By N. E. Shaw
"What do you mean, 'hopeless'??" Andros demanded, jerking forward in his chair.
"I am sorry Red Ranger," the Wrorick delegate replied. "But there is nothing we can suggest. Very little is known about the Polybrachiovenator."
"The what?"
"That is the name our exobiologists have given it. It refers to a 'many-legged hunter'."
Andros blinked, and sat back again. He was in his command chair (wearing a nice, dry flightsuit) speaking to a representative from the planet about the mishap in the cave. But the alien had been less than optimistic.
"What else do they know about it?" Andros asked.
"They know virtually nothing. They assume that it attacks humanoid hosts as part of its reproductive cycle. Your friends are probably meant to feed the venator's offspring once they are hatched."
Andros squirmed at the thought. "There must be some way to break into the cocoons," he insisted. "There's never been a natural substance that couldn't be overcome by someone's technology. A mega-powered laser could break through..."
But the delegate was shaking his head. "As I said before, it would be a fruitless effort. The outer membrane is likely meant to protect your friends as much as entrap them. The venator has probably made them dependent on those fluid sacs. If they were freed now, they would die in minutes--drowning in the very oxygen we breathe. There is nothing you, nor I, can do for them..."
Andros gave him a wholly bitter glare. "Thanks for nothing," he growled, then cut off the channel. The old creep didn't know the meaning of the word "try".
Or "friends", for that matter.
He rubbed his face with both hands, trying to massage his brain into thinking. As frustrating as it was, the Wrorick was right. Evolution had Ashley, TJ, Carlos and Cassie backed into a corner. The venator's "plan" was foolproof after millions of years of development, and Andros had his hands tied. It was a nauseating image, swarms of tiny baby scorpions chewing the Rangers alive...
The only chance was that the creature hadn't laid her eggs yet. Her species probably dropped egg sacs that she watched over until the babies hatched. If she didn't give birth, perhaps the cocoons would deteriorate and let the Rangers loose. Unfortuately, they might be dead by then. Oh what a tangled web had been weave'd.
Might as well check on her, Andros thought, rising tiredly. He would stand by her container for a few minutes, fantasizing about poking her with a metal instrument of some kind. These thoughts got him to the infirmary in no time, and he punched in the keycode that locked the specimen cabinet shut.
But when the doors swung open, lo and behold, someone had burned a hole through her container, and likewise through the back wall. The venator was gone, escaped into the bowels of the MegaShip--and somehow DECA hadn't even noticed.
"DECA, what's the status of the alien specimen?" Andros asked with great annoyance.
"The alien specimen has escaped her enclosure."
"And when were you going to tell me?"
DECA actually paused to think about it. "When I became aware of it. Alert: The alien speciment has escaped her--"
With a snort, Andros slapped her mute switch and stalked out of the infirmary to find the devious little bug.
Internal scans didn't pick up its lifesign right away. As in the cave, it somehow managed to elude the sensors. But with the little knowledge he had of its physiology, Andros as able to modify the sensors to pick it up. It had somehow burned its way through both the container and the wall, and then began crawling about in the dense circuitry within the ship. Andros traced its path from the infirmary, to the Cargo Hold, to the SimuDeck, to the Jump Bay, to the Training Room, to the Engine Room, and back to the Cargo Hold again. It was leading him on a wild bug-chase. As he hurried to catch up with it, Andros thought of how good it might feel to dissect the thing with his bare hands...
But arriving at the Cargo Hold, all these thoughts were swept from his mind.
The venator was crouched before a cluster of storage barrels. Her back faced the doorway, but she did not bother to turn when Andros arrived. She was busy fondling something with four of her front legs.
From Andros's viewpoint, it looked like a small white pillow, but the dim lighting cast a shiny gleam on its surface. He crept a little closer and the venator ignored him. She kept caressing the little pod like it was her child...
Uh-oh.
By the time the venator took notice of him, Andros was less than a meter away, crouched on his haunches, watching the interchange. Absently, the mother waved a front leg at him, then went back to her work. She wasn't just touching the pod, Andros saw, but coating it with some kind of thick, sticky substance that hardened into a membrane. Andros was reminded of how egg whites harden and turn opaque when cooked. This was almost the same thing.
More and more of the sticky slime bubbled from her mouthparts, and was spread over the little pod with tender loving care. Andros decided to risk one more inch closer, because he thought he could see something inside--something dark and unmoving--the baby bug perhaps?
Mother venator seemed to glare at him as he leaned in, but she made no moves of aggression. She tolerated the curious human as he examined her work. Andros realized the membrane was exactly like the stuff trapping the other Rangers down in the cave, but in a much earlier state. If only he could get a look at the baby before it was entirely covered...
Mother venator moved back so he could see. She somehow saw value in showing him what she was up to. What Andros saw made his breath catch in his throat, for inside the cloudy pod, he could make out the tiny shape of a human fetus.