Attack Of The Beast free porn video

Attack of the Beast By Anon Allsop The brilliant sun broke over the little planet as we penetrated its atmosphere. Our mission was to see if it held potential for a small colony or mining operation. There were a total of 6 of us, including the pilot and co-pilot, but even they had duties besides flying the little craft. We all had been hand selected by our space station commander for this mission, and cross-trained so we could lend a hand, should the need arise. I studied every member of the crew, noting each of their specialties. First there was the Captain, Elmer Donaldson. He was our leader and piloted the craft, he also was in charge of security. Next was Lunette Emboy, a tall leggy blonde who seemed bitter at humanity. She was the co-pilot and our geologist. Beside me was my good friend, Parker Sherman, ?Park? for short. He was the best man at my wedding, and then a drinking buddy at the end of my bitter divorce. Park was our operations manager and back-up pilot. His job was to keep our ship flying and to make sure that we had what we needed, and when we needed it. His double duty on this mission was as medical technician, and like me, just in the 'off' chance that someone would be injured. In front of us was Margie VanVleet. She was the only ?egghead? of the group, preferring her studies over any social life. However, at 51, she could probably out-hike, out-climb and outrun any of us. She specialized in the studies of plants and food producing grains. Beside her was Eric Coultrain, a lanky Brit with a happy smile and a song on his lips. His job was as our biologist, specializing in alien animals. Being a former farmer, he also branched out into the field of animal domestication, so he was in charge of finding animals to use either for food or service to the colony if the area could be set up as one. As for me, I was like the old Earth television program, an expendable Crewman, the red shirt. While I was experienced at just about everything, I specialized in nothing. I knew a smattering of flying, and I could do just enough maintenance to make myself dangerous. I could identify most types of plants and known animals, at least well enough to be within the same species grouping. I also doubled as a medical technician, and could probably build a fire with the best of them. Parker called me a 'utility player', in which they could put me pretty much anywhere if they were forced to do it. 'Why was I there?' I asked myself that question all the time, but I knew that I had the great luck of being in the wrong place at the right time. I had been hanging near the command and control center when they were selecting the crew. They needed to balance out the weight of the craft and were looking for a 'Jack of all trades' type, so the good name of Christian Payne came up... and there I was. 'Oh boy, lucky me.' I sighed into my visor. Park glanced toward me as the Captain pointed the craft toward our mission planet. He had been sitting quietly beside me, which was most unlike his jovial self, he seemed to be brooding in deep thought. "What's with all the gloom?" I asked quietly, barely able to hear myself much less him when he answered. "It's so unlike you!" He shrugged. "Roger and I had it out again before we left, he can be such an asshole!" I gave him a questioning look and he continued, "I was supposed to be assigned to a different mission, one that I've been training on for the better part of the last year, Dega-7 ... and at the last minute, he sends me here!" He looked from me to the floor and drummed his fingers upon the arm of his seat. "You act like we're being sent to the armpit of the solar system." I laughed, causing my visor fogged over. "Relax Park, he probably has his reasons for sending you along on this mission instead of to Dega-7." "Would hating my guts be reason enough?" He quipped. "Roger has had it in for me since we came through the academy together. Once he got rank over me, the guy has been almost impossible." Park watched the captain for awhile, then smiled, tapping himself in the knee. "I'm not going to let Roger ruin my career though... kill them with kindness was what my mother used to say." I smiled slowly. "And if that doesn't work, there has to be a boulder laying somewhere around with his name on it! Perhaps you could bounce it off his head?" Parker laughed out loud then pushed the backside of my helmet. "You're a hoot, you know that Christian? You always seem to make me laugh and forget my petty troubles." He gave me a quick smile. "At least one person is around here that I can kid around with... and won't take something I say too damn personal." He smiled and leaned closer to my seat. "Are there any more like you at home, of the feminine persuasion? If there is, how about... when we get back, you introduce me to your sister?" "Sure, Park. Be glad too! That is, if I had one," I said laughing. "Now see? Just when I start bragging you up... you go and do that to me?" Parker laughed. "I guess you would have to blame my parents... and not me for that little minor discrepancy!" I grinned. We both looked forward and could see the Captain's reflection in the cockpit window, he was sternly looking at us. It reminded me of how my own father would look into his mirror when I was a kid, horsing around in the back seat of our family cruiser. Park gave me a sideways glance and we both began to snicker uncontrollably, slowly the Captain began to smile, as if he was fighting it, though he had no clue to what we were laughing about. ****** As we began our angled decent, I took a moment to peer out of my small window. Beside the thick tinted glass, outside, the skin of our craft glowed red from the friction of the small planet's atmosphere. Overhead, the twin suns of the planet stood like sentinels, each guarding and watching over it, hiding some undiscovered secrets that the planet may hold. Once the hot glowing flame dissipated upon entry, I could see the terrain looked quite promising below. Almost like I imagined old Earth to have been, there were rolling hills, great plateaus and thick forests. We headed toward one of these. As Captain Elmer guided us in for a landing near the edge of one such forest, I was surprised at just how much like Earth it truly was. The trip toward the ground left my stomach in my throat, however, and with a sudden jarring stop, we landed. The Captain tapped the gauge, smiled, and looked over his shoulder at Lunette. "Looks like the air is good." She glanced at her readings. "Looks like a good Earth Class Planet. Air quality is at 76%, a little thin, but tolerable." "Just like the mountains of Colorado," the Captain agreed. "Do you have a lock on an outside temperature yet?" She looked down and turned the monitor to face him. "17.8 Celsius...? He glanced toward Lunette then to us. ?That?s 64 Fahrenheit just in case you?re taking notes." Lunette smiled. "All I know is if someone doesn't open up a door pretty soon, I'll probably explode!" All turned toward the speaker, Parker Sherman. He smiled and shrugged with his palms out. "What? Can't a guy have a problem with claustrophobia?" I rolled my eyes at him. "And you call yourself an astronaut!" He grinned and threw back his harness from his shoulder, stood up and moved toward the door. "Can I throw it open, Captain?" Parker smiled and grabbed the air-lock lever. The Captain and his co-pilot exchanged a glance. "Everything checks out within limits, but the shell of our ship is still hot, so we'll need to wait for a few hours until it cools down." Park frowned and sat back down in his chair. For almost three hours we waited until the Captain finally gave us a nod. Park jumped up and quickly threw the handle up, allowing the strange smells to enter our craft. "Aahh...smells, just like home!" We all laughed and headed through the little doorway and down the ramp. One by one we climbed down the