Castaway Planet

Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 154 of 365. Sol standard year]

Days after of Crash landing/ 2

Uninhabited Island / Clearing of Escape Capsule # 405

Galactic Standard Time / 900

Duncan muttered as he looked down at his leg. For a few moments, he hated that he had let his doctor convince him to wait for his next rejuvenation. If he had even gotten a small one, his leg would have been a lot stronger. Still, for a man over three hundred, he was surprisingly fit according to that quack. Like a man a mere hundred years could talk to him about how his body was, he lived in it.

He looked up at the wall, and let his mind wander. He knew that people like him usually stayed in the inner regions. Those cowards only left if they were at least biologically forty. But he lived out here, and his advanced facial aging caused the others to look at him like an elder, and he liked that. It made it a lot easier to get people to listen to him. Still, he couldn’t wait for his retirement, take a good decade or two to relax, and learn a few new skills. His bank account could handle it if he stopped working tomorrow, but give up the stars? At least he could get a condo on a ship like the Spirit at least, maybe be a ‘retired freelancer’, and help the ship if they needed him.

He sighed and leaned back, closing his eyes. “That would be nice. Maybe I could even make a beeping if they needed me, like that.”

Duncan’s eyes shot open, the beeping was real. He looked towards the wall, locking his eyes on a monitor. A large object was falling towards them, shuttle size at least! He shot to his feet and grabbed his crutch, stumbling towards the door. “All hands, battle stations! I want the rest of the first watch on me, watch two stay back!”

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Jones scowled as he stood outside the escape capsule. When he had gone to Duncan to volunteer, he had only received a small smile from Duncan. And then he was told that he was glad that Jones was so happy to guard the airlock outside. Jones scowled as he remembered how Duncan had hobbled away, barking orders as he walked back to his ‘office’. As the other deckhands directed the volunteers to where to change, Jones had been pushed outside and the airlock closed.

He looked up, imagining it surrounded by walls. Duncan would have deckhands guarding the crater from behind them, that had to be why he ordered them made. He could just imagine Duncan ordering them to shoot at anything that came out of the forest! That was the worst thing that they could do, it would only make the situation worse! If they treated anything that came to them as enemies, then they would be enemies! He had to figure out a way to get them to understand before they made a terrible mistake!

If only there was something he could do, something others could see! He didn’t know just how he could find something like that, but he had to! He was the only person who even thought of things the right way, he had to bring the truth to the others! Their very existence on this planet was on the line and more! Once they were rescued, and they told how he lead them, then who knows? This could be the one thing that would let the Order take charge!

Once people found out the truth, the galaxy would change! He could see it right now, the result of everything he would do. The Order would sweep away the unbelievers, all would follow the proper path! Those who stood against them would die as was proper and they would be forgotten to history. And beautiful Racha would be his wife, giving him strong heirs that would take his place as the Prophet of the Order. Under his command, everything would be perfect and proper!

If only there was something, anyway for him to show the truth to these fools!

The sound of the airlock activating caused Jones to turn his head. As soon as the airlock was halfway open Duncan charged out, four deckhands following him.

“Sir!?” Jones asked in shock and surprise. He could only watch as Duncan and the other deckhands all aimed their rifles at the sky.

“You! Get everyone back here now! Tell them to drop everything and move!” Duncan spat and Jones stared at him for a moment, shocked beyond the capabilities of speech.

“But why do we need to….” Jones asked, not quite understanding what Duncan meant.

“NOW BOY! Something’s coming from above, something big!” Duncan barked and Jones went still.

He turned and ran towards the crater wall, climbing it fast. The only thing on his mind was terror. His homeworld had stories about ancient creatures that came from the heavens to kill. They were all that filled his mind as he climbed up. If this was a sign, then it was a sign of death

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Above the flyer drove down, its mind conflicted about what it was about to do. It usually tried to not fight, knowing that if it showed off all of its tricks something might attack it for them. But again, it found the little ones attacking the growth things, and the ones by the pod growers were good. And there were many other groves it could feed from, but still. With the new creature out there, the best thing was to make a show of power. If anyone had their eyes on this place, then it would prove it was still a predator.

