Chapter 6

As Charles finished his dinner we discussed the future plans for the colony. Eventually he took me to the roof, where we watched for the approaching monsters. Spotlights on the buildings scanned the distant dark plain, looking for them.

I watched as one roving light stopped, and others shifted to the same location, revealing the towering form. It moved in a slow lope, covering ground surprisingly quickly simply due to its enormous size. Extra long arms stretched forward, and then it pushed off with its back feet, swinging them just above the ground, before hitting with a thump audible when over the distance. The arms swung forward, repeating the move. Like a swingset in run mode.

‘Adam, highlight the monsters for me.’ I instructed.

The one brightly lit was the smaller of the two males approaching the fence. The second, and larger, male was avoiding the lights that had focused on the one in front. Far behind I could see the female, standing tall and watching carefully from the deep moonless dark of night.

“Three monsters, three plots of land?”

“You do all three tonight, and I double it, six plots!” Charles promised.

I shook his hand, and stepped to the roof edge.

Adam burst into a golden light, as he transformed into angel mode, wings extending out to gaps of astonishment from the Ergomax watching. I didn’t need the wings, but I was enjoying the look on their faces.

With a push I soared into the air as the Orb moved me thru space. The wings beat slowly as I first gained altitude, then dove for the little one. At 32 feet, he wasn’t that little, but he saw me, and stopped.

I drove down at him, the wings pulling back, as I ignited my lightsaber. The blue light reflected in his black eyes, as he swiped a meaty clawed hand at me. The saber lopped the hand off at the wrist, to a guttural scream that startled me.

The monster dropped, sitting down, cradling the injured limb, continuing to scream in shock and agony.

I gained altitude, turning towards the second. That one, at over 40 feet glanced back at the female, then started to move rapidly away from both me and her. I could hear her shouts of rage at him, and he hunkered down, trying to be smaller, and moving into a four limbed trot away from us both.

I curved, gaining altitude again, and lining up at the female who was now moving in a two legged walk, rocking back and forth like an ape, arms up, claws out, reaching for me despite my distance. The lightsaber flicked off, and stored away, I spread my wings, coming to a stop mid air.

I reached out two hands, ‘Adam, laser strike, your power only.’

Adam fired a bright red beam from my right that pierced thru the mad charge of the female. She paused her screaming rage, arms dropping in puzzlement at what had happened, a smoking hole in her chest.

‘Ok Adam, full power orb strike.’

My vision went dark as Adam blocked the light that erupted from my left hand. When my vision returned there was a hole where she had once been, a tunnel burned into the ground. Neighboring trees were on fire, or at least the scattered kindling of them was.

‘How big is the hole in the ground?’

‘About a half mile deep, at a 40 degree angle, it is roughly thirty feet wide. The walls are glassed.’

My wings beat again, raising me up, as I turned back to see the first, still screaming in pain, rolling around on the ground.

“Shit. I got greedy,” I said, suddenly not feeling very proud of my actions.

‘Adam, can he survive with just one hand?’

‘Yes, but not here.’

‘Can we give him a sedative or something?’

‘An EMP pulse to the head would render him unconscious, but you will need to point it away from the settlement.’

‘How close do I need to be?’ I asked, as I sped down towards the injured male.

‘fifteen feet’

I flipped and twisted, coming to a stop mid air, the Orb holding me in place, and I pointed a fist at the injured animal. A minor flare of light from my right fist, pointed at his head, and the screaming stopped. The limp form sprawled across the ground.

‘Where can this guy live in peace?’ I asked Adam.

‘There is a chain of islands to the south where this species can survive well.’

A visual of a tropical island, still in daylight, appeared in my vision. I reached out with my left hand, and grabbed the massive creature, and teleported. I set him gently down, well above the high tide mark.

‘He will recover here?’

‘Nothing here that could harm him, no other island in visual range for him to swim to, and plenty of food year round that he can collect easily with one arm.’

“Sorry big guy,” I told the unconscious creature.

I teleported back, appearing high above the settlement.

‘Where’s the other guy?’

‘To your left, and still running.’

My Adam enhanced visual highlighted him in the deep darkness, as he fled the searchlights of the colony settlement. He had moved miles in the few minutes it had taken, and it didn’t look like he planned on stopping.

I followed, soon seeing the trail of destruction, trees and boulders pushed aside in a nearly straight line of fear induced flight. I came swooping silently overhead, and reached out with a fist.

‘EMP, please Adam.’

The ground furrowed under the collapsing body of the unconscious beast, sliding to a halt after several seconds.

‘Can we send this one to a similar home?’

‘I’ve already located a suitable island, no other males there, but there is a female in the region.’

‘Is she any nicer?’

‘She’s killed most of her daughters when they challenged her for dominance.’