ramp and stood on the strange bluish- green turf. It felt slightly spongy as if we were standing upon a bog or thin crust over water. I crouched down and touched the strange vegetation. "Will this hold the weight of the craft? It seems like we're standing on some type of floating vegetation." Margie crouched down beside me and picked one of the little plants, noticing that each cell contained a small pocket of air. "This could be a mass of floating vegetation that we're standing on." She stood back up and pulled out a small detector, and it began flashing and clicking as we stood silently at the base of the craft. "Christian is right. Two feet below us is a body of liquid, presumably water. I would suggest that we put the ship into a remote orbit." Elmer bounced slightly and we all observed a slow ripple move away from his feet. "All the more reason to get it off of this stuff," she said observing the ever-retreating ripple. The Captain turned to me. "Get all of our plasma rifles from the craft, then pass them out." As I started back up the stairs, he said, "Grab our communicators, make sure that they have full power and see that everyone has one with them at all times." I nodded and hurried up the short flight of stairs. Behind me, I heard the Captain issue an order to Eric and Parker. "Pass out the mission rations. If we don't need to eat them, we won't. Give out enough for three days." They both nodded and hurried up the steps behind me. Parker nudged me on my arm. "Looks like we're in for a three day jaunt. You up to it?" I shrugged my response. "Do you think we'll find any unfriendlies?" he asked, looking over his shoulders. Eric was filling a backpack. "If we do, I'm sure we'll be ready for them." He grabbed the three backpacks he had filled and carried them down the stairs, and behind him walked Park and me. We moved away slowly, making sure of our footing until we stood at the base of a huge tree. Its bark resembled our Earth Maple, but the leaves were shaped like thin saw blades, having tiny veins running out like a wheel from the center. Each had a stem that grew out from its middle. Both Margie and I were studying them as the Captain pressed the flight codes for the craft. "It'll land in three days, but not before. If we get separated, head back to this point in the allotted three days, set your chronometers at Mark, for 2300." We all raised our gray chronometers. "Ready...Mark. 2300." As he turned and walked past me, I could hear the crafts engines slowly firing up, one quick backward glance and it was rising higher and higher. I shielded my eyes from the twin suns, one rising, one setting. "This will be different!" I observed, pointing to my extreme east and west. They all stopped and turned. "No night...no darkness," Lunette sighed. "That's not entirely true, we'll have a moment of twilight like we have right now. Only, it shouldn't last long," Eric replied, then pushed past us to follow our Captain as he climbed a steep incline. I waited until Margie passed and I set out behind her. "What happens when both are at their zenith?" I asked. She looked over her shoulder. "My guess is... at that moment, it will probably be at its hottest of the day." Nor was she wrong, by the time they were at the 'noon hour' the temperature had risen to over 48 degrees C. We were all very uncomfortable and hot under the weight of our field packs. For an hour more we hiked, higher and higher away from the grassy bog. Finally, the Captain stopped our little party to rest where we sat upon reddish colored rocks. Lunette studied the coloration on of the boulder upon which she was sitting, then said. "What I've seen just during our short walk today, is high concentrations of iron and copper. And this is another example of what I've been seeing." She patted the great red boulder. Elmer stood up and glanced at the great stone he had been seated upon. "Looks like a red rock to me," he teased. Lunette laughed. "I figured you'd say that!" I walked to the edge of a hill, where Margie was standing at the top. She glanced over her shoulder as she heard my approach. "Christian, come here and look at something." I climbed up the incline and stood beside her. She pointed to a darkened mass, among strange purple tangles. "What do you make of that?" "An animal?" I pulled out my optiscope and focused the image into the viewer. "Whatever it is, it's dead, and looks as though it's been that way for a long, long time." I turned my head back and called to the others. "Captain! Come here, Margie's found something!" They all stood and slowly picked their way up the hill strewn with the reddish rock. Captain Donaldson was the first to reach our side. "What do you have?" In unison, both Margie and I pointed toward the object. Elmer scratched his head and looked over his shoulder toward Eric. "What do you make of that thing, Eric?" He took the optiscope from my hand and studied the dead animal, lowering it slowly he shook his head. "I need to get closer and take a better look at it, but whatever it is... it appears to be VERY dead!" The Captain selected the path down, and we each followed his decent into the little valley where the dead animal was found. It took almost an hour to reach the location where the animal lay. "Ok, take your closer look, Eric." Captain Donaldson jerked his thumb toward the carcass. Eric slowly approached. He crouched and then examined the surrounding area almost as if he were studying for clues to the creature's death, like a great detective from old Earth. Park stepped up beside me and did a slow whistle. "How long do you suppose it has been laying there?" I shrugged. "From the looks of the skin, a pretty long damn time." We all took steps forward, each trying to get a better look at the creature. Eric touched the skin and ran his hand along the thin, mummy-like surface. "This sure is a strange find." He stood up and took it by the leg, slowly rolling it over to the other side as if it weighed nothing. "Is it hollow?" Lunette asked, tapping its side with a finger. "Not really, but it's extremely light." He slowly rolled it back to the position it had been in before. "I can't figure it out... something has dried it up like a mummy." "Wow! So, you're saying that the thing has been laying right here for a thousand years?" I asked, examining the purple leather that was its skin. Eric stood up and brushed his hands. "I'm not saying that at all; this thing has been laying here no more than two or three days." We were startled, and every eye was instantly riveted on Eric. "What caused this then?" Captain Donaldson pointed toward the mummified carcass. Eric scratched his head. "Natural mummies need extreme circumstances to be created, usually involving a dry environment like a desert or extreme cold. This area is abundant with plant life. Regardless of whether it's getting the water from the bogs, or if we're on more floating grass... natural mummification seems impossible." Lunette crouched down and examined its tangled hair. "So what do you think this creature is? Again, Eric rolled it over effortlessly, using Earth as our example, I'd say it was a female of the species. But I can only guess on the breed." Donaldson frowned. "Guess then." Eric stood and rubbed his chin. "It looks like a Banth, but the stripes are inverted more like a Tarag. I'm thinking it is an entirely new species, sort of a combination of the two... I'd guess a 'Taragth'." He smiled at his combination of the two creatures names for our find. "I'd just like to be able and see some others, before they get into this condition." Margie seemed preoccupied with the animal, studying its detail more closely. "Looks like an old wound on the hind leg... is that a scar?" I glanced down. "Probably from another one of its kind, like an old battle scar." Eric nodded, gently running his finger over the raised area of the leathery skin. We each took a small drink from