The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Chapter One: Graylion’s Report

Each phase of our evolution is marked with the actions of serendipitous male and female anthropomorphics who happen to be in the right place at the right time. This is the essence of scientific discovery and species development.

You may grind lenses to investigate the microscopic universe or giant, extraterrestrial telescopes to peer deep into space, but you may be surprised at what you find looking back.

Over a thousand years ago, our history was affected by the anthropomorphic named Graylion. He was a humanoid who started his career as a Balancer and eventually became something greater.

Here is his story, told in his own words, as he intended for the world to remember.

--Felix Leibert (lynx anthropomorphic), Chief Historian at Andromeda Database A.D. 4576

* * * * *

My name is Balancer Graylion. I must tell my story now before the Network puts its spin on what happened on Skorsis. I am posting these words on the Hypernet so that colonies throughout the galaxy, including the sad remnants of the Lunar Settlements, will know the truth about the skorites…and why I did what I did.

About six months ago I was ordered by my commanding officer, Captain Iguana, to attend a top secret, top brass meeting of the Hydrodyne Network, our employer. I am indentured as a Balancer for the Network.

Hydrodyne is the provider of most of the hydrogen and related technology that is used to oxygenate and hydrate barren planets. The Network is in the business of mining any place found to be rich in fossil fuels and precious metals like gold, zinc, and copper. Skorsis was such a planet.

We Balancers spent most our time hunting down the outlaws who interfered with the mining operations. These were mostly the Section 21’s and their ilk. It usually turned out to be a burned-out drill operator who got drunk and killed somebody or trashed a Network excavation site somewhere in the Outer Colonies.

We’d do the basic, no-brainer Acquisition, Tranquilization and Arrest bit. I was good at it and the Network paid me well when I helped them clean up their messes.

Ever since the Synthesis Wars in 4199 most of us Network Balancers were on ATA detail. Before the Interspecies Treaty of the Scutum Arm all of us were Phalanx Leaders in the war.

Network Balancers’ contracts provided that we be brought out of cryosleep only during Mission Assignments. Otherwise, Network time and training would be wasted on the seven-month journey from cold storage in the Terran District to the Skorsis system in the Frontier District. It was one thousand light years from the Network home world in the Orion Spiral Arm, closer to the center of the Milky Way to where Hydrodyne and other interstellar oligarchies pursued their mining interests.

The Network had projects in several planetary systems in the Scutum Arm, including the Skorsis system and a few more in the Three Kiloparsec Arm. These were what anthropomorphics called the Outer Colonies of the Frontier District. The Outer Colonies were the theater for the Synthesis Wars not so long ago.

The Network sought to make mineral-rich planets devoid of life more accessible to releasing their natural wealth. Minimally trained skeleton crews guided monolithic Network galleons, loaded with cargoes of gargantuan oxygenation and hydrolyzation machines.

These machines were set by Network engineers to undertake the arduous, centuries-long process of making airless planets habitable by carbon-based life. Of all the Outer Colonies, the oldest and most developed were the copper mines on Skorsis.

For the last three hundred years the atmosphere generators gave Skorsis air, precipitation, glacial erosion, rivers, and oceans where previously there was only desolate, arid desert.

I didn’t learn about the trouble with Balancer Sunwolf until Captain Iguana pulled me out of cold storage for an emergency meeting.

There were four of us in the briefing forum at the Hydrodyne Security Headquarters orbiting Skorsis. I had just revived from cryosleep an hour earlier and I felt like my head was being used as a pile driver at a Hydrodyne mine.

“Thank you for coming, Graylion.”

Captain Iguana offered me a seat at the table. Dressed in Network Security uniform, the captain was a tall, reptile anthropomorphic with a looming forbearance. He had a blue tinge to his skin and yellow, ovoid irises. For the last eight years he had been monitoring Skorsis.

“This is Doctor Sephiron, our chief geneticist.”

The captain gestured to a middle-aged mutant. Instead of limbs, several muscular, red-veined coils extended from his torso where his arms and legs would be.

Dr. Sephiron stretched a prehensile coil holding the remote control for the briefing forum computer. The imaging display was activated, and everyone saw a three-dimensional, holographic depiction of the Skorsis system.

Dr. Sephiron nodded to his colleague; a lion anthropomorphic like me.

“According to Dr. Mbabwe’s research, Woden and Loki failed to establish orbits around their sun during their initial formation. They were ultimately reconstituted by the star, a young, mid-sized, yellow cache of super-heated hydrogen. That left Skorsis and a trio of auxiliary moons.”

“Why don’t you continue, Ibis?” offered Dr. Sephiron.

“Ibis Mbabwe is our resident geo-physicist.”

Dr. Mbabwe was a beautiful woman in her late twenties. She took the remote control from her mutant companion.

“Skorsis was the only entity of investigable size in this system. The potential yield and subsequent profit from copper capital was deemed worth colonization by the Network.”

The holographic image changed to a close-up of the surface of Skorsis.

“This is what the planet looked like three hundred years ago.”

I was surprised at the similarity between the untouched planet’s meteor-scarred surface and archival photographs I had seen of the Network home world’s moon before the Lunar Settlements were built.

The outer crust of Skorsis was riddled with gaping fissures several miles long. These great rifts were an indication of millennia of parched stagnation. The planet had some terrain composed of mountains and valleys, but they were the result of the constant bombardment of cosmic debris rather than seismic activity or continental plate shifting.

Dr. Mbabwe shook her fur as she continued.

“Along with the atmosphere and precipitation the Network also had a bio-tech team release amino acids in key aquatic locations as oceans and continents became defined. Network research has enabled us to execute the same genetic process in three centuries that takes natural selection six hundred million years to accomplish.

“This has resulted in the rapid emergence of thousands of new Skorian species, predominately ocean flora. The gravity of Skorsis is slightly less than that of our Network home world. Due to this, there have evolved many large vertebrates, some with endoskeletons, others with exoskeletons.”

The briefing forum computer generated a now blue Skorsis with several, vast continents. Superimposed over this image was the limited biodata and anatomy of a handful of the known xenomorphs indigenous to the awakening planet.

Dr. Mbabwe handed the remote back to Dr. Sephiron.

“You should cover this, Doctor, since natural observation is more down your alley than mine.”

I couldn’t help but marvel at the poise of this intelligent lion woman.

Dr. Sephiron stretched most of his appendages and cleared his throat.

