Once the bio station began its less important fringe studies, we realised that our job here was done. The planet most certainly offered the opportunity for colonisation, but it would need proper colonising teams to build safe compounds and study any animals which might pose a threat.
So far, although we had seen some larger creatures occasionally emerging from the forest, there appeared to be little in the way of aggression from the squatters, as we called the regular visitors. They gathered this name because it was one of two ways they had to eat the invertebrates on the rock slab. Sometimes, they picked the scurrying animals up with their hands and other times, they squatted down and ate their prey directly from the rock, usually held by a hand as they did so.
‘We’ve done all we can here, safely,’ I said. ‘Ready to do some flying?’
‘Sounds good,’ said Anna.
‘Let’s take a look at nearby terrain before we need to climb back into those airtight suits to prepare for lift-off,’ I said.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
When Anna fired up the Rimor engines we watched the squatters flee the scene. They had an amazing turn of speed. We’d need to be careful when we went outside to disconnect the guy ropes from the tank.
Anna lifted us vertically a few tens of metres then flew to the coast. From there she took us along the coastline so that we could film the sort of plant life which hugged the sea.
Bella had no moon and any gravitation influence from other planets in the system was negligible, the star causing whatever tides there were. This resulted in short beaches which fringed the land and forest growing up to within a few metres of the shore, although the closer trees were very scrubby as if they couldn’t tolerate the salinity of the water. I’d tested it by remote sensor and it was slightly less saline than Earth’s oceans and had a similar alkalinity.
There were more rocky slabs along the coast and one was particularly large, almost a mile square. We fixed its position for future missions then turned inland, following a substantial river.
Everywhere, there was life. There were squatters on most of the rock slabs until they heard our approach. Larger animals were few and far between, although we did see a herd of the original pigmy hippopotamus-like creatures on two occasions.
There were many smaller animals which we glimpsed as they hurried into the cover of the trees at our approach, but larger animals were either absent or more adept at concealing themselves. We did see what might have been a family of muscular elephant-sized creatures which looked up at us but did not run. Three were large and four were smaller sizes. The tiniest ran to and huddled against the adults.
‘They’re big!’ said Bill.
‘Very much so,’ said Stroya. ‘We’d need to be wary of them if they were aggressive. Would our guns be effective against them?’
‘Probably not,’ said Bill, ‘but rapid-fire from the M16 would likely hurt enough to deter.’
Inland, the coverage of the forest or jungle was almost complete. We did encounter some lakes where animals were drinking or taking in the sunshine, but it was pretty obvious we were wasting our time. This planet needed a comprehensive study group. Even the higher land deep inside the continent was tree covered, very much like the hills and smaller mountains of equatorial Earth.
Large flying animals were plentiful over the more mountainous areas. We’d seen bird-like creatures on and off from the parked Rimor, but these were more substantial beasts with wingspans of several metres. Would they be capable of lifting a human from the ground?
‘Fuel forty per cent,’ said Anna. ‘Returning to base.’
‘Put us down closer to the tank, Anna,’ I said. ‘Let’s minimise the amount of distance we’ll have to walk to the guy ropes. I wish I’d insisted on remote detachment gear.’
‘Yes,’ agreed Bill. ‘Why didn’t they provide that?’
‘Worries about it failing and also the cables getting blown around with the Rimor’s docking engines and on blast-off,’ Anna said.
‘Hmm. Don’t see as that danger is any more likely with us having to detach them from outside the ship,’ said Bill. ‘Think I’ll bring it up again when we get back.’
‘Are we going to dismantle the bio station?’ asked Stroya.
‘No. It’ll continue to operate and store data for collection by the next expedition,’ I said.
‘There’s the tank,’ said Anna as we approached the large rocky slab. Squatters scurried in all directions as we arrived and we settled down just thirty metres from the nearest guy rope.
Only two of us needed to leave the Rimor, but I felt happier having the two women standing guard, so all four of us suited up and stood on the surface. I had a pistol and the others each collected an M16 from a storage locker while I kept a sharp eye on the forest. Two squatters had left the slab as we emerged.
Disconnecting the guy ropes required a radio detonation of the clasp at the top of the tank and a rough coiling of the cables on the ground. If worst came to worst, we could leave them lying loosely, but a tank launch test on Earth had shown that the Rimor’s engines during docking could cause them to fly about and when the combined engines fired for blast-off, there was a chance they could be blown outwards violently and rebound inwards damaging the fuselage and, possibly, causing a fuel leak which had the potential to be disastrous.
I fired the remote device to disconnect the cables and we watched them fall, very rapidly under the higher gravity, to the rock face.
‘Okay, furthest cables first. Coil them around the staples. You take the one on the left,’ I said.
