Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 155 of 365. Sol standard year]
Days after of Crash landing/ 3
Uninhabited Island / Clearing of Escape Capsule # 405
Galactic Standard Time / After 1340
Bryke
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“Yes!” Terra exclaimed behind him. Bryke didn’t turn, he just kept his eyes on the wall.
“What? Is that the people getting the shield back up? They might get this done soon?” Zevortro asked with a note of hope in his voice.
“About time. Bryke muttered under his breath. As he looked out at the shield that Terra made, Bryke gritted his teeth. If they were here, it might be too late. He knew that something terrible was going to happen soon. He just felt it was going to happen within minutes. For the last five minutes, they all heard the sounds of brutal combat past the wall. From beyond it echoed roars that were slowly starting to disappear. But the way that had happened, it had been because what was making the sounds had died, or been killed.
He had heard that enough times to even know how long the beast was toyed with. And the way it happened this time? These things were toyed with by something that took pleasure in their pain. And that thought was starting to make him very worried. There were only two reasons that something could take pleasure in the pain of others. And neither of them was good for the defenders, they were the worst thing possible.
He looked at the others, hoping to see the same look he had, but he didn’t. He was almost not surprised, just disappointed.Bi3 took a deep breath, before speaking. “Get ready people! Everyone, aim at the top! That’s where we’ll hold them as they come over!”
“What?” Zevortro asked as the others who heard him all stared in horror. “What do you mean? What’s going to come over!?”
“Whatever took pleasure in killing those bear things!” Bryke snarled as he aimed. He closed his eyes and let the sounds come over him. He tried to listen as his father taught him, and then he heard it. There, at the edge of his hearing, it was something that he knew. And it made his heart race in antepiction.
“Pleasure!? That means that they can think! Are you sure!?” Terra demanded.
Bryke looked at the wall and winced. There it was, there was what he was sure was coming. And it had something else? He hated being right. “Yeah, I’m sure.”
“How can you tell?!” Zevortro demanded. “There has to be a chance you’re wrong, right!?”
“No,” Bryke said dryly moments before he fired upwards.
A scream of pain in a strange-sounding voice caused everyone to look up.
“What in the world??” Terra whispered in horror.
At the top of the wall, was a large-looking creature. It was a biped and seemed to be around six feet tall. It had a dark green body, with brown stripes all over its body. It was wearing pants that were a lighter brown and it had a vest on. Its face had a single eye and a round maw beneath it. It had four ram horns on the sides. Its arms ended in four three-fingered and a thumb, and its left was over a wound on its right shoulder. But everyone was looking at the green spear that dropped down to land just within the clearing.
For a second, everything was still as the lone being glared down at them. Then the being fell backwards and ten fast-moving objects flew over the wall! As they came down, Bryke saw what they were.
“Arrows! Dodge and fire!” Bryke bellowed as he pushed Terra out of the path of one of them. The rest of the deckhands all ran around, most of them not firing. But Zevortro joined Bryke and Terra as they fired at the top of the wall.
Five of the beings tried to climb over the wall, but Bryke shot two of them, forcing them to fall backwards. One of them jumped over the wall and slammed something into the wall’s face. The being fell downward slowly, as whatever it used to cut into the ice. It glared at them, but Bryke shot through its eye killing it.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Why are they attacking us!?” Terra demanded as she pulled an arrow out of the ground.
Bryke only chuckled as he aimed and fired at another of the creatures. “I think it’s eat or be eaten here! They’ve already got a lot of food. Maybe they don’t want us to steal it or they just want more!”
“What food!? What found could we have that they want?!” Another deckhand asked in horror.
“Our bodies,” Zevortro said bitterly as he fired. His shot missed and hit the ground, breaking the footing of one of the creatures. It fell forward and landed with a crunch that echoed over the area. As more arrows fell, more screams were heard. This time one of the deckhands had gotten hit in their right shoulder. As they went down and screamed, Bryke aimed higher and fired again.
Bryke almost looked away but he saw movement from what he thought was a dead body. As he watched in horror, it got back up. With a roar, he fired, killing the creature with a shot through its head. He stared at the body as it fell backwards, a little horrified at what he saw. He recognized which body it was, and that made him almost shake in fear. If these things could get back up after falling from the wall, they couldn’t know that! They would have charged on mass! But as the arrows fell again, he knew he had to move now. Think later.
But that was when the air became energized. Above, the shield suddenly rushed over them, cutting through the ice wall. As the ice wall shattered they could see twenty more of the beings that had attacked them. They were all carrying away portions of the bodies of the bear creatures. All that mattered to Bryke was the larger one at the back. This one was at least three feet taller than the others. Bryke saw it was wielding a large staff with something used a blade on the end. The rest of the creatures didn’t register to Bryke, only that one as it looked right at him.
