Attack of the Beast
by Anon Allsop
Part 1

Their mission was a simple one, to see if the strange planet could sustain life and support a branch of their colony. A crew of six land on its surface... two women, four men. All begins innocently enough, until they quickly discover that something is hiding within the dense foliage of the humid planet.

Chapter 1

The twin suns broke over the little planet as we penetrated its atmosphere. Our mission was to see if it held potential for a small colony or mining operation. There were a total of 6 of us, including the pilot and copilot, but even they had duties besides flying the little craft. We all had been hand selected by our space station commander for this mission, and cross-trained so we could lend a hand, should the need arise.

I studied every member of the crew, noting each of their specialties. First there was the Captain, Elmer Donaldson. He was our leader and piloted the craft; he also was in charge of security. Next was Lunette Emboy, a tall leggy blonde who seemed bitter at humanity. She was the co-pilot and our geologist.

Beside me was my good friend, Parker Sherman, ‘Park’ for short. He was the best man at my wedding, and then a drinking buddy at the end of my bitter divorce. Park was our operations manager and back-up pilot. His job was to keep our ship flying and to make sure that we had what we needed, and when we needed it. His double duty on this mission was as medical technician, and like me, just in the 'off' chance that someone would be injured.

In front of us was Margie VanVleet. She was the only ‘egghead’ of the group, preferring her studies over any social life. However, at 51, she could probably out-hike, out-climb and outrun any of us. She specialized in the studies of plants and food producing grains. Beside her was Eric Coultrain, a lanky Brit with a happy smile and a song on his lips. His job was as our biologist, specializing in alien animals. Being a former farmer, he also branched out into the field of animal domestication, so he was in charge of finding animals to use either for food or service to the colony if the area could be set up as one.

As for me, I was like the old Earth television program, an expendable Crewman, the red shirt. While I was experienced at just about everything, I specialized in nothing. I knew a smattering of flying, and I could do just enough maintenance to make myself dangerous. I could identify most types of plants and known animals, at least well enough to be within the same species grouping. I also doubled as a medical technician, and could probably build a fire with the best of them. Parker called me a 'utility player', in which they could put me pretty much anywhere if they were forced to do it.

'Why was I there?' I asked myself that question all the time, but I knew that I had the great luck of being in the wrong place at the right time. I had been hanging near the command and control center when they were selecting the crew. They needed to balance out the weight of the craft and were looking for a 'Jack of all trades' type, so the good name of Christian Payne came up... and there I was. 'Oh boy…lucky me.' I sighed into my visor.

Park glanced toward me as the Captain pointed the craft toward our mission planet, he had been sitting quietly beside me, which was most unlike his jovial self, and he seemed to be brooding in deep thought.

"What's with all the gloom?" I asked quietly, barely able to hear myself much less him when he answered. "It's so unlike you!"

He shrugged, "Roger and I had it out again before we left, and he can be such an asshole!"

I gave him a questioning look and he continued, "I was supposed to be assigned to a different mission, one that I've been training on for the better part of the last year, Dega-7 ... and at the last minute, he sends me here!"

He looked from me to the floor and drummed his fingers upon the arm of his seat.

"You act like we're being sent to the armpit of the solar system." I laughed, causing my visor to become fogged over, "Relax Park, he probably has his reasons for sending you along on this mission instead of to Dega-7."

"Would hating my guts be reason enough?" He quipped. "Roger has had it in for me since we came through the academy together. Once he got rank over me, the guy has been almost impossible."

Park watched the captain for awhile, and then smiled, tapping himself in the knee. "I'm not going to let Roger ruin my career though... kill them with kindness was what my mother used to say."

I smiled slowly, "And if that doesn't work, there has to be a really big rock laying somewhere around with his name on it! Perhaps you could bounce it off his head?" Parker laughed out loud then pushed the backside of my helmet.

"You're a hoot, you know that Christian? You always seem to make me laugh and forget my petty troubles."

He gave me a quick smile. "At least one person is around here that I can kid around with... and won't take something I say too damn personal." He smiled and leaned closer to my seat, are there any more like you at home, of the feminine persuasion? If there is, how about... when we get back, you introduce me to your single sister?"

