Killer Planet

Chapter Four

“Petra!” Jan shook his head groggily and forced himself into an upright position. “You…you aren’t supposed to be here.”

“Somebody had to get the Seeker out of the cargo hold before the controls were taken away from Ozburt,” Petra said, her gaze fixed on the tilting and rapidly expanding view of Verdia directly ahead. “And you were too busy having a snooze. Are you all right now?”

“I guess so.” There was a crushing pain in Jan’s head, and he felt cold and nauseated, but he was again in control of his thoughts and actions.

“That’s good—because I’m finding this thing harder to fly than I expected.” Petra spoke calmly, but a slight tremor in her voice alerted Jan to the fact that she was in difficulties as the rocket ship plunged into the upper levels of Verdia’s atmosphere.

“I’ll take over now,” he said. He held the control wheel steady while Petra clambered into the small storage space at the rear of the cockpit, then he slid over into the pilot’s seat. While he was strapping himself in, Petra twisted her way into the passenger seat and did likewise. Until that point the drop towards Verdia had been smooth and silent, but now the ship was beginning to stir and come to life as it reached the denser air strata. A faint but gradually increasing whistling sound testified to its speed through the atmosphere.

The descent through Verdia’s cloud cover was a prolonged series of fierce jolts which tested the Seeker’s structure to the limit. Jan’s arms were aching from the strain of keeping the little ship under control, and there were times when he feared that the supertough plastic of the wings might snap from overload as they hit the bottom of an airpocket.

“We have to touch down close to the planet’s north pole,” he said during a lull in the atmospheric buffeting. “That would be tough enough in an ordinary spacecraft, but it’s worse in the Seeker because we have no navigational instruments to help us find our way down.”

“Why’s that?”

“They’d have to be made of metal, and…”Jan swore as an unusually powerful gust turned the little ship on its side and he had to fight to bring it level. “We know that metal disturbs the planet’s magnetic field…attracts all the lightning…so the Seeker is built almost entirely of plastics. It will be able to land safely—we hope!”

Petra glanced all around the cockpit, noting the complete absence of metal fittings. “But what about the rocket motor?”

“Ceramic. Modern ceramics are as tough and as heatproof as many metals. The motor is the least of our worries—I’m only praying the ship doesn’t start to break up around us.”

Petra fell silent, deciding not to risk distracting Jan from the task of controlling the Seeker in its downward plunge through Verdia’s cloudy atmosphere. The ship was dropping through the greyness at hundreds of kilometres an hour, only gradually losing speed because of friction with the air, and at this rate there was little time for conversation.

A few hectic minutes was all it would take for the Seeker to reach ground level. In comparison, Ozburt—in the mother ship’s drifting orbital calmness—could have been at a Sunday picnic. There was no doubt that he would soon be arrested by the Stellar Quarantine Authority, but after questioning he would probably be sent home to spend the coming night securely tucked up in bed.

Jan’s face was pale with tension and fatigue as he fought the Seeker’s controls. He was in good physical condition, but he had been weakened by the stunning blow to his chin, and the turbulence of Verdia’s atmosphere was draining his strength. It was as if the Killer Planet was a giant living entity which had sensed their approach and was doing its best to destroy the two human intruders before they even set foot on the surface. Jan muttered grimly to himself as the ship gave a particularly violent lurch, then all at once they were through the cloud ceiling and a jungle-covered landscape was spread out below.

Ahead of the plunging craft there appeared faint geometric markings which confirmed that it was close to the ancient ruin of a city which had been discovered by the development team. The patterns were swelling rapidly in the forward windscreen, making it apparent that something would have to be done quickly to avoid a crash.

“Pull her up!” Petra shouted. “Do you need any help?”

“I can manage,” Jan replied.

The cloud ceiling had been so low that the craft was now skimming the tops of the higher trees. Jan hauled back on the control column, bringing the Seeker’s nose sharply upwards, and in the same instant fired the rocket motor. The sudden surge of power converted what would have been a fatal stall for an ordinary aircraft into a landing manoeuvre which Jan had practised many times on the computer simulator.

