Transmission Lost by Stefan Mazzara Page B

him. It took another few steps forward. His hand shaking a little, Jack touched his fingers to the top of its head. When it made no apparently hostile reactions, Jack scratched behind its stubby ears. It made a small cackling/purring noise, its eyes closing halfway, and it tilted its head against his hand in apparent enjoyment.
    “Well, you're a friendly little guy,” Jack said. He rubbed his hand down its back, and the creature arched itself up to meet his touch. “Or girl, I guess. No idea how to tell. Nice to know there's at least one species on this planet that doesn't seem to mind people, though.” He continued petting the black-furred animal, listening to the happy-sounding noises it was making.
    Suddenly, the creature went silent, and it stood up on its hind legs. Puzzled, Jack looked around, unable to sense anything. The little animal was shaking nervously, turning its head this way and that, and it started making a little whining noise. Jack continued looking around, his ears and eyes straining to perceive anything in the depths of the forest.
    A hair-raising shriek made him nearly leap out of his skin, and the black-furred creature bolted for the trees. Before it had gotten a meter away from him, a large, mottled-green blur whipped by Jack's head. He yelled in shock and took a few steps back, tripping on a tree root and falling right on his ass. He watched as whatever had just leaped past him chased after the smaller creature, which was climbing up the nearest tree trunk.
    The larger animal howled in frustration as its prey escaped up the tree. Jack got a good look at it as it stood at the base of the tree, staring up at the escaped animal. The predator was huge, easily as big as Jack and maybe just a little bigger. Like the smaller animal, it had four legs, but the similarities stopped there. Twin tails extended from its haunches, each of them tipped with a wicked-looking short blade of what looked like blackened bone or horn. The blades glimmered in the firelight, shining with a natural polish. Each of the beast's four paws ended in short, slightly curved claws. The most fearsome part of it was its muzzle, which was longer than a wolf's and was filled with twin rows of sharp, shark-like teeth. The animal was covered with fur in a pattern of green, brown, and black, the perfect natural camouflage.
    Just as Jack was thinking that he should get away before the beast noticed him, it turned its eyes towards him. It had four of them, set in two rows on its head, and they were all pure blue with no apparent pupils. The predator blinked all of its eyes, then bared its teeth and slowly advanced towards Jack, snarling as saliva dripped from its mouth. Swallowing, he looked around for a way out, and spotted a hefty fallen branch nearby. He seized it, quickly standing up.
    The predator continued its advance, not intimidated in the slightest by the addition of a weapon to the mix. Without any warning or telegraphing of its intentions, it pounced at Jack, whipping its twin tails towards him. Jack jumped out of the way as one of the tails slashed by his face with millimeters to spare. With a shout, he swung his branch wildly, catching the creature with a glancing blow across its flank. Landing on the ground, it quickly turned to face him again, the fur along its back raising in anger.
    “Shit,” Jack muttered. The beast was now standing between him and the campsite. He took a step towards it, swinging the branch menacingly. It jumped back half a step, wary now of being struck again. Gritting his teeth, Jack advanced, raising his branch to strike.
    Which was exactly what the predator was waiting for. With a flash of its tails, it struck him square across the chest with the unbladed side of both appendages, throwing him back to the ground and knocking the branch from his grip. Before Jack could even think about getting up again, the beast was on him, its claws digging into his shoulders as it mounted his chest. Terrified,