our rations, then followed Captain Donaldson across the little valley toward a high plateau. After close to four hours of steady hiking, he stopped and took a small bite of a chewy item in his ration pack. We all followed suit, some of us also took another small drink. "Damn strange thing is, these twin suns make it hard to gauge the time of day. I don't know if it's noon or midnight!" He took a sip of his water. "We've been out here for a full day and...other than that creature back there, haven't seen a damn thing!" Donaldson sat his pack on the ground and leaned against the base of a 'saw tree', as we came to call the strange trees. Eric and Lunette also sank to the ground, each pulling their packs from their back. Margie dropped hers beside Captain Donaldson and fished her optiscope from its case. "Going bird watching?" Park asked, chuckling softly. She smiled. "I wish, but it intrigues me that we've seen nothing but that dead animal. I want to see if I can find anything moving." She moved off to a tall grouping of rock and climbed to the peak. "Switch your scope to thermal, you might pick up the heat from their bodies," I called out to her; she gave me a thumb's up sign and brought the scope to her eye. Park tossed a small pebble, and it struck me on the foot. "You got a thing for her?" he said laughing. I smiled. "She's a smart woman, I like her... but not in that way." "That's good to know, because I think her pendulum swings both ways." Eric laughed, placing his hands behind his head and closing his eyes. Lunette scowled. "You're saying that while she's out of ear-shot... if she heard you, she'd probably kick your ass!" Eric laughed. "I'm sure you're right." "No criticizing the crew," Captain Donaldson said, not opening his eyes. "Even if you're just joking." Park laughed out loud. "Dang! There go all the good ones that I was going to use on Christian." I picked up the small stone and tossed it back at him, striking him directly in the forehead. He laughed, rolled his eyes back and fell into the grass as though I had killed him. "Goliath's dead." Lunette laughed at Park's antics until it finally got the Captain to give out a short laugh. Park was quite a joker, and he decided that was the perfect time to hang out his tongue in his mock death. I searched out and found another tiny stone, gave it a flip and laughed as it struck him in the crotch. He sat upright really fast and grabbed at the area. "I guess that got your attention!" Lunette said laughing, holding her slender hand over her mouth. Park made a face and gave me a goofy, mean look. He searched around and placed his hands on a rock about the size of a small child. "Okay... my turn!" He laughed, as he pretended to pick it up and toss it at me. After about an hour away from our group, Margie returned to camp. "Hey... I found some more of those creatures like the dead one!" Captain Donaldson sat up. "Are they alive?" She nodded and motioned for us to follow. Only the Captain, Lunette and I followed, Park and Eric were sleeping soundly. We followed her for about ten minutes. "How much farther? I don't like splitting our crew up like this." Donaldson frowned, looking back at where we came from. "It's just up here!" She stopped and pointed to eight of the striped creatures milling around in the grass. I raised my optiscope and studied them. "You found just this small herd?" Donaldson frowned. "You brought me away from the camp for this?" He slowly shook his head in frustration. I still held the scope to my eyes. "One of them is limping, and seems to have the same injury as the one we found." Both Margie and Lunette brought their scopes to their eyes. Margie began to count. "I see 1..2..3..4..5..6..females and two males. Eight total creatures." "Your limping animal is male and the one beside it is the other smaller male," Lunette observed. "The injured male seems to be the dominant one." I pulled the optiscope from my eyes and looked at the two women. "Do you think the small male did that to the bigger one?" Margie shrugged. "I guess anything's possible." Lunette lowered her scope and squinted. "Here's my take on all of this, something out there is preying on the stronger male. If he's removed from the herd... so is their protection. It's the natural way of animals, and you see it in every world that has them." "How do you explain the mummified female?" I asked, leaning against a tree. "Was she just weaker, dying from whatever made her look like a mummy?" "Come on, folks, we'd better be returning to the others or they'll be wondering what happened to us when they wake up!" the Captain shouted as he turned and began to head back. He was right so we immediately followed. By the time we arrived back at the camp, both suns were very low on the horizon, letting us know that we had been gone for at least a half day. The temperature had cooled back down to a more comfortable 17 degrees C, and we all were able to rest comfortably. After quite a restful sleep, I sat up and stretched, then finally standing, I worked the kinks out of my back and legs. "Can't say the grass is better than a bed, although it sure is better than sleeping on the bare ground!" I sighed and opened my ration pack, and pulled out some packaged breakfast crackers. Parker rolled over and opened his eyes, slowly raised his head and looked around. "Damn, I thought this was all a dream!" He sighed and sat up, then slowly rose to his feet and stretched. All around us the others were silently waking up and moving slowly. I glanced into the sky; the suns were almost at their highest point, and the air was growing increasingly warm and humid. Margie came stumbling back from the dense brush; she had gone off to relieve herself and was now returning. "How much longer are we going to be here at this camp?" she asked Captain Donaldson. He shrugged and looked up at her. "Why?" She pointed toward the hill. "I want to check on the herd and see if they are still in the little valley." "What herd?" Eric said sitting up quickly. "Did you find a herd?" Donaldson rubbed his face and yawned. "Margie found a small herd of those weird striped purple animals, like the mummified one that we found yesterday." Eric stood quickly. "Show them to me!" Margie looked at Captain Donaldson, waiting for his consent. He frowned, then waived her off with his hand. "Keep your communicators on, and we'll wait for you here." They started away, picking their way down the narrow trail that we had used yesterday. "If you don't mind, Captain, I'll go with them," I said, watching them drop below the rise. "Go on, but don't stay there long. We need to be starting back today." I nodded and quickly darted off behind them. ****** Margie pointed out the herd to Eric, who slowly brought the optiscope to his eyes and studied each of the strange animals on the field. "I count a total of seven." I held my scope up and scoured the edge, where the woods and grass met. "Something is laying next to the trees." The other two directed their gaze toward where I indicated. "Do you suppose it's the injured male?" I wondered aloud, when I couldn't see it in the field. "Let?s take a look at it!" Eric stood and began to work his way through the forest of trees, both Margie and I followed. "We'll keep to the trees and with the breeze blowing toward us, we can move closely without spooking them." He gestured along the wood line. "We should be able to get right on top of them from over there." As we were walking we stumbled upon another dried mummy carcass. Eric examined it closely. "Another female of the species. She doesn't have any visible wounds, so trying to figure out how she died is going to be pretty tough." He stood and studied the animals just below us in his scope. "I count 6 females and the one small male." Margie looked at the mummified carcass by our feet. "Do you suppose this was one of the females we saw yesterday?" She asked, nudging the