The place was transformed an hour later. Shuttles were parked outside the event zone, their exterior lights adding more illumination to aid the search. Small groups of marines were clustered around the woefully few intact truck cabins, searching hopefully for survivors. Corpses were removed, bagged and lined up neatly near the infirmary tent. Others moved across the terrain, carefully pegging small tracking nodules beside any human remains they were able to find for recovery teams that would be arriving later.
April sat alone in the shuttle she arrived in with the recon team, munching an energy bar and taking small sips of water from a cup. Having missed supper, her stomach was rumbling. Even so, she had little inclination to eat. She forced it down because McKey would pick it up the minute she entered his orbit. She suspected his omni-tool was fine tuned to shriek a warning if any member of the company did not meet his criteria of fitness, especially her. He had picked on her too many times for it to be a coincidence.
Taking another bite, she stared out the open hatch, trying to fathom the cause that brought the colonists out there, what had happened and how they died. In the midst of her musing, Landry stepped in. He waved her back when she was about to stand and sat down in the row of seats opposite her.
He sighed, rubbing his face once he removed his helmet. "It's as bad as we thought it would be."
"Yes, sir," she said after hastily swallowing her mouthful. "What do you think it is?" She waved at the scene. "There's no weapon scoring around the site or on any of the trucks. The damage doesn't fit the signature from mercenary or batarian attacks. No adverse weather for this region was logged since they landed."
"I don't think we can blame the weather," he agreed. "If a cyclone or dust storm blew up, the damage would be wider and the debris spread further afield." He sank back in his seat. "I can do with some grub." He cocked an eye at the wrapped bar beside her, fielding it neatly when she threw it to him. "Search teams reported in," he muttered, unwrapping the bar and taking a bite. As he chewed, he said gravely, "There's no one left to find. No sign of any tracks of probable dangerous fauna. Whatever happened, it all started and ended here."
"But what did happen here?" she muttered. Knowing how dry the bar was, she got up and moved to the back of the compartment. Drawing a cup of water from the ration dispenser that held supplies for eight people for a week, she handed it to him before returning to her seat.
"Run your scenario," said Landry. He settled back more comfortably in his seat and waited as she took a moment to collect her thoughts, unconsciously leaning forward to rest her elbows on her thighs, her fingers steeple before her face. Absorbed in her thoughts, she did not notice the flash of a smile and the twinkle in his eyes.
"Six days ago, an expedition group must have come out here to gather bio samples for further research. They encountered something that left most of them injured. The emergency beacon was triggered or a message was sent. Likely the latter as the rest of the colonists gathered everyone, medical supplies and came out here without any weapons. They were attacked," she paused for a moment to look out at the scene again, "by the same culprit or something different."
"One possibility is an undiscovered hazardous local fauna. It could be many, it could be one. If it is a singular animal, it would have to be large enough to inflict so much damage to hardware. The other possibility is an outside force is responsible for the event but there's no sign of any landing. No sign of a air to ground collision nor is there any crater."
She gently tapped her fingers on her chin, turning over other plausible scenarios.
"What about a giant gorilla?" He chuckled when she looked at him in surprise. "McKey and Erial had an interesting conversation."
"They're still at it." She shook her head. No doubt it was McKey who brought back the subject. She noticed he liked to push Erial's buttons when she got into one of her contentious mood, more than the others.
"Better to sound off than to keep it in." He took a sip from his cup. "Erial's performance ramps up from it."
"Er, yes, that's how she is," April said cautiously, startled by his observation and candor. His usual repertoire, if he offered any, was often conservative and delivered in brief military terms. Rarely did he offer an opinion of anyone with such a light remark. "Sir, I wonder...," she hesitated.
"What?"
"Could it be a thresher maw?" She continued when he frowned. "It fits the pattern of destruction. McKey confirmed the traces of acid on some of the corpses is animal based but if it's a thresher maw, the recon team should have encountered it."
"It does fit," Landry nodded, "but as you noted, a thresher maw should have responded to the presence of the recon team in its territory. Perhaps it's some other creature akin to it. A plausible reason it did not attack is that it has no need of food after the first event."
"Still we are in its territory. We should move out as soon as possible, sir," she said worriedly. "Whatever it is may return."
He nodded in agreement and finished off the water. Crushing the cup, he tossed it with unerring accuracy into the trash slot at the end of the row of seats.
"Have the squads double time and stow the bodies on the shuttles. We're heading back to the settlement within the hour." Picking up his helmet, he latched it on. "I hear you like to drink-," he took a step and paused at the hatch. "Drank everyone and anyone down. That's a challenge I'd like to take up some time." He grinned at her before vanishing from sight.
April stared after him. That was decidedly odd. He had never talked to her in such a casual tone. The tin old man, was what the older members of the unit called him. Unbending, unshakable. The veritable representation of the true born marine. She had come to agree mostly with that assessment but felt they were a little hard on him; he was not as unyielding as they made him out to be. She shook herself. Whatever it was, she could figure it out later. Right then, she had to get everyone moving. Maybe Erial's apprehension was rubbing off her but she felt it in her guts that the sooner they got out of the area, the better.
Clearing away the debris of her snack, she latched on her helmet and stepped out into the bright artificial light that eclipsed the weak rays of the rising sun. Her helmet visor adjusted automatically, filtering the gamma. Toggling her suit comm, she issued orders for the pull out as she made her way to the infirmary tent set up near the truck where they found the survivor. More bagged bodies that McKey had autopsied were neatly laid out in a row. He was checking the tags attached to each one. Once affirmed, two marines picked up the corpse and carried it to one of the shuttles.
