by Lori Beery
We decided to find a way out of the vessel and meet up with our pod mates. Finding no other way for us to exit reasonably, we were forced to return to the office. It took us a while to find our way back there.
Upon arriving, we found that the snake-like creature was gone, but there was plenty of blood and lots of paw prints in and around the spot the creature had lain. The only tracks leading away went over the partition and into the office. The prints disappeared by the time they reached the center of the room. We didn’t see or hear anything within our exit point. So, where did the creatures go? - And how did they get into the office in the first place? I held my rifle ready to fire.
Cautiously, Derrick climbed into the office. Once in, he stood guard. The rest of us scaled the lintel, our ears straining for any sound of attack. The only comforting thing about being in the office was that our rope was right where we had left it. Derrick and Older Man climbed out first while Nurse Lady and I kept a lookout. Once they were up and out, they covered us as we made our ascent. The four of us disembarked from the ship without seeing or hearing any sign of the paw-footed creatures. I couldn’t help wondering where they were.
It was twilight outside the ship, and the forest looked like a menacing shadow. We could see glimpses of the eerie lights within its depths. We guessed the lights were the plants we had discovered, the ones that lit up upon being touched. That being the case, I wonder what had touched them. I felt my skin crawl thinking about the fate of whatever had blundered into those plants.
Looking towards the debris field beyond the ship, we saw a bonfire stretching up into the darkness. People were silhouetted against its glow, and there seemed to be a lot more than the six that would have made up the remainder of our pod mates.
We crossed from the ship to the dirt mounded around it. As we moved, I saw movement below us. We hurried down the bank and turned to look back at the ship. Black shadows crested the mound we had been standing on moments before. The dark shapes, which resembled huge lizards, hissed and started down the bank following our path.
I lifted my rifle, removed the safety, aimed at one of the beasts on the crest, and fired. The creature collapsed. The other beasts swarmed around it, taking bites of the fallen animal and snapping at each other. While the creatures were occupied, we made our way quickly to the bonfire.
When we got there, we were welcomed. Our pod mates made introductions. We were directed to a couple of crates by the fire where ration packs and water bottles were pushed into our hands. We ate, drank, and exchanged information.
Many people speculated about the Venture’s demise. Nearly all pointed to catastrophic damage to the vessel before it got caught in the planet’s gravity. That made sense to me because the engine section of the ship had been missing during our evacuation. How it happened was more subjective. Some thought that something had happened to the engines to cause them to explode while others believed asteroids were to blame for all the damage. All I knew was we weren’t leaving this world any time soon.
Then, we learned that all the people present had followed a plan similar to ours after their pods had landed. No one had found any survivors in or around the wreckage of the Venture. Except for the four of us, no one had penetrated the ship to its core. Their attempts had all been thwarted by dead ends, passages too hazardous to pass, or creatures that needed to be evaded.
We told them about our discoveries within the ship. They all seemed pleased to hear that the Teacher, sickbay, and the hydroponics units were intact. They expressed their surprise that our search didn’t turn up anybody, living or dead. They had been hoping that there had been more who had survived the crash and that they were inside the ship. It was disheartening to be the bearers of bad news.
No one knew how many of the life pods had launched. The number of our current companions suggested that only four or five of them had made it. If this was all of us, then only four percent of us had survived. Such a staggering loss!
Also, we learned that there were many night hunters on our new world. The bonfire seemed to keep most of the beasts away. It didn’t, however, deter the lizards we had seen earlier. Those were drawn to anyone who was injured. And we had injured people.
Of the thirty-five people around the bonfire, nearly all of us had scrapes and bruises. Four or five people had bad cuts, the deep, long kind that needed stitches. Three people had even worse injuries. They suffered broken bones in addition to lacerations. One was unconscious.
Nurse Lady moved to the unconscious man and began examining him. I traded her the supplies I had pocketed while we had investigated sickbay for the kinetic rifle she was carrying. I handed Nurse Lady’s rifle to the big man who seemed to be overseeing defense, which turned out to be X-tee.
I stood for a moment, glancing around the gathering. The bonfire occupied the center of a twenty meter roughly circular area devoid of any vegetation. Near the fire, there was a considerable stack of wood. I appreciated that any beasties’ approach would be easy to see and felt comforted that the wood would last through the night.
X-tee invited Derrick, Older Man, and me to join the watch for the lizards. Since we already had rifles, we accepted his invitation. He armed three others with spears and presented them with a stack of small cylindric objects. The others went to the opposite side of the fire while we took the side closest to the ship. We sat with our backs to the fire to allow our eyes to adjust to the darkness. Then we waited and watched.
An hour later, we saw low shadows approaching. In the stillness, we could hear the hissing noise that we had heard near the ship when we first encountered these creatures. They seemed to hesitate on the edge of the clearing. At that distance, we could see their eyes reflect the firelight. I picked one and shot it. As before, the creature dropped, and its companions turned and ate it. The scene reminded me of a vid which showed frenzied sharks attacking anything around them. I hoped our ammo would last for as long as we needed it too.