"Sure, Park. Be glad too! That is, if I had one," I said laughing, “…Sister that is.”

"Now see? Just when I start bragging you up... you go and do that to me? Parker laughed.

"I guess you would have to blame my parents... and not me for that little minor discrepancy!" I grinned.

We both looked forward and could see the Captain's reflection in the cockpit window; he was sternly looking at us. It reminded me of how my own father would look into his mirror when I was a kid, horsing around in the back seat of our family cruiser. Park gave me a sideways glance and we both began to snicker uncontrollably, slowly the Captain began to smile, as if he was fighting it, though he had no clue to what we were laughing about.

Chapter 2

As we began our angled decent, I took a moment to peer out of my small window. Beside the thick tinted glass, outside, the skin of our craft glowed red from the friction of the small planet's atmosphere. Overhead, the twin suns of the planet stood like sentinels, each guarding and watching over it, hiding some undiscovered secrets that the planet may hold.

Once the hot glowing flame dissipated upon entry, I could see the terrain looked quite promising below. Almost like I imagined old Earth to have been, there were rolling hills, great plateaus and thick forests; a truly primordial landscape and we were to become the first humans to step foot on it. We headed toward one of the closer meadows to set down.

As Captain Donaldson guided us in for a landing near the edge of the meadow where it came close to meeting with the forest, I was surprised at just how much like Earth it truly was. The trip toward the ground left my stomach in my throat, however, and with a sudden jarring stop, we landed.

The Captain tapped the gauge, smiled, and looked over his shoulder at Lunette, "Looks like the air is good."

She glanced at her readings, "Looks like a good Earth Class Planet. Air quality is a little thin, but tolerable."

"Just like the higher elevations of the mountains." The Captain agreed. "Do you have a lock on an outside temperature yet?" She looked down and turned the monitor to face him, "17.8 Celsius…” He glanced toward Lunette then to us” That’s 64 Fahrenheit just in case you’re taking notes" Lunette smiled.

"All I know is if someone doesn't open up a door pretty soon, I'll probably explode!" All turned toward the speaker, Parker Sherman. He smiled and shrugged with his palms out, "What? Can't a guy have a problem with claustrophobia?"

I rolled my eyes at him, "And you call yourself an astronaut!" He grinned and threw back his harness from his shoulder, stood up and moved toward the door.

"Can I throw it open, Captain?" Parker smiled and grabbed the air-lock lever.

The Captain and his co-pilot exchanged a glance, “Everything checks out within limits, but the shell of our ship is still hot, so we'll need to wait for a few hours until it cools down."

Park frowned and sat back down in his chair. For almost three excruciating hours we waited until the Captain finally gave us a nod, Park jumped up and quickly threw the handle up, allowing the strange smells to enter our craft.

Lunette flipped a switch and we waited until the ramp cleared the ships hull and slowly made its way to the surface. Park stood in the entry and inhaled deeply. "Aahh...smells, just like home!"

We all laughed and headed through the little doorway; one by one we climbed down the ramp and stood on the strange bluish-green turf. It felt slightly spongy as if we were standing upon a bog or thin crust over water. I crouched down and touched the strange vegetation, "Will this hold the weight of the craft? It seems like we're standing on some type of floating vegetation."

Margie crouched down beside me and picked one of the little plants, noticing that each cell contained a small pocket of air. "This could be a mass of floating vegetation that we're standing on." She stood back up and pulled out a small detector, and it began flashing and clicking as we stood silently at the base of the craft.

"Christian is right. Less than a meter below us is a body of liquid, presumably water. I would suggest that we put the ship into a remote orbit." Elmer bounced slightly and we all observed a slow ripple move away from his feet. "And that is all the more reason to get it off of this stuff." She said observing the ever retreating ripple.

The Captain turned to me, "Get all of our plasma cannons from the craft, and then pass them out."

As I started back up the stairs, he said, "Grab our communicators, make sure that they have full power and see that everyone has one with them at all times." I nodded and hurried up the short flight of stairs.