The Seeker swept into a vertical attitude, gyroscopically balanced on its fiery exhaust, and sank tail-first down into the sea of thick foliage. Leaves, fronds and sections of smoking vine fountained away on all sides as the force of the exhaust tore into the vegetation, then the ship touched solid ground. Jan cut the engine. Petra and he lay perfectly still for a moment, relieved at having reached the ground in safety.

“We made it,” Jan breathed. “I wouldn’t like to go through that again—not ever.”

“We’d better start thinking about what comes next.” Petra began unbuckling her safety harness.

Jan did likewise. “The main thing is that Dad was right about the Seeker’s non-metallic construction—the ship isn’t attracting any lightning.”

“It might be attracting other things, though. We’re in a jungle, Jan, and it isn’t even an Earth jungle—there could be anything waiting for us out there. We’d better get ourselves ready to face it.”

“You’re right,” Jan replied, pulling open the canopy.

Warm and intensely humid air swirled through the cockpit, bringing with it a medley of sounds from the jungle—raucous cries from unseen birds, the chittering of small animals, and occasional deep-toned bellows from unknown larger species.

“So far so good,” Jan said, turning to look at Petra. “But now there’s the problem of what to do with you.”

“What problem?” There was more than a hint of exasperation in Petra’s voice. “I don’t see any problem.”

“Petra, you can hear what it’s like out there in the jungle. This is a dangerous place and I can’t expect you to…”

“Listen to me, Jan Hazard—I want to get this thing settled once and for all,” Petra interrupted. “There are only two courses open to us at this stage. The first one is that you can take off again immediately, surrender to the quarantine police and forget all about rescuing Bari. You don’t want to do that, do you?”

“No.”

“Good! At least we’ve got that much settled. The second option is that we stop wasting valuable time and go and find your brother.” Petra finished unfastening her harness. “And as for the danger from wild animals—don’t forget I’m a better shot than you with the bow. Now, are we agreed that you will stop fussing over me like a mother hen and concentrate on the job we have to do?”

Jan hesitated briefly, then gave her a smile of gratitude. “It’s a deal,” he said. “And thanks for putting me straight.”

“We’ll make a good team,” Petra replied, returning his smile. “Now, if you’ll hand me the spare survival pack we can get started.”

Jan took the two lightweight containers from the rear of the cockpit and gave one to Petra. She swung herself out of the cockpit with a single lithe movement and worked her way down the side of the crimson ship. With his own pack slung over his shoulder, Jan went out after her, closing the canopy to keep out the rain and unwelcome wildlife, then climbed down to the ground.

The blackened area of the landing site was still smoking, but there was no risk of fire spreading—every leaf and branch of the surrounding jungle dripped with moisture which was condensing out of Verdia’s saturated air. Thunder rumbled intermittently in the distance and every now and then the scene was illuminated by varicoloured flashes of lightning.

“This is a real hellhole, isn’t it?” Jan said solemnly, looking all about him. “It would be bloody hard for anybody to survive for long here without a lot of supplies.”

Petra, who had been busy opening her pack, gave him a level stare. “I never met your brother, but from what you told me about him he’s a natural survivor. Right?”

“Right.”

“And we’re here on the assumption that he has survived. Isn’t that so?”

Jan nodded, forcing a smile. “Bari has to be alive around here, somewhere, and we’re going to find him.”

He opened his own pack and took from it a green one-piece coverall which was light, tough and waterproof. After he had pulled it on over his shirt and slacks—reminders that less than an hour ago he had been enjoying the Florida summer—and had zipped it up to his neck he felt better prepared to face the jungle.

Petra, now similarly attired, drew the next item out of her pack—a belt on which were slung a knife and a two-edged sword. She strapped them on and partially withdrew the grey-bladed sword from its sheath.

“More plastic,” she said, laughing. “I feel as if I’d been kitted out by some fast-food restaurant. Where’s my plastic spoon?”

“Those weapons are as good as best-quality steel,” Jan assured her. “The main difference is they’re a bit lighter.”

