stepped back from it and shaded his hand to look toward the lowering sun.
Maybe forty minutes till darkness, if that long. If no one came for him—what then? Could he find a cave to hide in?
Better stay close to the gulch—at least there was water there, and that’s where the lifeboat had come down …
He set off along the low ridge edging the gulch, following the stream. He walked another forty meters and then stopped, listening. Sure was quiet out here. Should he call to his mom again?
The ground was shaking, every so slightly, under his feet. He looked down—and the ridge crumbled under him, so that he went down it on his rump like a small child on a slide, landing in the gulch.
“Shit.” He got to his feet and felt the ground shaking again. Then he could
see
it shaking.
And see it erupting—with a man-sized, chitinous creature rearing up from beneath it, shaking off a cloak of dirt and sand. Cal recognized the thing instantly from the picture his mom had showed him. He remembered a caption:
Spiderant, vicious predator of Pandora.
Emerging from hidden tunnels, the spiderant seemed a fusion of bug and scorpion. Unlike a scorpion, the creature had only four legs, its front legs shaped like down-cutting pickaxes. Its shiny, gray-black carapace, seeming eyeless, swept back to a spiky crest. Even if Cal had a weapon, it would be hard to kill something that fully armored.
The thing was at least as big as he was—it was armored and coming fast. Cal knew just what to do.
He turned and ran like hell.
Cal sprinted down the gulch alongside the thin little stream. He heard clattering, shrilling noises behind him, looked back to see now three of them in pursuit, the nearest almost in reach. It struck out with its pickaxe forelimb, slashing down into the soil just behind him. He felt the wind of it on the back of his neck and the ground shuddered under him. If that stabbing forelimb had connected, it would have punched right through his spine and out his front …
That thought gave his legs new energy. He sprinted faster, gasping for air, heart pounding in his ears, looking desperately for escape.
There, to the right—a low boulder, and another above it, almost like a stairs out of the gulch. His only hope.
He leapt onto the lower boulder and, without hesitation,up onto the next one, bounding up the stairlike stones.
The creatures behind him shrieked and hissed and clattered up after him. They were only slowed a little by the rocky stairs.
Cal ran onward, dodging between boulders, and around the pole-like green plants, hoping to lose the spiderants. His breathing was a wheeze now, his eyes blurry with effort. Should have taken track in Phys Training. Instead he’d spent PT sneaking off with his VR helmet.
Maybe this wasn’t real. Maybe he was lost in a VR game. He jumped onto a rock, turned, gasping—and saw the spiderants just four meters away, smashing through a clump of intervening pole-plants, knocking them to flinders with no effort at all.
This was real.
He turned at a roar behind him—and saw three skags clustered near an opening in the side of a low hill of layered gray stone, about five meters away. One of the skags screamed, its mouth splitting into its three jaws, trumpeting like an obscene toothy blossom. And then it charged—
While the spiderants closed in from the opposite direction.
One chance.
A rock, no bigger than his fist, under his shoe.
Cal reached down, grabbed the rock, threw it hard at the skag, to make sure it came after him—then turned and jumped right at the carapace of the spiderant just as it rushed him.
He timed it right—jumping past the spiderant’s slashing forelimbs, he came down on its head, used the carapace as a springboard, leapt past the creature’s middleparts—landed in the dirt. Another spiderant was climbing a rock to loom up right in front of him.
Cal dodged to the right, sprinting toward an outcropping, where he ducked down under an overhanging shelf
Maybe forty minutes till darkness, if that long. If no one came for him—what then? Could he find a cave to hide in?
Better stay close to the gulch—at least there was water there, and that’s where the lifeboat had come down …
He set off along the low ridge edging the gulch, following the stream. He walked another forty meters and then stopped, listening. Sure was quiet out here. Should he call to his mom again?
The ground was shaking, every so slightly, under his feet. He looked down—and the ridge crumbled under him, so that he went down it on his rump like a small child on a slide, landing in the gulch.
“Shit.” He got to his feet and felt the ground shaking again. Then he could
see
it shaking.
And see it erupting—with a man-sized, chitinous creature rearing up from beneath it, shaking off a cloak of dirt and sand. Cal recognized the thing instantly from the picture his mom had showed him. He remembered a caption:
Spiderant, vicious predator of Pandora.
Emerging from hidden tunnels, the spiderant seemed a fusion of bug and scorpion. Unlike a scorpion, the creature had only four legs, its front legs shaped like down-cutting pickaxes. Its shiny, gray-black carapace, seeming eyeless, swept back to a spiky crest. Even if Cal had a weapon, it would be hard to kill something that fully armored.
The thing was at least as big as he was—it was armored and coming fast. Cal knew just what to do.
He turned and ran like hell.
Cal sprinted down the gulch alongside the thin little stream. He heard clattering, shrilling noises behind him, looked back to see now three of them in pursuit, the nearest almost in reach. It struck out with its pickaxe forelimb, slashing down into the soil just behind him. He felt the wind of it on the back of his neck and the ground shuddered under him. If that stabbing forelimb had connected, it would have punched right through his spine and out his front …
That thought gave his legs new energy. He sprinted faster, gasping for air, heart pounding in his ears, looking desperately for escape.
There, to the right—a low boulder, and another above it, almost like a stairs out of the gulch. His only hope.
He leapt onto the lower boulder and, without hesitation,up onto the next one, bounding up the stairlike stones.
The creatures behind him shrieked and hissed and clattered up after him. They were only slowed a little by the rocky stairs.
Cal ran onward, dodging between boulders, and around the pole-like green plants, hoping to lose the spiderants. His breathing was a wheeze now, his eyes blurry with effort. Should have taken track in Phys Training. Instead he’d spent PT sneaking off with his VR helmet.
Maybe this wasn’t real. Maybe he was lost in a VR game. He jumped onto a rock, turned, gasping—and saw the spiderants just four meters away, smashing through a clump of intervening pole-plants, knocking them to flinders with no effort at all.
This was real.
He turned at a roar behind him—and saw three skags clustered near an opening in the side of a low hill of layered gray stone, about five meters away. One of the skags screamed, its mouth splitting into its three jaws, trumpeting like an obscene toothy blossom. And then it charged—
While the spiderants closed in from the opposite direction.
One chance.
A rock, no bigger than his fist, under his shoe.
Cal reached down, grabbed the rock, threw it hard at the skag, to make sure it came after him—then turned and jumped right at the carapace of the spiderant just as it rushed him.
He timed it right—jumping past the spiderant’s slashing forelimbs, he came down on its head, used the carapace as a springboard, leapt past the creature’s middleparts—landed in the dirt. Another spiderant was climbing a rock to loom up right in front of him.
Cal dodged to the right, sprinting toward an outcropping, where he ducked down under an overhanging shelf
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