CHAPTER 30: Wild Kingdom

Dawn found Alexander chilled and painfully stiff. The first day on Pantrixnia demanded more from his body than he’d thought possible, especially after so many years of relative inactivity. He didn’t hurry himself, therefore, as the morning brightened. He stretched leisurely and looked about.

The tiny cave, a crack really, offered just enough room for him to set his back against the wall and stay out of the rain. He stayed dry so long as the wind didn’t drive the rain into the cliff. The cliff itself was his primary protection. It was almost one hundred meters high and not quite vertical. The wall was cracked and pitted so climbing wasn’t difficult. The jungle improved matters even more. It grew back on a shelf behind the cliff’s edge. The trees leaned over it, sending vines and creepers down the steep slope. Alexander amused himself with the thought of his sleeping in this bird’s nest. A month ago he’d not have climbed such a rock face for any reason. Heights made him nervous if he didn’t have an airplane strapped to him. Events now made the aerie quite attractive, and he was quite pleased that he found a place at once so safe and accessible.

He looked out over his new world, sipping fresh water from a concave leaf that he left at his feet during the night to catch rainwater. The morning mists steamed from the jungle as the land fell away into a broad depression. The cliff was at the edge of a roughly circular depression. Mountains rose in the haze maybe sixty or seventy kilometers distant. The sun rose from that direction so he named it east.

The mountains swung north and south, disappearing into a jumble of rolling forest. To the North they left the jungle and made a chain of emerald clad islands in a sea glittering with the morning sun. There was no sign of any other landscape besides jungle. At its closest point he guessed the sea to be at least thirty or forty kilometers away. There was a white ribbon of mist, probably a river, which wound southwest towards his haven. It passed behind the ridge to his left, and it looked to be only a kilometer or so distant. He was just thinking he’d have a look at it today when a movement caught his eye.

He looked to the sky and saw a bird circling overhead. It seemed to be watching him, and trying to decide just how to go about plucking him from his perch. The animal was certainly large enough to carry him off, but Alexander was in a well protected position. The bird circled for a few more minutes and then descended. He drew his sword and backed into the crack. The light disappeared as the bird hovered just outside the crack, blindly grasping inside with its claws.

Alexander was not so much worried as irritated. The bird had an unenviable task, considering his position. He, on the other hand, just had to wait for an opening. When the bird drew close enough he lunged forward, plunging the blade into the feathered belly. He withdrew the weapon quickly to keep the crippled bird from wrenching the sword from his hands.

Squawking in pain the bird flapped wildly away. Laboriously it tried to gain altitude, but blood and entrails streamed from the wound. Slowly it sank to the trees below and finally crashed into the upper canopy.

It struggled feebly for half an hour before a disturbance in the trees caught Alexander’s attention. A flurry of mantises boiled up through the canopy and immediately attacked the wounded animal. The fight was brief and one sided. Razor sharp mandibles quickly cut up the corpse, and the insects took it, piece by piece, into their shadowy realm. The display was sobering, but also enlightening. It took the mantis some time to find the stricken bird. It was very possible that his encounter with them was bad luck, and not due to the canopy being infested with the creatures. It was a point he’d remember, but it didn’t make him any keener on returning to the trees.

The chore of self protection complete, Alexander turned to more mundane matters. He used the gun to start a fire and cook the snake meat. The automaton was right, the Banthror was unpalatable. He tossed the greasy strip of meat into the forest. The snake, on the other hand, was fine. The meat, once cooked, reminded him of something not quite like chicken. He washed it down with rainwater, and pondered his next move.

The cliff hole was fine for a night, or an emergency, but if he was going to spend and extended period of time on the planet he needed something more permanent. A cave or grotto that was defensible would be perfect. He expected to find such a place, if it existed, near the river. The river in its rush from the hills might very well have cut many such places. So, throwing the Banthror hide over his shoulder, the smell of which he was mercifully unaware, he quit his sanctuary.

Predictably, the automaton waited for him outside. He glanced at the metallic ball with ill concealed contempt. “Well, what clever remarks have you for me this morning? Will I have to put up with you every day from now to eternity?”

“Eternity is a long time relatively speaking, though on Pantrixnia we measure it in decurns, at the most.”

“We’ll see,” Alexander replied. With a parting growl he grabbed a vine and climbed up to the top of the cliff. The cliff itself was a massive shelf of broken rock which ran towards the river. Behind was dense jungle leading into a craggy series of broken hills. He set off at a good pace across the edge of the cliff and headed toward the river. The cliff gradually sank towards the jungle floor but streams from the hills carved sheer chasms which lay directly across his path. His only choice was to climb down the cliff and back into the jungle. When he came to the first chasm, this time from below, he explored it. Unfortunately, there were no caves or cracks that would provide more suitable shelter than he already had.