We both moved as rapidly as we were able to the furthest staples while the women followed us, keeping a watchful eye in all directions.
Two done. We headed to the closer staples and began coiling the cables there.
‘Couple of visitors watching you,’ said Stroya.
I turned to see a squatter running at a measured speed towards the staple I’d just been dealing with. It stopped, lifted the cable, seemed to examine it then squatted onto it as if trying to eat it. It bobbed back up onto its legs and looked towards me. I continued to wind the cable, slightly more rapidly than I had previously.
The first squatter was joined by two more and, together, they began a slow walk towards me.
‘What shall I do, Mark?’ asked Anna. ‘Don’t want to kill them unnecessarily.’
‘Hold your fire, Anna. Almost finished here,’ I said, noticing out of the corner of my eye that Bill had completed his coiling and was backing away from the tank towards where Stroya was standing, his rifle at the ready.
All of a sudden, two of the three squatters ran towards me.
Bill shouted, ‘Leave it to me!’ and I heard a volley of gunfire.
Both of the animals were on the ground, still moving, but no longer a threat. The third beast had run for the trees. Bill approached them and fired several single shots until they ceased movement.
I finished my coiling of the cable and began removing the securing pins which held the tank to the landing legs. Job done, Bill and I made our way over to look at the dead animals.
‘Dead?’ I asked.
‘Should be,’ said Bill. ‘The one on the right took six shots including two in the head. Should have stopped it instantly.’
‘Depends where the central nervous system is. Might not be in the head,’ I said.
‘Should we take one back with us?’ asked Bill. ‘The one on the left is the least damaged. It skidded to a halt after one shot.’
‘Anna,’ I said. ‘Can you bring a couple of large specimen sacks and some sample bags from locker four? I’m going to collect some more rock samples. And keep alert! Stroya, cover her.’
‘Will do,’ she said.
Bill and I remained wary and our eyes continually swept around the perimeter, looking for any sign of movement.
Within a couple of minutes, Anna had brought the clear, tough, specimen bags and a spade. I laid one bag on the ground, opened it and Bill used the spade to move the carcass into the entrance of it. As he levered it, the squatter turned over and we could see the underside of the body. It was undoubtedly a mouth with the most incredible set of teeth, forming almost a complete circle. I wondered about the power of its jaws.
‘Good grief,’ said Bill, ‘I think that could take your arm or leg off if it got a hold of you.’
‘Yes,’ I said, looking around us warily as we shimmied the bag to get the thing fully inside. Bill sealed the bag.
Stroya pushed a device like a pallet truck alongside the carcass and we managed to lift the animal onto the platform to wheel it back to the Rimor.
‘Thanks, Stroya,’ Bill said, then looked up towards the Rimor. ‘Big brother has just arrived!’
We all looked around. Standing beside the Rimor was a much larger animal. Similar to the squatters, but a magnitude of at least four bigger.
‘Take care now,’ I said. ‘We mustn’t hit the Rimor if we fire. Let’s head towards it. Anna, watch our rear.’
I was hoping that the creature would retreat when it saw us heading in its direction, but no, it held its ground.
‘Another, coming up from the south,’ said Anna.
I glanced swiftly towards it, took Stroya’s M16 and fired a volley of ten to fifteen shots at it. I heard a grunting noise and it collapsed. Looking forward, the first beast seemed to be studying the fallen animal, then it turned towards us and charged.
‘Don’t hit the ship!’ I shouted and fired a continual volley of shots at its legs.
The beast staggered, disabled and Bill walked to one side of it and fired a volley into its head. The animal collapsed.
‘Quick,’ I said. ‘Let’s get this specimen squatter vacuum-packed and into a locker.’
Bill rushed the trolley to the craft where he and I heaved the sack into an exterior locker. Anna connected a hose and the atmosphere was sucked out of the bag. Not only did this guarantee that it was dead, but it was also necessary to prevent the bag exploding when we reached orbit.
I checked that all my sample bags were secure and slammed the locker shut.
We monitored our surroundings, quickly climbed into the cabin, and hurriedly closed the airlock door. Anna sprayed all of us and the walls and controls with a powerful disinfectant and purged the atmosphere until the computer announced that no remnants of disinfectant or Bella air remained. We were grateful to get out of the airtight suits.
Outside, the two large carcasses, and the smaller one by the coil, were being investigated by squatters who climbed all over them. They were feasting on their Bella compatriots and the frightening array of teeth under their bodies was making short work of the task.
Any colonisation of this world would take some hardy and brave individuals. Perhaps it should be left as a world to study so that we could understand how life develops on a world without any intelligent creatures. I was sure that arguments would certainly rage over what course of action to take.