When he had fastened his own belt he added to it a pouch containing compressed rations and some medical supplies. Finally, he stooped and brought out a plastic bow and a quiver of tubular arrows, a weapon with which he had practised assiduously for many hours under Petra’s tuition. The laminated bow was of standard hunting pattern, but the arrows were of his father’s own design and far from conventional. Each was in fact a slim solid-fuel rocket, the propellant of which was ignited by the sudden acceleration of the arrow’s release. The plastic fletchings were coloured yellow, orange or red according to the quantity and power of the fuel the arrows contained. Jan had no idea of what dangerous beasts the Verdian jungle might harbour, but he believed that he and Petra were well equipped to deal with them.

Petra finished kitting out at the same time as Jan. She pinned up her hair in a businesslike fashion and covered it with the jungle hat which had come with the supply pack. As he watched her calm preparations for facing the unknown the thought came to Jan that he had been lucky that fate had given him Petra as a companion—and perhaps that was a good omen for the rest of the mission.

“Are we ready to set off?” he said.

“I’ve been ready for ages.” Petra examined him with a humorously critical eye. “And I must say I look better in this kind of gear than you do—perhaps I should assume command of this whole expedition.”

“Field promotions have to be earned, and so far we haven’t seen any action.” Slinging his quiver and bow over his shoulder, Jan took a small compass from his pocket. Its needle was the tiny fragment of metal he had risked bringing on the desperate venture. At this proximity to Verdia’s north pole the needle was standing almost vertically on its pivot, but he managed to get a rough bearing which would help them find their way back to the ship.

“Well, the first thing we have to do is make our way into that ruined city we saw from the air,” Jan said. “That was where the first landing was made by the engineering group, and the records show that the SEF detachment touched down in roughly the same area.”

“Do you think the ones who survived would have stayed in the same place where all those terrible things happened?”

“Probably not, but I’m betting that if survivors from either group had decided to move to a safer or pleasanter area they would have left direction signs behind them. Don’t forget they wouldn’t have realised that the Council was going to sell them down the river—they would have been expecting a full-scale rescue mission to come after them.”

Petra nodded. “That makes sense.”

With one last glance at the Seeker—its slick crimson curvatures so incongruous in the prehistoric environment of the jungle—Jan and Petra unsheathed their swords and moved off into the gloom. As natives of Florida, they were no strangers to swampy wilderness—such as the Everglades—but nothing could have prepared them for the actuality of the Verdian jungle. Trees, vines, giant flowers, thorny shrubs, mosses and waist-high grasses fought for every inch of space. So virulent was their growth that in some places the movement was discernible—the tendrils of climbing plants could be seen blindly probing for their grip on trees; carnivorous flowers closed with audible snaps as they engulfed their prey.

“We should blaze a trail to help us find our way back,” Jan said. He used his sword to slice an area of bark off a tree, revealing a patch of white, but within seconds the bark was visibly spreading inwards to repair the wound.

“The books didn’t mention anything like that,” he grumbled. “I guess we’ll have to rely on our sense of direction.”

“It’s a pity you didn’t bring the silly books with you,” Petra said. “You could have torn them up and left a trail.”

Their progress was aided by the fact that Verdia’s gravity was slightly less than that of Earth, but the heat and humidity were such that within minutes their clothes were soaked with sweat. The air was filled with the buzzing of insects, and at almost every step small rodents and scorpion-like creatures darted out of their path. Praying that none of the latter were poisonous, they went onwards at a steady pace, the deceptively dull grey swords at the ready.

They had travelled only a short distance when an unpleasant and unnerving idea occurred to them—they began to suspect they were not alone.

Petra was the first to acknowledge her growing sense of alarm. Her suspicions had developed gradually as she began to notice stealthy, shadowy flickers of movement at the edges of her vision. For a while she was almost able to convince herself that her nerves were playing tricks. Every time she glanced around, sword poised to strike, there was only the wall of vegetation and watchful pockets of darkness. She was torn between the desire to utter a warning to Jan and the possibility of causing a needless alarm, but the dilemma was resolved when Jan came closer and nudged her arm.