“Skorsis has copious amounts of marine life that create a food chain centered on the various strains of kelp and fungi. They thrive near the coastlines and in the first twenty or thirty feet of the oceans. There is a proper hierarchy of paramecia and plankton-like organisms.

“The life on land has evolved more recently and we have not yet had time to observe all that this planet has to teach us. Suffice it to say, however, that there are some amphibians and a few fliers and herbivores. The largest of the land fauna is the predator, Xyrix Carapacia.

“The adults of the species can surpass fifteen tons. Although the most visually intimidating, the Xyrix Carapacia is hunted as well.

“And therefore, we have brought you here at great Network expense, Balancer Graylion.

“As you know, there are other Network mining projects in systems throughout the Frontier District that received colonization and amino acid dissemination. No sentient xenomorphs ever evolved. This and the speed at which these carapace hunters came to exist out of the primordial, Skorian ooze alarms us.

“We need to better understand these super-predators, gather more helpful data and make the appropriate assessment.”

“So, I am your reconnaissance,” I said.

“Exactly,” Dr. Sephiron replied. “Tell us what you can about this skorite mob. Do they pose a threat to our mining interests on Skorsis?”

I was surprised by the words of Dr. Sephiron. I knew that the Network planted or instilled life and habitats on barren planets. I didn’t know their accelerated genetics program was so developed or could work so quickly.

A downward-looking view within the holographic display, recorded from a thermal scanner in orbit, showed a herd of Xyrix Carapacia being hunted. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Dr. Sephiron spoke as we watched.

“The skorite hunters are nomadic social animals that travel in groups of two or three dozen.”

I saw a pack of warm bodies conduct an ambush. They thrived on the shelled mollusks’ bewilderment. I turned to Dr. Sephiron.

“Is this normal? Are these species supposed to evolve to a sentient state? They appear to have organization. How intelligent are they?”

Dr. Sephiron grinned, proud of his creations.

“To be quite frank, Balancer Graylion, I don’t know.”

“You don’t?”

I was curious.

“You haven’t done an ATA on a Xyrix hunter? I would think the forensic data yielded from dissection would be revealing.”

Captain Iguana was flabbergasted by my questions.

“Yes, well this is where your services are needed, Graylion. We sent Balancer Sunwolf to the surface when one of our peripheral, automated prospecting units was rendered inoperative. Network technology does not fail independently so deliberate sabotage was apparent.

“The Network sent Balancer Sunwolf eleven months ago. He was supposed to rendezvous at the pick-up point with a full, digital dossier on the Xyrix hunters twenty-eight days after insertion.”

The computer generated a map of the southern coastline of Remus, the largest continent, where the Network had most of its mining projects stationed.

“A hundred miles down the coast of Remus is our main Network mine site, Tranquility. We have three hundred mutants and families situated there.”

Dr. Sephiron’s brow furrowed with concern.

“Since the Network deposited Balancer Sunwolf on the surface of Skorsis we received neither radio nor Ultra High Frequency transponder signals. His Global Positioning Implant is active. We want you to locate him, complete the reconnaissance on the skorite hunters and get back up here as soon as possible.”

Captain Iguana swiveled in his chair to face me.

“This is a mission with risk, Graylion. That’s why I requested that it be you the Network awakened from cryosleep.

“You knew Balancer Sunwolf. All of us fought together in the Synthesis Wars. Because of the nature of this assignment, the Network has allowed me to offer you, in return for services rendered, release from your indenturement.

“Good luck, Graylion. See you in a few days.”

At last, the meeting was over. I prepared to travel to the surface of Skorsis with visions of Dr. Sephiron’s astrophysical and biological machinations swirling in my imagination. What secrets awaited me on the planet below!”

The doctors and the captain had done their best to create the usual Network ambiance of polished decorum. But I am a Balancer and my instincts told me that if I was brought out of cryosleep, there was a reason the Network wanted my expertise and experience on this job instead of some rookie still wet behind the ears from the cloning tank.

I had known Balancer Sunwolf. He was like an older brother to me. Two trimesters ahead of me in the Network Indoctrination process, he was an adept and prodigious Balancer Initiate.

In weapons marksmanship and arrest tactics he was the best. What could have gone wrong for Sunwolf?

He was someone I would trust with my life. Despite the mysterious nature of these skorites, I intended to bring him back to the Network, no matter the cost.

One thought lingered, tugging at the back of my mind.

What would I do if I succeeded?

The captain said that upon my return I would be released from my status as an indentured employee of the Balancer elite.

I am Balancer Graylion. My purpose is to serve the Network and thwart all those who would perpetrate its laws. Before the Network we served in the War. What would I do if not what I was Indoctrinated to do and kept in cryosleep to do all these years?

The landing pod was disposable. It carried the essentials for the trip to the surface. It was basically a ceramic bubble with a heat shield on the bottom.

Lightning was chased by explosions of thunder. The wind ripped the tall, grassy weeds that surrounded the landing pod.

The sun peeked through the purple and black clouds that galloped across the sky. It descended from the electric storm, a dark, red spheroid of shimmering, undulating fire that curved wide in the distortion of the atmosphere.

The thunderheads released torrents of rain and pebble-sized hail. I felt the wind blast droplets of water and ice onto my body.

The Skorian air tasted fresh. Its uncanny purity shamed the filtered and recycled oxygen used in the cramped halls of the Network Security Headquarters.

The plant life was astonishing. In the shallow valley where my pod came to rest the plants that grew everywhere stood twice my height. They had an aquamarine hue.

I decided to ride out the storm in the pod. The relentless rain beat a perpetual, disjointed tattoo on the ceramic hull of the entry craft. I tried to contact Captain Iguana, but the lightning kept interfering with my transponder.

I settled for the night in the pod and dreamed while I slept. When I awoke the next morning, I had a strange memory that I dreamed the entire planet was alive, the grass, the forests and the fauna. I figured it was my excitement over tracking down Balancer Sunwolf.

I had a visitor. It was one of the skorite hunters. He was a small, exoskeletonous vertebrate possibly four feet tall. I was amazed that such a dense, armored body could move about with such ease. The same size creature on the Network home world would have been unable to move about with such a heavy skeleton. I concluded that the lighter gravity of Skorsis made it possible for this chitinous being to ambulate and penetrate the thick grasses more deftly than I.

On his back and limbs, the skorite had orange and red spotting. The rest of his torso, thorax and abdomen were a pale, translucent gray. His face was equine, with a protruding nose and mouth.

I wondered if this small, stalwart-looking being could be one of the same warm-blooded hunters I saw subdue the terrible Xyrix Carapacia with such cold, strategic skill.

