AL Clark - Jonathan G. Meyer (good books for high schoolers txt) 📗

Establishment of the human camp progressed well the first day. By nightfall, they completed the construction of one habitat. There was no water in the shelter, and the solar cells had not had time to charge, but the simple building was ready for use.

The communication dish was operational, and Al and Liz were using it to inform the captain of their meeting with the two natives. He listened to their story and had a few direct questions.

“You gave them chocolate?”

Al admitted, “Umm...yes sir. I didn’t think it would hurt, and they brought gifts for us.”

The captain continued, “What else did you do?”

“There wasn’t a whole lot we could do. We sent them home.”

“Did they tell you where that is?”

“Yes sir, they pointed it out to us.”

“Good. In the morning, send one of your watchers to find them, and maybe get an idea as to how many there are.”

“Will do Captain.”

“You do realize you’ve probably ruined their diet and more than likely their teeth?”

“Sorry, sir.”

“I’m going to send a contact specialist down on the next trip. She should arrive by tomorrow afternoon. Hey, while you’re at it, send Liz back with the shuttle. We need her here to help wind the ship down.”

“By your command...sir,” Al said with a grin.

“What was that? The radio has some static.”

“Never mind sir. Liz will be on the shuttle in the morning. Al looked at her, and she raised both palms in a sign of submission.

“I’ll talk to you again tomorrow. Good night sir.” Al signed off thinking. That could probably have gone better. When he told Elizabeth what he was thinking, she laughed and agreed.

Later that evening they joined the rest of the colonists at a long table set up for dinner. The scientists, the habitat specialists, security, and pilots were all colonists now. One large family sitting down to dinner after dark. Lantern light helped set a relaxed mood and kindled conversation.

They were discussing the abundance of lizards. Avalon appeared to have a large population of all kinds of reptiles. There were some seen on the first trip, but now they seemed to be all over the woods. They were mostly small four-legged lizards, except one person reported one almost a foot long. Al listened to the discussion and began to get concerned. “Have you found any in camp?” he inquired.

“They seem to prefer the woods. I haven’t seen any in the open,” someone volunteered. Several others agreed.

“Has anyone been bitten?”

Everyone looked around. None spoke.

Al had a warning for them, “Well, you might want to avoid that. It is possible that some of them may be poisonous. Everyone should avoid them until we can learn more.”

The Excalibur held powered sonic security fences designed to close off an area from mouse-sized animals to man-sized animals. To be on the safe side, Al decided that those fences would also be on the shuttle when it returned to camp tomorrow afternoon. Al told himself, better safe than sorry.

It was just about then an alarm went off. The security chief almost dropped his pad getting it out of his pocket. The device displayed a video of something big, moving fast in their direction. It came out of the west, with the watcher right behind it. Al could see the creatures back moving side to side as it sped through the woods, rushing right towards them. The creature was at least eight feet tall, and fast; moving at thirty-seven miles per hour and not slowing down.

Al was unsnapping his weapon and preparing to yell orders when a second alarm pierced the night air. There was another one coming from the opposite direction, about the same size, and advancing at a similar ground eating speed.

He had two places he could send people to safety; the nearest shuttle parked sixty feet away or the habitat sitting ten feet closer. He told his two officers to head towards the last alarm and everybody else to head for the habitat. He hoped ten feet would make the difference.

The rifles were locked up in the farthest shuttle and too far away to help. It was a mistake Al would regret.

He ran from the canopy and headed west towards the habitat modules stored there. The cubes were placed out near the perimeter to get them out of the way until needed, so Al had to cover a lot of ground in a hurry. He wouldn’t have guessed he could run that fast, but Al did, and he made it to the farthest cube quicker than he would have thought possible.

The monitor indicated it was close. He took a breath and looked around the side of the cube to see a ten-foot beast, in full predator mode, as it burst from the trees and ran straight at him.

It was a dinosaur. The history book kind with an enormous mouth, long pointed teeth, and strong hind legs that tore up the ground the creature left behind. A twelve-inch horn poked from its head, and it was thundering toward him.

He pointed his weapon and started firing. The MLP could recharge itself fast for many shots before a full recharge was needed because it was a small laser. It was not designed for distance and only made small holes. It wasn’t helping.

