The Prometheus Project: Stranded Part 6

The scream repeated.

It was coming from just inside the rainforest.

And it was unmistakably human.

CHAPTER 10.

Attack

Everyone rushed to the rainforest to investigate, with Miguel and Cam in the lead, putting on an impressive display of pure speed. The unnerving screams continued as the two members of security pa.s.sed the tree line and entered the thick yellow forest. They searched frantically for whoever was doing the screaming but saw no one.

Where was the screamer? The screams were coming from the area in which they were now standing. They were sure of it.

Within thirty seconds the other members of the expedition, who had come from different parts of the large clearing at different speeds, had all joined the two men.

The screaming stopped abruptly. As quickly as it had begun.

Yet they had still failed to find it source.

"Are we sure it was a human scream?" asked Cam anxiously.

"No doubt about it," said Donna Morgan, still breathing hard. "It was a woman's scream. But it wasn't one of us. Was another expedition here ahead of us?"

Cam shook his head. "There's no one else here. I'm positive." He raised his eyebrows. "No one from the Prometheus Project at any rate."

"Could whoever was screaming have been dragged off by an animal?" asked Miguel.

"No," said Amanda Resnick. "The animal life here ignores humans completely."

"Let's spread out and comb the area," said Miguel. "Look for anything that might help us understand what just happened."

The search had only begun when Bob Zubrin shouted, "I found something."

He was under an exotic tree, with circular yellow leaves the size of Hula Hoops. Everyone joined him in seconds. He picked up a strange, tan-colored object that was roughly spherical and about the size of a soccer-ball and handed it to Miguel.

It seemed to be nothing more than a makes.h.i.+ft, uneven ball of padding. Miguel examined it. A black electronic device was buried inside this cus.h.i.+oned coc.o.o.n, which was open on one side so a speaker on the device would not be blocked. Miguel reached in and ripped it free of the tape that held it.

It was digital tape recorder! It was on but no sound was coming out. Miguel reset it to the beginning and hit the "Play" b.u.t.ton. Nothing. He moved it ahead five minutes and tried again.

A shrill scream emanated from the recorder at such high volume it almost deafened him.

Miguel had a sick look on his face as he quickly hit the "Stop" b.u.t.ton.

Someone in their group had done this! They had neared the tree line, activated the padded recorder, and tossed it into the dense growth. It had run for four or five minutes until it reached the long stretch of pre-recorded screaming, which it had broadcast with chillingly realistic sound quality.

But why would someone do this? There were only two reasons Miguel could think of. As a sick practical joke. Or to create a diversion!

Miguel had a very bad feeling about this. He hastily took an inventory of the people around him. Two were missing: Mich.e.l.le Cooper and Nathaniel Smith. "Let's get back to the trams," he ordered. "Now!"

As the group turned to retreat, three animals emerged from behind trees, heading straight toward them. They were about the size of wolves with thin gray fur and gleaming silver eyes. Unlike wolves, they didn't have elongated snouts-or snouts of any kind for that matter-which only seemed to leave more room for ma.s.sive mouths filled with sharp, jagged teeth. They had four legs that ended in feet that were padded and clawed like those of a leopard. They issued a low-pitched clicking sound that was as intimidating as a rattlesnake's rattle.

Cam and Miguel pushed the others in between them and raised their tranquilizer guns.

"So the animals here ignore humans, Amanda!" said Miguel angrily. "Is this what you call being ignored!"

"Shut up and pay attention!" she shot back as four more of the animals emerged. "We've seen these a dozen times. They've ignored us completely. They're pack animals," she added as five more animals joined the rest, circling the group of humans threateningly.

"No kidding!" snapped Donna Morgan. "Thanks for the news flas.h.!.+"

No one other than Cam and Miguel were armed. Ryan had the same pocketknife he always carried on camping trips in his right pocket, but knew it would be useless in this situation. Instead he searched the ground around him hastily. There were a number of fallen branches in the area and he scooped one up to use as a club. Bob Zubrin and Donna Morgan noticed this and did the same. With the only useful sticks taken the others looked for rocks to use as potential weapons.

More and more of the clicking gray predators continued to emerge from deeper in the woods until there were seventeen in all. The circle of carnivores tightened slowly around the humans. Their silver eyes gleamed with an unearthly malevolence and they bared their ferocious teeth, leaving no doubt as to their deadly intentions.

Miguel shot one in the chest with a tranquilizer dart. It yelped and backed off along with its pack-mates but they returned to their positions only minutes later. Miguel and Cam quickly squeezed off six more shots. Again the animals backed off, but only temporarily. The tranquilizers had no effect.

"Who chose the tranquilizer that was put in these darts?" shouted Cam.

"I did," said Bob Zubrin. "It's very potent."

"Maybe on Earth animals, you idiot!" yelled Cam. "Next time test it on native animals! It doesn't do squat here!"

As he yelled, he and Miguel continued to fire into the pack until they had run out of darts. Several of the animals now looked like pincus.h.i.+ons, but the darts did little more than get them even angrier. Their clicking grew louder and louder and they continued to tighten their circle.

"Didn't you bring any real guns as backup?" yelled Ryan from within the ma.s.s of humans that had crammed together ever more tightly.

Before Cam could answer a few of the creatures leaped at him. He knocked one to the ground but the other bit deep into his arm. Screaming in pain, he dropped the emergency kit he had been holding and slammed the animal against several others, knocking it off his arm and stunning its mates. Blood streamed down his arm and poured onto the forest floor.

Miguel was kicking at the nearest beasts and began to wade into them in a blind rage, twirling around to block attacks coming from multiple directions.

Miguel and Cam had ceased being human and were now creatures of pure instinct, battling the threat with animal ferocity. They were protecting the rest of the expedition for now, but the pack was relentless. And when the pack broke through Cam and Miguel, the clubs and stones held by the others wouldn't hold them off for long. In only a matter of minutes the entire expedition would be torn to pieces.