Before I could do anything, the skorite spoke without making a sound.

You are a Balancer. I am called Rhythm. How are you called?

For several moments I could not respond.

“My name is Balancer Graylion. I take it that you know of Balancer Sunwolf and have learned our language. I have never encountered one who communicates telepathically, without speaking, as you do.”

This has been the way of my people, who you call ‘skorites,’ for the last eight generations. I have come to take you to your companion, Good friend Sunwolf.

The skorite hunter, Rhythm, further explained that he was the first of his species to encounter Sunwolf when he arrived on Skorsis.

The dense grass and bracken of the valley made it difficult to navigate, even when I used my all-purpose, cutting laser. My alien guide took to the task of passing through the fragrant grasses like a duck to water.

Rhythm continued to explain the ways of his people to me as he used his strong forelimbs to act as a wedge, like a cowcatcher on an ancient Network steam locomotive. He made a space in the tightly grown grass that closed just as quickly behind us, leaving no recognizable evidence of our passage.

I no longer doubted that I was indeed addressing the cunning and scrupulous slayer of the Xyrix.

I asked Rhythm if his species had always preyed on the giant creatures. He answered as we hastened forward.

We have hunted the Xyrix Carapacia and other creatures as far back as the elders can recall. However, we are not nomads. You saw our hunting parties from orbit. We hunt in the plains and the lowlands of the elder planet, Skorsis, but my people live on the mountain.

Soon the terrain changed. As we left the grassy valley, we entered a thick, old-growth forest and the land continued to incline upward as we traveled.

As I gazed about, I was intrigued. Only a few centuries ago the land was flat, bereft of water, plants, and animal life. I marveled at the complex, highly developed being leading me deeper into the Skorian wilderness. I remembered my question to Sephiron.

“How intelligent are they?”

Now it seemed that I was as much an object of curiosity to the skorite as he was to me.

“How long did it take you to learn our language from Balancer Sunwolf?” I asked.

Good friend Sunwolf no longer calls himself ‘Balancer’ as you do. Perhaps he will explain his reasons for this to you personally once you meet him. To answer your question, it took several days for Good friend Sunwolf to make enough noises for me to put them all together.

If you think of us as the hunters of the Xyrix, then we think of you as the noisy people. How can you ever hunt your prey if you must make such noise among yourselves?

Rhythm paused and became alert. He appeared to be taking in his bearings or possibly receiving a signal inaudible to my ears.

We are nearing the enclave. Soon you will know all that you came here to learn, Balancer Graylion.

As the land rose, the plants changed around us. The valley’s vast swaths of aromatic, skorian grass became colorful fungi and large flowers. Some of the blossoms extended several feet in diameter. Above us, in the canopy, I heard the cries and screeches of the many varieties of fliers. These creatures depended on the height of the twisting, gnarled trees for protection.

We finally approached the enclave. It was based in an opening in the forest where the tree canopy gave way to the sunlight. This was the home of Rhythm and his skorite people.

The enclave was a conglomeration of interconnected cul-de-sacs. It was not fabricated with wood, because to pierce the flesh of a living tree was sacrilege to the skorites. The habitat was constructed with resins expelled from spinnerets on their bodies.

From the outside, the enclave looked like a pyramidic midden heap. Its glossy, membranous outer layer had hardened into a reflective shell after generations of skorites added to its mass and architecture.

Several trails ran different directions from the surrounding forest to gaping portals that led down into the nucleus of the enclave.

A bearded, wolf anthropomorphic stood at the mouth of the nearest portal. It was Balancer Sunwolf.

“Hello, Graylion, it’s been a while. I knew the Network would have someone come looking for me.”

“Are you all right, Sunwolf? What happened?”

“I’m through with the Network. They’re not just in the mining business anymore. The Network home world is dying. With a stagnant, drab society, it’s only a matter of time before the Network is sending fleets of space freighters loaded with cargoes of mutants preserved in cryosleep to be awakened upon reaching Skorsis and all the other developing systems. This is a constant demand for expansion. The ancients called it Manifest Destiny. Our own species has reached a crucial standstill and it will progress or die.

“The Network needs an economic boost. It needs more colonies and consumers of Network products.”

As Sunwolf spoke my awareness of the enclave and the surrounding forest changed.

The sounds of the fliers and other denizens of Skorsis seemed to get louder and more chaotic yet I could still hear Sunwolf’s voice.

“You see, Rhythm and the other hunters are really adolescents. The elders are stationary and live at the heart of the enclave.”

Sunwolf ignited a shaft of deadwood that had fallen to the forest floor. It was wrapped in coarse, bark fibers that were shed naturally. The interior of the enclave was organic and reflective and was partially transparent. In the light of Sunwolf’s makeshift torch I was sure that I saw veins and capillaries branching within the massive bulk of the walls.

Without the guidance of Rhythm and Sunwolf I would have been quickly lost in the labyrinthine passages and colonnades of the skorite warren.

Although our path took several twists and turns, we continued to travel downward.

In the flickering torchlight Sunwolf’s face looked different. When we were Initiates going through the Network Indoctrination process Sunwolf was the most self-assured and confident. In battle simulations he was the fastest to discern xenomorph threat from innocent bystander.

“I came down here on orders, just as you did, Graylion. I guess it took seeing Skorsis firsthand for me to realize that I’m burned out and sick of it all.”

Sunwolf closed his eyes.

“I’m tired of cryosleep. I’m tired of Balancing for the Network and all the ATA’s.”

Sunwolf touched the walls.

“Feel this place. This is the future. It lives and breathes in the accelerated biogenesis of this planet. I don’t want to go back to the Network. I don’t want to be a slave anymore.”

“Slave,” I murmured.

The organically buttressed architecture of the enclave became more solid and large-scale. Multitudes of smaller passageways and vents merged to form wider, naturally fortified, ribbed chambers.

Finally, we came to the nucleus of the enclave. It was an egg-shaped ventricle that received a constant flow of air from the surface several hundred yards above. Attached to an umbilicus extending from the center of the ceiling were the elders.

No longer needing to perambulate under the gravity of Skorsis, the elders were a colossal, cohesive, symbiotic entity. I was unable to tell where once central nervous system ended and the next began. I could make out over a dozen bulbous skorite faces in the immense, chitinous body.

They communicated in the same manner as Rhythm, but with a more harmonic, subdued euphony to their collected expressions.

We are the elders. Welcome to our home. We invite you to share the dreaming with us.

