Attack of the Beast
by Anon Allsop
Part 2

Chapter 4

After we had explained what was found on our short trip, the Captain decided that we should return back to the ship and bring it into the valley where the creatures could be examined thoroughly. It was close to the zenith of the twin suns again, and the air was becoming hot and sticky. While we ate a quick lunch, Captain Donaldson asked for any suggestions on what we should do.

Eric was the first to speak up, "I want to go back in there and run a few more tests on those animals, both the live ones and the dead." The Captain nodded.

"I agree with Eric, the more we know about whatever is killing those animals, the better I'll feel." Lunette added, "I don't like knowing that it's only the females being affected."

I agreed, "It would put quite a damper on making this a viable colony if it is harmful to the female of our population." The captain scowled, and then glanced toward Lunette.

Margie sat quietly sipping her drink, "I'll go down with Eric, we may discover that its some plant that is killing the animals. It would pay to have a botanist on hand to know what test to run on stomach or feces contents."

Park made a face at her comment; we’ll need a security perimeter-set up. Christian can help me do it."

"That leaves Lunette and I." The Captain sighed and stretched, "I'll leave, after I take a short nap, to get the ship back here. I'm assuming you'll need some of the scientific equipment that is on there."

Eric nodded in agreement, Lunette cleared her throat as if she were about to speak. "I'll hike back to get the ship; you stay here and set up operations. We can't have our Captain separating himself from the crew."

Captain Donaldson slowly nodded, knowing that she was right.

"When we were there in the clearing yesterday, I noticed a high point about a mile from where we spied the herd. That would be a good vantage to set up camp. Go ahead and land the craft there and advise us of your arrival once you've landed. When we get word from you, we'll move our camp later that day." He turned to Lunette. "I'm figuring that it should take you a day and a half to get back to the bog, and about 15 minutes to fly here. I guess we'll see you in two days."

She nodded and stood up, raising her pack to her slender shoulders. "Lunette, be careful, and keep your plasma cannon handy." She smiled and quickly turned, disappearing back down the trail we had arrived here on only a day ago.

For the next day and a half, Eric and Margie scoured over the mummified carcasses of the animals that we had discovered. On the hill where the Captain had asked Lunette to land our craft, Park and I begin setting up small security beacons that would light up if an intruder would break a beam. Just to the inside of that, we aligned a secondary boundary that would sound an alarm which should scare off any animal that happened to be passing through. If anything broke through that defense, we always had our plasma cannons and we weren't afraid to use them.

As we were locking down the last of the sound amplifiers, the Captain's voice broke across the speaker of my communicator. "You guys had better get out of the area. Lunette is supposed to land soon and you know what kind of heat that the ship gives off when it first comes in."

"Got it. We're just finishing up here, Captain." I touched the little pad on my uniform and spoke out. "Have you heard from her yet?"

We waited for a few seconds, listening to the quiet breeze blowing through the Saw Trees. "She just called in. Lunette will be there in about 14 minutes" he relayed his response.

I looked up into the sky and tapped Park on his arm, "We'd better be moving. This place will be hot for a few hours." He nodded and gathered up our tools, heading back toward our little camp.

Park and I were about half way across the little meadow when the ship broke below the cloud cover, a little silver shaft of light that was our craft. Lunette set down exactly in the center of the security perimeter we had just erected. I touched the pad, "She's landed, Captain."

"Come on back and we'll wait for the hull to cool. You two can help us carry everything back to the new camp.

Park laughed, looking at me and smiled. "Exactly what we wanted to do, be pack-mules for the crew."

"There shouldn't be that much stuff to haul out. We only brought along the packs we carried in." I replied as I turned back toward the direction of our camp.

"Do you suppose the Captain's trying to be funny?" I grinned.

"If he is, he'd better not quit his day job!" We both laughed at our sorry joke, as we entered the temporary camp where the others were waiting for us. We ate a quick bite and settled back for a short nap, preparing to move our camp to the craft as soon as we got the ‘all clear’ from Lunette.

Chapter 5

Lunette’s communicator awoke us from our nap, "All clear, Captain. Do you want me to come over there and help move the camp?"

Donaldson replied, "That's a negative, Lunette. Stay put, we're breaking camp and will be there within an hour."

"Okay, I'll wait here for you and just take in some sun." The voice on his communicator replied.

"Don't get too comfortable, Lunette. We wouldn't want you to burn!" Park said, laughing. "We'll see you in a few minutes."

