Chapter 3

Sheena shouldered her way past the others to the front of the line and walked side by side with Jasmine. “Do you want me take the point for a while?”

Jasmine cast a quick smile her way. “That's all right. I'm in charge here. The others need to see me taking the lead.”

“They wouldn't mind seeing me take over for a while. You're not in command of me.”

“Thanks for the offer. I'm glad you're here. It's nice to share the responsibility with someone for a change.”

“It's my fault we're in this situation. I've got all your lives on my head.”

“What are you talking about? It's thanks to you that any of us is alive right now.”

“I crashed the shuttle.”

“You didn't crash it. That dragon crashed it. You're the one who made sure we landed in one piece. I only wish I could figure out what made it attack us like that.”

“I'm sure we'll never know. Maybe it didn't like the sound of the engines. Maybe they gave it a headache. Who knows? I only know I've never stranded nine people on an unknown planet before, not to mention myself. I feel responsible. I want to get everyone to the Keep before something else happens.”

“Don't worry. You've done enough. I'll take over from here.”

“Well, if you change your mind and want me to take over, just say the word.”

“I have a better idea. As long as you're on this planet with us, why don't you and I share command? By rights, we're both in charge, and we're equal rank.”

“That sounds good. Then neither of us will have to face command alone.”

“You've been in command of the transport team longer than I've been in command of this research team. You've got a lot more experience with situations like this than I do.”

“Are you kidding? I don't have any experience with situations like this.”

“You've been in combat and all that. You've been under fire. The way you told us all to sit down and be quiet while you fought that thing—hoots! I could never do anything like that. You shut all of us up in a hurry. I wish I had the guts to do something like that.”

Sheena turned away. “Don't wish for it. It's no fun.”

Jasmine touched her arm. “I know. I'm only saying I admire the way you handled that thing. I was very impressed. Everyone was.”

Sheena kept her face turned away so Jasmine wouldn't see her burning cheeks. No one ever complimented her before for telling them to shut up.

“Why don't you take the point for a while after all? It will do the team good to see you in charge instead of me for a while. That will get it into their minds that we're sharing command.”

“All right.” Sheena pressed forward in front of Jasmine, and Jasmine dropped back to the rear.

They hiked another hour without incident. The girls wandered farther and farther into the woods on every sojourn until the team lost sight of them, but they always came scampering back with fresh gales of conversation and treasures to show their parents.

Sheena cast her mind ahead to Assan Keep. What would they find there? She never would have signed up to visit this planet, with its male-dominated culture. What kind of apes were these people, anyway? What kind of women would live with a bunch of chest-thumping men trying to run the world?

The Allied Command had to do some pretty fancy diplomatic footwork just to convince the Krataks to let the research team land on the planet to study and document their culture. The Krataks didn't trust the female-dominated Allies for a second. They didn't believe the Allies' peaceful overtures. They continued to believe, against all assurances, that the Allies wanted to conquer this planet.

A sudden scream broke in on Sheena's reverie. She whirled around to see the girls come racing back through the trees. They dropped whatever item they were carrying and bolted straight for the team.

Jasmine came forward to meet them when a giant shape lumbered out of the trees. Sheena barely had time to get a glimpse of it before it broke through the underbrush and charged at the group.

It towered over their heads as tall as an elephant. Dark brown hair covered its whole body, and sharp tusks jutted out of its face. It roared and bellowed and shook the ground with stamping cloven hooves.

Sheena's hands flew to her pockets, but she didn't have a weapon of any kind. The rest of the group didn't have anything, either. Their agreement with the Krataks forbade them from bringing weapons of any kind, even knives. They were utterly defenseless.

Jasmine shed her pack and flew toward the fleeing girls. Sheena appeared at her side. Before she could think what she was doing, she stripped off her outer thermal shirt and waved it in the creature's face.