At this time, a band of skorite adolescents produced the spleens of half a dozen slain Xyrix Carapacia. The ensconced elders digested the meat and released a psychoactive gel.

Before encountering the skorites it had not once entered my mind to question the directives of the Hydrodyne Corporation and especially Captain Iguana. But the look on Sunwolf’s face possessed a peace I had never known existed. Before meeting the skorites disassociation from the Network was a respite Balancers found only in death. My friend, Sunwolf, had spoken the truth about the emptiness and banality of life in the Network, life as a Balancer. He had a fresher point of view on life than I did.

On the advice of Sunwolf I sampled a dollop of the quivering substance as he and the other skorites did the same. The skorite elders combined their minds to establish a telepathic network, linked to the echolocation signals of hunting groups over all Remus and the other continents of Skorsis.

The enclave was like a low frequency, sonic lighthouse. The entire structure was designed to send and receive messages to skorite hunters and scouts in the most remote regions of the planet.

We merged with a hunting party in the center of the continent of Remus. Unlike the heavily forested, lush mountain environment surrounding the enclave, these skorite hunters traveled the flat lands. The clear, skorian air made it possible to see over fifty miles where distant foothills brought a rim to the plains.

Dark storm clouds gave the atmosphere a palpable, humid density. The grasses were of a similar size to the phylum that I encountered when I first landed on Skorsis. Instead of being an aquamarine color, they were ruddy brown. The aroma of their black and white speckled flowers smelled like the threatening storm.

The skorite hunters watched a foraging horde of the giant predator mollusk, Xyrix Carapacia. They fed on ferret-like critterlings that they plucked from their shallow burrows with their dexterous tentacles.

The leader of the skorite hunters was an adolescent male who resonated a harmonious mindvoice.

Wait, they are still feeding. When they have gorged themselves and are sated, we shall move in on the one with the gimpy tentacle.

The proposed victim did not seem hindered by his scarred, severed appendage. He seemed very content as he directed two chittering, squirming critterlings into his snapping mandibles.

When the hunters did attack it was en masse. Their dun and spotted coloring allowed them to virtually disappear in the billowing grasses. Their method of diversion was a piercing, echolocated burst. Although experiencing the scenario through the bodies of the skorites, I could see how it would be impossible to think or run if subjected to such a painful, combined telepathic barrage.

The united hunters were able to quickly subdue and devour the stunned Xyrix, leaving only the empty exoskeleton and the spleen to be brought as a tribute to the elders.

As the skorites feasted they recanted the mindsong, the crux of the dreaming as it was manifested on their adolescent level. The mindsong was echoed by the voices of the other hunters who sang details of their own journeys, hunts, ordeals, and tribulations.

I realized that just as the elders included the hunters in the dreaming, so had they incorporated Sunwolf and myself. I felt Sunwolf reaching out to me within the swirling, astral, alien pantheon.

At last, you understand. Now you see the vulnerable relationship that dominates the elder planet, Graylion!

If Hydrodyne continues to develop mines in this system, Rhythm’s people don’t have a chance. We’ve got to do something or else the dreaming will be a thing forgotten to the universe.

The Network has the same process working in a myriad of systems.

I had to admit to myself that I found it hard to believe that only three hundred years earlier, all Skorsis was a barren, volcanic wasteland. Could it be just as quickly returned to such an inhospitable state?

I wondered how I could have been so confident in my duties as a Balancer. The thought of conducting a dissection procedure on a skorite seemed inhumane now that I was on their territory, seeing through their eyes.

Suddenly it seemed like we were hovering, invisible within the Network Security Headquarters. The elders were consoling.

Don’t be alarmed. We want to share with you what we have dreamed. Your compatriots are planning many things of which you are ignorant.

Captain Iguana and Doctor Mbabwe sat alone in the darkened briefing forum. They were in the middle of a heated argument. Captain Iguana was angry.

“I don’t want any more screw-ups. This time I say we revive a real soldier from cryosleep. What have you got from the Synthesis Cadre?”

“Are you serious?”

Doctor Mbabwe was equally frustrated.

“Have you forgotten what happened the last time they activated a cyborg programmed for extinction?”

“How do you think we won the Synthesis Wars?”

“Some of those species are still recovering. Some species were completely obliterated!”

“There is no substitute for cost-effectiveness.”

“You, insensitive bully! What about the possibility that Balancer Graylion has run into some unexpected contingency preventing him from reporting? Don’t you think you should give him the benefit of the doubt?”

“I have no doubts. This is insubordination, plain and simple. In the Network, failure to comply with orders is punishable by immediate Acquisition, Tranquilization and Execution.”

Captain Iguana was not swayed by Doctor Mbabwe’s words.

“Computer, begin cryosleep revival program, Cyborg Six.”

In the cold, dark storage cells of the Security Headquarters a convoluted, mutant mind began to dream.

Dr. Mbabwe was upset with Captain Iguana’s murderous intentions.

“I’ve had it with you and your Network. You people never did appreciate or understand the ethical responsibilities inherent in genetic manipulation.”

She left the Network briefing forum and began the necessary preparations to get down to Skorsis.

“Is the world going insane?” she declared aloud. “I’ve got to warn the people down there about the cyborg.”

The elders slowed the dreaming. The multitudes of mindvoices from throughout the planet diminished until we were alone.

Sunwolf, the elders, Rhythm, a few other hunters, and I remained in the nucleus of the enclave.

Sunwolf said, “Captain Iguana is a madman. I had my doubts about him during the Synthesis Wars. Those were desperate times and a lot of people who had no business in the Network were let in. That was before our Indoctrination, though, wasn’t it, Graylion?”

I was also surprised at the rash nature of the decision of Captain Iguana.

“We’ve got to contact the miners at Tranquility, otherwise they won’t even know what hit them.”

Sunwolf addressed the skorite hunters and the elders.

“We must leave. Graylion and I will travel to the mining colony and warn them about this cyborg. We can leave some weapons here. The utility lasers are quite…”

That won’t be necessary, interrupted the elders. We have our own ways of protecting ourselves. When the time comes, we will be ready.

Rhythm led us out of the enclave and along a mountain trail heading down to the foothills. We traveled for the next five days. By the following morning we could see the coast. Settled within a shallow ravine in the foothills was the mining town, Tranquility.

Rhythm spoke with his mindvoice.

This is as far as I go. The last time I ventured further I was assaulted by one of those digging machines.

The town was built on the delta of two rivers. The roads were bordered by dilapidated shanties made from corrugated tin, wood, and adobe. The miners were a hardy lot. Most worked driving large drills from shaft to shaft.