And if it was honest, it needed the reputation boost. When it woke up, it had been to something very much unwanted. All in the area its den was, it saw signs that something had come looking around. It must have been something that wanted its strength, but what? It had thrown off most of those who hunted for it, but even it had enemies. It had decided to start to gather food to wait for the next passage to open, this place was too much for it. A new land would be deadly and terrible, but it had to be better than here!

And to buy time, it needed to scare off anything looking for it. And these strange newcomers were perfect! But should it take a few lives? No, that would be too far. Some of the others only left it alone because it didn’t care about territory or killing others. It could see a few others who would try and take its power if they saw how strong it was. No, the best thing to do was harass them a little. It could… yes that sounded perfect.

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Terra tried to keep calm as she led the group back toward the crater. She hadn’t seen anything yet, but she was starting to feel something. She needed to get the people to safety, and soon. As soon as they made it to the crater she’d send them back into the capsule, and then talk to Duncan. There had to be a reason that this thing was targeting them, and once she figure it out…. Well, then she could make sure it didn’t keep targeting them.

She looked around, seeing some of the passengers looking at the deckhands, and winced. Most of her guards were all looking around, some more obvious than others. Some of them were looking behind them, while others were looking to the sides. She didn’t know what to expect, but something told her that this was worthless. It was like something was getting ready to strike, and no matter what they did it was too late!

She tried to figure out what this was, how she could get around it when she heard one of the passengers cry out.

She looked up and saw Jones dashing towards them, a scared look on his face. She paned all around, trying to find what set him off.

Jones reached her as she turned to look at her, a scowl on her face. “Jones, what now!?”

“Dun….Chief Duncan wants everyone to make it back to the crater, right now! Something’s coming! He said to drop everything and run!” Jones exclaimed loudly.

Terra felt her pulse quicken and then something caused her to look up. As soon as she saw what she didn’t want to see, she paled in fear.

Jones didn’t even notice, he just kept talking as he looked at the people around him. “It might be help or nothing, but we have to move! If it’s something the best thing would be to face it from safety…..”

Jones had turned his head and saw Terra’s pale face. He opened his mouth but then his eyes saw others paling as they looked behind him. He slowly turned his head, and when he saw what they had his mouth dropped open in horror.

Coming down from the sky was a monstrous giant black bat thing. Its body alone looked to be at least ten feet wide, its wings going out twice that on both sides. Along its body were two sets of three white spikes. The thing's head had a wide nose and ears, and its mouth had four large fangs pointing down. Above them were the creature's eyes, three set in an upside-down triangle formation. Its body was ten feet long but looked compact, with bare black skin and blue fur along its sides. It had two small feet before its long tail that ended in a spiked ball of white bone.

As they watched the bat monster changed the angle of its wings. It grabbed one of the fallen trees as it flew over the crater. It landed, as far as the group by the tree was from the crater, throwing the tree so the leafy branches were pointing at it. Terra wondered just what it would do. but that thought died as it turned around, locking eyes with her.

Terra activated her internal recorders absently, hoping her nanites would record this perfectly. This thing, it wasn’t a mere beast. She saw in its eyes, the bat thing was capable of thought. There was a cold logic behind its eyes, but also what she saw as resignation, but why? What was this creature feeling that? And why had it grabbed the tree they hadn’t pruned off branches let?

The thought caused her to remember something from her youth, back before she first left her world. She looked at the bat thing as it turned around and took a bite out of the leafy branch. Her blood went cold as she suddenly understood just what this thing ate, and what they had been doing. Everything aligned together, and the picture her puzzle formed filled her with dread.

“Jones, get everyone moving, now. Guards move slowly and stand apart. Get between that thing and the passengers. Jones when I say now have them start running,” Terra said as she looked at the bat thing, her hands slowly aiming her rifle at it.

Jones looked at her but something caused him to swallow and nod. He moved towards the passengers. “Everyone, leave the tree. When I say go we go. One speed only very fast so get ready.”

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As the bat creature ate the good food, it looked up at the leader of the larger small ones. Something about it bothered it, something primal. It had lived because it could judge its foes, and everything was telling it to leave. But it had committed, and if something was watching this clearing, then it was too late to do anything else. It just had to hope that it would survive this. But it didn’t need to do much, all it had to do was throw a few of them around, and maybe kill some of them.

As it ate it watched them, wondering why some of them were blocking the others from it. The others must be offspring and the ones between the protectors. That made sense, but then the young were the perfect targets here. It could make a few blows toward them and then fly off. And if the watchers saw it do that it would tell its masters about its actions, that could buy it all the time it needed.

