The Jungle
by David Drake
The planet Venus, after the terraformers finished work and life on Earth ended, was a hell of aggressive mutations, the land and seas turgid with ragingly lethal lifeforms. Humankind lives in domed undersea Keeps—and only the mercenary naval troops called Free Companies venture to the surface to wage the Keeps' proxy wars.Ensign Brainard and his men, their flitterboat wrecked by a dreadnought's main-gun salvo, are about to face the worst enemy on the planet—The Jungle.Written in the universe created by Henry Kuttner in Clash By Night.