A burly, tattooed miner stopped his vehicle, a device with a long conveyer belt covered with steel scoops.

“You guys look new here. I’d say you’re looking for Burgomaster Chavez. You’ll find her in the Bow and Hammer down this road, first tavern on the left.”

We followed the miner’s advice and entered the rough-looking tavern.

The music was nearly deafening. The band, if you could call it a band, was the most motley group of individuals I’d seen since my Indoctrination.

The synth-lute player was a jaguar woman.

The drummer and bassist/vocalist were both dressed lavishly.

I grabbed the arm of one of the waitresses and yelled into her ear.

“We’re looking for Burgomaster Chavez!”

She yelled back.

“You’re looking at her!”

She pointed at the musicians entertaining the crowded tavern.

I didn’t know what to say.

“The bass player, are you serious?”

She smiled.

“No, silly, the synth-lute player.”

I thanked the waitress and approached the Burgomaster after the song finished.

“My name is Graylion. This is Sunwolf. We came here as representatives of the Network. Now we represent someone else, a people that are native to this planet.”

Burgomaster Chavez led us to a more secluded corner of the Bow and Hammer.

“This is a desert wilderness in more ways than one. If it wasn’t for the nightly show, we’d all be bored to death or at each other’s throats half the time.”

Despite her garb, which was reminiscent of the late Renaissance, Burgomaster Chavez seemed like a down-to-earth person.

“Allow me to introduce a man who is my head of security, and a personal friend.”

Across the table from where Sunwolf and I sat was a muscular, Stygian mutant. He was tattooed with a tribal style.

“Caleb,” said the man who extended his hand in greeting.

The stage crew finished arranging and tuning the equipment for the next act, a reggae band.

Caleb stared at us with his three, feline eyes.

“If you’re from the Network then you can explain how our prospecting units have been failing all over our southwestern perimeter. What kind of animal can shatter the magnesium housing on those units?”

Sunwolf explained the territorial needs of the skorite hunters to Caleb.

The music was wonderful. It made me think that despite the differences between we Network mutants and the alien elders, there was more in common than appeared on the surface. The melody of the saxophone wailed in a unique way.

“There is the potential for a lasting, peaceful coexistence between the miners and the skorites,” offered Sunwolf.

“Unfortunately, our ex-employer is about to introduce a third variable into the mix, a defrosted cyborg from the Synthesis Wars.”

The Stygian Caleb looked confused.

“What does this cyborg have to do with us? Why should we care what happens to those unit-destroying, super bugs? They have been costing us copper.”

“You should care because you share a common environment,” argued Sunwolf. “You miners may have a different origin and story of how you came to be here on Skorsis, but the fact of the matter is that this is your home now. It is yours and theirs.

“Secondly,” continued Sunwolf, “the Synthesis Wars were an ugly time for all of us. The cyborg represents the worst of the internecine genocide of that era. If one of them is reanimated it won’t know that the War is over. To a ruthless cyborg we are all going to be seen as expendable, xenomorph threats to the Hydrodyne Corporation’s expansionist interests. Efficiency and cost-effectiveness are the new gods of the Network home world. Anything that stands in the way of the juggernaut of progress is going to be eradicated.”

“What exactly does this cyborg do that is so worthy of our concern?” demanded Caleb.

“If anyone makes trouble in Tranquility, the Burgomaster throws them in the hoosegow.”

Unfortunately, I did know.

“When I was a Phalanx Leader my troops were ordered to respond to a distress call from some godforsaken system in the Scutum Arm. The enemy landed on the newly inhabited planet’s surface and the colonists panicked. They activated a cyborg from their cryotanks. It was a big mistake. By the time my men got down there, nothing was left, no enemy, no Network colonists, just the shriveled husks of the poor, dehydrated souls. It was all that remained after being sucked dry by that cyborg.”

“What can we do, then?” replied the Stygian.

“Shall we just go out like that?”

Caleb did not look ready to acquiesce.

“We can hide in the old mines and fight the thing on our own turf.”

Burgomaster Chavez was kind enough to offer Sunwolf and me sleeping quarters. This was even though we planned to sleep lightly, if at all.

“There’s plenty of room in the tunnels along the old, depleted copper veins beneath the town.”

In the streets of Tranquility miners and vendors sealed off their homes and booths. The frightened mutants would depend on the expended shafts of the earliest, initial mines that now lay unused and vacant. An intersecting network of lateral and vertical corridors permeated much of the soil under the town and delta.

The agora was a central marketplace in which many businessmen gathered, looking to barter copper for goods or vice versa, all under the watchful eye of Network tithing clerks. It was a bustling conglomeration of tents in the street. They stood from the front of the Bow and Hammer and extended along the rest of the trading district.

Now there was only the occasional, lonely mongrel that rummaged for edible tidbits among the discarded inventory, forgotten in the wake of the already spreading news of the coming cyborg.

Caleb rose and was about to leave the tavern when I was startled to hear a somewhat drunken miner yell.

“It’s a good thing this monster is coming. Maybe it will relieve us hard-working miners from the bureaucrats that have their fingers in every Network pocket from their precious tithes.”

“Is this going to be the second time this month that I must throw you in the cooler, Gnash? Why don’t you go sleep it off?”

Burgomaster Chavez gathered herself to her fullest possible stature. She pierced the intoxicated, zebra miner with an icy, maternal stare. Caleb stood beside her. Together the tri-optic Stygian and the sometime musician made an intimidating pair.

“What should I care?”

The nonplussed, black-and-white-striped mutant had equine features. His dilated irises glinted with a belligerence that told me this was not the first time a miner had spoken his mind about what he saw to be unfair Network monopolization of the ground-side economy.

“We dig the copper. We breathe in the dust, dirt and toxic drill emissions and then have nowhere to buy food, grog, even the clothes on our backs except from these overpriced rip-offs.”

Gnash brought his face within inches of Caleb’s as he returned his punitive stare.

“The miners have been itching for breathing room from you, management leeches. This cyborg is a blessing. When the cyborg is dead, there’s going to be a new social order in this town.”

“That’s enough, Gnash. You’re out of control. Don’t make me have you tranquilized.”

I saw that Caleb’s ire was also rising.

“Let me buy everyone a drink and we’ll see if we can come to some sort of an understanding.”

Burgomaster Chavez wrapped her arms around the waists of Caleb and Gnash.