Behind me, I heard the Captain issue an order to Eric and Parker, "Pass out the mission rations. If we don't need to eat them, we won't. Give out enough for three days." They both nodded and hurried up the steps behind me.

Parker nudged me on my arm, "Looks like we're in for a three day jaunt, you up to it?" I shrugged my response. "Do you think we'll find any ‘unfriendlies’?" He asked, looking over his shoulders.

Eric was filling a backpack, "If we do, I'm sure we'll be ready for them." He grabbed the three backpacks he had filled and carried them down the stairs by their straps, behind him walked Park and me carrying the plasma cannons.

We moved away slowly, making sure of our footing until we stood at the base of a huge tree. Its bark resembled our Earth Maple, but the leaves were shaped like thin saw blades, having tiny veins running out like a wheel from the center. Each had a stem that grew out from its underside. Both Margie and I were studying them as the Captain pressed the flight codes for the craft. "It'll land in three days, but not before. If we get separated, head back to this point in the allotted three days, set your chronometers at Mark, for 2300." We all raised our gray chronometers, "Ready...Mark. 2300."

As he turned and walked past me, I could hear the crafts engines slowly firing up. I glanced backward quickly and saw it was rising higher and higher. I shielded my eyes from the twin suns, one smaller trapped in orbit around the larger one.

"This will be different!" I observed.

They all stopped and turned, as I continued my observation. “That smaller sun is like this planet, orbiting around the greater sun at an incredible speed. If I’m correct with my thinking, it will constantly be in the sky whether we are in day or night, depending on this planet’s natural rotation. Factoring where we have landed, we’ll be in some sort of daylight all the time.”

"No night...so no darkness." Lunette sighed.

"That's not entirely true; we'll have a moment of twilight like we have right now. Since the smaller sun is far away on the horizon…only, it shouldn't last long." Eric replied, and then pushed past us to follow our Captain as he climbed a steep incline. “It’s orbit is on a tighter ellipse…more like that of an huge asteroid than this planet.”

I waited until Margie passed and I set out behind her, "What happens when both high up…in the sky at the same time?" I asked.

She looked over her shoulder, "My guess is... at that moment, it will probably be at its hottest of the day. Nor was she wrong, by the time they were at the planet’s 'noon hour' the temperature had risen to over 48 degrees C. We were all very uncomfortable and hot under the weight of our field packs.

For an hour more we hiked, higher and higher away from the grassy bog. Finally, the Captain stopped our little party to rest where we sat upon reddish colored rocks.

Lunette studied the coloration on of the boulder upon which she was sitting, and then said, "What I've seen just during our short walk today is high concentrations of iron and copper. And this is another example of what I've been noticing." She patted the great red boulder.

Park stood up and glanced at the great stone he had been seated upon, "Looks like a red rock to me." He teased.

Lunette laughed, "I figured you'd say that!"

I walked to the edge of a hill, where Margie was standing at the top. She glanced over her shoulder as she heard my approach, "Christian, come here and look at something." I climbed up the incline and stood beside her, she pointed to a darkened mass, among strange purple tangles. "What do you make of that?"

"A biologic…?" I pulled out my optiscope and focused the image into the viewer, "Whatever it is, it appears dead, and looks as though it's been that way for a long, long time." I turned my head back and called to the others, "Captain! Come here, Margie's found something!" They all stood and slowly picked their way up the hill strewn with the reddish rock.

Captain Donaldson was the first to reach our side, "What do you have?" In unison, both Margie and I pointed toward the object. Elmer scratched his head and looked over his shoulder toward Eric, "What do you make of that thing, Eric?"

He took the optiscope from my hand and studied the dead animal, lowering it slowly he shook his head.

"I need to get closer and take a better look at it, but whatever it is... it appears to be VERY dead!"

The Captain selected the path down, and we each followed his decent into the little valley where the dead animal was found. It took almost an hour to reach the location where the animal lay.

"Okay, take your closer look, Eric." Captain Donaldson jerked his thumb toward the carcass.

Eric slowly approached. He crouched and then examined the surrounding area almost as if he were studying for clues to the creature's death, like a great detective from old Earth.