It reared back with a snort and raked the sky with its tusks. It came down hard on its front hooves and landed just inches away from her. Sheena didn't have time to be scared of the thing. She followed up her advantage and flicked the shirt sleeve into its eyes.

At the same time, Jasmine scooped up a stick from the ground and jabbed the thing in the side. It wheeled away from Sheena to face the mosquito pricking it. Jasmine backed away to lead the creature away from the rest of the team.

Sheena noticed what Jasmine was trying to do, but distracting it could only get Jasmine killed in the girls' place. Sheena had to think of something fast. She had to find some way to frighten the thing away.

She turned one way and then the other when she noticed a stream bed nearby. She ran down the bank and scooped up a handful of stones. She raced back to the team and selected a smooth round one that fit neatly in her palm.

She took careful aim and let the stone wing through the air. It whistled out of her hand at the creature and struck it in the ear. Sheena didn't have time to congratulate herself on her shot before the thing let out a squeal and rounded on her.

Jasmine poked it in the shoulder again, but it paid no attention. It advanced on Sheena with a wicked gleam in its beady black eyes. She picked another stone and locked eyes with it.

She let the second stone fly, and it nailed the creature in the corner of the eye. It drew back with a growl of pain and started toward her at a menacing trot. Sheena picked out another stone and pulled back her arm when Rex Masters burst out of the group with a gun in his hand.

He jumped between Sheena and the creature and aimed his weapon at the thing. He squeezed off a calculated blast of sizzling energy that hit the animal in the head and glanced off its rock-hard skull. The skin parted to reveal white connective tissue underneath, but the blast cauterized the blood vessels so the wound didn't bleed.

The creature bellowed in rage and Rex took aim for another shot, but the thing didn't attack him. It wheeled sideways and charged straight into the group standing behind Sheena.

Sheena, Jasmine, and Rex could only stand and stare at the monster thundering at their defenseless friends. The girls cowered behind their parents, but nothing could stop that behemoth on its course toward them. At the last second, Ron Simons launched himself out of his shocked trance into the creature's path.

As heroic as his move might have been, the results proved disastrous. Instead of sacrificing himself to save his family, the creature galloped right around him and jabbed its tusks into the group. One tusk impaled Sophia Tompkins in the thigh. With a toss of his head, it lifted her off the ground and sent her flying through the trees to bounce on the soft grass some twenty feet away.

As soon as it found itself free of its burden, the creature turned on the group for another jab. Sheena ran forward and sent a rock whizzing through the air to strike the creature in the nose, but it only roared in rage and swiped its tusks at the girls huddled screaming and sobbing behind their mother.

Jasmine came to Sheena's side with her stick all ready to poke the thing again, and Rex peppered its shaggy sides with one shot after another with his gun. Nothing made any difference. The thing bent its ferocious attention on the group. How did it know they, of all people, couldn't fight back?

Ron leapt back into the group and splayed his arms in front of his family to back them away out of danger, but the creature only followed. It angled its neck back to stab and rent and kill.

Sheena's arm dropped to her side, and the stone fell out of her hand. There was nothing more she could do if she didn't want to jump into the path of certain death herself. Even Jasmine stopped poking the creature with her stick. What more could they do to stop it?

The creature let out a terrible screech of deadly fury when a man stepped out of the trees. With lightning speed, he darted forward brandishing a long spear with a crude pointed head of beaten metal tied to its end with a leather thong.

With no hesitation, he ran up to the creature and stabbed it right behind the ear. The spearhead buried its point in the creature's neck. The creature reared back with another ground-shaking bellow. It twisted its head away from the pain, and the shaft snapped off in the man's hand, but the damage was done.

The creature rose on its hind legs, but it never got a chance to bring down its crushing hooves on the ground. In mid-air, its body gave a spasm and wrenched sideways. Then the creature collapsed on its side on the ground.

The man leapt out of the way to escape that falling bulk, and the animal hit the ground with all its weight. Its head bounced and came to rest with the broken-off spear shaft still protruding from its neck.