“We’re going to need every able-bodied miner to help take down this monster. There is no time for insurrectionist revolts. We’ll deal with the issue of our independence from the Corporation after we resolve the priority of survival.”

It was early the next morning as Sunwolf and I were asleep in our corner of the main transport shaft under Tranquility that I was awakened by a familiar embrace.

It was Doctor Mbabwe. I was surprised to see her. I touched her fur to convince myself that she was real.

“Ibis,” I exclaimed, “what are you doing here? You didn’t need to come down to the surface to contact us.”

“Yes, well I didn’t want Captain Iguana or Sephiron to eavesdrop on my transponder signal, so I just followed your global positioning implant beacon. Graylion, I came here to warn you of what Captain Iguana is planning…”

“To summon a cyborg from cryosleep,” I interrupted.

“What?”

Doctor Mbabwe was astounded.

“How did you know? You’ve been incommunicado for the last week.”

I described the abilities of the skorites to Ibis. I told her how the enclave was the communication terminal for their species and allowed them to observe events that transpired anywhere near their elder planet.

I took Doctor Mbabwe’s hand in mine and bestowed it with a kiss.

“I was afraid I might never see you again,” I confessed.

Both of us were smitten by a trembling shockwave emanating from the town above.

Sunwolf awoke.

“What was that?”

“Graylion, listen to me. All of us must leave this place. It isn’t safe here. Cyborg Six is already up there in Tranquility.”

Ibis’ tone was fearful and urgent.

“Are we leaving? Good. I was getting tired of this place anyway.”

The miner, Gnash, emerged from the shadows of the transport shaft, laser unit in hand.

Sunwolf said cynically, “Hello, Gnash! I thought you were going to stick around to establish your new social order.”

Another shockwave rumbled through the tunnels. Small fragments of stone and earth knocked loose from the walls.

Gnash clutched his utility laser like a protective talisman.

“Caleb and the Burgomaster are fighting back. I can hear them!”

The miner’s brow was dotted with cold perspiration. He was several shades paler than he was in the Bow and Hammer the night before.

The Burgomaster arrived in the nick of time. Her face and hands were covered with char and ash. Her visage exuded her distress.

“Alas, Caleb insisted that I retreat. Our only chance is to escape through the sluice line that dumps into the delta.”

Gnash led us quickly to the sluice line, where large hoppers would normally drop mineral-rich ore into a canal that flowed through filters to the river junction. All of us were eager swimmers, considering it was our only means to exit Tranquility.

As we rode the current downstream, we saw a column of black smoke reaching miles into the sky from its origin over the charred remains of what had been the mining town.

I thought about Captain Iguana. My onetime commanding officer was responsible for the slaughter of the miners. I was forced to admit that the Network home world was run by mutants with the same, monstrous apathy as the captain but with a thousand times more power and resources at their disposal.

I was a part of it.

* * * * *

So, ends Graylion’s Report. After the destruction of both the mutant settlement and the enclave of the skorite hunters, Captain Iguana withdrew all Network influence from the planet, and it was deemed unsuitable for future colonization.

Although crushed by the annihilation of his home, Rhythm led his people deep into the continent Remus to become the first of a new brood of elders in an enclave hidden far from alien intrusion.

Sunwolf, Gnash, Burgomaster Chavez, Ibis, Graylion and a handful of others were the only mutant survivors of the massacre at Tranquility. They too sought safety in the vast wilderness of Skorsis. Doctor Ibis Mbabwe and Balancer Graylion founded a race known only as the People of Skorsis.

They taught their children vigilance so that they may one day unite to confront the cyborg that still wanders the ruins of the Network mining colony.

--Felix Liebert, Andromeda Database

Chapter Two: Reconstruction

After the diaspora of the skorites into the wilderness of their planet, little data was uploaded from that system. Generations passed, and the scions of miners met with the offspring of Ibis and Graylion. They formed a new population of anthropomorphics in the outer reaches of the Milky Way. Rather than pursue the environmentally hazardous and destructive policies of the Hydrodyne Company they adopted the philosophy of their parents.

The survivors bonded with the hive builders in pseudo-symbiosis. The telepathic xenomorphs kept the humans posted as to the presence of the xyrix carapacia and other, large predators native to their planet. In turn the expatriates helped the creatures to keep their hives safe and to complete their hunting cycles of the great, shelled mollusks.

The following is my compilation of satellite correspondence and high-definition camera recordings of infrared and visible light that I found in the archives here at the database in Andromeda.

--Liebert

Redlion marched through the tropical terrain of Skorsis.

Grandfather Graylion did well to choose this place as a home, he thought.

The birds and wildlife of the area called out into the air.

The young lion man was accustomed to the sounds of the natural world and relied on them to reveal places where hunting game were abundant.

The anthropomorphic settlement, Serenity, was doing well, as was the transferred habitat of the skorites.

Redlion was experienced with the movements of the hunters native to the planet. The people used the hunting tactics of the skorites as a model and secured a steady food supply of their own by mimicking their strategies.

The canopy of the tropical forest loomed high above the trail that Redlion hiked.

The ferns and bushes were lush and bore a variety of colors ranging from bright green to auburn.

Redlion enjoyed the foliage and frequently followed game trails and routes that were replete with prey.

The people of Serenity thrived on the wildlife of the region and assembled maps indicating places where food was plentiful.

Unbeknownst to Redlion another cyborg had been released by Captain Iguana to the surface of Skorsis. This assassin was not programmed to awake until recently. Now the mechanical workings within the discharge craft, covered with vines and ivy, whirred, and ticked with newfound electricity. The cyborg, Zarges, opened his eyes and watched the indoctrination program that the now absent captain left in the landing craft’s debriefing dossier.

“… destroy the colony … eliminate the skorites … “

The cyborg exited from the landing craft and headed into the tropical forest. He was unfamiliar with the changes in the terrain. The roads and trees changed over the passage of years and Zarges needed time to become reoriented.

Redlion was unaware of the presence of Zarges when he was narrowly missed by a flurry of laser fire. The anthropomorphic dove for cover. He rolled behind a nearby log and ducked as he heard another blast of lasers strike the wood in front of him. Redlion activated his com-unit and addressed his friends, Nightwolf and Tigra, in Serenity.

“Hey guys, I can use some help here. A maniac is going crazy with a utility laser north of town. How soon can you get to my coordinates?”

“Tigra’s not here, Redlion. This is Nightwolf. I can ride my jet bike to your location in about ten minutes. You’ve got to hold your own until then.”

“I’ll do my best, Wolf. See you soon.”

