Trapped on Venus (14 page)

 
“What is that?” Marty
asked.

 
“I think it’s a
tentacle of one of those new creatures I saw,” Scott replied. “I had a fight
with it. Can you give me one of those collection bags? I’ll put it in there for
safe keeping.”

 
“You got a sample of
one of the creatures, Scott? That’s magnificent!” Stimson interjected. “But,
are you safe where you are?”

 
“I don’t know if we’re
safe anywhere on this planet, Stimson,” Scott answered with a sense of
uncertainty in his voice. Marty handed Scott a plastic collection bag in which
he placed the tentacle of the creature. Scott sealed it, then handed it back to
Marty who put it in the collection case with the jar of liquid he had been able
to get.

 
“What I mean is, have
things settled down enough for you to tell us what’s been going on?” Stimson
asked.

 
“A lot, John,” Scott
answered. “But, I don’t think we even know all that went on. We were in
different places... and I couldn’t see Marty for a while and he couldn’t see
me. I think we even encountered different creatures.”

 
“Yes,” Marty added.
“The creatures that were attacking the creatures in the pool didn’t have any
tentacles. And – you won’t believe this, Scott, but – those creatures we saw
earlier that flew like stingrays in the ocean... also have legs or feet or
something with these talons on them that grabbed big chunks out of the
creatures in the pool!”

 
“What?” Stimson asked.
He could barely restrain himself. “You mean those flying creatures – the
stingrays – were ATTACKING the creatures in the pool?”

 
Even Scott was
stunned. But there was no time to tell any more of the story because suddenly
the sky started to fill with flying creatures. Because they were flying at a
low altitude and so close to the astronauts, it was easy to see that there were
at least 15 or 20 of them – even of different shapes and colors – that circled
the astronauts and the pool of liquid like vultures.
Were they going to attack?
both Scott and Marty wondered.

 
Suddenly more
creatures appeared in the pool, and the size of the pool began to expand. There
could have been as many as 15 or 20 shapes in the pool by now. And, circling
overhead, was a growing number of flying creatures.

 
“We’ve got to get out
of here, Scott!” Marty quickly observed. “Yes, let’s go!” Scott agreed, and the
astronauts began to quickly move toward the opening in the rim of the crater
where their ship was. As much as the astronauts hurried, though, they were too
slow to avoid the obstructions that suddenly appeared in their way.

 
“No! Stop, Marty,”
Scott quickly admonished as he saw the ground start to crack and splinter in
front of them. “It’s going to open, Marty! Quick! Get off to the side!”

 
Still dragging the
tools and sample case behind him, Marty veered off to the right and out of the
way of a ground fault as it ripped through the area where the astronauts were
standing. Then the seam that was created in the crust filled with the same
dark, sludgy liquid that was in the other pool. As it expanded, more creatures
appeared from under the surface.

 
“Get back farther,
Marty!” Scott instructed him. “See if we can get to that little knoll. That
should be out of the way.”

 
As the astronauts
hurried another twenty to twenty-five feet away from the area where so much was
happening, they could see the battle in greater perspective. “Stimson!” Scott
called out. “Stimson, I think it’s a battle of some kind taking place!”

 
Stimson was just
astonished! “You mean the creatures are fighting each other?” he asked.

 
“Yes! And I hope we’re
safe where we are!” Scott continued.

 
“Can you get back to
the ship?” Stimson asked.

 
“Negative,” Scott
admitted without optimism. “There’s a second pool that opened up right in front
of our exit point. But, even if the pool wasn’t there, I think we’d have to go
right through the battle area, and we wouldn’t have much of a chance of getting
through.”
 
From overhead, the sky was filling with
scores of flying creatures. Some darted at the creatures in the pools with
surprising speed while others landed on the creatures and tore at them with
their tentacles. And, bubbling up from the depths of the pool were shapes that
stretched and moved in unusual ways both to avoid the attacks from the flying
creatures and to quickly smother them in the dark liquid of the pool if they
missed their target.

 
Scott instinctively
looked around to see what other options they might have.
 
“Marty, what do you think about that gap a
little east of us?” Scott asked as he pointed to a gap in the rim wall of the
crater about 30 yards from them.