“What are you looking for?”

“A hotel,” was his terse reply.

He continued to work his way towards the river, poking into every chasm he came across. The small streams wound their way into the jungle, fed by the torrential runoff from the heights, but none of them provided suitable shelter, although one gave him his biggest surprise of the day.

It was a rather wide chasm, surrounded by sheer black cliffs thirty meters high. Vines and creepers gave it an ancient appearance. A clear stream bubbled out of the center from an oval pool at the end. The back of the canyon echoed with the rush of an energetic waterfall. It was a pleasant backdrop to the otherwise deserted place. There was unfortunately no cave behind the waterfall, only a shallow scoop in the cliff. It was a pleasant enough, though, and as it was empty of anything else he took it to be the perfect place to bath. The pool of water was only a couple of meters deep at most, and he could see the bottom. There was nothing lethal waiting for him in the water, at least nothing he could see, so he shrugged off his weapons and armor.

The armor was a one piece coverall that included boots and gloves as well as integrated armor plates, so it went on and off quickly. Underneath he wore only a light coverall. He took that off, washing it at the edge of the pool, and then laying it by his weapons to dry. Then he showered under the waterfall.

The automaton hovered nearby. “You wouldn’t have any soap would you?”

“No, Alexander of Terra. We don’t provide our participants with anything other than what they carry with them. The vast majority have no need of such things.”

“The vast majority, are you telling me that I may meet up with someone else in this place?”

“Oh, don’t be foolish. The longest period of survival on record for Pantrixnia is six decurns. I understand the odds makers are giving you a fifty percent chance on making it three decurns, which is very respectable.”

“Three days, that doesn’t sound very good to me.”

“The odds would probably improve if you weren’t so reckless.”

“You usually mean something gruesome when you make a comment like that,” Alexander said, taking it seriously and ending his shower.

Hurriedly donning his wet armor and strapping on his weapons Alexander started back up the canyon. The place lost its innocence. Now it was a trap whose only escape was its entrance, and the precarious vines that hung over the edge of the cliff.

That thought, of course, triggered his fear into reality.

A tremor shook the ground, and a familiar snort rolled along the walls of the canyon. He cursed to himself. A quick glance revealed no reachable vines in this end of the canyon. The canyon itself made a dogleg to the north, so the entrance was hidden from him, and he from it. The closest vines were on the south wall, in full view of the entrance. Carefully, but quickly, he went to the curved edge and peered around the corner.

It was the Tyrannosaurus, of course. The huge carnivore stopped twenty meters into the canyon and sniffed at the ground. He cursed again. The vines were twenty meters from him, the Tyrannosaurus maybe forty. He’d never win that race.

Back up the canyon he went. There was no better place to hide than just behind the waterfall. It would obscure him from sight and hopefully cover his scent. There was nothing else he could do.

Alexander took out his rifle, set it on full power and stepped behind the waterfall. He stood stock still on the slick rock with his back to the slimy cliff wall. In the midst of the spray he waited. After what seemed an hour he saw movement through the cascade.

The Tyrannosaurus stalked heavily up the canyon. He could feel its progress as easily as he could see it. It stopped once, and again sniffed at the stones, but only for a moment. Then it growled irritably and walked straight towards the waterfall. It waded through the pool, seeming to be in no hurry. The creature’s entire demeanor indicated a complete lack of concern or interest in the strange scent it picked up; rather it just seemed to be weary after a long day and somehow pleased to be back in its private lair.

The Tyrannosaurus halted in the pool with the cool water rising to its belly, and Alexander watched with a curiosity mixed with awe as it dipped its enormous bulk into the water and bathed. The Tyrannosaurus was obviously enjoying itself. It snorted and sighed as it wormed its way around the pool, at one point scratching its back against a familiar and well-placed rock. For a while it just lay still, head resting on the cool rock of the bank, until Alexander thought it was asleep. He began to wonder about the possibility of escape when it raised its massive head and looked around.

Alexander stiffened. The Tyrannosaur’s head moved around as if watching something, but he couldn’t see from his vantage point what that might be. The Tyrannosaurus itself was large enough so that he could gauge its actions from behind the imperfect screen of water, but he saw little else. The head followed the hidden object to his right and growled. Anger made the cords stand out in Alexander’s neck when he caught a glimpse of the automaton whirring around the canyon. The automaton flew behind the waterfall, hovered for a moment above his contorted features and then flew off again.

The Tyrannosaurus got up. The head followed the automaton into the sky. It expressed its irritation with a raspy bark, and another discontented snort. Alexander watched in horror as the huge carnivore stalked through the pool and up to the waterfall. Without hesitation it put its two meter head into the cascade of water.