Before it could stop eating pain shot through its body! The pain was unlike anything it had ever felt before. It was a kind of burning feeling, but this was unlike when it had fought that spark thrower! It looked up and saw some of the big little ones standing there, but they had to be the source! So the new ones had power like the small ones then, that must have been why they were put here!

It flared out its wings and felt a spark of joy. The guardian ones were moving around, it could cry out and ‘miss’, hitting other not food things. That way the big small ones could have things to make their den better, and they might leave its food things alone. Now all it had to do was put on a good ‘play fight’.

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Terra watched as the bat took flight, and scowled as the spikes were revealed to be claws on a third set of limbs. They unraveled into two long arms with two elbows, giving them a reach of teen feet. As the bat flexed its wing limbs before it took flight. Terra looked kept her eye on it, and palled as its checks bellowed out. “Scatter!

The other deckhands all lunged to the ground, moments before the bat screeched! The waves of sound flew unseen over their heads and hit the ground by a tree. The blast sent a geyser of dirt and stones into the air. Terra looked at the bat and fired again, this time hitting its tail. As she looked at it her eyes went wide as she saw a few shots just miss the wings. If it lost those……!

Terra looked around at the other deckhands and barked an order. “AIM FOR THE BODY! WE WANT TO SCARE IT OFF, NOT GROUND IT! IF YOU THINK YOU’LL HIT THE WINGS, DON’T FIRE!”

The smarter deckhands all blanched in fear as they understood what she was saying. They all followed her orders, trusting her to know what to do.

As she aimed at the bat creature, she saw Jones lead the last of the passengers down, at least he did that right. The bat started to fly in a circle, dodging the fire from the deckhands and Duncan’s group in the crater.

It fired another sonic blast, it missed them again. Terra kept looking at the creature as it flew around, and she had a terrible idea. “No, no way….. but why would it? Who could it? But that means…..”

Terra looked around and saw the bat creature’s blast hit the ground near one of the trees, sending it down. This time as the dust settled Terra was sure she saw something through the dust cloud. And she was hoping she was wrong, but that something looked like a biped.

Without a thought Terra turned and fired again, hoping that she was right.

The bat creature fired another blast near where the last one had hit. As the dust from that attack settled the bat hovered. It looked at it for another minute before it turned and flew off, a few shots going after it.

“HOLD FIRE! I want an orderly retreat to the crater now! And get that last tree!” Terra bellowed as the bat flew away.

She ignored any questions, keeping her eyes locked on the forest. She didn’t know if she should or shouldn’t thank the creature. If it hadn’t done what it did, they might have been ambushed.

But she was worried, if the bat creature was capable of thought and emotion, then what else? What kind of mind could a predatory creature have that would let it survive? Was it as vile, as evil as some of the worst races out there? And she had to ask herself, why was her pod only made up of humans? And even more urgent, why had she only thought about that now?

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Duncan looked up as the last of the deckhands moved the tree into place, creating a triangle around the crater. So far nothing had attacked them, and that was enough for now. He looked at Terra as she and five others stood guard between the workers and the forest. He frowned, he had wanted to stop for a while but Terra had said they needed to finish. He didn’t know what had caused her to think that, but he had a feeling it was bad.

He knew that he needed to ask her what she was thinking, but he was worried. So far, everything was still going at a good pace. If what she had figured out was that important, then he doubted that he’d be able to hide his reaction. And if it was what he feared, that might be the only thing to cause it.

The report that Jinn’s team had about the insectoid, it was a nightmare. It was strong enough to have fought off blasts from their weapons, but maybe numbers could handle them. If those things were trying more of those things were hunting down the party, then they would come here.

The only thing to do was wait and hoped they could last until the others made it back. And then there was the other problem, the one he had avertedly created. When he sent Jones, it had made him appear to have gone to save the passengers. That gave him a platform, and he had already seen him acting all smug about it. He had hoped that throwing Jones outside would let the passengers forget about him. But this backfired in a big way. He could see the fool saying he volunteered for it, all to protect them. And if he said something about his beliefs telling him something was wrong, well hello new cult leader.

It was a load of meteor ashes of course, but there it was. All he could hope for was that the team he sent out came back soon. And by came back, he meant on something that could fly.