Lost In Space: Beware The Jabberwock
02 Nov 2023Silvia Sharpe
The silence is deafening. The sound of the scorpion's tires crunching the rock below is the only sound to be heard. It's peaceful but unsettling. Approaching the remains of the scarab, Venus slows to a halt. The twisted metal chunk was once a fine surface exploration vehicle, but now it sits as a massive paperweight. I open the gunners canopy on the scorpion and am met with a blistering heat. Even with my exo-suit with thermal protection the heat in this field is brutal. The cool air turns to a steam and my visor temporarily fogs over. I place my hand on the side of the scorpions hull and hear the distinct sound of moisture evaporating.'Hell has nothing on this place. Thermals are saying temps are close to 430c. Melli unfortunately for you this means no exploring.'
The chitter I receive in response is surprisingly that of agreement.
'Yes. Melli stay where it is cool. Fur too thick for hot.'
My boots hit the ground with a heavy thump and the crunching of crushed stone. I turn to face the destroyed scarab and proceed towards it. Venus scans the area around the two SRVs in hopes that if there is any hostile entity around she'll be able to distract them long enough for me to make it back to the scorpion.
****
June is monitoring the sensors in Memento Mori and decoding the jump scrambler, when something catches her as odd. A blip on the radar. The strange thing about it is the scans show it to be organic in nature, and huge. Preliminary estimates place it at around 25m in length and moving slowly towards myself and Venus.
"Venus, Silvia heads up you've got company. Something is making its way towards your position. Unknown if it is hostile."
'Copy that June. Silvia back to the scorpion n........'
I turn around to see the scorpion being smashed into by a massive boulder the lights on it going black as the boulder smashes them and part of the canopy. I instinctively flip on my headlamp much to my own dismay. A huge scaled creature with a long reptilian figure crouches down, placing its two front legs adorned with long razor sharp claws, onto the ground. Its two, three clawed wing like arms from its back touch down on either side of the scarab, as it moves its long snake like neck to sniff its prey. Long, sharp, narrow teeth fill its mouth and a forked serpent like tongue whips to the air, getting a smell of me. The frilled tendrils on its head flare out as it reels its head back opening its jaws wide. Its two red-orange eyes lock onto me, freezing me in place with fear. The beast lunges forwards as I clamp my eyes shut as hard as I can and flinch. The creature screams out in anger as the sound of gun fire rips through the otherwise silent atmosphere.
'Silvia run! Now! Go while I have it distracted.'
I open my eyes to see violet tracers impacting the creature's left side. While it was distracted by Venus firing at it, I dart off into the distance shutting off my headlamp in an attempt to throw it off my trail. The creature screams out again and leaps into the black sky above, it's large leathery draconic wings flapping as it vanishes. I duck behind a large boulder to comprehend what I had just witnessed. A loud shriek comes from somewhere to my right followed by more gunfire and the sound of claws striking and rending heavy alloy plating. My comms are filled with an angered battle cry like scream as Venus fires off the Scorpions repeater. Bright Violet tracers briefly illuminate the area as they sail off into the distance. Shrieks and roars echo throughout the barren landscape. The ground trembles as the large beast jumps around trying to claw its way into the beast attacking it. A long ear splitting screech reverberates throughout every fiber of my being shaking me to my core.
The beasts cry is so overwhelming and fear striking that I clamp my hands against my helmet where my ears should be and begin to panic. I poke my head out from behind the rock when I notice that all sound has ceased. No static from the radio, no creature howling, just terrifying silence. The black abyss around me furthered that feeling of dread. The only sound was that of my shaky breathing. I slowly crawl out from behind my rock taking care not to make too much noise. I make it about 6m when I feel some form of liquid dripping onto my back. Frozen by fear my body locks up, my breath catches and my skin begins to crawl. I slowly look up only to be met by the creature's ravenous maw. Slimy saliva dripping from its curled lips and razor sharp teeth.
I let out a small whimper as one of its long sharp claws presses into the small of my back. At first its just a bit of pinpointed pressure, it proceeds to increase in intensity until I feel it "pop" through the outer most layer of my suit. That pressure then begins to turn into a sharp piercing pain as the claw sinks further into the suit and into my flesh. Searing pain erupts from my right lower back just above my butt, as the claw pierces into me. I let out a pained scream as the claw pierces further into me, then through me out the front of my waist. I look at the claw sticking out of the front of my suit fear locking me in place. A yell is the last thing I hear before Venus lands on the ground with a very heavy thump holding a rifle, a fierce, angry look in her eyes, the likes of which makes me cower in fear. The creature reels back curling its clawed feet and trapping me in its grasp.