creature?s long leg with her foot. "The other one over there next to the woods is probably the big, injured male we saw yesterday." I pointed. Again we rose and slowly picked our way along the edge of the woods, finally stopping at the carcass of the other animal. "You need to have your eyes checked!" Eric grinned. "Your big male is really a small female." "It has to be a different one!" I said, studying the other live creatures as they grazed upon the lush vegetation. "Christian, look at this." Margie tugged at my arm as she whispered. I peered at the stretched skin of the female creature. Her leg was scarred from a wound in the exact spot as the male had yesterday. "That's strange," I whispered. "It must be a different one." Eric laughed. "Unless you can explain how the male magically transformed into the female you see mummified before you!" He slowly stood and smiled. "We all know that isn't possible, so somewhere out there... is your injured male." He stood up and picked his way through a tangle of strange lavender- colored brush, studying the ground around the carcass like a detective. "That makes something like what, three females that we've found?" Both Margie and I nodded. "Maybe it?s some kind of illness that is only affecting the females?" "I guess that's possible, but, why aren't they eaten?" I asked. "Why are we only able to find those who went through the mummification process?? "Hey, over here's another one!" Margie shouted, causing the little heard to suddenly raise their heads and look our direction. Suddenly, one by one they hurried to the far side of the little meadow, leaving us in the shadows of the great 'saw trees'. She was standing over the carcass. "It's another female. Do you suppose it's a disease? Possibly something that is working on the genetic level and only attacking the females?" Eric walked to her side as she finished speaking. "Maybe. We'd better figure it out soon or both Lunette and you may be in jeopardy." He bent down and picked up a dried-out leg. "This one has been laying here for quite a long time, maybe as long as a week or two." I looked down at it as he tore away a small piece of the creature's dried skin. "How do you figure that?" I asked. He rolled it over, revealing that the grass under it was a pale yellow. "It's lain here long enough to keep the sun off the vegetation." Eric stood up and placed the skin fragment in a small bag. "Let?s get back to the camp. I want to run some tests on this sample." We slowly worked our way back through the woods, with our positioning signal directing us back toward our camp. As we rounded a large outcropping of rock, we found another mummified female creature, but this time it was a Yellow Gorth. "Damn!" Eric spat. "There's another one over there and they are both females!" "What is a Yellow Gorth doing on this planet?" Margie asked, her voice trembling. "They've been found on four other planets in this system, so it wouldn't be too much of a reach to find them here." He looked from one to the other. "They mate for life and have never been seen alone, unless they are the immature offspring. It's unusual to find two females together." He took another sample from each of them which he placed in separate bags, marking the little white labels. "Maybe you found the only two that preferred their own sex?" I said laughing. "Perhaps they were a pair?" Margie gave me a stern glance. Eric rolled one over and pointed to the almost white grass that was lying beneath it. "This is quite a puzzle because we're only finding dead females. Every one is mummified and weighs a fraction of their normal weight. Some, like this one, have no external damage and yet...there are some like the other that have been wounded and possess a healed-over scar like that one." He pointed to the other, laying nearby. "We had better notify the Captain, this could be some kind of epidemic that is only affecting the females on the planet. We may need to have Margie and Lunette stay aboard the ship until we can figure out what it is that we're dealing with!" Again we set off toward our camp, but this time we hurried with urgency. ****** After we had explained what was found on our short trip, the Captain decided that we should return back to the ship and bring it into the valley where the creatures could be examined thoroughly. It was close to the zenith of the twin suns, and the air was becoming hot and sticky. While we ate a quick lunch, Captain Donaldson asked for any suggestions on what we should do. Eric was the first to speak up. "I want to go back in there and run a few more tests on those animals, both the live ones and the dead." The Captain nodded. "I agree with Eric, the more we know about whatever is killing those animals, the better I'll feel," Lunette added. "I don't like knowing that it's only the females being affected." I agreed. "It would put quite a damper on making this a viable colony if it is harmful to the female of our population." The captain scowled, then glanced toward Lunette. Margie sat quietly sipping her drink. "I'll go down with Eric, it may show some plant that is killing the animals. It would pay to have a botanist on hand to know what test to run on stomach or feces contents." Park made a face at her comment. "We'll need a security perimeter-set up. Christian can help me do it." "That leaves Lunette and I." The Captain sighed and stretched. "I'll leave, after I take a short nap, to get the ship back here. I'm assuming you'll need some of the scientific equipment that is on there." Eric nodded in agreement, Lunette cleared her throat as if she were about to speak. "I'll hike back to get the ship; you stay here and set up operations. We can't have our Captain separating himself from the crew." Captain Donaldson slowly nodded, knowing that she was right. "When we were there in the clearing yesterday, I noticed a high point about a mile from where we spied the herd. That would be a good vantage to set up camp. Go ahead and land the craft there and advise us of your arrival once you've landed. When we get word from you, we'll move our camp later that day." He turned to Lunette. "I'm figuring that it should take you a day and a half to get back to the bog, and about 15 minutes to fly here. I guess we'll see you in two days." She nodded and stood up, raising her pack to her slender shoulders. "Lunette, be careful, and keep your plasma cannon handy." She smiled and quickly turned, disappearing back down the trail we had arrived here just yesterday. For the next one and a half days, Eric and Margie scoured over the mummified carcasses of the animals that we had discovered. On the hill where the Captain had asked Lunette to land our craft, Park and I begin setting up small security beacons that would light up if an intruder would break a beam. Just to the inside of that, we aligned a secondary boundary that would sound an alarm which should scare off any animal that happened to be passing through. If anything broke through that defense, we always had our plasma cannons and we weren't afraid to use them. As we were locking down the last of the sound amplifiers, the Captain's voice broke across the speaker of my communicator. "You guys had better get out of the area. Lunette is supposed to land soon and you know what kind of heat that the ship gives off when it first comes in." "Got it. We're just finishing up here, Captain." I touched the little pad on my uniform and spoke out. "Have you heard from her yet?" We waited for a few seconds, listening to the quiet breeze blowing through the Saw Trees. "She just called in. Lunette will be there in about 14 minutes," came the response. I looked up into the sky and tapped Park on his arm. "We'd better be moving. This place will be hot for a few hours." He nodded and gathered up our tools, heading back toward our little camp. Park and I were about half way across the little meadow when the ship broke