Chapter 170 - Exploration - II (2/2)
”You get over the tree here,” said Balthazar pointing to a tree right beside the stream and a bit away from the others. ”Keep a lookout for any groups of animals that might come. I will have a look at the cave. It is the best way to determine the animal living there. If it is the second one, we leave as they tend to live in groups.”
”Can't we just kill them or at least try to capture a cub or something. If you are going to its cave, there is a good chance for it to have cubs, right?” asked Robert.
”Ya. A cave and a beast marking its territory which is quite empty are a sign for the parents protecting their young ones,” said Balthazar as he made his way towards the stream. ”But still aim to kill the old ones. The cubs could probably be sold. Don't expect to have any thoughts of taking them. Though we are having this trail in a planet owned by the Price family due to special circ.u.mstances, I doubt that they would actually let us take any of the resources collected by us.”
”So, you want to say that it is unnecessary to take capture any living creatures?” asked Robert.
”Yes.”
Balthazar took about a few minutes to observe the stream and once, he was sure that there were no water beasts in the small stream, he waded across it and reached the other side. He made his way towards cave. He moved in a way that his path would be visible to his cousin so that he would get a warning if he noticed anything approaching him.
”I am going to search for the entrance. It is not on the side of the stream. So, be careful and I would be out of your sight for a few minutes,” warned Balthazar as he got up a tree and moved into the forest. He had the experience of moving through treetops in the game and the only reason, he didn't try it in real-life was that he was afraid of being injured on falling down. With a combat suit, it was no longer a problem for him. A couple of minutes later, he found a circular hole about 4 feet in diameter on side of the mound. Looking at the entrance, he realized that the mound is actually a huge rock covered by grass.
”Weird to see such a structure,” thought Balthazar. He was clear that such a structure was hard to be formed naturally beside a stream. Even if one assumed the cave was made by force of water, the entrance would be in the same direction as the flow of the stream.
”It is not possible to have it been done naturally. Possibly a cave dug by the indigenous intelligent species that Lucius mentioned,” thought Balthazar. It made more sense as he thought of it in that way as usually intelligent species would keep the entrance away from the streams to avoid any beast sneaking into the place whenever the water level rose a bit in rainy conditions.
”I can expect a decent amount of intelligence from the beast, if it has made the construction of some other species as its home. This list doesn't have any of such behavioral pattern information of the beasts. This is going to be hard,” thought Balthazar as he realized that the information provided by Lucius has a lot of gaps. This behavioral information is usually known by heart to professional explorers, but Balthazar only ever recruited and commanded such men. He never had actually bothered to learn these things.
He knew he couldn't wait for movement from the beast as he his time on the planet was limited and also he didn't know if his cousin or he might be being observed by some other beasts. So, he decided to get his cousin to the cave entrance and attack. He was also feeling a bit tired due to the higher gravity of the place. He realized some time ago that the combat suits provided to them had some features locked. Combat suits with the ability to reduce the effect of higher gravity are also found in the military and it didn't make sense to him that the ones provided by the family didn't have this feature. The only possibility was that the family had intentionally locked these features as a part of the test and probably would only be activated in time of danger.
He thought the various possibilities for some time and finally decided to enter the cave alone. He felt that it would be easier for him to escape if the beast found him, if he was alone and he was also used to infiltrating places silently which he doubted his cousin could do. Beasts usually had better senses and it would be harder to conceal oneself from them. So, it would be much harder for his cousin to silently sneak into the cave.
He got down the tree and moved to the cave entrance. As he got into the cave, he noticed that the cave wasn't as dark as he had expected. There were holes in the cave which were covered by grass, but the sunlight still filtered through them throwing a soft diffused light. He also heard slight whimpering coming from within the cave. It was almost inaudible, and he would have definitely missed if not for the sensors of the combat suit, he was wearing.
He didn't find anything near the entrance and moved slowly into the interior where it got darker. He slowly followed the mild sounds and came to a corner of the cave where he found the corpse of a Nandi as he came close to the source. There were a few Nandi cubs right beside the corpse. They were just newly born babies and had their eyes closed.
”I think my cousin has a divine mouth. This is too damn lucky,” thought Balthazar as he decided to contact his cousin and inform him, when he was contacted by Robert.
”Bel, I am pretty sure that we have a Nandi living in this area. Be careful,” warned Robert.
”How did you know?” asked Balthazar surprised by the sudden warning. He was much more amazed the accuracy of the information. He had moved so close to the cave and he couldn't determine the species of the beast till he saw the corpse. ”Are you still on the top of that tree.”
”No. I noticed you going to the cave and I couldn't be of use to you from this position. So, I got down and crossed the stream. I found a shedded skin here. The combat suit systems identified as a Nandi's moulted skin. It is quite fresh, so I doubt that you need to worry about the beast there. This looks quite fresh,” said Robert.
”What? Freshly moulted? Get out of there you idiot! It is hunting. That should be a trap” shouted Balthazar as he ran out of the cave. The dead Nandi in front of him clearly died on childbirth and as the male wasn't close there were only one possibility. It was hunting to gather food for the babies which were going to be born.
”What? How do you know?” asked Robert slightly unnerved by the anxious tone of his cousin's voice. He already started to get back to the stream to get across.
”Found newly born cubs here and the mother dead by childbirth. If there is a skin. It is definitely not of the mother. So, the father is there and is hunting. Get away before, it notices you,” ordered Balthazar.
”Bel. I found it,” said Robert suddenly in a low voice. ”Or it found me,” said Robert as he sent the direction for his location.