Metal Boxes (18 page)

“Look, Stone. I have looked up your agoraphobia. It isn’t so much the fear of the open space as it is the fear of lack of control. You can control what goes on in the pod, sort of. You don’t feel like you can control what goes on out here.” She spread her arms wide and breathed deeply. “See? I am fine. This is as safe as my mother’s back-”

A roar
from some kind of large animal split the air. It was followed by the angry squeal of a smaller animal. The squeal turned from anger to pain and faded away. There was another roar from the bigger animal and the ground shook.

Wright’s eyes grew big
. She turned to sprint back to the ramp, but was knocked off her feet by a trio of rust-colored, greenish creatures that shot past her up the ramp. The two animals brushed past Stone as if he was not there. The third creature sniffed Stone as it ran past, but otherwise ignored him.

He was
not sure when he moved, but he found himself standing next to Wright.

She looked up at him from the ground. “What-”

Another large animal roar split the air and a huge creature leapt into the clearing. It was the same green-rust color of the other three creatures and it blended neatly into the background of the rusty, green forest. It stood on its hind legs and roared again, splitting the air with its bellow. It showed a double row of teeth as it shook its broad, flat head at the pod.

The creature
was almost three and a half meters tall when it was standing on all four feet, but it had a long flexible neck that stretched as it stood up on back legs to roar, making it even taller. It dropped back down onto all four legs. Its legs were stubby, but each leg had two knees that looked as it they rotated in any direction. It also had a set of arms attached at the shoulders. It had what could have been vestigial wings, although the wing flaps were far too short to lift the massive creature off the ground.

It had a broad
, heavy tail that curled up behind the creature. It would have taken a closer inspection to see where the creature’s body ended and the tail began. The tail was long enough to reach over its own head and it ended in a spike or horn or stinger. Neither Stone nor Wright wanted to stay around long enough to find out what truly was at the end of the creature’s tail. Wright sprinted around the side of the pod to get its bulk between her and the creature. Stone raced back up the ramp into the safety of the pod.

He skidded to a stop at the top of the ramp and came face
-to-face with a pair of creatures that were miniatures of the roaring monster in the meadow behind him. They may have been miniatures to the creature outside but they looked huge to Stone. They were both about one and a half meters tall at the shoulders. That made them a little less than chest high to him. They were almost as broad as they were tall and looked to be all rippling muscles below a rough, pebbled skin.

The two
creatures stretched their necks and hissed at Stone. Their tails arched over their heads, the pod rang with echoes as the bone spike at the end of their tails stabbed the deck. Their vestigial wings fluttered in the air.

Stone did
not even have his survival knife. Both he and Wright had left them with the rest of the survival packs on the bridge. The way to the bridge was now blocked by the creatures. The bridge hatch was filled with the third creature stretched across the jam.

Stone leapt to the side, into the bathroom
, ducking into the shower stall. Since he had fed the door into his improvised matter converter he could still look directly into the pod’s cabin. Both creatures continued to hiss. The spikes on their tails rang against the deck plate, shooting sparks as they beat a tattoo on the metal. Another bellow from outside told him the large creature was still there.

The large
one roared again and stuck a rust colored head in the pod’s wide open hatch. The two small creatures stabbed at the massive head with spiked tails, driving it back into the meadow. The huge creature could get into the pod, but it would be unable to bring its own tail into action in the confined space.

The smaller creatures were green
er in color than the large one. Stone wasn’t sure, but he thought they were greener now than when they had first rushed onto the pod. The two standing creatures screeched defiance at the large creature and bolted down the ramp into the meadow.

Stone stepped out of the shower, but kept a bulkhead between him and the remaining creature. He
peeked around the corner and out into the meadow. The two smaller creatures had not attacked the large creature. Instead, they had separated as soon as they cleared the pod’s bulkheads. They shot off into the forest at a ground-eating run, heading in opposite directions. The large creature bellowed, swiveling it’s head back and forth from one retreating creature to the next, obviously confused. Finally, it turned, crashing into the forest to race after one of the creatures.

“Stone? Please tell me you are okay
,” Wright’s voice came through the open hatch.

“I am okay so far, Commander,
” Stone shouted back. “But we still have one of those things in-”

A hiss interrupted Stone. The remaining creature stretched it
’s neck and hissed at Stone a second time. It’s neck was flexible enough that it twisted and poked it’s head into the bathroom. It hissed at Stone again, shaking it’s head and showing two rows of teeth in a mouth that looked big enough to bite Stone in half.

The creature sniffed at Stone and withdrew.

Stone managed a quick glance around the bathroom bulkhead. The creature had returned to lying across the hatchway to the bridge. It fluttered it’s arm flaps at Stone, but did not move. It’s tail was tucked under it’s body. Stone was struck by how green the creature looked. He was sure it had been more of a rust color just moments before.

Stone
glanced through the open hatch. A much relieved Danielle Wright looked back.

He said softly
. “Commander Wright, we still have one of those things in here. This one doesn’t look like it is planning on leaving. It also doesn’t look like it is planning on eating me, so it might be safer if you come back inside. We can shut the hatch in case that big thing comes back.”

Wright shook her head. “That ain’t a happenin’, Bu
b. You figure a way to get that giant scorpion-like thing out of there or I am not coming back inside.”

“Scorpion?” Stone asked. “Looks more like a dragon to me or maybe some kind of lizard.
Besides, you are a veterinarian. Aren’t you supposed to be good with animals?”

“Ha! I am a terra-veterinarian, not a xenobiologist. I don’t even know what that thing is and I have no idea how to fix it.”

