Dek yanked back on the stick, worked the rudder, and pulled a couple of gs as he rolled back over the forest. He’d dropped the charge perfectly. Had taken the time to ensure it was right on the money.
He could see the exact spot the magtex had detonated and torn a hole in the canopy. Trees were shredded, leaves torn, the forest reacting like a stone had been dropped into a pond. The agitation spread out in a giant ring. A meteor impact into an ocean would look that way.
“Talina?” he called. “Did we get it?”
No answer.
Instead, he checked the instruments. Should have been organic material blasted all over the place. Chunks of torn tissue, given the mass they’d calculated for the creature. His readings showed some animal tissue, lots of tree organics, of course.
“But not enough creature guts and goo,” he murmured as he banked around for another look.
It was the angle of the light. He saw it. Like a V just ahead of the expanding tsunami of tree agitation.
He straightened, settled the airplane’s nose on the point of the vee, and dropped down. His remote sensors made the tag. Got the same readings as when he’d flown the survey that originally pinpointed the creature’s location. The difference this time was a lot of heat. Something big, moving fast.
But what the hell?
How could something that big travel that fast? And yes, he was getting a trail of animal proteins. The monster was wounded. Bleeding. Leaking. Whatever.
He dropped his airspeed to just above stall speed to try and keep pace. Couldn’t. Had to circle.
“Dek?”
“Tal? You all right?”
“Fucking crazy down here.” She sounded out of breath. “Remind us not to be on the ground underneath one of these things next time we bomb it.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve got some bad news for you.”
“How’s that?”
“It got away. It’s wounded, headed almost due west through the treetops. And Tal? It’s moving along at about thirty kph.”
Silence.
Finally, Talina’s voice, almost sounding defeated, replied, “Shit! What the hell is this thing?”
“I don’t know. I’ve got the recordings, but Talina? My take? That thing knew the second I dropped that charge. Like it knew exactly when to cut its loses and run.”
Silence.
Then, “I just told Kylee. Is it still moving?”
“Affirmative. Doesn’t seem to be slowing in the slightest. Just headed west like it’s on a mission. And moving in a hell of a hurry.”
“Roger that. Maybe Vixen can pick it up on the long-range sensors. How’s your fuel?”
“About sixty percent in the powerpack.”
“Yeah. We’ve done all we can here. See you back in PA.”
Dek ground his teeth, glared down at where the agitation in the trees marked the creature’s path. “What the hell are you?”
And more to the point, where was it going?
And how could it have known it was being bombed from above?