Discovery by Ken Lozito

Author:Ken Lozito [Lozito, Ken]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781945223228
Publisher: Acoustical Books LLC
Published: 2018-06-22T22:00:00+00:00

21

Connor clutched the hilt of his hunting knife as he raced through the forest. Several of the tree-climbers slithered along the intertwining branches atop the large trees that were akin to the giant sequoias of Earth. Even though he knew running would probably trigger the creatures to pursue, he’d thought they’d give up after running for so long, but he was wrong. They squawked and hissed from the limbs above. Connor heard them on either side as he ran, and he suspected that the creatures were coordinating their hunt.

Syloc darted into view in front of him, and Connor had to follow. The NEIIS had his PDA. He could do some things with his implants alone, but the PDA augmented what he was able to do—most notably the ability to send a message home.

Connor had always kept in top shape, often running or hiking as part of his weekly routine. He settled into a brisk pace, but he could sprint again if he needed to. He glanced above and saw the tree-climbers slithering to the ends of the branches. From there, they used their long arms to reach neighboring branches and pull themselves along. They moved swiftly, and they watched him and Syloc.

Connor blew out a rough breath and increased his pace. He needed to get his PDA back. It was his only way to reach the others. With renewed determination, he gained on Syloc. He was so focused on the NEIIS’s back that he almost missed a tree-climber lunging for him from the side. The animal hissed just before it attacked, and Connor rolled to the left, then got back to his feet and kept moving. He glanced behind and saw that two more tree-climbers had reached the ground and were using their two thick tails to slink toward him. They were about three meters long from head to tail, which didn’t account for the reach of their lengthy arms. Connor had come across these creatures before, but they’d never attacked, probably because he’d always given them a wide berth to avoid their territory. This time, he and Syloc must have crashed right in the middle of it. More than once he longed for his hunting rifle.

Something disturbed the foliage near Syloc, and the NEIIS was pulled down out of sight. Connor angled toward where Syloc had been, but his feet became tangled in thick roots and he tumbled to the ground. Connor had started to push himself up when a proximity alert appeared on his internal heads-up display. He slashed blindly with his hunting knife while he regained his feet. The blade bit into something hard and he heard a tree-climber yelping in pain. Another creature approached on his right, and Connor turned toward it.

“Stay back!”

The tree-climber glared at him with pale yellow eyes. It hissed but didn’t charge—yet. Connor faced it while he backed away, holding the knife out in front of him. Another tree-climber came up next to the first one. It had a deep laceration on its arm.

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