The monster hit the cube head-on, impaling it on its horn, and driving it backward with Al sliding behind it. It then picked up the six-by-six, one thousand pound habitat, and threw it to the side; which left Al standing in the open and in shock. When it reared up and roared, Al ran for his life.

He made it to the shuttle with the rifles, thinking he might be able to get to the more powerful lasers. Unfortunately, there was no time. He turned and started firing at the creatures head. It was his only chance. If he didn’t kill it, it was going to kill him, and he wasn’t done living yet. After the fifth or sixth shot, it realized its mistake and tried to turn away, but it was too late for the already dying animal. The beast staggered, fell, and slid sideways to bounce off the shuttle; landing in a dusty heap next to Al.

Across the camp, someone was screaming. The monitor on his pad showed one of his men standing frozen in front of the second creature, and he realized the man was in serious trouble. Al raced to the opposite side of camp, past the other shuttle, past the canopy, and to the completed habitat; to try and help. He would be seconds too late.

The monster was already where the humans were hiding and ripping long jagged creases in the shelter with its horn and long talons. He could hear people screaming inside. One of his men was firing at it from a nearby construction machine, behind the creature, and the other man was lying by the beast in two bloody pieces. He needed to end this quickly.

Al joined the man firing and told him, “Get ready, and aim for the head!”

Al knew that the creature had to be facing them and close, for the pistols to be effective, so he jumped up and down and yelled, “Here we are. Come and get us.”

The creature turned, roared, and turned to comply. It died before it realized what was happening and with a final scream fell hard at its victor’s feet.

The conflict was over for now. Within a matter of minutes, they had killed two dinosaurs and lost one of their own. It was a hefty price indeed.

WHEN THE DUST SETTLED, the first thing that Al did was retrieve the rifles from the shuttle. He was going to keep them closer from now on and would not underestimate the inherent dangers of the planet again. This event would change their whole perspective of life on Avalon.

There were three rifles in the shuttle. Al and his remaining officer each took one, and the third he gave to one of the habitat specialists trained in its operation.

They crowded around a portable lantern placed on a small table inside the banged up habitat, and discussed what had happened. The body of the security officer was brought back to camp while the two dead beasts were left where they fell until morning. The attack convinced Al it was too dangerous to be out after dark.

Elizabeth was upset, as they all were. “That poor man didn’t stand a chance.” She added, “Why haven’t we seen any sign of these things before now?”

“We did find those footprints by the river...although they were smaller.” Suggested the town planner.

The security officer that survived the attack was still in shock. “It took out Rudy like he was a doll. We kept firing at it, and it just kept coming. Who would have thought we’d be attacked by dinosaurs, and that they would be so freaking fast.”

Al agreed, “They did look like dinosaurs—didn’t they?”

The town planner had been thinking and asked, “Did anyone notice the lizards? There must have been a dozen lizards running behind each of those creatures. Why would they do that?”

Al thought they were probably there for the left-overs, but he didn’t verbalize it.

Liz gave Al a puzzled look and asked, “How did you make it all the way back from the other side of camp so fast? One minute I heard you firing out by the cubes and the next you were here saving us.”

“I don’t know...it all happened so fast...I didn’t have time to think.”

“You more than likely saved us all,” she said, and then quickly realized her statement was not quite right.

“Not all of us,” Al reminded her.

Al didn’t feel like talking, especially about himself. He had lost one of those he was responsible for, and he would be obligated to speak at his wake. As his commanding officer, Al probably knew him better than most. Rudy was not just a fellow officer; he was a friend.

Al recommended the colonists pull back and regroup. They needed to rethink their whole settlement idea. If they were going to find a place on this planet and survive, they would have to change how things were done.

At daybreak, Al instructed one of the Watcher drones to perform a search for the area the natives indicated on his crude dirt map. The device found the natives on a ledge outside a network of caves on the side of the mountain. The Watcher rewarded him with a view of men going out hunting, kids playing, and elders sitting in the sun. Al decided to suggest the captain make arrangements for a meeting as soon as possible. The colonists needed to know what the natives knew.

Later that morning, they discovered the dinosaurs they killed were not as they left them. During the night they were devoured until all that was left was white bones. Everyone assumed the carnivorous lizards were responsible. The scientists wanted samples of the creatures to study, so a few bones were gathered and taken with them.

They followed the captain’s orders to unload the shuttles and secure the site as best they could. Then