Having been encouraged to kill lizards beyond the edge of the clearing, I opened fire. I took careful aim so that I didn’t waste any of my ammo. Derrick, Older Man, and X-tee did the same.
We dropped lizards, killing them in droves. Each time an animal fell, it was immediately swarmed and devoured on the spot. I wondered if the gorging lizards would ever be satisfied.
The creatures kept coming. They surged around the clearing to come at our group on the other side of the fire. I heard a grunt followed by a small bang, like a small explosion – a firework of some kind. Then loud hissing erupted, put out slowly by the snapping of jaws. The grizzly feast lasted longer than when I shot a single animal. I adjusted my strategy to injure as many animals with a single shot as I could. I would leave the killing to the beasts.
Although we were turning more lizards into food, the horde still surrounded and advanced on us. They were coming across the cleared area, and nothing we did stopped them. The creatures in the back pushed past those that had stopped to eat. The fire seemed an annoyance they were willing to deal with, so they could reach the meat around the fire.
The hours past slowly. I lay on my belly on the dirt firing into the mob of oncoming reptiles. From this angle, it was easy to injure multiple creatures. Sadly, it would not be long before I was out of bullets. I wondered if the rifle would make a good club.
Presently, I noticed Bernard kneeling beside me. It wasn’t difficult to be aware of him as he’s a fairly large, muscular man. I was reassured to have the gentle giant beside me. His presence made me feel safe despite the surrounding horde.
He had a stack of the small cylindric objects before him. They looked like the ones that X-tee had given the defenders on the opposite side of the fire. At my quizzical look, he picked one up, lit it with a burning twig, and threw it. The cylinder fell into the midst of the lizards and popped. Parts of the crowding reptiles went flying. Immediately, the injured creatures were swarmed and devoured as well as the parts. Uninjured beasts got bitten in the process and, thus, also fell victim
to the feeding.
While the creatures were distracted, Bernard rose to his feet, moved into the shrinking two-meter clearing beyond me, and rammed a spear into the nearest beast. It hissed, flinging its head around to bite at the sharpened stick. Bernard had thwarted its effort since he had already withdrawn the spear. He moved on to stick other lizards.
While the first creature bled, hissed, and writhed, its fellows attacked it. Fleshy pieces littered the ground of the clearing. Using the butt of the spear, Bernard tossed the bits out into the midst of the lizards. The beasts were drawn further from us. I sighed with relief.
With my ammo gone, I picked up one of the firecrackers. At Bernard’s nod, I lit it and tossed it into the horde. While he stabbed the creatures, I flung the bleeding parts among the beasts closer to the edge of the clearing. A few times, a lizard pushed itself upwards to catch the flying meat. I wondered again if they ever got enough food.
Screams rang out on the far side of the group. I turned in time to see one of our defenders collapse among the lizards. Bernard grabbed a firecracker. He yelled at me to keep my post and hurried toward the fallen man. I continued to throw lit firecrackers among the lizards where I was and followed the explosions with stabbing the nearest beasts. The raw bits, I worked to fling as far as possible from me.
There was an explosion every few moments. The firecrackers went off around our bonfire. It seemed they increased in tempo but decreased in volume.
With a start, I realized someone was rapping on my door. I pushed myself out of bed and lurched to the door. I opened it, leaning against the frame for support. X-tee stood before the doorway dressed in gym togs.
“Ky, you OK?” He asked. He had noticed my disheveled appearance.
“Just a rough night,” I told him with a nod.
“Alright, well, you have two minutes to get dressed!” He was suddenly bellowing at me. “You get to join me for a morning run,” he added with a twinkle in his eye.
“Right…”
I slammed the door closed, hurriedly locating the necessities, a pair of shorts, and a tee shirt. I combed my hair with my fingers, pulling it into a ponytail and securing it. I quickly pulled on socks and jammed my feet into a pair of sneakers. When I opened the door, I found X-tee was counting downward. He had reached four.
“Not bad,” he said with a smile.
With that, we started on the morning run.
Chapter 6
I was hot, tired, and out of breath by the time that morning run was completed. I hoped I would not fall in a heap in X-tee’s company; that would be so humiliating.
We had run – no, slow-jogged – five circuits of the main cave, which totaled a distance of about eight kilometers. I was appalled at my dismal performance. Before my accident, this would have been easy. Today, it had taken everything I had to put one foot in front of the other. If I had been alone, I wouldn’t have made it, a fact I was sure X-tee knew well.
“Not bad, for someone building up their fitness level,” X-tee commented in an encouraging voice. He even smiled. “Go get breakfast and cleaned up. Meet me in the armory in two hours.”
I nodded my agreement because I didn’t have the breath to speak yet. I headed back into the settlement at a slow, careful pace. Once through the blast doors that separated our residence from the main cavern, I hugged the wall. I wanted to be close to it, so I could use it for support if need be.
As I inched along, I let my mind wander back to our first days on this world. We had initially tried to use the crashed ship as a place to live. I remembered losing a lot of people, not only to those ravenous lizards but also to the large tree-snakes and packs of wolf-like creatures. Those were the paw-footed predators who had devoured the snake within the Venture that second day. The canines had tunneled into the ship in numerous locations. They seemed to have an uncanny ability to find underground rends in the ship’s haul. Sadly, they were not the only creatures to use the passages they dug. We quickly learned that we could not make the ship secure enough to use as a home.
