The Virtual Man [The Virtual Reality 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) (24 page)

“It needs help. The tree obviously fell on it, trapping it. There’s no telling how long it’s been there. It will die if we don’t do something.”

“Are you out of your mind? If you set it free it will turn on you.”

“Tiana, I’m not just going to stand by while this trapped and possibly injured animal starves to death. I have an idea. Let’s get dressed and go back to our camp.”

* * * *

Half an hour later saw Derek and a still-not-convinced Tiana back at the clearing with some leftover meat from breakfast and water from the nearby pool.

“Derek, if you set that, that wolf, as you call it, free and it decides to make a meal out of us, so help me I will personally tear you limb from limb.”

Derek chuckled. “Tiana, sweetie, have you ever considered taking a class in anger management?”

“Just once. I was kicked out for hitting the instructor,” Tiana responded with a straight face.

Nawww; she’s just kidding. Isn’t she? She wouldn’t have … ? Would she …?

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to give the meat and water to the wolf while it’s pinned by the tree and can’t get to me, so that it can eat and drink before I set it free.” Pointing to a tree at the edge of the clearing he continued, “I’d like you to climb up on that tree and wait there until it’s gone.”

“Derek, if we’re doing this, we’re doing it together.”

With that, Tiana grabbed the water and slowly approached the trapped animal, which surprisingly, didn’t growl or even move as she came closer. Following her lead and cursing under his breath, Derek did the same with the raw meat they had brought.

“Tiana, don’t get too close. Just put the water down and push it to the wolf with a stick. You don’t want to get within biting distance.”

Derek gave a sigh of relief as he watched her heed his advice. In no time, the wolf had gone through the food and water.

* * * *

“Tiana, it’s time to lift the tree. I don’t suppose you are going to be willing to climb up the tree to safety?”

“Nope,” she replied, unwilling to be told what to do.

“I didn’t think so.”

Carefully, using a fallen tree branch as a lever, they were able to lift the heavy trunk off the trapped animal. Much to their surprise, as they watched the wolf crawl out from under the fallen tree trunk, they realized they had underestimated the animal’s size. It was a good ten feet in length and about the height of a very tall man.

“Derek, I don’t think what we fed it was enough to fill even a small corner of the stomach on something that big. Doesn’t this stupid planet have any small, well, anythings?”

“He’s a predatory male, so whatever you do, do not show fear or look him in the eye. Just back up slowly and try to climb a tree as soon as you can.”

“We are about to get eaten and you’re checking out his balls? Derek, if we live through this, I swear, I will spend the rest of my days making sure that your life is an absolute living hell! Even then, I will not be fully paid up for this experience.”

“He’s turning toward us. Please try to relax and keep your cool.”

“I’m about to pee in my pants, don’t you go telling me to relax!”

“Tiana, listen very carefully. If you don’t relax, he will attack.”

“Great advice, Dumbo. That’s right up there with my Medical-Bot telling me to reduce the amount of stress in my life.”

As they stepped away from the huge animal, they realized they had backed into a rock wall that shot straight up past the treetops. Their escape had been essentially cut off. There was nowhere to hide. They watched helplessly as the animal, silently walking on huge padded paws with razor-sharp claws, came closer, eyeing its prey. As it approached them, Tiana understood Derek’s earlier comment about the animal’s teeth. Though the animal’s head was proportionately sized to the huge body, its teeth seemed to be disproportionately big for it. To add to the fierce look, the upper canines, like the saber tooth tiger they had encountered earlier, were a good length longer than the rest of its teeth and stretched out of its wicked-looking mouth.

Growling and baring its sharp teeth and hideous fangs, the animal approached Tiana. It was so close she could feel the animal’s warm breath on her petrified face.

“Tiana, do not make any sudden moves,” Derek whispered.

Yeah, right, like I could move at all.

This was it, the end of the road. Closing her eyes, Tiana prepared for her certain fate and prayed that death would take her swiftly and mercifully.