Redlion ran in a serpentine pattern through the ferns and underbrush. He headed in the opposite direction of the random laser fire. As he moved the shots became increasingly inaccurate.

The red-haired explorer ran a while longer when Nightwolf appeared on a hovering jet bike. The vehicle stayed aloft with a pair of micro-jets. The high-powered hydrogen engines shifted from vertical to horizontal positions depending on the aircraft’s altitude and velocity. Redlion climbed aboard behind Nightwolf and they headed back to Serenity.

The townspeople were already aware of the prowling of the cyborg. Their global position surveillance systems alerted them to the digital activity in the sector as soon as the aged landing pod opened in the brush. The residents battened down the hatches of their stores and prepared themselves for battle. They remembered the stories of the previous destruction of the settlement of Tranquility and were prepared for such a contingency.

The anthropomorphics had a variety of weapons at their disposal. These included blow torches, air guns and sharpened steel blades. They prepared their weapons and waited to see what would happen next.

Redlion helped Nightwolf to close the main gate of the settlement. It was constructed of bound wood covered with sheets of wrought iron. The friends joined the other guards on the scaffolding that was attached to the inner edge of the protective wall surrounding Serenity.

The entire village was square in shape so that it would be easily defensible from an outside attack.

A volley of laser fire erupted from the nearby forest.

“Those blasts are the same as the ones I saw earlier,” said Redlion.

“Nightwolf, sound the alarm. We’ll need every able-bodied resident to help us repel this mysterious invader.”

A dozen villagers emerged from their homes and booths. They gathered with the town guards at the ramparts. They soon spotted Zarges roaming around the outer perimeter of their settlement.

The cyborg unleashed a barrage of laser fire at the defenders who stood on the topmost level of the ramparts.

The anthropomorphics were prepared and each raised a reflective, metallic shield to protect themselves. The laser streams ricocheted off the mirror-like shields and made smoldering patches in the dry brush surrounding the fort.

Redlion’s compatriots then issued fire of their own from their makeshift flamethrowers and bolt guns.

Zarges was hit with some pieces of shrapnel and was mildly scorched by the jets of flame. The cyborg’s internal defense systems quickly repaired the damage, and the predator continued his search for weaknesses around the outer rim of the settlement.

Other members of Serenity approached Redlion.

“What shall we do, Red?” asked a lupine anthropomorphic.

The rabbit-like humanoid carried a samurai sword and dagger in his waistband.

“It’s up to us to decide, Hopper. This invader must have been affiliated with the battle initiated by our ancestors. There are records of such cyborgs as the one before us in our community database. If we remain vigilant and focused, we will overcome this newfound challenge.”

Zarges fired a pair of thrust rockets installed in his mechanized anatomy and scaled the outer wall of Serenity.

The defenders of the village turned their mounted weapons 180 degrees and continued to bombard their adversary. A fierce battle ensued. Volleys of flame and laser fire were exchanged at a fast pace.

Hopper tumbled along the ramparts, successfully evading a pair of missiles launched by the cyborg. The rabbit anthropomorphic retaliated with his sharpened, steel blades. He rendered slashing blows to the armor of the cyborg, causing significant damage to the assassin’s electronic systems.

Zarges’ armor sparkled and smoldered with rampant arcs of electricity. The attacker turned and fled to the surprise of the citizens of Serenity.

“Well done, Hopper,” said Redlion. “You made a lasting impression on the would-be invader. I expect that it will be some time before he returns to assault us again.”

The members of the settlement embraced Hopper in a warrior’s salute. They hoisted the lupine fighter aloft on their shoulders and yelled a trio of hurrahs.

“Please, my friends, we must prepare for another attack. There is no time for this foolishness.”

The anthropomorphics lowered Hopper to the floor and he took a moment to clean his weapons of the plastic and grease left by the cyborg.

“We must hold a meeting,” said Redlion. “Send word throughout the settlement, my friends. A decision must be made. The cyborg invader is clearly a remnant of the struggle faced by our ancestors. We must act to protect our society. It would not bode well for us to wait here for the assassin to return. I suggest that we delegate a platoon of fighters willing to pursue our adversary before he regenerates from the damage we inflicted.”

“I agree, Red,” offered Nightwolf. “If memory serves the previous mining settlement of Tranquility was accosted by a cyborg like the one that we faced today. Most of the people were slaughtered within the walls of their town. I suggest that we hold council and pursue the cyborg in the wilderness. As you all know there are many hazardous creatures in the forests and plains of Skorsis. We will be on the alert for attacks from both the assassin and the native predators. Perhaps it would be wise to consult with the skorite hunters of the xyrix carapacia. They assisted our ancestors in the past and may be convinced to share their global communication abilities with us once more.”

Redlion and his companions spread word of the planned meeting throughout the settlement.

In an hour the residents gathered at the center of the fort.

The council of Serenity was filled by the eldest living anthropomorphics.

Their group was headed by Jack Rhinodon. He was a massive, hulking rhinoceros anthropomorphic.

Among the gathering of elders sat Hopper and Ling Panda. Each of the dozen members of the council had narrowly escaped destruction by the initial cyborg assassin that was sent to Skorsis by Captain Iguana two generations ago.

Nearly all the current residents of Serenity sat in chairs before the broad table of the anthropomorphic council.

Jack Rhinodon was the first to speak.

“Welcome, all of you. As you already are aware another cyborg sent by the ancient Network has become activated of late. It was originally intercepted by Redlion who was chased to sanctuary here in Serenity. We are gathered here to determine our next course of action. Our chance for survival is greater than that of our ancestors in the now defunct settlement of Tranquility. We have weapons of our own device and a force of defenders that are armed and ready. Our companions, native to this planet, the skorite hunters, must be informed of the presence of the cyborg. They are also a sturdy group of hunters and will do well in the task of surveilling and confronting the new invader.”

“Jack, I volunteer for the search party to intercept the cyborg,” said Redlion.

“As do I,” said Hopper.

“Tigra and I also wish to join the group,” offered Nightwolf. “We can use the digital interfaces on our jet bikes to scan for the mechanically enhanced humanoid.”

“Very well, courageous fighters,” replied Jack Rhinodon. “Ling Panda and the rest of the elders will focus on raising the defensive capabilities of Serenity. We advise you to seek the assistance of the skorite hunters. They have their own means of defending themselves and will be interested to know of any potential threats to their large hive. The carapace hunter, known to our ancestors as Rhythm, has successfully formed a new habitat in the depths of the old growth, tropical forest. I will download the coordinates of the xenomorphs’ location to your vehicles. Keep in mind that the cyborg assassin, if similar in disposition to his predecessor, will take the knowledge of any sentient habitat as an opportunity to predate it.”