Then the being nodded and raised its weapon at Bryke. It screamed and the others all disappeared into the forest with their harvest.
“They're gone! We survived!” A deckhand roared in joy as the others all started to celebrate.
Bryke didn’t stop, he walked towards the dead body in the shield. Once there, he looked down and saw they didn’t have skin, instead they were covered in scales. That explained a lot, they must have evolved that as armor. But that was something to worry about later, he had to make sure this thing was dead. But as he watched the creature’s wounded head, he saw that it was healing before his eyes.
“FREAKING NOVA!” He roared and stepped back, aiming his weapon at that being, then the other.
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Zevortro
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“BRYKE!” Zevortro called out as soon as he heard his friend scream.
“These things are still alive!” Bryke cried and everyone stared at him in horror and shock.
Zevortro stared at the beings in shock, and for a moment he was just stunned. They had captives!? Or what should they do!?
“Get cables now!” Jessie yelled as he came over, pushing past Zevortro. “There in the chamber, we got the generators from! Bring two!”
Zevortro only nodded and then he turned and ran towards the crater. Jessie was right, they had to move now! They could talk about this later, they needed to react fast. Within moments he had reached the null gravity field and flew upwards. Reaching the space over the capsule, he threw a line down. Once it hit, he pulled himself down, moving as fast as he could until he reached the bottom.
Once he got there, he lunged for the door. Opening it in a hurry, he stepped into the gravity and moved toward the storage room.
“You, you’re Zevortro, aren’t you?” a loud voice called out.
He looked up to see the former senator walking towards him, a friendly look on his face. Zevortro hadn’t interacted much with the man, he always felt the good senator was slimy for some reason.
Shaking his head, he looked at Bradford and smiled. “Sir, I’d love to chat but there is an incident that we need some supplies to deal with. Again, I’m sorry.”
Not waiting for Bradford to say anything, Zevortro moved on. He knew that this might be an insult to the senator, but he couldn’t stay and talk. Those two beings could be up and about any moment now!
Reaching the store room, he found the container that he needed. With a small smile, he picked the bags up and almost staggered before he found his footing. He then started to run as fast as he could out of the room. He entered the main chamber and almost ran into Chief Duncan.
“Whooo! Where’s the fire boyo?” Duncan asked.
Zevortro almost answered him but then he noticed all the passengers trying to listen in. With a somber look on his face, he looked right at Duncan. “Sir, events have happened up there. I believe that you should see it for yourself.”
For a moment, Zevortro thought that Duncan was going to react with anger. But instead, the chief nodded and sighed. “So one of those situations then? Move on boyo, I’m right behind you.”
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Duncan
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As followed after Zevortro, he let his eyes wander. He saw Jones on one side and Bradford on the other. He didn’t like how Jones had reacted once they had all heard about the attack. The more he thought about it, the more sure he was that Jones was a member of that faith! And if he was being honest, the chance that Jones had been raised in that filth was high. The few members of that Way he met were always the same, scum that only acted for themselves! He knew that sooner or later, he would have to make a judgment on Jones, but what? Besides the prisoner they had up here, they didn’t have any place to put others.
But if he was honest, Bradford’s reaction bothered him more. The way that Bradford said he’d talk to Jones, it stank. If he wasn’t sure, he’d thought that the two had planned it. But that was impossible. Is a Senator knowingly helping one of them? That faith was just one bad day from being declared a cult after all. Maybe he was just used to talking to people, trying to figure out the problems and helping them. He did have a reputation as a diplomat after all.
Getting into the null gravity, Duncan followed Zevortro up. As much as he wanted to figure this all out, he had something else to look into now. He had no idea what they needed the bags for, as he could see the shield was up. But he had a strange feeling that he wouldn’t like the answer that he was bound to find. As he created the created hill, he saw everyone at the new edge of the shield. Seeing the ice on the ground, he knew that he was going to have a lot to talk about with Terra.
But then he saw what the others were all around, and his mouth dropped open.
“Boy,” He croaked out as he and Zevortro made it to the top of the null gravity field. Zevortro looked at him as Duncan kept his eyes on the two downed aliens in the distance. “Tell me that those two didn’t attack you all.”
Zevortro only released a deep sigh and threw his rope toward the ground. “Sorry sir, they did. We defend ourselves from these bear things first. But a friend thinks that they were being chased by them. That’s why we need these cables, to lock them down.”
“Smart, very smart,” Duncan muttered as he floated there. Looking around, he tried to figure out what to do with them but he kept coming up with nothing. There had to be someplace that they could put them so that they wouldn’t be a threat! He just floated there, and then he suddenly had a wonderful idea. They were almost done with all the digging if he knew enough, and it would keep them safe.