We began milling about, re-packing our packs and slowly heading down into the wooded valley. As we reached the meadow, Lunette’s voice over the Captain's communicator caused us all to turn. "Did you see it?"

Our group paused; Captain Donaldson frowned and pushed his communication cell. "See what?"

"A creature, it was standing just outside the perimeter-you set!" came her reply.

"Was it a Yellow Gorth or a Banth?" Eric shouted into the air as he touched the pad.

"I'm not sure; let me get a closer look." There was a long pause, and then her voice broke again on our communicators. "It's still standing by the tree line."

I quickly brought my optiscope to my eyes and scanned the length of trees.

"It's near the perimeter, by the base of those trees!" I relayed as I pointed in the direction I had last observed it in so they could look. They all brought their scopes to their eyes and followed my directions.

"What the hell is that thing?" Margie asked anyone who was watching.

"Come on!" The Captain shouted as we began running across the meadow. Our line of sight dropped slightly behind a hill, for almost a full minute the craft was blocked from our view. As we raced across the top of the hill, the creature slipped into the trees and disappeared among the foliage. One by one we ran past the first perimeter, our communicators keeping the sound alarms from firing. Into the second ring we raced, again, the communicators acting as our remote and shutting down the auditory cannons.

We stood watching the trees with our optiscopes while the Captain climbed the ramp, "Lunette?" He called, and then stepped out to the top decking. "Keep your eyes open folks, I don't like the feeling I'm getting about this." He began to scan the trees and below with his scope, suddenly lowering them. "Shit!" He growled, raising it back to his eyes for a second look.

"Can you guys get a lock on whatever it is that is laying by the bigger 'Saw Tree' to our immediate left?" We each scanned down into that area.

"Looks like another mummified carcass." Eric started to walk in that direction; I followed closely, removing my plasma cannon from my leg holster. "Fan out left, that creature might still be around." Eric ordered as he pulled out his own cannon.

We flipped the safeties off, and our plasma cannons were armed and ready. Eric slowly approached the carcass, "Oh... God." From where I stood, I saw his knees buckle as he sank to the ground. His face was white, and then he stood and sadly looked back toward the Captain. "It's Lunette!" Then turned back toward the mummified corpse, and speaking with a trembling voice, "Or, at least what's left of her."

I felt a slow chill race along my spine as I made my way back toward our fallen crewmember. Park was working his way toward us, his plasma cannon covering the woods just ahead of him. A low branch moved strangely, but before I could call out, it snapped up quickly. Suddenly, a creature leapt from the dense foliage and lunged at Eric. He fell backward over Lunette and scrambled to his feet. I fired the cannon and incinerated about ten square feet of vegetation into the woods as the creature disappeared from view.

Park called out, "Did you get it?" I scanned the trees and beyond.

"I don't think so, that damn thing is quick!" I shouted, stepping to the edge of the woods, the business end of the cannon pointing into the brush. Here and there around me small fires danced in the thin air before being smothered by the humidity. I looked down at Eric, "You okay?"

He stood up and scowled into the woods, "I'll be all right." He looked down at the leathery image of what had once been Lunette.

"Damn." He sighed, "She never had a chance."

Park stopped next to us, "We probably had better move her away from the woods; we don't need that thing coming out after us again."

By the time the others had reached our position, we had her body moved well into the perimeter of our security border. The others stopped just far enough away so they wouldn't be forced to look at Lunette's body. Reverently, we carried the stiff form of Lunette back toward the little craft. She only weighed about 20 pounds, more than a hundred pounds lighter than she had been, and mere moments ago.

Margie turned her head away and cried into Captain Donaldson's shoulder. After a few moments, the Captain called out, "You guys okay? Anyone injured?" He tried hard to not stare at his co-pilot's corpse.

I pointed to Eric, "Eric was knocked down by the thing, and I got off a shot, but it was moving too fast." Donaldson crouched down by his co-pilot, burying his head in his hands. We slowly moved away to let him have his moment of silence.

Park and I stood with Eric. Margie kept looking at the mummified corpse of Lunette, and then turned away. I caught Park's attention and gave him a nod, and then he slowly pulled a thermal blanket from his pack, walked back, and laid it over the body of Lunette.

The Captain slowly stood up, his eyes glassy with emotion. "I want whatever it is that did this, DEAD!"

He gently rolled her over and placed her body on the blanket, quietly zipping it up and sealing her inside. "Bury her."