Park stepped up beside me and did a slow whistle, "How long do you suppose it has been laying there?"

I shrugged, "From the looks of the skin, a pretty long damn time." We all took steps forward, each trying to get a better look at the creature.

Eric touched the skin and ran his hand along the thin, mummy-like surface. "This sure is a strange find."

He stood up and took it by the leg, slowly rolling it over to the other side as if it weighed nothing.

"Is it hollow?" Lunette asked, tapping its side with a finger.

"Not really, but it's extremely light."

He slowly rolled it back to the position it had been in before. "I can't figure it out... something has dried it up like a mummy."

"Wow! So, you're saying that the thing has been laying right here for a thousand years?" I asked, examining the purple leather that was its skin.

Eric stood up and brushed his hands, "I'm not saying that at all; this thing has been lying here no more than two or three days."

We were startled, and every eye was instantly riveted on Eric.

"What caused this then?" Captain Donaldson pointed toward the mummified carcass.

Eric scratched his head, "Natural mummies need extreme circumstances to be created, usually involving a dry environment like a desert or extreme cold. This area is abundant with plant life. Regardless of whether it's getting the water from the bogs, or if we're on more floating grass... natural mummification seems impossible."

Lunette crouched down and examined its tangled hair, "So what do you think this creature is?

Again, Eric rolled it over effortlessly, using Earth as our example, I'd say it was a female of the species. But I can only guess on the breed."

Donaldson frowned, "Guess then."

Eric stood and rubbed his chin, "It looks like a Banth, but the stripes are inverted more like a Tarag. I'm thinking it is an entirely new species, sort of a combination of the two... I'd guess a 'Taragth'."

He smiled at his combination of the two creatures names for our find.

"I'd just like to be able and see some others, before they get into this condition."

Margie seemed preoccupied with the animal, studying its detail more closely. "This looks like an old wound on the hind leg... is that a scar Christian?"

I glanced down, "Probably from another one of its kind, like an old battle scar." Eric nodded, gently running his finger over the raised area of the leathery skin.

We each took a small drink from our rations, then followed Captain Donaldson across the little valley toward a high plateau. After close to four hours of steady hiking, he stopped and took a small bite of a chewy item in his ration pack. We all followed suit; some of us also took another small drink.

"Damn strange thing is, these twin suns make it hard to gauge the time of day. I don't know if it's noon or midnight!" He took a sip of his water, "We've been out here for a full day and…other than that creature back there, we haven't seen a damn thing!" Donaldson sat his pack on the ground and leaned against the base of a 'saw tree', as we came to call the strange trees.

Eric and Lunette also sank to the ground, each pulling their packs from their back. Margie dropped hers beside Captain Donaldson and fished her optiscope from its case.

"Going bird watching?" Park asked, chuckling softly.

She smiled, "I wish, but it intrigues me that we've seen nothing but that dead animal. I want to see if I can find anything moving." She moved off to a tall grouping of rock and climbed to the peak.

"Switch your scope to thermal; you might pick up the heat from their bodies if they're hidden." I called out to her; she gave me a thumb's up sign and brought the scope to her eye.

Park tossed a small pebble, and it struck me on the foot.

"You got a thing for her?" He said laughing.

I smiled, "She's a smart woman, I like her... but not in that way."

"That's good to know, because I think her pendulum swings both ways." Eric laughed, placing his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.

Lunette scowled, "You're saying that while she's out of ear-shot... if she heard you, she'd probably kick your ass!"

Eric laughed, "I'm sure you're right."

"No criticizing the crew…" Captain Donaldson said, not opening his eyes. "…even if you're just joking."

Park laughed out loud, "Dang! There go all the good ones that I was going to use on Christian." I picked up the small stone and tossed it back at him, striking him directly in the forehead. He laughed, rolled his eyes back and fell into the grass as though I had killed him.

"Goliath's dead." Lunette laughed at Park's antics until it finally got the Captain to give out a short laugh. Park was quite a joker, and he decided that was the perfect time to hang out his tongue in his mock death. I searched out and found another tiny stone, gave it a flip and laughed as it struck him in the crotch. He sat upright really fast and grabbed at the area.