below the cloud cover, a little silver shaft of light that was our craft. Lunette set down exactly in the center of the security perimeter we had just erected. I touched the pad. "She's landed, Captain." "Come on back and we'll wait for the hull to cool. You two can help us carry everything back to the new camp." Park laughed, looking at me and smiling. "Just what we wanted to do, be pack-mules for the crew." "There shouldn't be that much stuff to haul out. We only brought along the packs we carried in," I replied as I turned back toward the direction of our camp. "Do you suppose the Captain's trying to be funny?" I grinned. "If he is, he'd better not quit his day job!" We both laughed at our sorry joke, as we entered the temporary camp where the others were waiting for us. We ate a quick bite and settled back for a short nap, preparing to move our camp to the craft as soon as we got the ?all clear? from Lunette. ****** Lunette?s communicator awoke us from our nap. "All clear, Captain. Do you want me to come over there and help move the camp?" Donaldson replied. "That's a negative, Lunette. Stay put, we're breaking camp and will be there within an hour." "Okay, I'll wait here for you and just take in some sun," came the voice from his cell. "Don't get too comfortable, Lunette. We wouldn't want you to burn!" Park said, laughing. "We'll see you in a few minutes." We began milling about, re-packing our packs and slowly heading down into the wooded valley. As we reached the meadow, the Captain's communicator caused us all to turn. "Did you see it?" the voice asked, it was Lunette's. Our group paused, Captain Donaldson frowned and pushed his communication cell. "See what?" "A creature, it was standing just outside the perimeter-you set!" came the reply. "Was it a Yellow Gorth or a Banth?" Eric shouted into the air as he touched the pad. "I'm not sure, let me get a closer look." There was a long pause, then her voice broke again on our cell?s. "It's still standing by the tree line." I quickly brought my optiscope to my eyes and scanned the length of trees. "It's near the perimeter, by the base of those trees!" They all brought their scopes to their eyes and followed my directions. "What the hell is that thing?" Margie asked anyone who was watching. "Come on!" the Captain shouted as we began running across the meadow. Our line of sight dropped slightly behind a hill, for almost a full minute the craft was blocked from our view. As we raced across the top of the hill, the creature slipped into the trees and disappeared among the foliage. One by one we ran past the first perimeter, our communicators keeping the sound alarms from firing. Into the second ring we raced, again, the communicators acting as our remote and shutting down the auditory cannons. We stood watching the trees with our optiscopes while the Captain climbed the ramp. "Lunette?" he called, then stepped out to the top decking. "Keep your eyes open folks, I don't like the feeling I'm getting about this." He began to scan the trees and below with his scope, suddenly lowering them. "Shit!" he growled, raising it back to his eyes for a second look. "Can you guys get a lock on whatever it is that is laying by the bigger 'Saw Tree' to our immediate left?" We each scanned down into that area. "Looks like another mummified carcass." Eric started to walk in that direction. I followed closely, removing my plasma cannon from my leg holster. "Fan out left, that creature might still be around," Eric ordered as he pulled out his own cannon. I flipped the safety off, and the plasma cannon was armed and ready. Eric slowly approached the carcass. "Oh... God." From where I stood, I saw his knees buckle as he sank to the ground. His face was white, then he stood and sadly looked back toward the Captain. "It's Lunette!" Then turned back toward the mummified corpse, and speaking with a trembling voice. "Or, at least what's left of her." I felt a slow chill race along my spine as I made my way back toward our fallen crewmember. Park was working his way toward us, his plasma cannon covering the woods just ahead of him. A low branch moved strangely, but before I could call out, it snapped up quickly. Suddenly, a creature leapt from the dense foliage and lunged at Eric. He fell backward over Lunette and scrambled to his feet. I fired the cannon and incinerated about ten square feet of vegetation into the woods as the creature disappeared from view. Park called out, "Did you get it?" I scanned the trees and beyond. "I don't think so, that damn thing is quick!" I shouted, stepping to the edge of the woods, the business end of the cannon pointing into the brush. Here and there around me small fires danced in the thin air before being smothered by the humidity. I looked down at Eric. "You okay?" He stood up and scowled into the woods. "I'll be all right." He looked down at the leathery image of what had once been Lunette. "Damn." He sighed. "She never had a chance." Park stopped next to us. "We probably had better move her away from the woods; we don't need that thing coming out after us again." By the time the others had reached our position, we had her body moved well into the perimeter of our security border. The others stopped just far enough away so they wouldn't be forced to look at Lunette's body. Reverently, we carried the stiff form of Lunette back toward the little craft. She only weighed about 20 pounds, more than a hundred pounds lighter than she had been, mere moments ago. Margie turned her head away and cried into Captain Donaldson's shoulder. After a few moments, the Captain called out, "You guys okay? Anyone injured?" He tried hard to not stare at his co-pilot's corpse. I pointed to Eric. "Eric was knocked down by the thing, and I got off a shot, but it was moving too fast." Donaldson crouched down by his co- pilot, burying his head in his hands. We slowly moved away to let him have his moment of silence. Park and I stood with Eric. Margie kept looking at the mummified corpse of Lunette, then turned away. I caught Park's attention and gave him a nod, then he slowly pulled a thermal blanket from his pack, walked back, and laid it over the body of Lunette. The Captain slowly stood up, his eyes glassy with emotion. "I want whatever it is that did this, DEAD!" He gently rolled her over and placed her body on the blanket, quietly zipping it up and sealing her inside. "Bury her." He looked at Park, Eric and I. "I know she's beyond caring now... but she would want it that way. That's the least we can do for her." We each nodded and Park and Eric carried her to a small hill, not far away, while I retrieved two shovels from inside the craft. Park took one and Eric took the other, while I stood silently praying and watched them dig. After a while, Park removed his uniform jacket and dropped it on the ground beside us, and soon after, Eric removed his as well. I picked them up and held onto each one while they continued to dig. I glanced down at Eric's jacket sleeve, and noticed that it had a tear in it almost three inches long. As I held it up, I could see that it was the right sleeve that was damaged. Margie was standing next to me and saw the jacket at the same time as I did, Together, we stared at Eric's arm. He had a short cut on his forearm, about two inches long. "Eric, you need some medical attention," I pointed out, causing him to look down. "Let me finish up for you... go on and let Margie take a look at it." He shrugged and then handed me the shovel, slowly walking away with Margie. "He'll be okay, it was only a scratch." Parker smiled weakly as he and I lowered our crewmember into the grave. He sighed and leaned against his shovel as he stood. "She was one hell of a woman... a real fighter, I'm really going to miss her company." I nodded, fighting back the tears that were collecting. "I hope I hit that damn thing. Maybe I was lucky enough to have inflicted a bit of