She felt the creature’s first wave of attack. A paw slammed into the left side of her body and across her left cheek as if in slow motion. The attack had been so brutal and quick that the razor-sharp claws must have sliced through her soft flesh and nerve endings mercifully leaving her with no pain after removing the left part of her face. She could, however, feel a warm wetness flowing down from where her face used to be.
Obviously blood,
she thought
. My face has just been ripped to shreds!

Before she could think, she felt a second vicious attack, this time on the other side of her face, but much stronger.

He’s torn the other side of my face. I’m covered in blood. Mercifully I am still feeling no pain.

Slowly she opened her eyes, surprised to find that they were still there and still worked. The sight that greeted her was one that she would never have guessed at in a lifetime.

“Yuk! The damn thing is licking me with the biggest, wettest, slimiest and most disgusting tongue I’ve ever seen. Derek, this is really gross.”

“I think he likes you. He’s thanking you for saving his life.”

“It was your bright idea. Why can’t he thank you instead, you dope? Aren’t dogs supposed to be
man’s
best friend?”

“I guess I’m not as cute and likable as you. I’m afraid I have to agree with him.”

Slowly Tiana reached out and ran her hand along the side of the big brute’s head and scratched under his ears. The wolf froze as he enjoyed the attention.

“Derek, this is amazing. He’s no different than a regular dog. What should we call him?”

“Tiana, don’t get too comfortable with your new friend. He is still a wild animal, is three times the size of the largest Earth dog and would just as soon eat you as lick you.”

“I think I’ll call him Bob. What do you think?”

“Tiana! You are not listening to me!”

“Derek, don’t be such a big wuss,” she scolded as the animal rolled over onto its back to allow Tiana to scratch its belly. “I’ve always wanted a dog, but my father was allergic to dogs and never let me have one. Then, when I married Tom, he never let me have one either. I’m keeping him!”

“Are you sure he’s not keeping you?”

Tiana gasped, her hand going involuntarily to her ear. “Derek! You’re not going to believe this. My phone, it’s cycling on! Bob must have unwittingly activated it when he whacked me with that foot-long tongue of his!”

“Do you have a signal?”

“No. I fear you were right. I don’t think there are any Alliance satellites within range up there. At least not right now. If there are any in orbit, maybe one will come into range later.”

“Yeah, maybe later.”

“Colonel Reginald, you are not going to believe this, but I have picked up the beacon’s signal. It’s transmitting location coordinates,” reported the Captain of the Terrilian warship
Cerberus
to his superior inside the ship’s dimly lit bridge.

“Where is it coming from?” she asked, quickly coming up behind him and looking over his shoulder at the faint signal on the monitoring screen.

“It’s coming from the Daxian continent, directly on the other side of the planet from us.”

“I’ll be damned. It is the signal from her tracking device,” said Colonel Katia Reginald of the Terrilian Armada, not even trying to hide her surprise.

“Colonel, it has not transmitted a signal in weeks. What could have reactivated it?” inquired the puzzled warship Captain.

“I don’t know, and frankly, I don’t care. It’s transmitting now and that’s all that matters.”

“She’s trying to call out with it. I’m blocking the signal now.”

“Good job, Captain. Finding that bitch and her boy toy should not be that hard now that we at least know in what part of the haystack to look for the proverbial needle. Once we’re in range we can simply scan the area for human DNA.”

“Katia, what’s going on?” she heard a voice ask as the door to the bridge slid open, allowing Tom Houser, ex-husband to Tiana Weiss and traitor to his race, to step inside.

Colonel Reginald’s face took on an exasperated, annoyed look as she responded to the human scum she had been sleeping with for the glory of her people.

“Tom, I was just going to send for you. It seems we have located your ex-wife’s—”

“Wife’s,” he interrupted.

“Your wife’s signal,” she finished. “Her escape pod must have crashed in the middle of the Daxian jungle. It is unpopulated, so there will be no need for discretion. Take a shuttle down to her coordinates and make sure she and that pain in the ass programmer don’t live to see another day.”

“With pleasure,” he responded, turning about and heading out the way he came in.

“Colonel, why did he correct you when you referred to Tiana Weiss as his ex-wife?”