Therefore, we searched for a place that was easily defensible and free of predators. Those requirements instantly eliminated the trees, since the forest harbors a wealth of life and is home to the huge tree snakes. So, we turned to the mountains. We wanted rock between the predators and us. It took a lot of trial and error, but we eventually found a suitable-seeming location: the one in which we currently resided.
I am unsure whether to call our residence a cave or a cavern. Our surviving geologist insists that it is a cave because it is not underground with an opening from above. – This mountain top is riddled with interconnecting chambers. There is evidence that water has eroded the softer rock, hollowing out vast sections of the mountain. But there don’t seem to be any stalactites or stalagmites.
Then, there is the question of the water – and timing. Did the erosion occur before the mountain was pushed up under the cave? Or did the mountain form first? If the second, does that mean we are in for a season of monsoons? How do we mitigate the possible flooding of the settlement? - Thankfully, measures have been implemented to handle the water.
As I walked, I regarded our home. In many ways, it resembled our colony ship – everything carefully packed into every space. I suppose that shouldn’t have been a surprise. After all, most of us had lived aboard the vessel for nearly our entire lives. Not only that, but we had stripped the ship for a lot of our building materials. We had even installed one of the blast doors into the opening to the settlement, giving us a proper front door. We had done a lot of squaring and leveling to make smooth, even floors and walls. We made bricks and cut trees for the materials to build quarters for everyone. The settlement was more spacious than the Venture had been, but admittedly we had lost about five times our current number of inhabitants.
Once we had made this location our home, we keep a fire burning that was visible through the main cavern’s opening. Over time, fellow survivors found their way to us. They each carried horror stories about the end of Venture and the crewmates they had lost.
I often wondered if the comm devices in our environmental suits had worked over a greater range, would more of our people be alive? Would we have been able to locate and get to those in need? Would we have been able to get them to the mountain quicker? I shrugged. There was no way ever to know the answers to those questions.
While the past tumbled through my head, my feet took me to the commons of my dorm. The smell of food filled the room. The aroma made my stomach rumble and put a halt to my trip down memory lane. I stepped up to the access counter and grabbed a plate. I was pleased to find pancakes, sausage, fruit, and drahl.
I carried my food to a nearby table and began to dig in. I had eaten most of my meal when Derrick and Lloyd joined me.
“Heard X-tee had you on a morning run,” said Derrick.
I nodded in response, still chewing my latest mouthful.
“How did you do?” Concern tinged his voice.
I finished swallowing my food before answering. “I jogged the eight kilometers. But it was not fast, and I was pretty much ready to collapse by the time I finished.”
“What does he have you doing for the rest of the day?”
“Well, I’m to report to the armory at 0900,” I told him. “I’m supposed to get myself cleaned up before I get there.”
“How long do you think getting ready is going to take you?” he questioned. I was beginning to suspect he had ulterior motives. I had been out of the clean, cook, and supply rotations of the dorm for over two months.
“Given my lack of fitness,” I said, “probably an hour.”
“Hey, that gives you half an hour to help Lloyd and me clean up after breakfast,” he remarked grinning.
“Peachy,” I replied with a grin. “How about I clean tables and start putting the chairs up?”
“How about you start with just cleaning tables,” he corrected. “I don’t want you to overdo it before you report to the armory.”
“OK,” I replied cheerfully.
I picked up my empty dishes and carried them to the dish depository site. I grabbed two clean towels and filled one side of the split bucket with hot soapy water. The other side was for rinse water. Then, I went to work scrubbing and rinsing the tables of the commons. I had just finished dumping out the bucket when my half hour came to an end. I gave Lloyd and Derrick a cheery smile and a wave. Then, I departed to my quarters to begin the process of getting ready.
I arrived at the armory by 0857. X-tee was already inside, engaged in a conversation with one of the settlement’s elders. I stopped at a respectful distance and waited. The man X-tee was talking to was relatively small, with brown hair and angular features. He was young, maybe in his late twenties. I remembered him vaguely as being one of the new elders who had been elected to fill a spot left by someone who hadn’t survived.
While I waited for X-tee to finish, I glanced around the room. It didn’t look like a modern armory anymore. The kinetic rifles were worthless until we located the proper components for either the replicator or us to manufacture bullets for them. We still stored them here, but most of the space was taken up by our everyday weapons, which were far more primitive. We had been able to replicate most of the parts using our current resources. Over time, we had amassed quite an assortment. There were spears set with metalheads, short swords, large, heavy shields, and a variety of bows complete with metal tipped arrows. There was a selection of throwing knives and some slingshots. Some of the slings were designed to launch short, sharpened bolts. Since we had a large supply of the bolts, we made crossbows. There was some talk about building a catapult, just in case there was something big and dangerous out there that might come for us one day.
“Ky,” called X-tee. “This is Kevin Palm,” he added when I turned to face them.