|
|
Darkness surrounded hunters as they approached the nest. Faint sounds of the animal inside echoed among the rocks. It was protecting its youngsters. That’s all it was doing. It heard the footsteps approaching, and by the sound and smell it knew there were three of them. As they advanced, it quietly slid out of the nest and strolled around them. Next morning the rescue crew found only parts of the bodies of those men. Nothing else. How angry were they! They cursed the place, they cursed the creature, and they even cursed the dead bodies of those hunters, who got paid fifty thousand dollars to catch the specimen. And the creature watched. It knew that many men were after it, yet it had nowhere to go. It did not know why those people wanted it, and it did not care. The creature had many nicknames, but all of them reflected two of its qualities – it was always hungry, and it was very smart. It was found in January 2345, on a remote planet AX-7, on the date the planet was colonized. No one suspected of any dangerous life forms there, but after several crewmen were found dead (to be more exact, parts of them, mostly bones) a group of scientists, hunters, and military were sent onto the planet to investigate the killings. The creature lives on the rocky sides of the mountains, usually hides in caves or cracks, and builds nest for its youngsters. After several weeks of research and a few more deaths a specimen was captured. It was something that looked like a primate covered with a coat of hard black shells, and with jaws and teeth of a carnivorous animal. It was very efficient in all aspects of its life: moving, killing, eating, and reproducing. However the only aspect that was understood in detail was that of killing. The captured specimen died in a few hours, and the strong acid of its digestive system, no longer controlled, consumed the dead corps in a matter of minutes. It was decided that another specimen must be obtained to be studied in detail, for the sake of better protection against the creatures as well as for the general knowledge of science. The attempt failed. The disturbed animal has hidden its young children deep in the crack of the mountain, where they would develop for several months until they are ready to leave the cave and continue their adult lives. Adult creature has to provide them with food and protection for that period, and that was exactly what it did. After hiding them, it left the mountains, heading through the forest toward the enormous dome built of steel and glass. The dome was the center of the colony. Around it were various smaller buildings such as storage towers for equipment and landing pads for ships. Only about seventy people worked there until the colony was properly established and all the problems were eliminated. The carnivorous animal was one of those problems. Creature hid behind the row of bushes growing in front of the fence surrounding the colony, and started to observe. Here and there robots moved cargo from one place to another, and sometimes men in the blue-green uniform would pass by. Once part of the fence moved creating an opening and a man walked outside, checked some instrument located near the fence, and went back inside. The creature moved toward the place were the man walked out, in hope that this would repeat. It was getting dark, and the creature’s eyes were unable to detect much, except the dome, which now was full of lights coming from the inside. The light had a depressing effect on the emotional state of the animal. It was an alien, cold light, as well as everything inside the fence was alien and cold. But the prey was inside. It was not only the prey, but an enemy, someone who tried to take away the most dear thing the creature has – its youngsters. It would never allow that. Never. The awful smell of fuel filled the air as one of the ships rose in the air and started to circle around the base, searching around with a ray of light. Something disturbing was in that ship, something troubling. The creature’s senses were right, ship did carry trouble. The ray of light fell on the creature once, and was about to continue its journey, but suddenly the ship turned and the light returned, putting the creature into its ugly circle. Animal tried to avoid it, but the light followed wherever creature ran. A group of men with guns ran toward the fence. With no other way to go, the creature ran. After a long chase, the ship has lost the creature and everything was quiet. Frightened, animal ran few more miles, then stopped, lied down and went to sleep. It woke up with the first ray of light, and slowly moved back toward the colony. Many controversial thoughts ran through its mind, but the thought about its hungry children waiting to be fed soon enveloped and dissolved all other thoughts, making it go forward as fast as it could. The colony was disturbed. Behind the fence three men stood with guns, and several more walked across the perimeter. A group of five men talked and argued loudly. Robots no longer carried things from place to place, but there were more men outside than on the previous day. No one walked out of the fenced area. The creature knew its abilities very well, and one of those abilities was to jump. It was dangerous, but necessary. The fence was three meters high, and there was nowhere to hide on the other side. Animal had to act quickly. At the most convenient moment it jumped over the fence, and by the time the three men understood what happened, one of them flew over the fence in two parts – his head and his body. The creature followed. Then, dragging the prey behind, it ran as fast as it could through the forest down toward the secret crack where its children were, as the amazed and frightened men stood staring at each other. |
Terror You fight your slave in reign of terror You swing away from righteous road Hear me, for I'm your only savior, Discover right Discover wrong In fact you step on it today, Oh, I'm done, with all this good "You evil man, You disobey! In Heaven!" |
 |