The Hunters by Julie Rollins

Author:Julie Rollins [Rollins, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gyroscope Books
Published: 2015-12-16T22:00:00+00:00

10. Hunting by Night

The soft murmuring of voices invaded Todd’s mind. He moaned in annoyance and placed a hand over his ear. The sound persisted. Opening an eye, he found himself lying on his bunk in a delah crammed with people. Two soldiers watched him with guns cradled on their laps. Todd groaned loudly and rolled over, facing the wall. Remembering the dire circumstances of the colonists, he sat up.

“Sleep well?” Gyra called without looking up from the computer.

Todd rubbed his eyes. “I could’ve slept longer. Shoot, what time is it?”

“Three hours before sunset.”

Todd slipped out of the bunk and stretched. “So, we have any fantastic cures yet? Some way to ban-ish the ban-crek?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Gyra answered. “We are learning a lot about the creatures, but an acceptable way to destroy it still eludes us.”

Todd’s mouth twisted into a crooked smile. “What unacceptable ways do we have to destroy it?”

“We could call on the cruiser to blast the whole region, turning it into a molten burning pit devoid of all life.”

Todd held up a hand. “I get the picture.”

Sun walked up, shaking his weary balding head. “If only we could buy more time.”

“So, what do we know?” Todd asked.

Sun looked down at his computer board. “We know the bancrek can travel fast. If we were to leave the area on foot, it would certainly follow since we are a large source of food. Our only real escape would be to leave the planet, but neither Wei Wong Fang nor Capt. Miller are ready to consent to that.”

Gyra held up a clear sealed container of the ooze. “When exposed to direct sunlight, the bancrek spreads flat across the surface of the ground to absorb as much energy as possible.”

Todd took the container. “Kind of like a big solar panel, huh?”

“That’s correct. The reason our sensors don’t pick it up is because its life signs are so faint. To the instruments, it’s just a thin layer of organisms laying on the surface, indistinguishable from the natural bacteria.”

“Wow,” Todd breathed. “That’s some camouflage. No wonder the dark queen was so eager to sic this vermin on us. So, we don’t know where this monster is at the moment?”

Sun passed him a computer board. “This is all we could find in the surrounding area.”

Todd stared at the map. “Nothing of interest except a herd of efants.”

“There’s got to be some way to slow down the bancrek,” Sun spoke in a quiet desperate voice. “We can’t freeze it, we can’t burn it, and we can’t crush it.”

Todd’s brow wrinkled as he stared at the computer board, bringing to bear his full power of concentration. Typing in a command, he noted the geography of the area. His eyebrows rose.

“Say!”

“What are you thinking?” Gyra asked.

“Hold on … I’m measuring something.” Todd noted the distance to the efant herd. “Shoot, this would be so much easier if they’d let us use the ship.”

“Don’t ask Captain Miller,” Sun warned. “He is not very pleased with you right now.”

“Figures,” Todd grumbled.

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