"I guess that got your attention!" Lunette said laughing at my throw, holding her slender hand over her mouth. Park made a face and gave me a goofy, mean look.

He searched around and placed his hands on a rock about the size of a small child, "Okay... my turn!" He laughed, as he pretended to pick it up and toss it at me.

After about an hour away from our group, Margie returned to camp.

"Hey... I found some more of those creatures like the dead one!"

Captain Donaldson sat up, "Are they alive?"

She nodded and motioned for us to follow. Only the Captain, Lunette and I followed, Park and Eric were sleeping soundly.

We followed her for about ten minutes, "How much farther? I don't like splitting our crew up like this." Donaldson frowned, looking back at where we came from.

"It's just up here!" She stopped and pointed to eight of the striped creatures milling around in the grass. I raised my optiscope and studied them.

"You found just this small herd?" Donaldson frowned, "You brought me away from the camp for this?" He slowly shook his head in frustration.

I still held the scope to my eyes, "One of them is limping, and seems to have the same injury as the one we found."

Both Margie and Lunette brought their scopes to their eyes.

Margie began to count, "I see 1..2..3..4..5..6..females and two males. Eight total creatures."

"Your limping animal is male and the one beside it is the other smaller male." Lunette observed.

"The injured male seems to be the dominant one." I pulled the optiscope from my eyes and looked at the two women, "Do you think the small male did that to the bigger one?"

Margie shrugged, "I guess anything's possible."

Lunette lowered her scope and squinted, "Here's my take on all of this…something out there is preying on the stronger male. If he's removed from the herd... so is their protection. It's the natural way of animals, and you see it in every world that has them."

"How do you explain the mummified female?" I asked, leaning against a tree. "Was she just weaker, dying from whatever made her look like a mummy?"

"Come on, folks, we'd better be returning to the others or they'll be wondering what happened to us when they wake up!" The Captain shouted as he turned and began to head back. He was correct in his assumption, so we immediately followed.

By the time we arrived back at the camp, the larger sun was very low on the horizon, letting us know that we had been gone for at least a half day. The temperature had cooled back down to a more comfortable 17 degrees C, and we all were able to rest comfortably. After quite a restful sleep, I sat up and stretched, and then finally standing, I worked the kinks out of my back and legs.

"I can't say the grass is better than a bed, although it sure is better than sleeping on the bare ground!" I sighed and opened my ration pack, and pulled out some packaged breakfast crackers. Parker rolled over and opened his eyes, slowly raised his head and looked around.

"Damn, I thought this was all a dream!" He sighed and sat up, then slowly rose to his feet and stretched. All around us the others were silently waking up and moving slowly. I glanced into the sky; the suns were almost at their highest point, and the air was growing increasingly warm and humid.

Margie came stumbling back from the dense brush; she had gone off to relieve herself and was now returning.

"How much longer are we going to be here at this camp?" She asked Captain Donaldson.

He shrugged and looked up at her, "Why?"

She pointed toward the hill, "I want to check on the herd and see if they’re still in the little valley."

"What herd?" Eric said sitting up quickly. "Did you find a herd?"

Donaldson rubbed his face and yawned, "Margie found a small herd of those weird striped purple animals, like the mummified one that we found yesterday."

Eric stood quickly, "Show them to me!" Margie looked at Captain Donaldson, waiting for his consent. He frowned, and then waived her off with his hand.

"Keep your communicators on, and we'll wait for you here." They started away, picking their way down the narrow trail that we had used yesterday.

"If you don't mind, Captain, I'll go with them." I said, watching them drop below the rise.

"Go on, but don't stay there long. We need to be starting back today." I nodded and quickly darted off behind them.

Chapter 3

Margie pointed out the herd to Eric, who slowly brought the optiscope to his eyes and studied each of the strange animals on the field.

"I count a total of seven."

I held my scope up and scoured the edge, where the woods and grass met. "Something is lying next to the trees." The other two directed their gaze toward where I indicated.

"Do you suppose it's the injured male?" I wondered aloud, when I couldn't see it in the field.