“Do you think we’ve got company?” he whispered.

“I didn’t want to mention it until I was sure,” she replied, “but I think we have.”

“I wonder what it is.”

“There’s no way to tell—but we’d better be ready to give it hell if it comes too close.”

They pressed ahead through the dripping greenery, during which time the silent follower gradually became bolder. It came closer and its movements became more leisurely, and finally Jan and Petra got a good view of a manlike figure covered in long black hair. Much lighter in build than a gorilla, the creature moved with disturbing speed and agility. It disappeared silently into the gloom ahead of them.

“Christ!” Petra exclaimed. “What a nasty-looking brute!”

“I know,” Jan said uneasily. “I only hope it’s hanging around out of curiosity—and not hunger.” He picked up a mossy stick and threw it towards where the skulking figure had last been seen. There was no response other than the patter of water droplets falling from disturbed leaves. The lack of reaction strengthened his hope that the creature posed no threat to them, but he remained on the alert and kept his sword at the ready, just in case. And without being too obvious about it he tried to make sure their rate of progress did not slacken off. It may have been his concern about keeping up speed which brought it to his notice that Petra was limping slightly.

“Have you hurt your ankle?” he said, trying not to sound worried.

Petra signalled for him to keep moving. “A thorn came through my boot. It isn’t too bad, though—I’ll pull it out as soon as we reach a good clear space.”

“It would be better if we do keep going, but maybe your foot should be looked at before it gets worse.”

Petra shook her head. “Not while we’re hedged in like this. Not with that rotten Abominable Snowman about.”

“Okay—it’s up to you,” Jan said, resuming the task of clearing vines and creepers out of their way with his sword.

About fifteen minutes later they came to an area where the jungle abruptly thinned out and they saw ahead the ruins of buildings. The tumbled columns and broken wails were extensively covered with vines, but it was evident that they were made of polished marble and had been sculpted to a high standard of craftsmanship.

“Hey! This must have been quite a place in its day,” Petra exclaimed. “It must have been a bit like ancient Athens or Rome. Gosh, who’d have expected to find anything like this on a jungle planet?”

“The Verdians must have been really civilised…really advanced…” Jan surveyed the enigmatic, mist-shrouded remains of once-proud buildings. “I wonder what happened to them. The place looks like it was flattened by a nuclear bomb.”

“Or an earthquake.”

“Whatever it was, I’m glad I wasn’t here at the time,” Jan said, his voice hushed with awe. “I wonder if we’ll find any clues about what happened.”

“I’m not even going to think about that until I get this damned thorn out of my foot.” Petra sat down on a block of masonry and began to ease off her left boot.

Jan scanned the area in all directions, satisfying himself that there was enough open ground to ensure they could not be surprised by any wandering wild beasts. And then, fascinated by the mystery of the place, he walked towards the nearest of the ruined buildings. He had to pick his way around several large clumps of purple-flowered shrubs which were growing up through a layer of yellow moss. He then found that his path was barred by some sizeable boulders, but they were not high enough to form any real obstacle. His gazed fixed on the intriguing ruins, he placed his left hand on a boulder and vaulted over it—but the leap was never completed.

His hand sank into a yielding wetness which felt exactly like a cold mouth.

Horrified, Jan fell sideways and saw that what he had taken to be a boulder was actually a huge slug-like creature. No, no, NO! he thought in panic as he saw that his hand had sunk deeply into the glutinous tissues of the monster. He had been deceived by one of Nature’s oldest tricks—the mimicry by which slow-moving carnivores capture their prey. He tried to pull his hand away and made the terrifying discovery that the slug-monster was too strong for him. It was exerting powerful suction on his hand and wrist—ripples coursing over its surface as it did so—and his arm was inexorably being drawn farther into its interior.

His face distorted by fear and revulsion, Jan tightened his grip on his sword and struck at the monster’s grey body. The keen blade went deep into the rubbery tissues, but the wound closed up immediately, clamping the sword in a pliant but relentless hold.

