"This is a real problem," John paced, clearly agitated. "Sure, we can lift off again. Still, I don't want to keep hopping around the planet trying to avoid these…these.."

"Massive monstrosities? Smith offered up. "Noxious freaks of nature?"

"They're native, so not freaks," John replied.

"Mountainous Mutants. Gargantuan Grotesqueries." He threw his hands wide for effect.

Maureen chuckled because Smith was sounding quite like his normal self. Clearly, Don hadn't yet told her he'd been unusually calm in the Pod.

"Any more?" she inquired with a slight grin.

"Of course! Abhorrent abominations comes to mind. As does Brobdingnagian blobs."

By then even Don, John and his three children were grinning.

"Oh, Dr. Smith," Maureen snickered patting his arm. "It's over with for now. Why don't you just sit yourself down right here and have a glass of fresh-made lemonade."

Eyeing the Kelly-green lemonade with suspicion, Judy took his hand and sweetly said, "No need to worry. It's from those purple fruits we picked yesterday. The ones with the eggplant-colored rinds. But the flesh inside tastes just like lemons. Add a little sweetener and there it is. And perfectly safe. We checked."

Without commenting, Maureen set out cups for all of them and brought out a tray filled with food. Despite the horrendous sights of the morning, Dr. Smith's appetite was clearly not impeded. He dug in like a champ, although he did leave more than enough for everyone else, a recent development she was mighty glad to see.

After sitting down herself, she made a sandwich, took a bite and chewed thoughtfully. "I'm not even going to question if this animal is capable of being killed. So, what do we do about it?"

Swallowing audibly, Smith said, "Lasers? If we all go out there, set up on a hillside and fire down on it, maybe it'll turn?"

"Will that kill it?" Judy asked hopefully.

Don shrugged. "I doubt it. It's as big as Smith has pointed out. I can't believe this whole continent isn't rubble."

Smith took a long sip of his drink, licked his lips and said, "Probably because it consumes at such a slow rate. The land may heal itself despite such an egregious assault, given enough time. Remember when we did our preliminary orbit; we saw lighter rivulets of greenery between the dense trees. They were probably a mile or two wide if we were able to see them during our approach. Perhaps that's new growth after the Leviathans pass. It's not like we haven't seen creatures resembling birds and pollinating insects to assist in regrowth."

Leaning over this plate, John added, "And those oblong objects we took to be rocky formations may well be what you just saw. But I only detected two of those. Is it possible that's all there is? Two or three on each continent?"

Twisting her head to look at her husband, she said gently, "Why not? We see that animals on earth developed in such a way that they didn't destroy their own environments, at least not irrevocably. Perhaps these 'Leviathans'," she acknowledged Smith's naming of the alien giants with a sweeping gesture, "evolved here in such a way that only a few survive on each landmass."

"Can you imagine how big the baby Leviathans would be," Penny gasped.

Cupping his entire face with his large hands, Smith moaned, "Please, I don't even want to consider the notion that these things procreate let alone ponder how they 'do it'."

That got a giggle out of Penny, and a slight blush as well. Next to her, an older and wiser Judy just bit her lip in embarrassment.

Figuring this wasn't a fit topic of conversation at the dinner table, John segued back to the original issue. "Dr. Smith mentioned lasers. Concentrated blast, all together, I assume." Seeing the doctor dip his chin once, John added, "Think that will work?"

"No, but it might make it move in the direction we want which is obviously any trajectory away from us."

Maureen covered John's hand with her own. "And if that doesn't work? You always have a plan B."

"I'll have to think on that." He tried to sound comforting, but it didn't work. His wife still looked worried.

Smith cleared his throat and inquired, "May I make an insane suggestion?"

"No suggestions are insane at this point."

"Then I'll come right out and say it. We need to figure out more of its biological processes. I can surmise that it has a basic skeletal structure or its body would have been crushed by its own weight. One of the reasons the dinosaurs became so large, but the insects of that era didn't, is because their bodies couldn't breathe and couldn't survive without a firm bony body to support it. It may not have eyes and ears because it has no biological need for them. For all I know, they have no reproductive imperative either. They just move around for eons until fate causes them to bump into each other. It would help if we knew the path of the other Leviathan so we can project if and when that might happen because we already have an estimate of their rate of travel.

Taking another bite of food and chewing it a few seconds, he added, "So tracking the other one, and fast, might be beneficial.

"Easy enough to do," Don said around a mouthful of sandwich. "That way we'll know how far and how much to nudge this one out of our way."

"You're not going to like my other suggestion."

"Which is?"

"You need to harpoon the thing. I don't know with what, but we could use a sample of whatever passes for blood and see how it metabolizes what it consumes."

"And what, precisely, would you do with that information."

"Let's say the lasers don't work. I was pondering whether or not we could make what it ingests unpalatable, provided it has anything remotely resembling taste buds, and that in turn might drive it away."

"You would come up with something that crazy, wouldn't you?"

"Need I remind you I did imply you wouldn't like it."

"Want to know what I think?"

"Not particularly." His face was stony because he suspected what was coming and it wasn't long in the offing.

"Anything you want me to do that I don't like means you're coming along for the ride."

Instantly Smith dropped his chin to his chest. "Would protesting change your thinking?"

"Not one wit," was the succinct and hard-edged reply.

"Very well. I came up with the idea. You come up with the implementation. Any specimens are going to be abysmally difficult to obtain."

"You suggested the harpoon?"

"Yes, but that's not exactly what I meant. We can't just stab at the monstrous beast with a barbed weapon and a rope. If it imbeds, there's a distinct possibility we'll be dragged along and no longer in full control. That would be…disastrous…for both of us, and I'm sure that's no surprise to you either. Whatever rig you decide to concoct, we need to puncture it, grab that specimen, and run like the devil is on our tail. Which might well be the case if we injure it enough for the brain to register pain."

"That's stating the obvious. Give me time to design something. John, any ideas?"

"A few."

"Okay, so let's plan something tonight and throw it together."