30 Chapter 30 - Bugs... (2/2)
”I must have been stung by that thing,” he said after she was all done, still staring at the spot it had died.
”Really? Do you remember?”
”No, but the traits I got from it are terrifying enough, I'm sure there must be some residual trauma for me to react like that.”
”I suppose, we haven't bothered to study anything like that, at least we hadn't before I got stuck here.It's always possible they might have discovered that, but honestly, I don't see them caring.”
Turning to her, he said, ”There are some creatures that hang in trees, camouflaged, so that you don't see them until they start sucking your blood.Do you know what I mean?”
She nodded after a moment of thinking.
”Get one and hit it hard enough that it doesn't try to bite you, and bring it here.It's time for you to kill something larger.”
After it left, the prince shook his head.
”Getting the cloaking ability from that creature will only work momentarily.The drones will still be able to pick up your heat signature, and the electrical signature of your PED.”
”One step at a time.I can't solve all the problems at once.”
Dustin was frustrated.How the hell did he hide his heat signature?He was trying to think about if he covered his PED with a large plate, whether that would do it, but he wasn't sure.
”PED, grow a crystal plate over the PED.”
(INITIATING EVOLUTION)
(EVOLUTION COMPLETE)
It looked weird as hell, but seemed like it would work.How could he check to see if they could see it or not?He thought really hard, then froze.
What was he doing?Dustin felt like such an idiot!Here he was, trying to hide himself from the sensors and drones, when he could be hiding in plain sight.He had upgraded the PED to allow him to mimic any creature he wanted, fully.Just because he couldn't mimic a Josagn, didn't mean he couldn't mimic anything else!He had even thought about trying to be the stick girl, so why hadn't he considered any of the other organisms on this world?
He needed to find a creature, that was about the same size as himself, because he was rather partial to his current size, and that wasn't on a kill-on-sight list, then he could waltz right up to the shuttle station.He wasn't sure about once he got inside, but he would worry about that then, unless…
”Hey, Prince!What kind of defenses do your people have inside the shuttle station?”
”The weapons they carry on themselves, normally?There would be the normal laser guns, maybe a few projectile weapons, but your biggest problem will be the sonic attack that they are capable of shooting at any shuttles that leave.”
”And what does that sonic attack come from?”
”A mounted sonic emitter, that swivels on a 360-degree base.”
”What would be the point of having such a powerful weapon, when it is only good against crystal creatures?” he wondered, out loud.
”Oh, it's not used to hurt anything, though it would hurt crystal things, it's primary use is to capture things alive.On a non-crystal creature, it would merely stun them.That way if a prisoner managed to get as far as the shuttle station, they could catch it, wipe its memory, and try again.The viewers love it when they get that close to escape.”
”Sadistic bunch, aren't you?”