Duncan sighed as he looked around his office. The sun was going to set soon and that was a problem. The shield might give off enough light, but after that who knows what that would do. They still hadn’t found a way in. Finding an airlock was getting more and more unlikely as far as he was concerned.

“At least the chances we’re in an engine are lower than I thought,” Duncan said to himself with a sigh.

Leaning back in the chair, he felt a smirk forming. No matter how much he denied it, things were looking up. With a little bit of luck, they might find a way into whatever was under them soon. “Things are looking up.”

With everything that happened, he could maybe sleep a bit and let his wound heal more. Closing his eyes, he sighed. Then the door slammed open and he jolted awake.

“Chief, we have problems!” Terra declared as she walked in, Jessie behind her.

Duncan blinked as he looked at Jessie, wondering why he was there. Duncan didn’t have much of Jessie, the man was always in the shadows. But the more that thought went through his mind, the more his instants thought that was wrong. In an instant, he suddenly understood that Jessie had been doing that on purpose. He glared at Jessie and then looked at Terra. “Him?”

“Him? Who? Oh, Jessie? No, not him. He’s just the old friend who showed me the problem!” Terra said.

Duncan blinked, looking at Jessie in shock. “Old friend!?”

“Saved her during my old self-employment days as a bounty hunter,” Jessie said absently.

Duncan looked at him, shock on his face. Bounty Hunters were hard people, true warriors. Most of them were ex-military who had never adapted to civilian life. But Jessie didn’t seem like that, instead, he seemed to be one of the others. As an old comrade who was a bounty hunter now, the last of the bunch were never soldiers. For some reason or another, they all became bounty hunters for reasons of their own. There was no rhythm or reason to why they started that path. But he was told they either lived or died based on what they learned on the job. And his friend told him, most of them either quit or died in their first few years. Or they became the great ones.

“How long were you a hunter?” Duncan said as he held up a hand to Terra.

Jessie only looked at him, not saying a thing as he looked at Duncan. “Twenty years.”

Duncan blinked and looked at Jessie again. His eyes could see the signs now that he was looking. The man before him was ready to fight his way out if he had to. And the fact that Jessie thought he had to do that against him, was troubling. “Okay, so what have you found then?”

“There’s a drain on the shield facing the way the team went. It’s not big, but it’s there. And it’s not stopping. At all,” Jessie said slowly and looked at Duncan.

Duncan looked at him and felt his blood freeze as two thoughts went through his mind. He forced them down and looked at Jessie, trying to think. He had helped set up the panels, and he knew shields. The drain would have been a problem if they had a generator. But with only solar batteries? That made this a nightmare. And that wasn’t even counting the kind of creatures out there, or if they attacked them.

“How long until it falls?” Duncan asked, hoping to find anything that might help them. If there was a chance, maybe they could hold the shield generators. If it was less than half an hour, then they could do it.

“Jessie says it’ll come down before dawn. At least an hour before sunrise. If it doesn’t move to the other side,” Terra said bluntly as she looked away.

Duncan looked at her and then slammed his head down on the table. “Of course. Stars and Comets! I can’t believe this. I just can’t! And that’s not even counting the thing below us!”

“About that. I know how to modify blasters to cut into the hull plates,” Jessie said, locking Duncan right in the eye.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Duncan blinked as he looked back and for a moment he felt hope.

Finally, after a few moments of silence, he croaked out one word. “How?”

“Simple!” Jessie declared and looked at Duncan with a smile. “You need to basically turn a blaster into a short-range cutter. It just takes a while. Give me a few tools and I could have it done in an hour!”

Duncan looked at him and then started to laugh. “Sir, that’s wonderful! Terra, new orders! I want you to have the people up there start clearing a ten-foot-wide square! I want to start cutting into that thing tomorrow. And for the drain, have our people look over every inch of the area in question. Get me a report on it as soon as you find out what it is! And Jessie, get to work modifying two of them.”

Terra nodded and Jessie saluted him.

“Got it, sir! What about the deckhands working now?” Terra asked.

Duncan looked at the clock and frowned a little. “Well. That’s a question. Tell them to stop. Start getting them down here…… and turn that cultist around. I want him looking at the shield until I say otherwise!”

“Got it, boss,” Terra promised as she and Jessie left.

Duncan sat down and sighed, putting his head down. He hadn’t said anything, but something was bothering him. When they told him what direction the drain was coming from, he had a terrible thought. It might be possible that this was because of the team. Either they fought something and escaped, or they fought it and died. And it was tracking them back to eat more meat this monster liked.

