!”
“What? That can’t be possible. That’s not even an ability we’ve figured out. I’m positive we wouldn’t be able to.” Yaaranam frowned.
“You should try!”
I stuttered on the words. I didn’t know the first thing about it. I barely believed it was a thing still.
"Wh-what am I supposed to do exactly?"
"Focus! It should come naturally I imagine." Nostradamus smiled.
I thought about it. About Fenris, where he could be. If he was hurt. Maybe he was in trouble. I tried to focus on just...making a connection, I guess. I really had no idea what I was doing at the time. Fenris didn't even know how to do it. He said it just happened because he thought about it.
I shut my eyes tight. Thought long and hard. Pick up. Fucking answer me.
Nothing.
"I don't think I can…" I sighed.
THIRTY-EIGHT
Reaper prayed sending Jackal and Yaaranam out together would not end badly. He wanted them to get along. Jackal still had a hard time accepting an eldiravan on the team. Perhaps if they were still at war, Reaper would have an issue, too. They needed more time together. Jackal would open up eventually.
Meanwhile, Reaper tried to help out where he saw few people. He watched the engineers and scientists attempt to remove that pulsating sack of flesh off the ship to no avail. Each attempt fried a tool or got someone shocked. Reynolds eventually turned to study the eos Fenris had been kind enough to leave them.
Reaper joined her to see the discoveries.
An exterior examination resulted in ba
sic knowledge. Similar to Fenris, this creature was a grotesque combination of flesh and machine that defied their logic. Metal can be created, but grown? They couldn't grow metal like that. It resembled the scutes, or other osteoderms, of crocodiles. Grew with rings like trees and thick bones. Symmetrical design, something common of most life.
An interior inspection only confirmed Reynolds suspicions.
No bones. Only metal. It grew just like bones would, hollow and filled with an oily marrow. The bones of this creature formed air pockets, making it an extremely light animal for its size.
Air sacs like birds replaced familiar lungs, a series of these sacs filled the neck to the chest. Extra sacs, not for breathing, threaded through holes in the spine.
The most interesting part was the lack of other internal organs. A stomach led into a single intestine that branched out through its torso, connecting to veins of oily blood. A metallic heart kept the blood flowing while alive, but a second heart was encased in a cage of metal. It was shattered, shards splintered through the rest of its body. It leaked a thick, green liquid that seemed to infect what it touched.
"Strange…" Reynolds said as she pulled out each organ.
When the cavity was empty, she went back in with a bright light.
"What is it?" Reaper asked.
"Well...this is it." She gestured to the tray of organs. "Lungs, stomach, intestine, two hearts."
Reaper scratched his cheek.
"Where's the reproductive organs? A bladder? Liver? There's nothing else…" her voice trailed off as she looked around the pelvis.
There was empty space. The stomach, even if a little large didn't fill it all. It was here she found what resembled a soaked, plastic bag.
"If they have none of that, then how do they populate? What about waste?" Reaper crossed his arms.
"Precisely. This isn't foreign...but I can't tell what it is...Midi! Come here! Scan this for me." She thought for a second. "Actually scan everything. Thoroughly. I want to know everything."
The drone hovered over, poked and prodded the fleshy bag, scanned it. It beeped while it processed, then printed out a series of papers. It beeped excitedly, bounced in the air. Then went for what was laid out in the tray to repeat the process.
Reynolds skimmed over the paper.
"Ah, I know that look." Reaper said. "What is it?"
"Well, it seems to be the reproduction organ, but it's just a sac of...incomplete DNA. Stem cells and other things I've never seen before. It appears to be asexual. Neither male, nor female. Asexuality, while rare, isn't too crazy, but that would mean they would need no help in reproduction. Yet from what this shows, DNA chains are incomplete, so it may be a young creature. Too young to reproduce." She sighed. "Something doesn't add up… Midi, when you're done, could you prepare the slicer? Get the diamond blade, we'll need a thin slice of bone. I'll get the carbon dater. Since its carbon based...I could better determine its age."
She gathered up all of the papers Midi printed out and sat down to skim through them.
Seeing her close up to focus on her work, Reaper wandered off. She didn't need his help. In fact, it seemed no one needed his help. Everywhere he went, everyone was busy. It was pure chaos with everyone running around setting up camp, checking supplies, cooking, delivering.
He was proud in a way. Everyone knew their role and rolled with the punches without a thought about it.
Any other Captain would have taken the opportunity to relax and simply oversee. Take a nap, eat a meal. Reaper could not bear it. His hands trembled. He needed to do something. Anything. Fuck, he was a soldier, not a pencil pusher. Sitting around, doing nothing while everyone else worked around him drove him crazy.
What could he do? There was nothing to shoot thanks to Fenris scaring everything away. He should have gone with Jackal. Stretched his legs and see something new.
Where had that valkyrie gone anyway? These last several nights had been quiet. He almost missed the howling. It was like a phone call. He knew it was all right out there as long as he could hear it.
Reaper dug through the crates in the cargo hold. They had several drones packed away. As soon as he found it, he pulled it out of its confines.
