Читать книгу Adventures of Space Cadets 101: Invasions - Darryl Wright - Страница 11

Austen put Dale in charge of his science and engineering teams. He told them to move out and find some water and fuel. He was getting the cadets together to do just that.

Most of the crew was setting up camp by the ship. The hunting party was leaving the humans to go off on their own. When Derek noticed them leaving, he told his brother that was a good idea, and they should go find some food also. Austen saw the hunters leaving as well and said, “I wonder how we are going to stay in touch with them?” Dark emotions crossed Austen’s features, but they dissipated quickly.

JR was walking by with a picnic basket in one arm and the beautiful Kim in the other arm. He said, “What difference does it make. It’s not like we could communicate with the lizards anyway.” Kim winked at Derek as they passed everyone.

Kirk, Noah, and Qworn all wanted to know if they could go explore for a while, but Derek said, “Y’all aren’t going anywhere without an escort!” The captain grunted dubiously at them.

Kirk said, “Dad, Qworn said that the only things dangerous on this planet are cats, snakes and spiders.” Both captains looked unconscionably squeamish.

Austen said, “Snakes!”

Derek said, “Spiders!”

Kirk and Noah laughed, and Noah said, “Don’t worry; we’ll protect you guys.”

Austen was just thinking that he was glad everyone leaving the campsite was wearing lasers and that each group had a walkie-talkie with them.

During the trip to the planet, Will and Kirk were working on some chips that were called smart sensors. The tech was set up in the new chips and integrated into the walkies. No satellite was needed to reach one chip from another chip. It involved something called subspace instead of regular radio waves. The chips also turned just about anything into a computer. They could seek or scan, and play games, and were almost up to predicting the future if the right variables were entered.

Derek thought that if one in every three households on Earth bought one of Kirk’s probes - which had made a lot of money for his company, a hell of a lot of money - then he was sure that these smart chips were going to be gold. Of course, the military tried grabbing many of Kirk’s inventions for their own and failed to get them. So Derek wanted to keep a close eye on Will who helped Kirk come up with the smart chips. He looked around until he spotted Will and then called out his name. Will looked over and Derek was waving him over to join their party. Will acted like he was being picked for a sports game he was so excited. He hurried over anxiously, and said hello to everyone there.

The captains’ party started out. All the parties went in different directions except for JR. He, more or less, went in the same direction as the lizard men went. Kim and he only went so far as to be out of sight from the campsite. “This is a perfect place,” He said to Kim as he unfolded the blanket on the ground. Then while Kim was looking around, JR came up behind her and put his arms around her. She managed to get out of his hold without being too rude and asked him if he thought that there were any ants on the planet. JR said, “Hope not. I only brought enough for the two of us.”

Meanwhile the Lizard men were hunting what appeared to be a pack of dogs. What they didn’t know was that very large cats were also hunting them. This was the way of the planet Kess.

The dogs looked like your garden variety mutts and mongrels from Earth. The lizard men considered them delicious. The cats however were huge! They moved with stealth around the lizard men as they were closing in on the dogs. The lizard men were green and so were the cats, almost the same green. The lizard men were hunting and the hunted.

They were just about to attack the dogs. Shlizz gave the silent order to attack when one of his buddies stepped on something strange, and that is when all hell broke loose. Other than that, it was a very beautiful day.

The captains’ crew was walking toward a dense forest. Kirk caught something out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned around it was gone. He thought it might be his imagination. He wasn’t sure, so he aimed his walkie in that direction and initiated a scan. He had a feeling he was being watched, but the scan was inconclusive. He initiated another scan, but still nothing.

Austen picked some mushrooms and put them in a sack. Qworn had let him know that the mushrooms were hallucinogenic, but they tasted good. Derek asked Austen, “Medicinal purposes?”

Austen smiled and said, “Sure, why not?” Derek started helping him.

Noah and Will were pulling what looked like turnips and onions from the ground filling their sacks with them. Kirk was now scanning ahead and said, “I’m picking up a lot of silicon in the forest directly ahead.” The captains looked disconsolately at the forest.

Qworn typed on Kirk’s lap-top, “That is where the spiders live. The silicon you’re picking up is from their webs, and the forest is full of it.” Kirk smiled as he read the laptop.

Kirk said, “Dad, the spiders live in the forest.” He said it mockingly, and he and Noah were laughing about it. They doubled over laughing when they saw the expression on his face. Spiders gave Derek nightmares.

Derek said, “Alright people, we’re going this way,” and he was pointing at a plateau away from the forest. It was either that or the jungle to the far right. Austen was clucking like a chicken, and everybody except Derek and Qworn were laughing.

Will said, “How cool is this being on a whole new planet in a whole new galaxy?”

Noah was pointing at a small lizard that was close by and asked, “Hey, Qworn, is that guy one of your relatives?” Just as he finished his question, and as quick as a bullet, Qworn reached out, caught it and crammed it into his mouth. Noah looked disgusted and answered his own question with a "No."