The sound the creature makes next can only be described as incoherent nonsensical burbling. Venus freezes in place as the creature leaps off into the darkness. An overwhelming sense of anger begins to boil up inside of me. I manage to grab my small dagger from my waist holster and jam it into the beasts scaled hand. It shrieks in pain and tosses me to the ground. I struggle to my feet only to be met with the creatures thick scaled tail slamming into me sending me flying into a boulder. As the creature moves forward towards me, Venus calls over the comms.
'Silv, pop a flare I have an idea.'
I reach for the pen flare on my waist and slam it against the ground. The pinkish red flare rockets up into the sky illuminating everything in a 500m radius and bathing it all in a reddish hue. A second later a missile from the scorpion screams overhead and slams into the beast. It reels back in pain and leaps over me to attack the creature dumb enough to attack it with what it presumed to be fireballs. Venus fires off a second missile striking the beast on its softer underbelly. A third missile strikes the beast this time splitting it open gore and viscera splatter across the landscape as the beast cries out in pain. Venus lines up a forth and final missile and fires, everything seems to slow down as the explosive projectile makes contact with the beasts side. The creature stumbles and staggers, slumping over a boulder. Its body collapses with an earth shaking thud, its head slams into the ground its large red-orange eyes staring up at the night sky as if it knew this was the end. Venus pulls a very ornate looking blade from the inside of the scorpion and slowly walks towards the creature.
Venus stands up straighter, her face only visible due to the dim yellowish glow from the visor lights in her helmet, contorts angrily. She raises the sword above her head anger and bloodthirst filling her face. With more force than one would think remotely possible from someone of her build, Venus brings the sword down onto the creatures neck. The blade slices into the tough armored hide as if it were butter stopping about half way through. Venus pulls the blade out and swings it again and again each time growling out louder and louder until finally the blade slices through the other side and strikes the hard black stone beneath it. With heavy breathing Venus stands tall and starts towards me. The rage inside my head dulls only to be replaced with excruciating searing pain. The hole through my waist from the beasts claw mixed with the intense heat effectively cripples me and prevents me from moving.
****
A worrying sound from the shadows forces me to hold my breath. The scraping of claws against stone and the dragging of scales faintly drifting nearby give reason for pause. A deep bone shaking grunt resonates around the area as a creature unseen stalks its prey. Whatever we just killed attracted another beast. Venus pauses raising the sword in her hands into a ready stance. Behind her the sound of rocks tumbling having been disturbed by a creature nearby causes her to turn around quickly. Another bass rich grunt as the new creature circles the area. Fear causes my skin to crawl as the unknown wanders around.
I grab another pen flare from my waist and slam it against the ground. The area around lights up once again, revealing the creature lurking in the darkness. A large lizard like creature sits perched on a boulder smelling the fresh blood in the air. The creature resembles an oversized komodo dragon. Its forked serpent like tongue flicking through the air as its head tracks the bright glowing flare overhead. Venus freezes in place seeing the large reptilian creature.
'Seems this place is a hotspot for reptilian life forms. We need to get the hell out of here.'
'I mean reptiles are known to inhabit lava fields back on earth. The heat from this one must be how these creatures stay alive.'
I let out a small whine as the pain from the blistering heat burns my exposed flesh. The smell of burnt skin and cloth reaches my nose, reminding me of how dire my situation is. Hints of sulfur mix into the other smells alerting me to a potentially very toxic air born chemical. My suit sensors alert me to dangerous levels of Sulfur Dioxide, further relaying how dangerous a suit breach here is. My lungs burn and my skin itches as I make my way to my feet. Walking over the rocky and uneven terrain while badly injured is difficult. The sound of flowing lava nearby and the flash flames from each step I take, tells me that molten rock is mere feet below me, flowing, ready to swallow anything in its path.
Unable to properly see in the pitch black, I trip over a raised lip of cooled lava. I collapse to my hands and knees, flames immediately erupting from the contact points causing me to scramble away from the hot spot. The large reptilian creature rushes over to the carcass of the winged beast and begins tearing into it viciously feasting on the creatures flesh. In this barren wasteland free easy meals are rare and most creatures will not pass up the opportunity. Venus rushes to my side and assists me into the scorpion to head back to Memento Mori for proper medical attention and to come up with a plan to get the hell off this nightmare of a planet.