Large enough to carry a dog with four propellers to keep it afloat and stable at high altitude and a 360 camera, it would be the perfect device to get a good look around the area.
He flipped its switch and set it on the ground. Took the controller out of the case and set it to autopilot. He guided it out of the ship’s cargo bay, then climbed up to the top of the ship.
He sat himself down and remotely piloted the drone around their camp. Then into the sky for a bird’s eye view of the surrounding land.
Fields as far as the horizon stretched. A temperate forest that faded into a jungle west bound. Mountains reaching above the clouds to the far north. The temperate forest south bound ended abruptly, but he did not send the drone close enough to see why.
Aside from plant fauna, there was nothing else. No animals he could see. No sign of eos. No sign of Fenris.
He had expected the planet to be barren. According to what those Alphas said at Avant-Garde, the eos destroy and eat everything. They rid planets of all life.
Consumed in the video feed of the drone, Reaper didn't notice the sound of leathery wings beating against the air. No one did.
Up high on the ship, he was exposed. A stray from the herd. Without numbers to protect him, he was a vulnerable child.
Talons dug into his back and shoulders. He hit the hull of the ship face first, the controller fell down a hundred feet to the dirt.
Mjolnir gave a roar of orders, the first to see the attack.
Reaper shouted, writhed against the blistering hot metal. He couldn't see what was on him. It weighed a ton. Easily kept him down. Wings pounded him on either side, the talons flexing in and out of his flesh to get better holds. Then came the beak. A long, narrow metal snout with a dagger tip. It gave a shrill screech as it pecked away at his head, neck, and back.
No matter what he did, he could not get that stupid bird off. He covered his head and neck with his arms.
Mjolnir and a few of the soldiers took aim and fired. Some were distracted by more leathery birds swooping down.
Scared, the larger one on Reaper, got a hold of him and took off, dropping from the ship to catch the wind. It soared upwards, carrying Reaper in its talons.
Reaper held on for his life watching the ground get smaller and smaller.
Another creature screeched and swooped underneath. It pecked at him, tearing off a strap of his suit.
Then a second pass. This time the beak landed on point and ripped Reaper right out of the talons of the other one. It dropped low, just over the trees and looped around in an attempt to throw off the other fliers.
It seemed everyone wanted a piece of him. More of those birds came in, knocking him away from the one carrying him. He dropped like a rock only to be scooped up again.
Mjolnir and his small group of soldiers gave chase, following the flock of birds and Reaper. They did not dare shoot blindly. They took time to aim and hit the ones swooping in. Some were scared off. When the one carrying the Captain wasn't under attack, they fired on it.
It took multiple shots to bring the bird down. It crashed in a spiral, beak first into the dirt.
Reaper cried out, lying beneath the creature. He tried to push it off, but could barely move its oversized head.
Mjolnir dragged the bird off him, another soldier helping him up.
"Trying to feed the birds, Captain?" Mjolnir laughed.
"Yeah," he exhaled, "thought I'd try a new tactic; leave the food in my pockets."
He kicked the bird's head.
The creature sparked to life, snapping at his foot.
It was shot a few more times and fell limp.
"Son of a bitch!" Reaper stared at it. "Is it dead this time?"
"What is it? A bird?" One of the soldiers asked.
"Birds have
feathers. That thing don't have feathers." Another said.
"Captain, we should get you back to a medic. You're pretty fucked up." Mjolnir touched his shoulder.
"Just some scratches, but all right. Let's bring that thing back, too. It...looks like an eos."
It looked just like that other creature they had. Its head was as long as Reaper was tall with the beak and crest curving upwards. Its face brightly colored in blue and white. Eyes black as the night still wide open. Its body barely matched that size, with pathetic little hind limbs. The wings on the other hand were massive. A skin membrane, thin enough to see the black veins within tripled its size.
Mjolnir grabbed the creature by a wing and dragged it across the ground.
"What were you up there doing anyway?"
"I was using the drone. Figured it would do well to spot anything nearby."
"Did you see anything?"
"No...just plants. It’s weird…"
"The lack of animals?"
"No, I mean, there's a lot of planets out there with fauna but no animals, or intelligent life. What the doctor said at Avant-Garde is bugging me."
"Ah. I see. She said the eos will eat entire planets, yet this one still has life."
"Yeah. What good would it do anything to destroy their own home? That would kill them off, too."
"Do you believe this planet could be recently inhabited?"
"Maybe...that would explain why there's so few…" Reaper took a breath. "It doesn't add up though. Fenris said they come in large numbers. He's shown me how many."
"How so? The same way he can show Jackal?"
"No. Arena of Warfare, that strategy game. He figured out how to make custom units and actually built up different armies of eos. He even made a small army of valkyries and showed me how they battle. We should be swarmed right now, yet they've stayed away."
"Perhaps the World Eater is their priority. They may be a lot smarter than we think."
"They have to be...Reynolds was saying that the tumor on the ship is an eos. It's a living, breathing creature. It’s eating the electricity the ship is producing. It landed the ship. It didn't destroy it because it wouldn't have a food source."
The Soul Eaters (The Thin Hex Line Book 1) Page 32