“Because, like all humans, he is inferior, greedy and shortsighted. On top of the healthy fee we are paying him, he still wants to make sure he can get his hands on his wife’s estate, and as such, though he filed for divorce as we instructed, he has avoided finalizing the divorce on his end. Something to do with the new intergalactic law Earth has adopted.”

“I take it you have not made him aware that after our plan unfolds there will be no Earth left, much less interests in any estate?” inquired the Captain with a sense of amusement.

“No, I have not. I only give such information out on a need to know basis, and well, I just don’t think he needs to know, do you?”

“No ma’am!” They both chuckled over how easy it had been to manipulate the events they had thus far set into motion.

* * * *

An hour later, the shuttle bearing Tom and three Terrilian soldiers cruised through the planet’s atmosphere as it concentrated its scanners on the thick forest adjacent to a large lake.

“Mr. Houser, we have spotted two humans, one male and one female,” called out the flight engineer. “It appears they are being stalked or attacked by some kind of animal, though.”

Tom pressed closer to the screen as he watched the two blips identified as possessing human DNA moving in the direction of a large lake.

“Notice this third life form behind the humans” continued the flight engineer. “DNA readings indicate it is a large carnivore. It appears to attack them, they then fight it off and it runs away, only to return moments later and repeat the process. Perhaps the animal will do the job for us.”

“I do not want the animal killing them. That bitch wife of mine spent our entire married life rubbing my nose in the fact that her career was more successful than mine. I want to watch her as she dies knowing that I’m the one killing her.”

“Mr. Houser, our mission is to eliminate the targets, not personal pleasure.”

“Let me remind you that your mission is to provide me with logistical support to eliminate the targets. This is my mission and you will do as I say!”

“Yes, sir,” responded the flight engineer sarcastically as the pilot and the gunner watched the interchange with disdain for the human whose orders they were required to follow.

“Shoot the animal and then land at the edge of the woods.”

The three Terrilian soldiers would follow Tom’s orders, though in their minds, the carnivore had more of a right to live than this human, who on top of being an arrogant lower life form was a traitor to his own people.

* * * *

“See, Derek, he’s just a big puppy.” Tiana grinned as Derek heaved the stick down the trail and they both watched Bob chase after it. Seconds later he was back with the stick in his mouth.

“Tiana, a little help here, please,” Derek laughed as he tried to wrestle the stick out of the large animal’s jaws. “He only lets go of the stick when you are tugging at it. I think he has a crush on you.”

“Oh, it’s probably just ‘puppy love’,” she joked.

Sure enough, as soon as Tiana came over and pulled on the stick, Bob let her have it.

“I’ll throw it this time,” she said, taking the stick and heaving it over some rocks.

Immediately Bob took off after it.

As the animal jumped over the rocks to retrieve the stick, a disruptor blast came down from the sky, blowing the rocks to smithereens.

“Bob!” Tiana yelled as she and Derek ran in the direction they had last seen the animal.

As they got to the rocks, they looked down into the crater that had been created by the blast. At the bottom of the crater they could see Bob’s large body sprawled out, not showing the slightest hint of life.

“What was that?” she asked as she turned to Derek.

“I don’t know. Obviously, there’s a ship up there, possibly hunters. Maybe it’s a rescue ship that misinterpreted Bob’s actions and thought he was attacking us. Whoever it is clearly wanted to kill Bob, not us. If they had wanted to kill us it would be us down there instead of him.”

A shadow passed directly over their heads and headed in the direction of the lake.

“It’s the ship. Tiana, this may be our only chance to get back to civilization. Let’s hurry after it.”

“What about Bob?” Tiana asked, gazing down at the still body of her pet.

“Sweetheart, there’s nothing we can do for him now. I know you’d like to bury him or something, but we have to connect with that ship.”

Together, but with heavy hearts, they ran down the path leading to the lake and to what they hoped would be their ticket back to civilization. Hearing the sounds of the waterfall, the noise of which was muted by the magnificent flora of the jungle, Tiana wondered if civilization would have the same dampening effect on the fragile intimacy she and Derek shared.

As they approached the edge of the forest they watched a craft with strange markings land on the beach in front of the lake. Disquiet slowed their steps as apprehension flooded them.