 
Marty turned to look
more closely at what Scott had pointed to but was knocked to his knees by a
speeding stingray that ran right into him. “Ooooof!” was the sound Marty made
as the creature slammed into him. But it looked as if the creature was hurt
even worse than Marty. There was no movement from it as it laid on the ground.

 
Scott checked to make
sure that Marty just had the wind knocked out of him, then helped him to his
feet. They both looked at the motionless creature at their feet.

 
“Is it dead?” Marty
asked.

 
“What?” Stimson could
hardly believe what he had heard. “You mean you have one of them?”

 
“Roger, John. One flew
right into Marty’s back. Hit him pretty hard. Marty’s ok, but the thing isn’t
moving.” Scott used his extractor rod to cautiously poke at the creature. “No.
It seems to be dead.”

 
“Can you put it in the
collection case?” Stimson asked.

 
“I don’t know. Let’s
see,” Scott said as he opened the small suitcase-sized case. “Maybe if we take
out some of the stuff that’s in here.” He began emptying the case.

 
“Scott, we’ve got to
get out of here,” Marty said as he looked again at the battle taking place only
40 or 50 yards from them. Flying creatures were diving at shapeless creatures
in the pools while the liquid sprayed from splashes and assaults in great
numbers. It was an intense battle that left casualties on both sides but the
astronauts definitely needed to get out of the area while the creatures were
distracted.

 
Scott tried to pick
the creature up that was next to them, but it was too slippery and heavy for
him to do it by himself. “Help me, Marty,” he said. “Maybe together we can get
it in the case.”

 
The creature filled
the entire collection case, but they were able to close the top and secure the
clasp. Then, with the collection case mounted on top of the tool box, in which
they had put the other samples, the astronauts began to make their way toward the
opening they saw in the crater wall.

 
“We’re moving,
Stimson,” Scott advised him. “It’s a lot like walking through the desert with
these suits on and the heat and heavy atmosphere. But, we’re getting out of the
battle zone. Looks like we might be able to get into the crater.”

 
“How do you feel,
Marty?” Stimson asked.

 
“Ok, I guess,” he
replied. “Tired,” he said as his breathing had increased noticeably. He was
pulling the wheeled tool case and collection kit behind him which must have
weighed another 25 or 30 pounds. The wheels turned slowly, but they rarely got
stuck in the sand.

 
“There it is, Scott,”
Marty remarked as he saw the opening they were walking toward.

 
“It looks a little
narrow,” Scott surmised. “Do you think we can make it through?”

 
“We’ll make it if we
have to bulldoze our way through,” Marty said with determination. “I’m too
tired to find another route.”

 
“Roger, that,” Scott
agreed. “Ok, let me get up ahead a little and see what it looks like.”

 
Scott moved a little
faster without the load Marty was dragging. As he approached the small opening
in the crater wall, he could see that it probably wasn’t wide enough for them
to fit through. However, the wall was only about 5 or 6 feet tall around it.

 
“I don’t know if we
can get through the opening,” Scott concluded. It’s only two or maybe three
feet wide.”

 
“Can you turn
sideways?” Stimson asked.

 
“It’s possible,” Scott
replied. But we aren’t much narrower either way in these suits, John.”

 
“Can you see another
opening, or even get over the wall?” Stimson asked.

 
“I don’t see any other
openings close enough to us. And, I’m sure we can’t get over the wall. This
isn’t an obstacle course, it’s Venus, remember?”

 
“What’s that?” Stimson
asked as he turned away from his microphone to talk to some of the other
scientists in the room. A moment later, he passed along the message. “Scott,
some of the geologists in the group think the rim of the crater may not be
rock. They think it might just be a hard crust of some kind.”

 
Marty perked up when
he heard that. “Of course it could be,” he realized. “I’ve wanted to get some
samples of that stuff anyway. Let me get a closer look at it.”

 
He wrestled with the
equipment he was dragging for a moment until he got out the hand pick he knew
was in with the tools. Pulling it out of the case and waving it triumphantly in
the air, he stepped closer to the wall and carefully chipped a rock-sized piece
out of it. Holding it in his hand, looking at it from several angles, he then
crushed it in his glove like sand at the beach.

