Keisha awoke sometime later in the dark if sleep is what you could call it. Her muscles were sore and her face dry and itchy from the tears. Her head ached in a way that spoke to dehydration in a major way. The cargo hold was pressurized and had maintained its structural integrity or Keisha was sure she would have been eaten by now.
She clicked her light on and looked around for the first time. The engineers back on Klokos I had designed this well. All the supplies were still strapped down tight and labeled well. Once she found some water the pounding in her head started to feel a bit better and the events of the last few hours started sinking in. I can't dwell on the past. I have to make it worth it and warn the settlers. One problem at a time. She palmed the scanner next to the door and a pale light flickered on as the emergency batteries turned on. A cheerful hum of electricity almost overwhelmed her with relief.
She had to search the manifest by the proper door to find the radio the settlers would have used to communicate to different villages. It would reach the ships only once they were in the atmosphere, she would have to time it just right. She checked the clock above the door and cross-checked it with the schedule of the other colony vessels. She had a matter of two hours to save them. It was cutting it really close, but she could do it.
The image of Fiolas turning grey and getting wound up came to mind unbidden and Keisha almost broke down again. A sickness started rising up in her throat as she remembered Fiolas saving her from the small monster on her back in the cockpit. He didn't hesitate or worry about himself, he just knocked it off of me. Then those bastards changed course and ate it. The memory of the animals changing course and taking advantage of their larger cousin clicked something in Keisha's mind. The smaller ones can overpower the big guys. I just need to drop that big bastard down to the ground floor. A plan started formulating and gave Keisha new strength and purpose.
One problem at a time. The next ship was scheduled to be landing in the next two hours which meant they had been on this god-forsaken planet for four days. She needed to be above the web-line in the next 90 minutes to catch them before they tried to land. I need some real weapons. The knife that had been packed in the emergency packs had saved their lives multiple times over, but it had left them at a disadvantage of needing to be close range to these creatures.
She needed a long-range weapon. The plasma gun had been with Fiolas and had been running out of charge anyways and there wasn't much in the way of weapons as the researchers hadn't seen any creatures when scanning this planet. They had been planning on bringing livestock on a supply run once the camp was up and running, so real weapons hadn't been thought necessary. She was able to scrounge up a flaregun, which gave her some comfort. What can I make a weapon with? She pored over the manifest and found a lighter and a pressurized O2 canister small enough to fit in her bag. For the first time in four days, a smile spread across her face.
It took nearly an hour to locate all the tools she had marked as needed and pack them in her bag. She was hoping that they were close enough to the web line to be able to reach it with the minimal climbing gear she had been able to find. When the batteries for the radio were sufficiently charged she turned the lights off in the cargo hold. This would be where she would retreat if everything went wrong. She climbed the ladder to the roof emergency door and mimicked the trap door spiders they had seen, watching from beneath her very own trap door.
In the dim haze, Keisha could just make out the large beast, just across the tree branches and up a small level. She stealthily closed the door to the top of the cargo hold and made her way to the trunk of the tree. As she climbed higher, she realized this path would put her directly under her prey. Not a good tactical position Keish. She moved to the other side of the trunk to give her as much space from the creature as she possibly could even though this meant she couldn't see what it was doing. The risk was worth it. The bark on the tree was softer up here along with the pines.
It allowed for a much quieter ascent, but it also let the creature be more silent as well. As she reached approximately the right height of the spider she maneuvered onto a branch as quietly as she could. In the dimness of the light coming through the almost completely patched hole in the canopy, the only thing she could see was a cocoon-type ball hanging from her branch towards the end. Where is it?
A hiss from above was the only warning she got. She leaped to the next branch over as the smooth thin legs brushed her back. She scrambled up and unholstered the flaregun. She let off two rounds, one hitting one of the beast's many eyes and the other hitting the tree behind it. The beast lurched back hissing as loudly as Keisha had ever on this planet. Careful not to waste her only bullets, she watched as the beast raced to the trunk. She took a shot at the swollen abdomen and watched as the bullet hit its mark, but again only cause a small dribble of blood to come out. Keisha had counted on that being a fatal wound, but the creature barely noticed.
