Colony by Benjamin Cross (ready player one ebook .TXT) 📗

“Yes,” Darya replied. “They are different from anything I have seen before. They have feathers and they are bipedal, like large birds. But they appear to be flightless. Instead of full wings they have forearms.”

“Forearms? Sounds like evolution in reverse,” Ava said.

“Plus their eyes are large,” Callum added, “and they have a snout instead of a beak. They seem almost reptilian.”

“There are no contemporary bipedal reptilians,” Ava said.

“Well, whatever they are, I think the Nganasan peoples of northern Siberia might have known about them for a long time—”

“What was that?” Ava whispered suddenly, the blood visibly draining from her face.

“What?”

“There was a noise… from outside.”

“Probably a rock falling from the cliff,” Darya whispered. “It happens all the time.”

They listened in silence, Callum clasping the rifle close to his chest.

And this time they all heard it: the sound of scattered rock.

“Callum,” Darya whispered. Her voice trembled as she pointed past him at the side of the hide.

A low shadow was moving along the outside of the fabric, shuffling towards the entrance. The way the light fell left the shadow formless, so that it was impossible to identify. Its movement was divided into a series of slinks; move, stop, rear-up, pause, move, stop, rear-up, pause…

Whatever it was, it wasn’t small. Whatever it was, it sure as hell wasn’t human.

A cold sweat broke across Callum’s brow. “Get behind me,” he whispered. “Slowly. Don’t make any noise. If we’re quiet, maybe it’ll move on.” He could hear the desperation in his own voice. Perched on his knees, he raised the rifle up and trained the barrel on the entrance.

From behind him came Ava’s muffled sobs, and he could feel Darya’s fingers digging into the sides of his ribs as the shadow crept closer and closer to the entrance. The sound of his own heart pounding drowned out every other sound in existence.

The shadow stopped suddenly. Its head bowed down and tapped at the base of the fabric, sending ripples radiating up the side. Ava winced and squeaked into his shoulder. Whatever it was jerked its head back up and listened intently.

“It is not going away,” Darya whispered, her voice barely audible. “It knows we are here.”

Callum fought to hold the rifle in position. Hands shaking, he brought his finger to the trigger just as the shadow reached the entrance flap.

4

The sound of the creature’s breathing filled the hide, loud and abrasive. Inside, Callum, Darya and Ava waited, huddled in silence behind the rifle.

A snout pushed through the gap in the fabric. The creature’s mouth dropped open, and a long pink tongue unfolded over the teeth of the lower jaw.

Ava and Darya screamed, while Callum dropped his shoulder at the last minute and discharged the bullet into the roof.

As the sound of the gunshot echoed, he let out a massive sigh of relief. “Fenris!”

The dog’s ears, which had flattened at the sound of the rifle, sprang back up. He gave a string of excited barks and bounded into the hide. His tail wagged frantically as he barged into Callum, toppling him back into the others. Then he whined and nuzzled the side of his face.

“It’s a dog,” Ava said, her hand on her chest, her voice matter-of-fact with shock. “It’s a dog.”

Lying next to her in a heap, Darya broke into relieved laughter. “It is a dog,” she echoed.

“You don’t know how lucky you are, boy,” Callum said, rubbing behind Fenris’s ears. “Now, where’s Daddy, huh? Where’s Lungkaju?” He noticed a smear of dried blood on the side of Fenris’s snout. The dog’s coat was matted. It felt slick with some kind of oil and gave off the faint tang of burning rubber. “What’s happened to you, boy?”

The dog backed away, casting cursory glances at Darya and Ava. Then he pushed his way back out of the hide.

Without a second’s thought, Callum crawled after him. “We’ve got to follow.”

“And leave this place? Are you crazy?” Ava protested.

Callum looked back. “Do you want to sit around and wait for one of those things to turn up for real? Trust me, we’re a lot safer with that dog than we are in here.”

“But where’s he leading us?”

“With any luck, he’ll take us to Lungkaju. Then we can get back to the ship and report what we’ve seen before anybody else gets hurt.”

Darya got to her knees and began following on, but Ava remained rooted to the back of the hide, her face twisted with fear.

“Ava, this is our best chance at rescue,” Callum said as calmly as he could manage. “But we have to move. Believe me, that dog does not stand on ceremony.”

Darya cupped Ava’s narrow face in her hands, pushing the strands of dishevelled brown hair back from her forehead. “I know that you are scared, Ava. I am scared too. But Callum is right. We have to move now or they will not find us. I will help you, come on.” She wrapped her arms around her colleague and gave her a hug. Then she took her by the hand and moved slowly towards the entrance.

“Why did you have to tell me about those things?” Ava mumbled as she edged forward. “Nobody ever tell you ignorance is bliss?”

Callum emerged from the hide. His attempts at stealth were undermined by the impatient whinnying of Fenris, but still he kept as quiet as possible and concealed himself behind a stand of rock. The other two clambered after him.

He glanced around. They had the vantage of high ground, and from what he could see there was no immediate threat, either from inland or the coast. There was also no Lungkaju. This wasn’t totally unexpected; he recalled the countless hours that Fenris had disappeared for, when he and Lungkaju were carrying out the survey. Humans obviously moved at too deliberate a pace for Fenris.

In his most commanding voice, he called the dog over. To his surprise, Fenris actually came. He quickly removed his belt and tied it as a makeshift leash around the dog’s