He looked at Park, Eric and I, "I know she's beyond caring now... but she would want it that way. That's the least we can do for her."

We each nodded and Park and Eric carried her to a small hill, not far away, while I retrieved two shovels from inside the craft. Park took one and Eric took the other, while I stood silently praying and watched them dig. After a while, Park removed his uniform jacket and dropped it on the ground beside us, and soon after, Eric removed his as well.

I picked them up and held onto each one while they continued to dig. I glanced down at Eric's jacket sleeve, and noticed that it had a tear in it almost three inches long. As I held it up, I could see that it was the right sleeve that was damaged. Margie was standing next to me and saw the jacket at the same time as I did, together; we stared at Eric's arm.
He had a short cut on his forearm, about two inches long.

"Eric, you need some medical attention." I pointed out, causing him to look down, "Let me finish up for you... go on and let Margie take a look at it."

He shrugged and then handed me the shovel, slowly walking away with Margie.

"He'll be okay, it was only a scratch." Parker smiled weakly as he and I lowered our crewmember into the grave.

He sighed and leaned against his shovel as he stood, "She was one hell of a woman... a real fighter, and I’m really going to miss her company."

I nodded, fighting back the tears that were collecting. "I hope I hit that damn thing. Maybe I was lucky enough to have inflicted a bit of my own damage to it."

"Hope so. If not, I'm sure it'll be back, especially since we've set up camp in its back yard." Park said as he scanned the forest.

We looked up as the Captain was walking toward us.

The Captain stopped and stared into the hole as we continued to deposit the strange soil onto our fellow crewmember. "Well, I guess we know what is killing all the animals around here."

He folded his large arms across his barrel chest, "It seems to prefer females."

I nodded and looked past him to the craft, "How's Eric's arm?"

"That's why I came out here, looks like he may need a stitch or two in it."

I nodded as he looked into the grave containing the silver blanket that held his co-pilot, He sighed slowly, then looked up at me.

"Eric's going to need those stitches. I'll help Parker bury Lunette."

I hesitated, exchanging a glance with Park.

"Go on, Christian. I'll be okay." The Captain said as he took the shovel from my hand.
I left slowly to the sound of the soft, strange dirt being dropped over our companion. After a minute I reached the ramp and climbed up. As I entered the craft, Eric and Margie were sitting, waiting for me. I glanced at Eric, who was quiet and sullen.

"Captain said I should put some stitches into you."

He nodded, extended his arm out for me to stitch.

I examined the wound; Margie had done an excellent job preparing him for the stitches.

"Thanks for cleaning it up, Margie. Getting all of the hair from around the wound will help the bandage to stick better."

They both looked up at me as Margie said, "I didn't clean the hair away from the wound."

I leaned over his arm and compared it to his uninjured one. One had light traces of fine hair around the wound, while the other was thick with long dark hairs.

I quickly put in the stitches as Eric held his arm out in front of himself. Mentally, I compared the two. The uninjured arm was definitely normal, but the other wounded arm was slightly thinner and almost all hairless. I said nothing, but my mind was thinking of everything that I had wanted to say. 'Was the creature's scratch causing this to him?' I made a note to myself to keep my eye on Eric.

Chapter 6

Upon the Captain’s request, I guarded the security perimeter. Slowly, I made a circle around the woods and continued to watch for the creature. After about ten rounds, Park trotted up beside me.

"How's it going?"

I glanced over nervously, "Fine I guess, considering the circumstances."

"Captain wants us to keep vigilant, just in the case that the damn thing comes back."

He and I walked alone, in silence for about twenty steps. Park finally said, "You saw it, didn't you?"

I nodded, but said nothing.

"What did it look like? Describe it for me... so I know what I'm trying to kill." He asked, waiting for me to divulge what I knew.

We were passing the blackened woods, where I had taken my shot at it.

"It went into the brush there, hideous." I shuddered, thinking back to when I saw the branch suddenly spring up, "The whole thing happened so fast, it was there, then it was gone."

I pointed to where I was standing, then to where Lunette and Eric were.

"I shot from back there, but it was just a blur. You were coming up along the woods over there when it all happened."

I pointed out where Park had been standing. He said nothing as we walked along; Park was a good friend, trying to help me sort out what had happened.

"It had a triangular shaped head; it was shiny, kind of an oily purple color. Its whole head reminded me of a preying mantis, with its mouth opening from side to side."

I bent slightly at my knees, "It walked like this, and only the knees were backward and held its body balanced over it as if in a crouch."