And there was absolutely nothing anyone could do to stop it.

CHAPTER 11.

Stranded

Regan was terrified, but also angry for some reason she couldn't quite understand. Perhaps it was just determination. One thing the past few years had taught her was to never give up. They needed to find a weapon and they needed to do it fast. She forced herself to ignore the powerful emotions boiling inside her and concentrate.

Her mind raced. Early man had managed to survive in a world filled with deadly predators. With weapons almost as pathetic as the ones they were using. But how? How could any primitive human have survived in the wild for even a week?

Regan gasped as the answer hit her squarely between the eyes. Of course! She knew exactly what she had to do.

She reached for the emergency kit that Cam had dropped to the forest floor as the battle raged on around her. She s.n.a.t.c.hed it off the ground. But as she was pulling her arm back one of the predators managed to slash at her with its front claw. The claw stabbed through her cotton jacket and s.h.i.+rt and deep into her forearm. Regan ignored the blood and the explosion of pain and managed to continue her motion and hang onto the canvas bag.

"Ryan, give me your stick!" she demanded telepathically.

"Get your own!" he snapped back.

Regan reached into the emergency kit and grabbed a self-igniting flare. She yanked the cap off and fire shot from its end. Billowing orange smoke gushed from the flare an instant later and rose in the sky. She held the flare out and waved it at the nearest predators that were attacking Miguel. They backed off immediately and considered this new threat.

"GIVE ME YOUR STICK! NOW!" shouted Regan telepathically at her brother.

Ryan shoved the two-foot long fallen branch he had been holding into his sister's open hand. Regan handed him the flare and unzipped and removed her punctured jacket. She wrapped it around the stick four or five times, s.n.a.t.c.hed the flare back from Ryan, and lit the jacket on fire. She lunged into the front edge of the pack with the flaming branch, intent on setting them all on fire if she could.

Miguel, still on the front lines, was weak from blood loss but there was still plenty of fight in his eyes. He ripped the blazing torch from Regan's hand, pushed her back behind him, and lashed out at the nearest attackers. The rest of the group caught on immediately and began removing jackets and tearing clothes, creating makes.h.i.+ft torches of their own, using the flare to ignite them.

The tide was turning.

Thrusting their few torches at the horde of attacking predators, the group was able to slowly push them back. As they gained new ground they found additional fallen sticks, dry leaves, and other flammable materials with which to create additional torches.

Soon all nine of them had raging torches and formed a circle, facing outward. The pack now backed off, showing a healthy respect for this human circle of flame.

"Back to the trams," ordered Mr. Resnick, and the group slowly emerged from the rainforest, maintaining their defensive circle as they did so. "We need to get back to Prometheus and regroup. Treat the injured. Try to determine what happened."

As they made their way across the field toward the trams, they came upon four powerfully muscled reptilian creatures that had recently been shot. And not by a tranquilizer. They had been shot by a nine-millimeter automatic weapon at close range. Somebody on Isis had brought more than tranquilizer darts with them on the expedition.

Representatives of a variety of species were now gathering in the clearing and each eyed the group with a predatory bloodl.u.s.t. If the predators of Isis had ignored humans before, they were more than making up for this oversight now.

This was all some sort of nightmare, thought Regan. But she was more enraged than scared. She wanted to lash out at these ruthless creatures. Beat them back with her bare hands. If only she had the necessary strength.

The torches kept all of the animals back, but none of them retreated far. Even in the face of fire.

The unwieldy human circle continued to move awkwardly to where they had left the two trams.

But now there was only one!

The other tram was missing. It was nowhere in sight.

The nine remaining members of the Isis expedition finally reached the single tram. They snuffed out their torches against the ground, dropped them near the tram, and poured inside, hastily pus.h.i.+ng out equipment and supplies until there was plenty of room for everyone.

Carnivores of all types, each one more lethal than the last, formed a circle around the protective tram at distance of about ten yards. No animal on any planet had yet been able to approach a tram any closer.

"Let's get out of here," said Mr. Resnick, activating the holographic control to begin the return journey.

The tram didn't respond!

Mr. Resnick's eyes widened. What was going on?

He scanned the front compartment of the tram and his heart nearly stopped. The white crystal that powered it had been removed. Without it, the alien vehicle wouldn't move an inch. And if they left the tram, they would be torn to pieces by the ever-growing collection of predators straining every muscle to get at them.

But their problems didn't stop there.

The tram's red crystal was missing as well! The crystal that would allow them to pa.s.s back through the s.h.i.+eld that encircled the portal home.

Without this crystal the s.h.i.+eld was impenetrable; returning to Earth impossible.

They were stranded! Stranded on a primitive planet that had suddenly turned extraordinarily hostile to humans.

CHAPTER 12.

Hate Mail

Mr. Resnick decided not to tell everyone the devastating news until after the injured had been tended to. Amanda Resnick was already hard at work patching Miguel Sanchez using bandages from the emergency kit. Eric Morris was doing the same with Cam Kincaid. Both members of security had severe bites and slashes up and down their arms and legs. Both had lost considerable blood. Mrs. Resnick removed the Med-Pen from the kit and she and Eric traded it back and forth, each training it on every wound they found, moving it so quickly across so many backgrounds that the device became a flas.h.i.+ng kaleidoscope of colors.

Regan and her father were also bleeding from cuts and lacerations but their condition was not nearly as bad as was Miguel's and Cam's. They were able to bandage themselves up, borrowing the Med-Pen only after Miguel and Cam had been treated. Although the effects of the alien device on wound healing weren't immediately apparent, the Med-Pens pain relief function acted instantly, and they now felt no pain whatsoever.