“We will fly with caution, Rhinodon,” said Tigra. “We are adept pilots and will take care not to become disabled by the lasers and missiles of the malevolent cyborg.”

“Very well, young searchers,” declared Ling Panda. “We wish you luck in your endeavor and will contact you on your com-units if the Network cyborg returns to this location. Farewell.”

The platoon of anthropomorphics exited from the council gathering to the applause of the residents of Serenity. They each mounted jet bikes and engaged their thrusters to maximum velocity.

Trails of water vapor formed in the air behind the hydrogen-powered engines as they rose to cruising altitude above the walls of Serenity.

The searchers did not travel far over the great canopy of the native trees when their helmets’ heads up displays chirped. Their advanced, electromagnetic scanners indicated the proximity of Zarges.

The mechanized humanoid was engaged in battle with a handful of skorite hunters. The equine natives to the lush planet rolled and tumbled to evade the scorching laser beams emitted from the cyborg’s shoulder cannon.

Several trees in the vicinity of the fight were chopped to pieces by the ruthless, Network attacker.

The skorite hunters responded to the flurrying barrage by emitting a high frequency electronic burst.

Zarges was clearly shaken by the counterattack and did not turn in time to intercept the diving platoon.

Tigra, the tiger anthropomorphic, was the first to unleash blasts of flame from the torches installed on her vehicle.

The cyborg, would-be assassin was scorched from behind. It would take several minutes to regenerate from the damage instilled by the flamethrowers.

Zarges had no choice but to flee from the ensuing melee. He fired rockets built into his metallic feet to shoot through the massive, skorian trees. Numerous branches and boughs were broken by his blundering passage, leaving a trail of detritus on the shady forest floor.

“Now is our chance to destroy this hostile entity once and for all,” Hopper cried.

The rabbit anthropomorphic unsheathed his curved samurai blade and blasted his vehicle along the smoldering trail left by the Network cyborg.

“Wait, Hopper, we must tend to these brave skorites and proposition their support,” Tigra yelled.

The lupine fighter did not respond and continued his chosen course.

“Let Hopper go, Tigra,” said Redlion. “We will track him with our global positioning devices. Let us consult with these skorites while the time is ripe.”

“Very well,” replied Tigra.

The orange and black striped anthropomorphic turned her vehicle from Zarges’ trail and decelerated to a stop at the group of fighters and xenomorphs.

Thank you for coming to our aid, hummed the largest of the five skorite hunters.

Each of them had minor injuries from their bout with the hostile cyborg but they were of little consequence.

We must confer with Rhythm and the other elders in our habitat, said a smaller hunter. They will be thankful to know of the existence of this newfound adversary.

Redlion and his companions followed the lead of the skorite hunters into the labyrinth of tunnels within the new enclave.

Rhythm and a few other elders were ensconced and connected to the umbilicus that extended from the core.

Welcome, my two-legged friends. You remind me of my Good Friends, Graylion and Sunwolf. Much has happened since their passing. As I’m sure your presence verifies, our scouts have reported the recent emergence of a second cyborg, bent on the destruction of the settlements and habitats built on this planet, Skorsis. How can we help protect our strongholds, here?

“Such a thing is simple,” replied Redlion. “The cyborg attacks using lasers and rockets. We anthropomorphics can help bolster your defenses by constructing a protective barrier around this habitat.”

That sounds like a good idea, Redlion. In addition to your plan, we skorites can add a protective shell of our own fabrication to your figurative structure. It should greatly impede any would-be attacks from the hostile humanoid.

Rhythm continued in mindsong.

Although our previous enclave was destroyed by the first cyborg, other enclaves throughout the continent of Remus and this planet, Skorsis, memorized the tactical patterns of the aggressive entity. We will utilize this information in the construction of our defenses. Make what preparations you can with the other two-leggers, and we will surely be prepared for what offensive maneuvers the rogue cyborg brings to bear.

“Thank you for your sound counsel, Rhythm,” offered Redlion. “I am confident that we will prove ready for the trial we are about to face.”

Redlion and Tigra departed from the nucleus of the enclave and conferred with their comrades on the surface outside of the organic structure. It would be a matter of hours before the humanoids' protective construction was complete.

* * * * *

Zarges was ready. The cyborg ran a target detection protocol, revealing the warm bodies of the anthropomorphics and skorites within their defensive station.

Unbeknownst to the semi-organic predator, Hopper was nearby. The rabbit anthropomorphic conducted a brazen attack on the hostile intruder.

“Hearken my words, Monster. My friends will not be harmed by you or any other destructive entity!”

Hopper drew a glinting katana and swung it through Zarges' midsection. The cyborg did not have time to activate his magnetic energy shield and received the full force of the blow. The cyborg shuddered and was temporarily overcome by a wave of electric short-circuits.

Zarges activated secondary energy systems within its engineered anatomy and recovered quickly. The cybernetic hunter targeted the brave anthropomorphic as he prepared for another attack. Zarges fired a rocket from his considerable ammunition reserve.

The projectile detonated within 7 meters of the spry anthropomorphic, knocking him to the ground and toppling several nearby trees.

The cyborg emitted a mechanical, whirring noise as it ambled toward Hopper.

The fighter moaned, clearly stunned, in a semi-conscious state.

Zarges activated a scalding, cutting laser and thrust it forward at its prey.

Hopper opened his eyes and shied away from the heat of the dangerous device.

Several laser blasts knocked the cyborg aside as Redlion, Tigra and the skorites rushed to the battle scene. The anthropomorphics focused their weapons on Zarges and opened fire.

The cyborg was immersed in a series of laser blasts and smoldered at several locations.

A pillar of dark smoke rose through the canopy of the old-growth forest as the enemy of the settlers lay motionless.

Nightwolf and the skorites entered the fray.

The anthropomorphics stood aside as the skorites initiated their planned method of attack. They swamped Zarges in a series of echolocated busts then moved in, covering the would-be assassin in a quivering mass of skorite bodies. They feasted on the beast and rent him into a multitude of charred pieces, taking care to salvage the spleen. It would be taken as tribute to the elders at the heart of the nearby enclave.

* * * * *

So, I close the Skorsis Dossiers. The planet is quiet now. And has set an example to any would be tyrants throughout the known galaxy.

--Felix Leibert, Andromeda Database

The End