Finally Park spoke, "Did it have arms?"

I nodded, "They were thin, yet muscular looking, long, with two fingers and a thumb. The fingertips were flat and had long formidable looking claws on the ends of each."

I stared into the woods, a movement causing me to study the foliage closer with my eyes.

"I'll tell you this; the creature that I saw was no herbivore like the other creatures that we've seen. This thing was definitely a predator!"

Park stood with me watching into the woods, as the great 'Saw Trees' were swaying in the hot breeze.

"How's Eric doing?" I asked.

"He seems okay. He's running more tests, I think he believes that the creature that went after him, and the one that's been mummifying all of the animals including Lunette, are one and the same."

He and I continued walking slowly.

We both glanced up, and saw that Margie and the Captain were standing over Lunette's grave. From where we were positioned, we could see that she was crying. The Captain was trying to console her.

"She's taking Lunette's death pretty hard." Park observed.

"Yeah, I guess they were good friends from way back. I heard Lunette say once that they had grown up in the same wing of the Space Station."

I heard a twig snap just inside of the woods, and instantly both Park and I stopped and watched the dense undergrowth.

"There's something inside there, waiting for us to drop our guard!"

"You think it's the creature?" Park asked, flipping off his plasma cannon's safety.

"Could be…" I replied tersely, studying the trees, flipping mine off as well.

I glanced up into the sky, the twin suns were setting into the horizon, one at each end of the little valley.

I turned toward Park, "Let’s pull back into the second perimeter. It's time I should be checking Eric's arm. That is, unless you want to check up on him for me?"

Park smiled as we backed away from the woods covering them in the strange twilight, "That's okay; I have made it a rule to never steal another man's patient."

"Good one." I said laughing as I kept the woods covered, and slowly backed our way past the first perimeter, and into the second.

Park gave me the high sign and continued to walk the path that made up our camp interior; I turned and headed toward the craft where I knew I would find Eric. As I passed the Captain, I could see he was having a problem with Margie.

"We're going to finish our mission and pull out as soon as everything is packed?" Margie argued her point. "Lunette wouldn't want us to bail out just because something happened to her!"

The Captain's jaw flexed slowly, "We've already lost one crewmember to that thing. I can't risk this mission on any more lives!"

"We all knew there would be dangers in flying here!" She stared into his eyes coldly, "Even Lunette knew something might happen."

"The only mission that I'm interested in right now is killing that damn creature!" She pointed to the burned section of woods, "It killed one of our crew and injured another, I don’t want to take the chance of waiting it out so it can kill again!"

Margie asked, "If we kill it, will you'll agree to finish the mission?"

The Captain looked up, into the woods, and then sighed. "All right... we'll rest, then we'll help you hunt it down, but it seems that you should want to stay around camp, though, especially since it has a thing for females."

Captain Donaldson checked his plasma cannon, seeing if it still held a full charge. "We'll leave when the suns are straight up."

"Why not go now?" She frowned, "We'll have the element of surprise!"

He scowled at her, "It's watching this camp. No, we'll wait until the suns are straight up and we have the maximum brightness of the day!"

She frowned, clearly unhappy with the idea of waiting, but Margie nodded in agreement. They both looked up as I walked past, heading toward the craft.

Chapter 7

I stepped inside; walking toward the back where I knew Eric could be found hovering over his science lab. He had his head down and was resting, his arms folded beneath him. As I approached, he slowly raised his head. I stopped short, it appeared longer, his hair seemed fuller and strangely glossy, much different than I had grown used to seeing.

I tried not to gawk as I walked over to my medical supplies and began to get out what I needed to change the dressing on his wound. After placing the items on the counter, I carried them over next to him.

"Time to change your bandages, Eric…I...um...I also want to check the stitches that I put in, while I'm at it." He nodded and sat quietly, studying his notes.

As I took my seat, he held his arm to me. The uninjured arm was slightly thinner and the hair was beginning to fall out! The one with the bandage, now more than ever, resembled a woman's arm, right down to the slender fingers! I said nothing but quickly examined the wound and began to cover it back up with clean wraps.

"All right, cut the crap! Don't tell me that you can't see what's happening?" Eric snapped, his voice sounding slightly higher...but definitely bitter.

I met his eyes with a quick glance. "I noticed. I just didn't want to say anything."

He inhaled deeply, "Everything is making sense to me now." He paused, tucking his longer brown hair behind his ear. "That thing feeds off of the females on this planet. Somehow it needs something that is contained in their body…and only in their bodies."