Stone frowned. “Fix it? How do you know it is even hurt?”

“I can see the blood from here
,” Wright snorted. “Or whatever fluid is leaking from the huge gash down it’s side. I think the big monster got a piece of this one.”

Stone looked around at the creature. It was definitely hurt and blood was flowing freely out
of a flap of crusty, leather-like skin. It’s skin looked like it was covered in pebbles and sand, then breaded and deep fried. He was sure it was even greener now than it had been just a moment before. It took a deep, ragged breath, stretching it’s neck about as if sucking up the air. The flow of blood did not slow, but the color deepened to a brighter green.

The creature gave a baleful ‘wonk’ noise and hissed at Stone, shaking it
’s head. Stone did not retreat into the bathroom because the creature did not move. It continued to hiss and wonk. It shook it’s head and showed Stone it’s teeth.

“Commander, I think it is an herbivore
,” Stone called to Wright. “All of those teeth are the flat molar, grinding type teeth.”

“Maybe or maybe not. That has been the case for all of the animals that I am familiar with, but I am still not getting close enough to test whether that is a universal constant. Besides, goats are herbivores and I have been bitten by
goats more than once.”

“Oh, right
,” was all Stone could say.

“Further, that thing, whatever
deep part of the devil’s hot zone it came from, is hurt. Even rabbits and chickens can be unpredictable if they are hurt or cornered. We definitely have this one cornered.”

Stone laughed, “Cornered? Not likely. I am the one trapped in the bathroom. This green meanie is welcome to get out of our pod any time it wants.”

A series of plaintive wonks caused Stone and Wright to look back to the creature.

“It sounds like it is calling for help.”
Stone said.

Wright shook her head. Her voice sounded almost as plaintive as the creature. “I don’t like to see any creature suffer, but I don’t even know where to start. Best thing would be to put it out of it
’s misery. I wouldn’t know how to do that even if I had the equipment to do it. The way it is bleeding we will have the pod back to ourselves soon anyway.”

The creature gave a weak wonk. It shuddered in waves from f
ront to back. It expelled three, very large, wet sacks from a natural looking flap along it’s belly. The creature shook it’s head, tried to hiss or wonk, but was too weak to make the effort. It twisted it’s head around and sniffed at the sacks it had expelled. It’s head dropped to the deck with the effort.

The creature’s eyes stayed on Stone as he moved
out of the bathroom and farther into the cabin, moving on the balls of his feet, ready to jump and run if the creature made a move toward him. It looked as if it wanted to rise up, but was unable to even move it’s head. Stone continued to move across the cabin, watching the creature watch him. He moved back again, but the creature’s eyes did not follow him any longer.

“Commander, I think it is either dead or unconscious.”

“I can see her from here. I think she is dead. It looks like the blood flow is not pumping out, just leaking out. What about the eggs?”

Stone took his eyes of
f the creature and looked at Wright. “Eggs? Is that what those things are?”

“It looks like it to me
,” Wright nodded. “I say we just wait where we are for a while to see if she is really dead or not.”

Stone shook his head. “You are the boss and it is your call, but that big monster might come back at any moment. We need to be ready to get you inside and close the hatch if it does.”

“Good plan, Midshipman. You confirm that thing is dead and I will come back in. Here.” She tossed him a long stick. “Poke it.”

“Poke it? That is your advice. This is a
dragon-like scorpion thing that has a four-foot neck and an eight-foot bone-spiked tail and you want me to poke it with a three-foot stick?”

“No. I want you to leave
her alone. Come outside, we can build a fire to scare off the local fauna and wait until we are sure that thing is good and dead. Not to mention we should wait until we see whether her eggs hatch or not.”

“The fire starter I have is in the survival pack on the bridge with my knife. Where is yours?”
Stone asked.

Wright replied with a shrug, “Same place.”

“How are you planning on starting a fire? Can you rub two sticks together?”

“I can try.”

Stone snorted. “Sorry Commander. I don’t mean to doubt you, but you go ahead and try rubbing two sticks together. I think she is dead.”

He snapped
off a six inch piece of the stick. With an underhanded toss, he arched the piece across the cabin. It landed on the neck of the creature. She did not move. He tossed another piece. His aim was better the second time. He struck her squarely across the face and the stick fell across an unmoving eye.

Stone moved forward, ready to bolt at the slightest twitch. He poked the creature in the head, but she did
not move. Her eyes were wide set, one on each side of the broad flat head. He used the stick to poke into her mouth, wrenching up the lips. There were ear flaps about the place he expected to find ears. There was not anything that looked like a nose, or even nostril slits. He nodded to himself. The creatures had seemed to sniff the air with their mouths wide open as if their nasal receptors were in their mouths. Her head was attached to the neck by what looked like a swivel ring. He was sure these creatures would be able to swivel their heads around farther than 360 degrees.

He
squatted down and reached across her neck. He poked along the gash in the creature’s side. He could see inside, but he was not even going to guess at what was what. He could see near the back of the gash was a chamber with dozens of egg sacks. They were all much smaller than what the creature had expelled earlier. Most were about the size of a chicken’s egg or smaller.

He
duck walked to the closest of the three eggs sacks and was surprised to see it was not an egg at all. It was a miniature creature wrapped in a ball with it’s arm flaps wrapped around a very compact body. The body was twisted and pressed together so there did not appear to be any gaps or wasted space. It was a little more than twice the size of a standard basketball. It was not moving so he poked it gently with his two foot long stick. He could not budge it. The thing was too heavy to push with a stick.