"LT?" one of the marine technicians called out to her from the truck he was standing on.
"Update on the beacon?" she asked as she jogged towards him.
"It's jury rigged." He crouched down and held out the beacon he had dismantled from the cabin when she reached him. "Hardly any juice left to power even a micro light," he continued as she examined it. "I'm thinking he transferred some power from the engine capacitor to give it enough juice to send out a call-," he paused when she frowned.
"How long would the signal last?"
"No more than a few seconds. He would have to wait for the juice to pool up before sending off another. Is something wrong?" he asked when she remained silent.
"No." She shook her head. "He was damn lucky it worked. Pack it up and whatever else there is to link to its operative status. We're leaving under an hour."
"Yes, sir." The tech nodded before climbing back down into the cabin.
She turned towards the tent, listening to the squads reporting in. There was still a squad further out but they would be back within the stipulated hour. The number of corpses at the tent decreased as more marines arrived to help. The air of tension and eagerness to leave was hard to miss. She empathised. No one liked the implications of an entire colony lost in mysterious circumstances. They could be next. They were vulnerable on that flat terrain.
"Anything new, Doc?" she asked, moving into the tent where Erial was helping to pack up his medkit spread out on the nearby table.
"No. It's the same for every one of them. Broken bones, cracked heads, internal injuries. From what I've seen of the body parts-," he waved his hand at several small packages near him.
Erial edged slowly away. Her hands moved faster.
"Many of them had concussion from violent impact. What killed them was the metal edges of damaged cabins that slice into them. There're some that have some odd traces of digestive acid. Nothing I've ever seen before. It'll be interesting to see what the lab turn up."
"I'm done, Doc," Erial announced loudly. "Shall I bring this to the shuttle?" She held aloft a small bag.
"By all means," he said dryly, waiting until she trotted off towards the shuttle before adding, "I'm not sure she's meant for this job."
"Not as your smiling med assistant," April grinned. "She's better at hosing squirrels down."
"There's a inconsistency there, isn't it?" McKey said, packing the small packages into a crate. "She's ready to poke bloody holes but puke at the sight of a bloody cutting knife?"
"Doc, knowing you, it's not the knife but your tongue that scares her," April returned dryly.
"That's my gauntlet for people like her. I'd like to know how well lined their stomach is." He closed the crate firmly. "And knowing yours-," he paused, looking at her speculatively. "Cap's been fishing."
"Fishing?" She blinked at him, disconcerted by the change in subject.
"Is there something you want to tell me?"
"Tell you what?" she said in bewilderment.
"You know what?" He pushed his face nearer so he could examine hers. She glared humorously back at him.
"There's a mole on my face?"
"Wish it were so-," he tapped her visor. "You're not being reassigned, are you?"
"I might be. I've an officer review coming next week," she said, her heart uplifting as she recalled the rumors and hints dropped by various acquaintances.
"That'll be it," he nodded sagely. "He started prodding Erial about you when we were having that gorilla discussion."
"What did he say?" she asked curiously.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's taken an interest in you."
McKey chuckled at April's perplexed expression. No, she was totally oblivious to Landry's interest. Not everyone could read the captain but he knew Landry long enough to see the signs.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" she asked incredulously.
"No pursue of self interest in the same chain of command but once you're out of it, fair game."
"Uh Doc, he's ah way older than me," April said incredulously, trying not to laugh at what McKey was implying.
The captain interested in her in that way? It was not possible. McKey was misreading Landry, she was sure. Even if he wasn't, she was not interested in forming that kind of relationship with anyone, especially not Landry since she had no interest in him. She regarded him as more of a mentor.
"He's not that old, not fatherly old-," McKey turned away, "don't let that face and demeanor fool you."
"Doc, I know how old he is. I meant -," April stopped short. "You feel something?" she asked worriedly, sure she felt a tremor in the ground.
"What?" McKey was puzzled, looking down. "I don't feel anything."
"That -," she stopped short when the comlink to her helmet sparked.
"LT, Toombs. I'm at one of the vehicles further out. There's some sort of liquid splashed over it," came the voice of the marine. "It seems acidic as the plating is corroded."
Acidic? McKey had said something about body parts with coatings of digestive acid, didn't he? The stone in April's stomach plummeted. "How bad is it?"
"Took out the entire cabin. Everything's fried, nothing left but stubs." Toombs's voice shook. What did he see?
"Location?" If there were time, she would take a shuttle out there to have a look. McKey would want to go too to take a sample, she was sure.
"Half a klick south."
That was not too far but they were out of time. It would have to be put off till later. That truck and acid was going nowhere.
"Get back here, Toombs," she said. "We're dusting off in five."
"Yes sir."
She turned to McKey who was staring at the table. What was wrong with the table? She turned and saw a small vial Erial had overlooked among the clutter of used bloody medical kits. It was an oddly pretty looking vial, a green luminescence. It was not the colour that held their fascination however, it was the gentle tiny trotting across the surface of the table that mesmerised them. That trotting was rapidly changing in seconds. The vial was doing little hops, as if something was bumping it, before toppling over. The ground was doing the same motions. Sort of heaving. They stared at each other before realisation struck. April clapped a hand to her helmet, enabling priority wide broadcast.
"Evac One!"