Part 5 (1/2)
”It could be the smell of whatever killed it,” Telisa pointed out.
”Possible. None of the other scouts saw anything unusual.”
”Bad luck.”
”I'm not so sure. A predator would have had to be very elusive to do this without being seen by any of the other scouts.”
”Hah, well think about it. Stealthy predators get more food than clumsy loud ones.”
”True enough,” Magnus conceded, holding his weapon at the ready.
”Maybe it was partially transparent, like the red snake thing,” Telisa said. ”I think I'll call it a ribbon snake. That red part inside reminded me of a long red ribbon.”
They walked out of the concealing stalks to a relatively open spot. Magnus sent her a search spiral.
”Let's do a quick patrol and see what we can see. I'd like to get a feel for the central ruins, anyway.”
They set off, weapons at the ready. Telisa walked in parallel with Magnus about three meters to Telisa's left. A large structure became visible above the nearby stalks.
”So much for our spiral. The buildings are in the way,” Telisa observed.
”s.h.i.+ny, do you know of anything large enough to kill off one of our scouts?” Magnus transmitted, including Telisa in the channel.
The alien responded almost immediately. ”Several possibilities. Large predators do exist on the surface.”
”That might explain the grilles,” Telisa said. ”The natives had to move freely through their city without being in danger from predators.”
”You call this moving freely?” Magnus said. ”These things are practically part of the wall.”
”Yes. I think I understand that now, though. It isn't freely movable for us. We must be more like their predators. These creatures most likely moved through the grilles without opening them. Think about the shape required-wide and flat-they were pancake-flat creatures and they probably slid through these openings and moved over the walls and ceiling. Like flat caterpillars.”
”Or blobs of formless flesh,” Magnus said.
”Oh, now we're talking real horror VR material.”
”Other high probability causes, culprits, explanations,” added s.h.i.+ny. ”More Terrans detected, noted, found within ten kilometers your location.”
”There are other people around here?” Telisa blurted.
”If you're trying to give us the best chance of success, you need to brief us more completely,” Magnus growled.
”Yes. You could have mentioned that earlier, you know!” Telisa said with anger growing in her voice.
”Previously not detected, noted, found. Currently not detected, noted, found.”
”Uhm. I think that means you detected some Terrans briefly? Now they're below your radar, so to speak. To figuratively speak,” Telisa said.
”Recent knowledge, development, discovery. Unable to warn, tell, divulge at younger temporal stage.”
”Now that was just obtuse. We like to say that as *I just found out about it myself,'” Telisa said.
”I just found out about it myself,” s.h.i.+ny repeated in his buzzy voice. He mimicked her defensive tone. Telisa couldn't help but laugh. Even Magnus found his annoyance evaporating as s.h.i.+ny copied Telisa's statement.
”How many of them? Where?” Magnus asked.
s.h.i.+ny offered them a map feed. Magnus saw a map of the ancient Konuan city. He saw the locations of dozens of Terrans almost directly across the bulk of the city from his current position.
”That's a big expedition or a tiny colony,” Magnus said.
”Uh oh. If it's a colony, maybe most of them died off,” Cilreth said.
”What else can you tell us about them, s.h.i.+ny?” asked Telisa.
”Armed. In hiding. a.s.sociated by hierarchy of command. Rarely pairing off to mate, suggesting s.e.xually h.o.m.ogeneous group.”
”You have a way with words, s.h.i.+ny,” Telisa said.
”Appreciated, agreed, accepted.”
Telisa turned to Magnus and spoke quietly. ”Why are there other people here? Could they be smugglers? UNSF?”
”Could be. Settlers might be the best guess. It's an open world. But a hierarchy does imply a military presence. Yet they haven't appeared to arrest or kill us.”
”They may not have seen us yet. Maybe we should run.”
”They couldn't have missed the Clacker. It's huge. Cilreth didn't mention any Vovokan cloaking.”
”We didn't see any cities from orbit. Must only be a few of them, right?”
”I think so. We could send out a couple of scouts and see what we can see. I'd rather avoid them and continue our work on this side of the ruins. They may not be wanting any visitors.”
Chapter 6.
Holtzclaw forced himself to look over the body of one of his soldiers. It lay broken across the red rocks at his feet. It was the same as always. Most of the flesh had been gouged or dissolved away from the shoulder blades upward. Only parts of the brain remained within the skull. The stench of ammonia lingered over the corpse. Holtzclaw did a mental accounting.
The forty-fourth victim of the monster. a.s.suming there really is only one.
Captain Arakaki believed strongly it was the work of only one Konuan. She had a lot of data to back the idea up. The pattern of kills, their distance apart, and the frequency of attacks all supported the idea that only one creature was out there killing them.
Or at least only one creature at a time. Maybe they take turns like some kind of hunting club.
Holtzclaw had Arakaki on the Konuan almost full time. She had the authority to pull a kill team whenever she chose. She had yet to do so, and Holtzclaw knew it was because she was a perfectionist. She wouldn't scramble the team until she knew they had a very real shot at slaying the creature.
Until then, it had the initiative. Their sensors weren't tracking it for the most part, though there were tantalizing clues, ghosts really, and half the time even those proved to be deceptions. Holtzclaw had no doubt about one thing: that creature was smart, smart on the level of full sentience. Maybe smarter than the Terrans.