my own damage to it." "Hope so. If not, I'm sure it'll be back, especially since we've set up camp in its back yard," Park said as he scanned the forest. We looked up as the Captain was walking toward us. The Captain stopped and stared into the hole as we continued to deposit the strange soil onto our comrade. "Well, I guess we know what is killing all the animals around here." He folded his large arms across his barrel chest. "It seems to prefer females." I nodded and looked past him to the craft. "How's Eric's arm?" "That's why I came out here, looks like he may need a stitch or two in it." I nodded as he looked into the grave containing the silver blanket that held his co-pilot, He sighed slowly, then looked up at me. "Eric's going to need those stitches. I'll help Parker bury Lunette." I hesitated, exchanging a glance with Park. "Go on, Christian. I'll be okay," the Captain said as he took the shovel from my hand. I left slowly to the sound of the soft, strange dirt being dropped over our companion. After a minute I reached the ramp and climbed up. As I entered the craft, Eric and Margie were sitting, waiting for me. I glanced at Eric, who was quiet and sullen. "Captain said I should put some stitches into you." He nodded, extended his arm out for me to stitch. I examined the wound; Margie had done an excellent job preparing him for the stitches. "Thanks for cleaning it up, Margie. Getting all of the hair from around the wound will help the bandage to stick better." They both looked up at me as Margie said. "I didn't clean the hair away from the wound." I leaned over his arm and compared it to his uninjured one. One had light traces of fine hair around the wound, while the other was thick with long dark hairs. I quickly put in the stitches as Eric held his arm out in front of himself. Mentally, I compared the two. The uninjured arm was definitely normal, but the other wounded arm was slightly thinner and almost all hairless. I said nothing, but my mind was thinking of everything that I had wanted to say. 'Was the creature's scratch causing this to him?' I made a note to myself to keep my eye on Eric. ****** Upon the Captain?s request, I guarded the security perimeter. Slowly I made a circle around the woods and continued to watch for the creature. After about ten rounds, Park trotted up beside me. "How's it going?" I glanced over nervously. "Fine I guess, considering the circumstances." "Captain wants us to keep vigilant, just in the case that the thing comes back." He and I walked alone, in silence for about twenty steps. Park finally said, "You saw it, didn't you?" I nodded, but said nothing. "What did it look like? Describe it for me... so I know what I'm trying to kill." We were passing the blackened woods, where I had taken my shot at it. "It went into the brush there, hideous." I shuddered, thinking back to when I saw the branch suddenly spring up. "The whole thing happened so fast, it was there, then it was gone." I pointed to where I was standing, then to where Lunette and Eric were. "I shot from back there, but it was just a blur. You were coming up along the woods back there when it all happened." I pointed out where Park had been standing. He said nothing as we walked along; Park was a good friend, trying to help me sort out what had happened. "It had a triangular shaped head, it was shiny, kind of an oily purple color. Its whole head reminded me of a preying mantis, with its mouth opening from side to side." I bent slightly at my knees. "It walked like this, only the knees were backward and held its body balanced over it as if in a crouch." Finally Park spoke. "Did it have arms?" I nodded. "They were thin, yet muscular looking, long, with two fingers and a thumb. The fingertips were flat and had long formidable looking claws on the ends of each." I stared into the woods, a movement causing me to study the foliage closer with my eyes. "I'll tell you this, the creature that I saw was no herbivore like the other creatures that we've seen. This thing was definitely a predator!" Park stood with me watching into the woods, as the great 'Saw Trees' were swaying in the hot breeze. "How's Eric doing?" I asked. "Seems okay. He's running more tests, I think he's believing that the creature that went after him, and the one that's been mummifying all of the animals including Lunette, are one and the same." He and I continued walking slowly. We both glanced up, and saw that Margie and the Captain were standing over Lunette's grave. From where we were positioned, we could see that she was crying. The Captain was trying to console her. "She's taking Lunette's death pretty hard," Park observed. "Yeah, I guess they were good friends from way back. I heard Lunette say once that they had grown up in the same wing of the Space Station." I heard a twig snap just inside of the woods, and instantly both Park and I stopped and watched the dense undergrowth. "There's something inside there, waiting for us to drop our guard!" "You think it's the creature?" Park asked, flipping off his plasma cannon's safety. "Could be," I replied tersely, studying the trees, flipping mine off as well. I glanced up into the sky. The twin suns were setting into the horizon, one at each end of the little valley. I turned toward Park. "Let?s pull back into the second perimeter. It's time I should be checking Eric's arm. That is, unless you want to check up on him for me?" Park smiled as we backed away from the woods covering them in the strange twilight. "That's okay, I have made it a rule to never steal another man's patient." "Good one," I said laughing as I kept the woods covered, and slowly backed our way past the first perimeter, and into the second. Park gave me the high sign and continued to walk the path that made up our camp interior; I turned and headed toward the craft where I knew I would find Eric. As I passed the Captain, I could see he was having a problem with Margie. "We're going to finish our mission and pull out as soon as everything is packed?" Margie argued her point. "Lunette wouldn't want us to bail out just because something happened to her!" The Captain's jaw flexed slowly. "We've already lost one crewmember to that thing. I can't risk this mission on any more lives!" "We all knew there would be dangers in flying here!" She stared into his eyes coldly. "Even Lunette knew something might happen." "The only mission that I'm interested in right now, is killing that damn creature." She pointed to the burned section of woods. "It killed one of our crew and injured another. I don?t want to take the chance of waiting it out so it can kill again!" Margie asked, "If we kill it, will you'll agree to finish the mission?" The Captain looked up, into the woods, then sighed. "All right... we'll rest, then we'll help you hunt it down, but it seems that you should want to stay around camp though, especially since it has a thing for females." Captain Donaldson checked his plasma cannon, seeing if it still held a full charge. "We'll leave when the suns are straight up." "Why not go now?" She frowned. "We'll have the element of surprise!" He scowled at her. "It's watching this camp. No, we'll wait until the suns are straight up and we have the maximum brightness of the day!" She frowned, clearly unhappy with the idea of waiting, but Margie nodded in agreement. They both looked up as I walked past, heading toward the craft. ...... I stepped inside, walking toward the back where I knew Eric could be found hovering over his science lab. He had his head down and was resting, his arms folded beneath him. As I approached, he slowly raised his head. I stopped short, watching as his hair seemed fuller and strangely glossy, much different than I had grown used to seeing. I tried not to gawk as I walked over to my medical supplies and began to get out what I needed to change the dressing on his wound. After placing the items on the counter, I