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By now it was higher than her and was coming towards her. She couldn't let the thing get above her. She holstered her gun and grabbed the line from her canister and the lighter she had stored on her shoulder strap. Fire erupted in front of her and caught the creature off guard. They had been trained on how to prevent fires so often that Keisha had always wanted to try to make a big fire. The web creating the canopy caught fire and spread faster than any flame Keisha could have imagined. The heat of the fire singed Keisha's skin and the creature fled from the fire down the trunk of the tree.
While she hadn't dropped it to the ground as she had wanted, it still had the same effect. Keisha could see a clear blue sky above, and as the fire spread from web to web the planet seemed to cry. As she watched it burn and appreciated the collapsing sparks of canopy and web she noticed a foot sticking out of the cocoon and realized it must be Fiolas. Checking her watch she saw she only had 10 minutes before the first ships would be arriving. The smoke from the fire could help delay their landing, but she couldn't count on it. Next problem, get Fiolas up past the web line, I'm not leaving him again.
The cocoon was hanging on by a thick rope and if she cut it the whole thing would fall to the floor. She grabbed her knife and being careful not to cut him she sliced the cocoon apart starting from his foot. The thread that held him was sticky and his body stayed still as she removed the front of it. When it was clear she would not be able to completely remove him from the cocoon she tied her rope to the top of the cocoon and secured it to the branches above her. The fire had spread quickly and she didn't want to lose her chance to signal where she was.
Most of the canopy above her was clear and she was determined to succeed in this last mission. She heard hissing sounds from everywhere around her, but she couldn't focus on them now. Three minutes to atmosphere entrance and she needed to get her radio working. She tied a stick to the end of her rope and threw it over the tallest branch she could find. Then attached the other end to the cocoon and cut it loose from the tree, trusting in the stickiness of the web Fiolas had been wrapped in and the rope she had connected to it. She pulled him up using the branches above as a pulley, when she was sure he was up high enough she secured the rope again to keep him up there and began the climb herself.
The hisses from those creatures started coming closer and Keisha couldn't use the fire again without burning the tree she and Fiolas were now dependent on. So she climbed as high and as fast as she could. As she reached the sunlight the creatures seemed to back off. The light was a foreign thing to them and she remembered how confused the beast was the first time she had seen it. From the top of the trees, Keisha watched the canopy burn away and saw the spread of the fire down some of the trees and her heart soared at her victory. She had avenged Fiolas' death this day.
She pulled out her radio, "Hello, is anyone there?" She cried. The silence killed her. Out in the distance, a huge ship was coming near. "Hello! Is anyone there!"
"Hey there, do you need a lift?" Keisha broke down in sobs. "We saw your smoke signal and came as soon as we could. How many passengers will we be transporting?"
"Two. I mean one. It's just me, and the body of my copilot."
"Roger, prepare for ropes." The ship moved slowly over her and let down ropes, two for Fiolas and one for her. Keisha secured their ropes and they were hauled up into the bay. "Prepare to leave the atmosphere." They secured Keisha and what was once Fiolas into the large open bay. "We've been told the Captain wants to speak to you herself first thing. We'll be at the Pytheas in a few minutes. They've been in orbit around Klokos II for a while yet, waiting to see if anyone survived the crash."
"This is just your lander ship?" Keisha shouted out over the engines. This ship is huge, it has to be at least half the size of a colony ship.
"Roger that. Our ship is way too big to be sent down to planets. You'll see what I mean once we're in orbit, I'll try and get you a good look at 'er through the window on our way in." In a few clicks, they crashed through the atmosphere and left Klokos II behind. The familiar weightlessness pulled against the straps and Keisha admired the planet from afar. It looked like a white marble.
"We're coming up on the Pytheas if you want to unclick and check it out from the window." Keisha unclicked and flew through the cabin to the front cockpit and saw the largest ship she had ever seen. It barely fit in the window and as they glided towards it she could see even less. The ship was comprised of concentric circles, all connected on a central axis level. The outer ring was stable and connected the two ends of the central line running through. All other rings were moving and circling the ship in a complex pattern Keisha couldn't understand. "Welcome home Pilot Brakas."