Kirk told his dad that it was a shame that they weren’t going into the forest because he needed some of that silicon to fix some of the ship’s transistors and solar power cells. Derek told him not to worry about it and that he would send a team to the forest later on.

Once again, Kirk thought that he saw something over his shoulder and said, “Dad, I think we’re being followed.” He did another scan but still zilch.

Austen said, “Let’s just hope it’s friendly.” Then he thought, Please be friendly.

The science team was at the bottom of a mountain side. They found a creek of running fresh water. They filled their containers and half of the team was carrying the containers back to get some more empties. Dale contacted Captain Austen and told him of the good news.

The science and engineer teams all wore black jumpsuits. In addition, the heat on the planet was almost too much, so Tommy asked Dale if he could take a five minute break. Everybody came to a stop and looked to Dale for approval. Dale shook his head up and down and went for his canteen. They huddled by a huge tree which gave them shade against the hot sun. It felt good.

Walsh and Henderson grabbed their canteens as Tommy started to sit down on the biggest root above the ground. As he bent over to put his hand on the root, the entire root started moving really fast in a circular motion, and he almost fell. Everyone else put their canteens up instantly!

Just as Tommy stood up, there was a snake’s head as big as a small car right in front of Tommy. The ground stopped moving and Dale realized that the snake was big enough to swallow Tommy whole. Everyone but Tommy, who was in shock, had already pulled their lasers from their holsters. Dale yelled, “Fire!” Tommy, in a high-pitched voice was screaming obscenities and having bladder problems.

Both science and engineering cadets fired rapidly at the snake’s head. The snake was slowly repelled backwards. Tommy still hadn’t moved a muscle. He did, however, piss his pants. The snake quickly moved his head behind the tree to protect his eyes from the laser shots, but his tail was still in the battle. The snake had never found this much food in one spot before.

The snake swung its tail in full force trying to knock its prey to the ground. Everybody had dodged the flying tail. Walsh had even stabbed the snake with his knife, but Tommy was still frozen with fear. Dale saw the tail headed for Tommy, so he jumped on him and brought him to the ground just as the tail flew over them. Tommy was still frozen with fear and lying on top of Dale. Once the snake saw its prey on the ground, it raced toward the two humans. Dale, still on the bottom, pulled Tommy’s laser out of his holster, and with two weapons now, shot out both eyes of the snake at point blank range. The snake screamed an ungodly shriek from the cooking of its eyes. It jumped back so quickly that it banged its head on the tree that had given shade to the cadets. That gave Dale enough time to pushed Tommy off him. As he was getting up, the other two cadets helped Tommy to his feet.

Dale felt like cussing when he noticed his pants were urine-soaked. As the hurt snake was scrambling away from the humans, Walsh noticed that a bigger snake was coming after them. It was about thirty yards out and closing fast. "Ssssnns!” Walsh cried out. Dale asked him when he learned Qworn’s language, but then he noticed what Walsh was looking at.

“Time to go people,” Dale exclaimed. As they ran back to the ship as fast as they could run, Dale looked behind him to locate the new snake. He couldn’t see either snake in chase. He then ordered Tommy who was leading the retreat to slow down some.

At the same time as the snake encounter, the lizard hunting party had learned that in fighting the big cats they had to be very swift so as not to be shredded by their sharp claws. As lizard bipeds, Qworn’s people were extremely quick. Some of the cat’s teeth were as big as the knives that the lizards carried for hunting. When the lizard had stepped on a huge leech, the pressure of his weight made a loud splattering noise. When it did, the pack of dogs looked up and saw the lizard men. As they began to run off, the lizard men turned toward the one who had given their position away. When they did, they saw three cats (the screeches) sneaking up on them quickly.

The screeches knew it was time to attack. The closest one jumped at the lizard who had stepped on the leech. The lizard ducked, and as the screech flew over him, the lizard rammed his knife up over his head and gutted the screech from end to end. The cat was dead before it hit the ground. By then, the other two cats had charged the lizards. It was a blur, it happened so fast! The lizards were extremely graceful and quick - flipping, fighting, jumping and stabbing. It was like watching a weird martial arts exhibition. No matter how much slashing or biting the cats did, they couldn’t hit their marks. These hunters had done this many times before.

One of the cats jumped at the lizard at the top of the hill. Just as it was about to land on the lizard, the lizard threw a dog he had captured into the screech’s mouth. He wasn’t able to jump out of the way in time, and they both ended up going over the hill out of sight from the rest of the fight. With only one cat left and it totally surrounded, it let out an ear splitting roar as all the lizards jumped it from all directions. The cat never had a chance.

The captains’ team was walking toward a mountain that was different from the mountain that the science team encountered. Instead of looking at his handheld device, Kirk turned around really fast and saw the shadow that had been following them.