Chapter 6
Mokvel was saved only by the sacrifice of those assigned to protect him and now his expedition has a new prize but there is no time to relax. As they soon learn. All humans travel in packs.
A pain unimaginable had threatened to consume him till he took his last breath. The crude weapon wielded by the monster had made light work of his protective suit and the last thing he recalled was being lifted and launched through the air. By the time he had got his bearings, the damage had already been done. The human lay flat against the grass. One of the protectors he had had the misfortune of colliding with had also succumbed after his visor was breached while the other remained trapped where they stood impaled by the spear likely launched in the Terran's last act of defiance.
The other scientist looked horrified. “What do we do, Mok?”
"We pull back, secure this one for transport, and keep him sedated. If he wakes up, we are all dead. You saw what he did! Get the med drones and take him on board. Nothing else matters except him."
The other team had since hurried over to take in the carnage. The remaining two protectors naturally took their positions closer to the trees.
“Was it just him?” one asked.
Mok nodded and pointed to the nearby rock. “Yes, he was behind that large rock before he ambushed us.”
"What should we do?" asked one of the scientists.
“We need to get him one board first, send a message back to the Overseer, and tell him to prepare a holding cell. He has a highly aggressive subject coming on board. We can’t take any chances with this one.”
“And these two?”
“They come too. Once we’re safely home, we’ll prepare a ceremony to honour them. I'm lucky he didn't get to finish me off too,” said Mokvel. He looked down at the scantily clad Terran. It looked strangely peaceful as it slept but he couldn’t allow that to distract from its ruthless ferocity. If this was just one Terran, imagine what a whole pack can do.
The Terran was put through decontamination and brought onboard first with med drones pumping him full of anaesthetic to keep him under. He would remain in the Saucer's Med Bay under constant supervision as many of the beds they used had restraints for dealing with larger threats like him. Mokvel despite the great pain in his shoulder remained on watch as the two protectors wrestled with trying to free their fellow protector from the spear used to skewer him. It was just the three of them now. He had ordered the others back on board. No doubt, the monitor sitting in the transport's command bridge had used this time well to prepare a litany of excuses for how they missed the lone Terran signature. As the two protectors appeared to finally make progress, a collective pair of voices came onto the radio.
“Multiple -”
Another stone-tipped spear whizzed from the tree line and met the head of one protector. They folded over and landed on the grass. Their death had been instant.
“To the barrier!”
The protector took the rifle from their back. They began firing blindly into the forest leaving sear marks in the trees as a bulbous mass of dark shapes stood at the line. The trees seemed to bristle in anticipation of what would come to pass. This world and its children rejected them. And rightfully so… The Protector soon reached the barrier as another barrage of spears blocked their view of the sky.
“Close it!” Mokvel ordered as the spears rained down around him, he was lucky not to be hit a second time. Once was quite enough.
The tribe of Terrans entered the last light of dusk. All of them were larger than the man they had taken down. Light and Dark, their bodies bore the scars of living off a dangerous land. It was fast becoming obvious who would go on to claim mastery over this world. This time, a single spear thrown at random was, to Mokvel’s surprise, able to pass through and hit a grassy clump nearby where it became lodged.
“The barrier doesn’t recognise the threat of their primitive weapons. Recal!” Mokvel shouted into the comms.
He didn't need to hear their acknowledgements as the next lot of spears exploded on impact, rupturing the wood and scattering the stone tips. The largest of the Terran tribe moved toward the barrier and reached out and recoiled seeing his hand be burned by the barrier. Two more soon joined him. They talked in a harsh-sounding language. Mokvel didn't need translation technology to get the basics.
Anger. Invaders. From the Sky. Kidnappers. Retreat. The larger of the two pointed to the dead Greys. Take them. Learn. Next time. Ready.
“There won’t be a next time,” Mokvel said out loud.
His protector looked over. “We should really be going. Before they try anything else.”
Mokvel agreed and winced while looking at his shoulder. The monitor aboard the saucer had a lot to answer for.