"Let’s go down and take a look at it!" Eric stood and began to work his way through the forest of trees, both Margie and I followed.

"We'll keep to the trees and with the breeze blowing toward us, we can move closely without spooking them." He gestured along the wood line. "We should be able to get right on top of them from over there.

As we were walking we stumbled upon another dried mummified carcass. Eric examined it closely. "It’s another female of the species. She doesn't have any visible wounds, so trying to figure out how she died is going to be pretty tough."

He stood and studied the animals just below us in his scope, "I count 6 females and the one small male."

Margie looked at the mummified carcass by our feet. "Do you suppose this was one of the females we saw yesterday?" She asked, nudging the creature’s long leg with her foot.

"The other one over there next to the woods is probably the big, injured male we saw yesterday." I pointed.

Again we rose and slowly picked our way along the edge of the woods, finally stopping at the carcass of the other animal.

"You need to have your eyes checked!" Eric grinned, "Your big male is really a small female."

"It has to be a different one!" I said, studying the other live creatures as they grazed upon the lush vegetation.

"Christian, look at this." Margie tugged at my arm as she whispered. I peered at the stretched skin of the female creature. Her leg was scarred from a wound in the exact spot as the male had yesterday.

"That's strange." I whispered, "It must be a different one."

Eric laughed, "Unless you can explain how the male magically transformed into the mummified female you see before you!" He slowly stood and smiled, "We all know that isn't possible, so somewhere out there... is your injured male."

He stood up and picked his way through a tangle of strange lavender-colored brush, studying the ground around the carcass like a detective. "That makes something like what, three females that we've found?" Both Margie and I nodded.

"Maybe it’s some kind of illness that is only affecting the females?"

"I guess that's possible, but, why aren't they eaten?" I asked, "Why are we only able to find those who went through the mummification process?”

"Hey, over here's another one!" Margie shouted, causing the little heard to suddenly raise their heads and look our direction. Suddenly, one by one they hurried to the far side of the little meadow, leaving us in the shadows of the great 'saw trees'.

She was standing over the carcass, "It's another female. Do you suppose it's a disease? Possibly something that is working on the genetic level and only attacking the females?" Eric walked to her side as she finished speaking.

"Maybe…though we’d better figure it out soon or both Lunette and you may be in jeopardy." He bent down and picked up a dried-out leg, "This one has been lying here for quite a long time, maybe as long as a week or two."

I looked down at it as he tore away a small piece of the creature's dried skin, "How do you figure that?" I asked.

He rolled it over, revealing that the grass under it was a pale yellow. "It's lain here long enough to keep the sun off the vegetation." Eric stood up and placed the skin fragment in a small bag, "Let’s get back to the camp. I want to run some tests on this sample."

We slowly worked our way through the woods, with our positioning signal directing us back toward our camp. As we rounded a large outcropping of rock, we found another mummified female creature, but this time it was a Yellow Gorth, which closely resembled a sloth of old earth.

"Damn!" Eric spat. "There's another one over there and they are both females!"

"What is a Yellow Gorth doing on this planet?" Margie asked, her voice trembling.

"They've been found on four other planets in this system, so it wouldn't be too much of a reach to find them here."

He looked from one to the other, "They mate for life and have never been seen alone, unless they are the immature offspring. It's unusual to find two females together." He took another sample from each of them which he placed in separate bags, marking the little white labels.

"Maybe you found the only two that preferred their own sex?" I said laughing. "Perhaps they were a pair?" Margie gave me a stern glance.

Eric rolled one over and pointed to the almost white grass that was lying beneath it, "This is quite a puzzle because we're only finding dead females. Every one is mummified and weighs a fraction of their normal weight. Some, like this one, have no external damage and yet...there are some like the other that have been wounded and possess a healed-over scar like that one." He pointed to the other, lying nearby.

"We had better notify the Captain, this could be some kind of epidemic that is only affecting the females on the planet. We may need to have Margie and Lunette stay aboard the ship until we can figure out what it is that we're dealing with!"

Again we set off toward our camp, but this time we hurried with urgency.