“All I can do is hope you're alive. Please don’t make me a liar kids,” Duncan muttered as he tried to keep his mind calm.

<>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

As Jones moved another shovelful of dirt away and found nothing, he sighed. That shovelful was the last one to reach the depth the rest of the stuff was. And here, there was nothing. And that meant one thing. “Found nothing!”

“Good Jones!” Vivis called back as she looked at him. “Everyone come in, we’re done for now!”

Jones sighed as he put his shovel over his shoulder and started to walk toward the crater. He still didn’t know what this metal was, only that it was wide. From what the others had found, the shape was strange. It was shaped like a “U” but why? He had seen many buildings, but a “U”? Few if any races ever made something like this. Still, he had seen stranger escape capsules on videos in the past.

As he reached the crater, Terra climbed up with Jessie behind her. Jones looked at Jessie with a bit of worry. He was proud enough to admit that there was something about Jessie that unnerved him. He couldn’t ever figure out why that was, but it was there.

As he watched, Terra, Jessie, and Vivis had a quick conversation. From the way that Vivis reacted, something was going on that she really didn’t like. And that was enough to let him know that this going to be bad.

As Vivis jerked back, he sighed and shook his head. He hated being right.

“Everyone list! I need a few of you to go and get our rations for the night! We need to check that side of the shield! Also, most of us will be on watch tonight! Seems the shield might have a problem we’re here to guard against!” Vivis called out, projecting her voice.

Jones looked at the shield and felt his blood pulse. A problem with the shield? That meant that the shield might fall. And he had to admit, a battle because the shield failed might help his position. But then Jones shook his head. No, that was too much. And if someone found out, then they would tell the others and things would get…… uncomfortable.

“So what are we looking for?” Bob’s voice called out

Jones listened and looked at Terra, trying to see if he could use this.

“We don’t know,” Jessie said taking a step forward. He looked around, letting his gaze rest on everyone. "All I could find after checking the software and hardware was there are no problems there. The only thing that makes sense is something is striking the shield.”

“And since we can’t see anything, something else must be at work here. That’s why we need all of you. Some of you need to walk the shield, looking through it to find anything that you can. I won’t lie,” Terra said as she looked around, her eyes hard. “If we can’t find it, then the shield will fall before dawn. Then the batteries will need a half hour to recharge enough after being drained. So keep your eyes open and good luck! We all need it.”

Jones looked around, gazing out at the forest beyond. His world had a few threats, and he had killed a few over the years. But something that could affect an energy shield constantly? That was new. And another reason that this world had to be conquered by those who followed the Path!

The deckhands came up, each carrying a box. As the boxes came to rest on the ground one was opened to reveal a row of sandwiches and the other had a few flashlights. Jones sighed and shook his head, seeing that this was going to be a while.

<>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

Jessie bit into his sandwich as the sun started to set and the sky turned orange. He looked at the others as they walked along the shield. As much as he tried, he couldn’t stop a small spot of shame that he failed. But so far the others hadn’t found anything, and that had to mean something! He sighed and centered himself, trying to keep calm.

“It’s not looking good,” Terra said from the shield station behind him.

He sighed and walked to see what she was seeing, and scowled. The drain had doubled in speed, but it was still as strong as it had been. But that didn’t make sense, what was this? And with everyone here, why hadn’t they found it? Where could it be....... Jessie slowly went still as he realized something, something even he had overlooked. When people of any species looked for something, they looked at their eye level or down. Rarely did anyone ever look up. “That’s it, that has to be it!”

“What!?” Terra asked as she looked at him.

Jessie ignored her and stalked towards the shield. Turning on his flashlight as he finished his last bite of food. Looking out at the others, he saw everyone was looking along their sight or down. He aimed the flashlight up and almost went white. There, one tree branch a vine with a mouth was biting into the shield. He stared at it, shocked that he had missed that.

“Jessie, what is it!?” Terra called out as she ran over.

Others turned to look at him, and once they saw where he was looking they all followed his light. As one everyone looked up and stared at the top of the shield in shock.

“What is that, a vine?” Bryke demanded shock and horror in his voice.

“No, I think it’s just camouflaged. That has to be an animal!” Another deckhand called out.

Jessie looked around, seeing the shocked look on everyone’s faces. With a look at Terra, Jessie meets her eyes. Without words, they had a conversation of gestures in their eyes, and they nodded. Without a word, Jessie walked towards the crater. He had more important work to do now. Terra could hand this now.

“Okay, that’s it, people! Everyone, finish eating, and let’s get ready to fire at that thing!” Terra barked out.