carried them over next to him. "Time to change your bandage. I...um...I also want to check the stitches that I put in, while I'm at it." He nodded and sat quietly, studying his notes. As I took my seat, he held his arm to me. The uninjured arm was slightly thinner and the hair was beginning to fall out! The one with the bandage, now more than ever, resembled a woman's arm, right down to the slender fingers! I said nothing but quickly examined the wound and began to cover it back up with clean wraps. "All right, cut the crap! Don't tell me that you can't see what's happening?" Eric snapped, his voice sounding slightly higher. I met his eyes with a quick glance. "I noticed, I just didn't want to say anything." He inhaled deeply. "Everything is making sense to me now." He paused, tucking his brown hair behind his ear. "That thing feeds off of the females on this planet. Somehow it needs something that is contained in their body." "Estrogen?" I asked. "Possibly, but when it draws it from their system, it also sucks all the moisture out, leaving only a hollow shell. A mummy." He drummed his slender fingers against the countertop. "I think that the reason we haven't been seeing many animals since we've been here is that the thing has almost exhausted its supply. It's actually eating itself into extinction." He picked up the discarded bandage and threw it into the waste chute. I looked out the craft's door. "Do you suppose there is more than one?" He shrugged. "My guess would be that in as little as a year, nothing will be left on this planet. Whatever it is will have killed everything, then it too will just die out." I let my eyes slowly drift over his body, I could see a slight bulge where his nipples appeared swollen and slightly protruded out, yet were covered by his jumper. He caught my glance and folded his arms against his chest; the action was decidedly feminine. I quickly forced my eyes away, then tried to say anything that would distract us from our uncomfortable situation. "I think the Captain wants to hunt it down. He's planning his own mission when we've all rested," I said as I put away the items I had that were still useable. I contemplated what Eric had just said, frowned and looked over at him. "If what you are implying is true, how would you account for the changes that are happening to yourself?" I turned to face him. "What makes you think it's only hunting females? You aren't a female, but it went after you!" He sighed. "I don't think it bit me when it came from the woods, I think it only scratched me." I waited quietly for him to continue. "Something is on the skin of that creature that has a type of chemical that attacks testosterone... in essence, it's turning me into a female... a food source." I sat up quickly, unsure of what he was telling me. "I'm sure if something is bitten, it would accelerate the process." I studied his face. His changes were happening more slowly, yet still, over the short span of time, it was remarkably quick. His face and jawbone had narrowed since I had last seen him, and his cheekbones becoming more pronounced. His lips looked slightly fuller, his eyes more open. His eyelashes had extended themselves to a length of almost a half of an inch, darkened and appeared to be curving slightly upward. I looked toward his neck; gone was his great lump of an Adams's apple, his neck was slender and proportioned like that of a woman. "Have you examined how far the changes in you have gone?" I asked, trying to not look him in the eye. "How much more will it progress?" He nodded and begin to unbutton his shirt, slowly he opened it, revealing his chest. "These damn things have almost doubled in size over the last few hours!" He indicated the diameter of his areola. "I am almost able to feel a slight puffiness in the area around it." I rubbed my chin and looked away, almost with embarrassment. Yet the medical technician in me needed to know. "Have you checked... down below?" He replied, greatly frustrated, "It's happening everywhere! My genetic code is being rewritten by something in that creature?s claw or saliva. At the rate of progression, I'll probably be a fully functioning woman within 12 hours." He looked out the small circular window, his mind seemingly enveloped in this strange planet's mystery. "By this time tomorrow, my body will be capable of producing, carrying and birthing children... the change appears to be total and complete!" I leaned against the counter. "Damn! Eric, are you sure?" He stood up, and then I could see the development of his hips as they swelled out his uniform. "I think so, had I been born female... this is how I would have looked!" He sank back into his chair, looking embarrassed. "That's not the only thing, Christian." I looked up, my arms folded across my chest. "It's like now, the way you are standing there." I looked down at myself, not sure what he was trying to say. He rolled his eyes. "Damn it, Christian! Whatever it did to me is stimulating me on the subconscious as well as the conscious levels!" He buried his head into his folded arms, frustrated at my inability to understand him fully. "Somehow, and I'm not sure how it's doing it... my freaking sexual orientation is changing!" I stood up straighter. "You mean...?" "The changes in my body are... damn it, Christian! I'm finding you attractive!" Thankfully, Park came bounding up the stairs. "Christian, Margie has just entered the woods looking for whatever it was that killed Lunette!" I quickly looked at Eric. "The Captain is going after her, trying to get her back!" I felt my heart sink. "Shit! We can't let them do that, their lives are in jeopardy!" I pushed past him then scrambled down the ramp followed closely by Eric and Park. "We've got to find them and get them back here, before that damn creature finds them!" ****** Captain Donaldson held his plasma cannon up near his shoulder as he caught Margie's arm. "Damn it Margie, why couldn't you wait for all of us?" "That thing killed my only friend here... I will not let it live another day!" She swung her arm in the direction she was heading. "Don't stop me, Captain! I'm going on... one way or another!" Margie VanVleet pulled away from him. "If you want me to return, it'll have to be at the end of a plasma cannon... because I'm not returning without knowing that that thing is dead!" He stood and sighed, then pointed into the brush. "Okay, Margie, I'll help you." Each time they would trade places, moving as they had been taught by the military, all the while they hunted the creature, drifting further and further into the woods. Then behind them a twig snapped, and they each turned quickly, fingers hovering over their trigger pad. "That damn thing is close, I can feel it!" she scowled and motioned for the Captain to slip past her as she covered his back. "It'll make a mistake and show itself to us, then we'll blow it off this planet and into oblivion." "Or it'll get us first," he muttered under his breath. Margie frowned, crouching low and looking for signs of its passing. "Not very optimistic, are you?" They continued on in silence, exchanging places as they watched for the illusive creature. Suddenly their communicatos crackled. "You have to come back to the craft! It's too dangerous for you to be out there with that thing!" Elmer looked toward Margie. "Who the hell is that talking?" Margie shrugged, shaking her head 'no'. Donaldson hit the pad on his chest. "Who is this?" "It's Eric!" the voice said. "Something is happening to me that is a direct result of contact with that creature!" "Like what?" The Captain again touched the pad on his chest. "I don't have time to explain, just get the hell out of the forest!" came back the short reply. "Your very lives depend on it!" "Well, there you have it, Margie... we should head back." Just ahead of the two, they heard steps. Their cannons were trained on the spot. Suddenly it was heard behind