Jan struggled with all his strength to pull it free, but to no avail. His left arm was now engulfed up to the elbow and was being drawn farther in with each passing second. As he fought to withdraw the sword he raised his eyes and saw that the situation was even worse than he had realised.

The black-gorilla creature—no longer timid or elusive—had appeared on the scene and was advancing on him, obviously emboldened by the fact that he was a helpless prisoner. Now that he could see the alien properly, he was aware that its mouth was a vertical gash lined with razored yellow teeth. Saliva dripped from its jaws as it drew closer. Jan released his grip on the sword and reached for his knife, then came the realisation that it would be even less effective. He writhed and twisted as he tried to pull his left arm out of the slug-monster’s greedy maw, but all that happened was that his arm was sucked in deeper. A burning sensation in his hand told him that the monster’s acidic digestive fluids were beginning to eat into his skin.

The gorilla-creature, now capering and snuffling in its eagerness, leapt forward and dug its clawed fingers into Jan’s shoulder. It raised its head in preparation for a lunging bite, and the sickening stench of its breath wafted around him—then Jan heard a peculiar sound. It was a combination of an explosive hiss and a thud like an axe being driven deep into a tree stump.

The gorilla-creature screamed and fell away from Jan. He saw that a smoking arrow with yellow fletchings had transfixed one of its thighs. It dropped to the ground, still screaming and sobbing, and crawled away. Jan looked to the right and saw Petra, bow in hand, running towards him.

She arrived at his side, eyes widening in horror as she saw that he was in the process of being devoured by the slug-monster. She whipped out her sword, and was about to attack the living grey mass with it when Jan raised a warning hand.

“A blade won’t work,” he shouted. “Try an arrow! A red one! Fire it in!”

In a single swift movement she drew an arrow from her quiver, notched it into the bow and fired it into the slug-creature’s rippling grey bulk. The arrow flared brilliantly and sank out of sight, burrowing far down into the quivering tissues. Foul-smelling greasy smoke erupted from behind it.

There was a seemingly endless moment when it appeared that the miniature rocket had been effortlessly absorbed, then the slug-monster gave a convulsive heave.

Suddenly Jan was free.

He leaped to his feet, his face pale with shock, wiping a coating of acidic slime from his left hand. The skin was red and already beginning to blister.

“Are you all right?” Petra said urgently.

Jan managed something close to a smile. “I will be—thanks to you.”

“What about that thing?” Petra nodded towards the stricken gorilla-creature which was dragging itself away from the scene. “I had to aim low—its legs were the only clear shot I could get.”

Jan eyed the beast with hatred and revulsion. “I’ll finish the brute off,” he said, picking up his fallen bow. Taking a yellow-feathered arrow from his quiver, he nocked it onto the bowstring, drew the bow and took aim at the black hairy form, which was grunting and whimpering as it tried to make its escape. He maintained the firing stance for perhaps ten seconds, then slowly lowered the weapon.

“I can’t kill it,” he said. “We’re the intruders on its world. We came here to rescue my brother—not to go hunting for big game.”

Petra nodded. “It’s no longer a threat—so let’s keep moving.”

Jan glanced down and saw that she was again wearing both of her boots. “It didn’t take you long to get the thorn out.”

“I’ve got the hands of a surgeon.”

“Lucky for me…” Jan eyed Petra solemnly for a moment, then put his arms around her. “You saved my life.”

“You can do the same for me sometime,” Petra said, briefly returning the embrace. “Now, let’s get going.”

“Good idea!” Jan replaced the unused arrow in his quiver. He turned and pulled his sword out of the grey bulk of the slug-monster’s body, which was settling and wrinkling like a slowly deflating balloon.

“We’ve learned a valuable lesson here,” he said, staring down at the dying creature with distaste. “From now on we don’t assume that anything on this God-forsaken world is harmless.”

“Two valuable lessons,” Petra corrected. “From now on we must keep in sight of each other at all times.”

“Agreed.” Jan dried the blade of his sword on a tuft of grass and pulled his jungle hat down tightly on his head. “Now, let’s see what this city can tell us.”