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Chapter 9 |  |
Chapter 11 |  |
Fun For All The Family
"We've got to keep alert right now," Pitrak said. "They had to develop to cope with our advanced technology, but now mindless violence is getting them nowhere."
"Mindless violence sounds good enough to me," Bjors chuckled. Pitrak glowered at him.
"You know what I mean. They will become smarter. At the speed they can breed, they are the fasting evolving creatures we know of. If they find a way off the planet, they could pose a serious threat to the entire Empire."
"Your recommendation, Pitrak?"
"Destroy the planet from orbit. Antimatter missiles, ten gram load on each. Leave nothing but monomolecular dust, then obliterate that. Wipe this useless smear of a backwater planet off the galactic charts."
"Isn't that a bit overkill?" Thjorska asked.
"Since when has that ever stopped the Military?" Pitrak rumbled aggresively.
"Good point, I suppose, but there might be something useful to salvage here, something of value-"
Pitrak stopped and turned to Thjorska, who suddenly realised how immensely big the robot was, and also how angry.
"Everything of value on this planet was lost in that nuke," he thundered, his voice flat. Thjorska took a step back and nodded quietly. The robot gave a harsh sigh and moved on, stamping huge circular footprints in the muck.
Eventually they came to a huge marsh of stagnant water. It was muddy brown and so murky that it could have been an inch or a mile deep. The pathetic souvenier map Thjorska had said it was - or rather, had been - the Happy-Happy Fun Water Park and boating lake.
"Keep going. The Beserkers are only a couple of miles away from this spot," commanded Thjorska. He scanned the sky briefly. "This place is very open, so move fast. I don't want to lose anyone else if I have to."
Even though his black uniform was watertight, the sensation of stepping into the bog was both disgusting and unnerving to Thjorska. The water stank, with sickly weeds that survived the blast clinging to him. The Jotun form wasn't exactly perfect for swimming, like most Shee creations, and they tended to sink to the bottom and stay there. Luckily, he could feel the bottom. Unluckily, it was receding deeper and deeper.
Pushing himself with powerful kicks and strokes, Thjorska propelled himself through the murky water as fast as he could. They were already a long way from the shore, and he was beginning to feel tired. He lifted himself up onto the remnants of a log flume, his legs still dangling in the water. As he got his breath back, he felt the horrible, nightmarish sensation that all land dwellers feared. Something brushed past his leg.
He lashed out with his battleaxe, but only sliced through water. He lifted himself out of the water as far as he could, trying desperately to get purchase on the slippery mock-wood log flume. He heard startled yelps around him as the others swan desperately for anything to cling to.
Suddenly a long, worm like body erupted out of the water. It was a deep, turgid brown luke the water around it, and had a rough black beak. It screeched, the beak opening into four parts like leathery petals. It surged forward and swallowed a lone Jotun in a single mouthful. The others would not be so lucky.
Another reared up out of the water, and both went for the nearest Jotun. He was torn in two by the worms as they fought over him. Blood dripped from their beaks, and they dived back into the water. There was a brief silence, ended by a solitary scream.
"SHAX! WHAT THE ZEG WERE THOSE THINGS?"
Thjorska gave a push to try and get him higher, but he slipped and tumbled back into the water. It stung his eyes, and he couldn't see more than an inch in front of him. He kicked hard, and surfaced, choking and spluttering. Voices screamed his name, seemingly very far away, so he twisted to look. There, almost right in front of him, heading straight for him, were two ripples. He swam as fast he could to the support he had been holding on to, thrashing in the dark water. He managed to grab hold, and was climbing out when the two worm-creatures shot out of the water, arced, and bore down on him. He shut his eyes and prepared for the worst.
There was a blinding flash of light that seared through his eyelids, and a burning sizzling that carried with it a foul stench that clogged up his nostrils and made him cough. He risked opening his eyes, and saw the sinewy brown bodies of the worm-creatures sink below the surface, oozing green-black blood. He gazed upward, and saw a familiar shape hovering there.
"What are you doing here?" Thjorska called out happily, unaware of the worm slowly rising out the mire behind him. Another blast of energy lashed out, tunneling through it's head, throwing what little brain it had across the bog.
"Readjusting stereotypical gender roles," replied Ship merrily. She recharged her gun and blasted another worm that had been foolish enough to surface.