them, causing their attention to focus back there. Now it was beside them, just behind the dense foliage. "Can't talk now, Eric! I think we're closing in on it!" The woman shouted, then turned with her back to the Captain. "There may be two of them." Suddenly, in one fluid motion it was upon them, completely knocking VanVleet to her knees. Captain Donaldson spun his Cannon around only to have a raking claw rip it from his grasp, then throwing him aside as if he were nothing more than a rag doll. It wheeled around as Margie was scrambling toward her own dropped plasma cannon. "The plasma cannon, set it to detonate!" the Captain called from where he lay. Before her, the creature stepped on the cannon, pinning it beneath its long, two-taloned foot. Its wide triangular head lowered closer to her terrified face, and long strands of blue tinted saliva hung from its mandibles as each one clicked together slowly. It glared at her sullenly through the mirror-like surfaces of its eyes, but as she scrambled to her feet... it was upon her instantly. Elmer Donaldson struggled to his feet and began to strike out at the beast as it held Margie within its grasp. But he could see the horrified look upon her face as it began to slowly suck the life from her body. Within moments the woman who had entered the woods with him was no more than a thin shell of her former self! Her face and eyes had sunk in as her once-laughing mouth pulled back to reveal the entire gum line. She was gone; the creature had killed again. Donaldson spun quickly away from the beast, leaving his plasma cannon laying on the forest floor. He had only taken two steps when he was dragged down from behind. He lashed out with his boot as the creature pulled him slowly toward its hulking body, its little mandibles clicking with ferocity and anger. The Captain's foot was held fast by the creature, but he continued to kick at the face of the monster with his other foot. In one quick movement it bit down, and its mandible buried deep into the calf of his leg. Donaldson struck out again, with his full force striking again and again into the beast?s face. Finally he was able to break himself free, scrambling to his feet he staggered off, and limped in the direction of the craft. As the Captain ran, he could feel the blood trickling into his boot. He had been injured by the beast, but he was alive and he wanted to stay that way! He quickly tapped against his chest on the pad and he began to shout out as he ran. "It attacked us! VanVleet is dead... like Lunette!" He panted, his breath laboring for air. "We're coming in!" Parker's voice shouted over the Captain's communicator. "No!" he said, gasping for air. "Get the ship ready, this mission is scrubbed!" Donaldson stumbled over a fallen log, throwing his hands out to catch himself he landed in the lush vegetation. Behind him in the distance, he could hear the beast following. As he struggled to his feet he looked down at his hands, slowly being transformed, becoming slender and feminine. "Wha...what's happening?" he gasped. A terrified glance over his shoulder revealed the beast as it slowly stalked its prey. Donaldson continued racing toward the craft. He tripped and fell, but when he staggered to his feet, his shoes were still on the ground where he had fallen, for he had stepped out of them completely! His breath came out in short gasping pants, each audible breath elevating higher and higher in pitch. To his left the beast ran parallel of him, its intent to cut off his escape from the woods. Again he scrambled, but now, the longer pant legs impeded his ability to run effectively. Elmer was slowly shrinking in size, enveloping his feet in the process. He threw off the uniform pants and raced through the woods, smooth feminine legs propelling him forward. His wounded leg all but forgotten, as terror propelled him onward. He fell and rolled, above him the beast raced on, turning slightly toward his direction. As Donaldson crawled up the hill, he could feel breasts swinging freely upon his chest, unfettered under his uniform. In a panicked horror, he realized that the creature?s bite was transforming him into a female! The faster he, now she, ran, the more she could feel the changes to her body! Her breasts bounced and jiggled, her hips and legs had altered enough that she could feel that her gait was now that of a female! She now had slender arms that were much shorter, causing her hands to be covered by her uniform jacket! Her heart was racing, almost as though it would burst through her chest. Self-preservation, more than anything was propelling her onward, as she stumbled over a thick branch and fell. Scrambling to her feet she ran on, burning tears coursing down her dirt covered face, each one falling upon her oversized shirt. On and on she stumbled through the vegetation, pitiful cries and sobs the only vocalization she could squeeze out from her terrified feminine lungs. Tears were streaming down her soft cheeks as she raced toward the edge of the woods, between the trees she could just make out the craft as it sat upon the hill. She struck the pad upon her breast. "I can see the ship, I'm almost there!" she cried out in her now feminine voice. "I?ve got to hurry, it's right behind me!" she screamed out in fear. ****** The three of us had fanned out and stood facing the woods; between Park and me stood the feminine form of Eric. His budding breasts were heaving from the tension of our ordeal. Ever since we heard the strange voice of a girl, we had been vigilant, knowing that it was most likely, the altered form of our Captain fleeing for his very life from the creature. I saw movement flashing through the trees. It was a female, but close behind her raced the beast! She fell just short of the meadow. Crying out, her voice, now horse from screaming, she began to crawl through the grass toward safety. Suddenly, the beast was upon her! Just in front of Eric, she fell halfway into the meadow, halfway in the tall brush. Her blood-curdling scream was like fingernails on a chalkboard that slowly died away, just as the life in her once beautiful eyes. Eric threw himself at the beast, which flung him away in one fluid motion. He struck his back against a tree and he fell in a great heap at its base. Parker took a quick shot at it, but the creature easily dodged it, then turned and grabbed onto Eric's leg. I raced alongside, trying to turn it back toward Parker where he could hopefully get a shot off at it. In the meantime, I saw Eric being dragged along as if he were a helpless stuffed animal in a child's arms. Slowly the beast began to veer to its left, back toward Park. Within a minute we had it between us, its retreat thwarted by the blast of Parker?s plasma canon. It held out Eric as if tempting us to fire, but it seemed to know we couldn't shoot one of our own. The beast?s great barrel lungs were working like a bellows, each rib flexing with its breathing. Eric yelled out, screaming in pain, his feminine sounding voice crying. "Shoot it! Shoot the damn thing!" "We can't! If we shoot at it, we'll hit you!" I cried out. Parker stood holding his knees, his chest heaving from our running. I cupped my hand to my mouth and shouted across to him. "Narrow the Plasma beam, that should allow you to place a pinpoint shot!" I could see Park begin to twist the base of his cannon. "No!" Eric shouted. "If you do that, you'll have to move in too close! The thing will kill us all, instead of just me!" I quickly began narrowing the beam, ignoring what Eric was saying. As both Park and I moved in, the beast clutched Eric tighter. Parker took a shot, hitting it in the arm. As the beast howled in rage and pain, I closed in, grabbing Eric by his now slender hand. "No, Christian!" The great beast wheeled on me and with one shove from his claw-like hand, flung me almost twenty feet into the woods. I rolled until the brush brought me to a halt.