"Estrogen?" I asked. “Female’s have higher amounts of estrogen in their bodies than males.”

"Possibly, but when it draws it from their system, it also sucks all the moisture out, leaving only a hollow shell…like a mummy."

He drummed his slender fingers against the countertop. "I think that the reason we haven't been seeing many animals since we've been here is that the thing has almost exhausted its supply. It's actually eating itself into extinction."

He picked up the discarded bandage and threw it into the waste chute.

I looked out the craft's door, "Do you suppose there is more than one?"

He shrugged, "My guess would be that in as little as a year, nothing will be left on this planet. Whatever it is will have killed everything, and then it too will just die out."

I let my eyes slowly drift over his body, I could see a slight bulge where his nipples appeared swollen and slightly protruded out, yet were covered by his jumper. He caught my glance and folded his arms against his chest; the action was decidedly feminine. I quickly forced my eyes away, and then tried to say anything that would distract us from our uncomfortable situation.

"I think the Captain wants to hunt it down. He's planning his own mission when we've all rested." I said as I put away the items I had that were still useable.

I contemplated what Eric had just said, frowned and looked over at him.

"If what you are implying is true, how would you account for the changes that are happening to yourself?" I turned to face him, "What makes you think it's only hunting females? You aren't a female, but it went after you!"

He sighed, "I don't think it bit me when it came from the woods, I think it only purposefully scratched me."

I waited quietly for him to continue.

"Something is on the skin of that creature that has a type of chemical that attacks testosterone...a bacterium which converts the testosterone into estrogen at a supremely high rate. In essence; it's turning me into a female... a food source."

I sat up quickly, unsure of what he was telling me as he continued, "I'm sure if something is bitten, it would accelerate the process. Whatever it is that is affecting me…and those animals out there is doing it on a genetic level. Completely rewriting our genetic code as it works to break down the testosterones and convert it into estrogens."

I studied his face. His changes were happening more slowly, yet still, over the short span of time, it was remarkably quick. His face and jawbone had narrowed since I had last seen him, and his cheekbones becoming more pronounced. His lips looked slightly fuller, his eyes more open. His eyelashes had extended themselves to a length of almost a half of an inch, darkened and appeared to be curving slightly upward. I looked toward his neck; gone was his great lump of an Adams's apple, his neck was slender and proportioned like that of a woman.

"Have you examined how far the changes in you have gone?" I asked, trying to not look him in the eye. "How much more will it progress?"

He nodded and began to unbutton his shirt; slowly he opened it, revealing his chest. "These damn things have almost doubled in size over the last few hours!" He indicated the diameter of his aureola. "I am almost able to feel a slight puffiness in the area around it."

I rubbed my chin and looked away, almost with embarrassment. Yet the medical technician in me needed to know, "Have you checked... down below?"

He replied, greatly frustrated, "It's happening everywhere! My genetic code is being rewritten by something in that creature’s claw or saliva, at the rate of progression; I'll probably be a fully functioning woman within 12 hours."

He looked out the small circular window, his mind seemingly enveloped in this strange planet's mystery. "By this time tomorrow, my body will be capable of producing, carrying and birthing children... the change appears to be total and complete!"

I leaned against the counter, "Damn! Eric, are you sure?"

He stood up, and then I could see the development of his hips as they swelled out his uniform. "I think so; had I been born female... this is how I probably would have looked!"

He sank back into his chair, looking embarrassed. "That's not the only thing, Christian."

I looked up, my arms folded across my chest as he continued, "It's like now, the way you are standing there."

I looked down at myself, not sure what he was trying to say. He rolled his eyes.

"Damn it, Christian! Whatever it did to me is stimulating me on the subconscious as well as the conscious levels!"

He buried his head into his folded arms, frustrated at my inability to understand him fully. "Somehow, and I'm not sure how it's doing it... my freaking sexual orientation is changing!"

I stood up straighter, "You mean...?"

"The changes in my body are... damn it, Christian! I'm finding you attractive!"

Thankfully, Park came bounding up the stairs.

"Christian, Margie took off and has just entered the woods looking for whatever it was that killed Lunette!"

I quickly looked at Eric. "The Captain is going after her, trying to get her back!"

I felt my heart sink. "Shit! We can't let them do that, their lives are in jeopardy!" I pushed past him then scrambled down the ramp followed closely by Eric and Park. "We've got to locate them and then get back here, before that damn creature finds them!"