17BBY: The Guns of Kelrodo-Ai by Jason Fry

Author:Jason Fry
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Hewlett-Packard
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

An hour later Shea, Amp, Starks, Dibs, and Rocket were crowded around a datapad, staring at the recording from Kaal’s prow camera. Nearby, Fara sat atop an outcropping, slowly lowering a sharp stick into the rock.

About 30 meters into the shaft, Kaal’s recording showed the gray walls of the tunnel changing to a mottled pink and red, spotted with black dots.

“Rewind,” Shea said. “And slow down the playback.”

Now he could see it clearly. The walls were covered with long, ropy appendages - appendages that erupted in a sudden spastic fury, filling Kaal’s viewscreen before the transmission terminated.

“Some kind of biological entity,” Shea muttered. “Amazing reaction time.”

“Can’t we drop bombs down the shaft, sir?” asked Dibs. “Or send missiles?”

Shea shook his head. “It takes pretty precise shooting to crack a reactor even when you can see it,” he said. “As for missiles, what if it’s a nonstandard reactor? Or there are jammers?”

“So we land ground forces,” Starks said. “Take it from the outside.”

“That will take forever,” Shea said. “And we don’t have forever.” He looked at the other pilots. “Right now it’s a stalemate. We can outfly most everything they’ve got, but we can’t breach their defenses.”

Starks, he realized, was looking off

“Say, Fara, what have you got there?” Starks asked.

“Amp, play it again,” Shea said, annoyed at how easily Starks got distracted. “Maybe we’ll see something. Those black dots on the walls, could they be-”

“Eggs,” said Fara.

“Exactly - wait. What did you say, Fara?”

The Kelrodoan had pierced a row of lumpy black spheres with his stick, and was using his long fingers to transfer them to a bowl.

“Eggs,” he said. “For porridge.”

Shea’s eyes leapt from the outcropping to the distant mountain.

“Where did you get those eggs, Fara?” he asked. “I need you to show me - right now.”

Fara blinked and pointed to the outcropping. Shea clambered on top, followed by Starks, and shined his light down one of the holes. It was lined with pink and red flesh, studded with black dots.

“Stang.” Starks said with a whistle.

“To harvest, you must be slow.” Fara said. “To not disturb the colony.”

“How slow?” Shea asked.

Fara poked the stick into the rock, moving very deliberately. The pilots crowded around him. Fara looked up and suddenly the tube’s lining shivered. A moment later Fara was holding a broken stick.

“Slower than that,” the Kelrodoan said with a shrug.

Shea nodded. “Prep for immediate launch,” he said.

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