Apex by Robert Appleton

Author:Robert Appleton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: space opera, science fiction, action adventure, futuristic, sci fi, alien contact, detective mystery, alien planet, sci adventure, alien safari
Publisher: Robert Appleton

Chapter Eleven

“You’re almost out of O’s. Here—” Jan plucked the spare oxygen bottle from Ruben’s rucksack, “—you’ll want to swap out before we start. Once the dogs hit high gear, they won’t want to stop.”

Ruben waved it away and resumed his fastening of the trailer’s luggage straps to his belt. “I’m good. The gauge is damaged, that’s all. It’s been on the blink for a couple of weeks. Must have broken again during the fall.”

“You’re sure?”

“I changed bottles before we set out. This one’s good for another day, at least.”

“Fair enough. You all set then?” she asked, inspecting his ad hoc ankle dressing – a spare scarf wrapped and tied ingeniously to seal and cushion the gaping injury. “This will get bumpy.”

Her initial plan had involved using the gravlev stabilizers to keep the trailer suspended several inches off the ground, but a quick trial run had confirmed her doubts. The levitation and impulse modules were slave protocols; without a towing vehicle’s remote uplink coupling to guide it, the trailer was dead weight. No brakes. No self-correction whatsoever. What if they were heading over a cliff and the dogs had to swerve suddenly? The trailer’s mass and momentum might drag them all over the edge. But without the gravlev, that same maneuver would be assisted by the ground’s friction. It was safer, if less comfortable, to use the trailer as an old-fashioned sled.

Thus harnessed, Stopper and Flavia stood excitedly in position out front, with their necks craned round to watch their human masters’ odd behavior in and around the rectangular boat-like metal container with its flat, ridged underside curved up at the front. Stopper, being a two-decades-plus veteran of field trips alongside Jan, and exceptionally smart, knew a great number of her spoken words by association. “Go on” meant forward. “Wait, wait” meant stop moving. “Come back”, “go on right”, “come back left”, “sit” and “fetch” were nursery phrases he’d learned when his parents had still been alive. Since then he’d expanded his zoological and botanical vocabulary beyond the majority of many human tourists, even if Jan had had to substitute catchy nicknames for the more tongue-twisting technical names. One of his proudest accomplishments, because it had earned him more treats, hugs and loving “Good boy” approbations than anything else, was his mastery of a series of barked tones to use as passwords to unlock doors.

But from Jan’s agitated demeanor, her rapid, quiet puzzle-solving and worried glances every which way, he knew that whatever she was doing had to be important. He was concerned for her, just as he sensed Flavia was concerned for the injured man named Ruben. They’d fought off the nasty interloper, but it didn’t seem to get the message. It was around here someplace, hiding its scent somehow, planning its next strike. Jan wanted him to pull her away from here in the metal container, and he was going to pull like his life depended on it. So was Flavia, he knew. Ever since he’d had to thrash the young showoff for threatening Jan, Flavia had stopped bugging him.

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