 
“This isn’t rock,
guys,” he concluded with a flourish, “this is compressed sand!”

 
Marty put several
samples in the plastic bags he had brought with him then, like the bulldozer he
had promised to be, he slashed at the relatively thick and tall wall of sand
that had only offered a small opening, and began to cut his way through it with
ease.

 
The scientists on
Earth were flabbergasted! There were many versions of “I told you so” coming
from various places in the room, but also an instant curiosity to know more.

 
“What about those
places where the boulders were?” asked one of the scientists with an opposing
view. “Or those arches?” asked another. “Those are certain to be real minerals.
That’s got to be rock or pyrite.”

 
“Yes, yes,” answered
another. “There is probably a whole diversity of geology on the planet. But,
this news is incredible! It certainly proves the Thompson Theory...” another
added as the debates continued.

 
“Come on, Scott,”
Marty said somewhat short on breath as he finished making a wider opening in
the wall. He stepped through it and pulled the tools and sample case through
behind him.

 
Scott shuffled up to
the wall and was about to follow Marty when there was a shaking all around
them. The ground split into a five or six foot gash right behind Scott then
splinter cracks radiated out from it as liquid appeared where the ground had
been. Then one of the dark, undulating creatures rose to the surface.

 
“Get out of there,
Scott!” Marty yelled as he urged his partner and friend to flee through the
opening he had created. Scott wasted no time doing just that. He turned away
from where the creature had broken through the surface, and hurried through the
opening Marty had created.

 
“Do you know where the
ship is from here, Scott?” Marty asked. “I can’t see it through this haze.”

 
“I’ve got the tracking
beacon on my power pack,” Scott advised him. Looking at a group of gauges and
indicators on built into the wrist of his space suit, Scott correlated their
position with the beam that was always emanating from the ship.

 
“This way,” he said,
pointing slightly to their right. So they took off in that direction with Scott
leading the way. Although, as they crossed through a small rock-strewn area,
the ground cracked and split again. As the liquid appeared , they knew some of
the creatures would be next.

 
“Quick! This way,
Marty,” Scott indicated as he didn’t wait until the creatures appeared, he just
instantly veered to his left, following a route with the least obstacles. But,
as they travelled another 15 or 20 yards, the ground split again and began
filling with liquid. Although, this time, two of the flying creatures visibly
hovered above them.

 
“I see the ship,
Marty,” Scott said with a certain sense of security.

 
“Well, let’s go for
it,” Marty urged. “I’m so exhausted I can hardly move anymore.”

 
“Here, let me pull
that tool kit,” Scott said as he reached over to take it.

 
“Ok... I’m having
enough trouble just following you. “

 
Scott grabbed the tools
and collection samples, but worried about circumventing the new obstacles that
had presented themselves. “Watch out for those flying things, too, Marty. I
don’t know if they’re going to attack, or if they’re just looking things over.”

 
As he said that, the
two creatures swooped down and sat on either side of the opening in the crust.
The creatures didn’t look menacing, but when a creature from under the ground
rose in the murky liquid that formed a pool, they both jumped on it and dug at
it with their talons until the creature retreated under the liquid. As the
creature disappeared, the liquid began to crust over until the two flying
creatures had to fly off.

 
Another thought came
to prominence as Scott happened to look at the oxygen indicator on the wristband
of his suit. “Marty, how much oxygen have you got left in your suit? I’ve only
got about 46 minutes, and we’ve still got a ways to go to get to the ship.”

 
Marty looked at his
oxygen indicator with more concern when he noticed that he had quite a bit less
than that. “I’ve got 32 minutes left, Scott.”

 
“Thirty-two minutes!”
Scott exclaimed with concern. “Come on. We’ve got to get back to the ship.”

 
John Stimson also
heard the report, and felt a sense of urgency. “How much farther do you think
the ship is, Scott?”

 
“I’d say only 30 or 40
yards at the most, but it’s not a straight route,” Scott estimated. We’re
coming in from around behind it. And if we get anymore interference from those
creatures – either ones! – it’s going to slow us down even more... This tool
box and samples don’t make it any easier.”

 
“I know,” Stimson
agreed. “But, you’ve got some incredible things in there. Keep going and don’t
let anything slow you down.”