Predators in Eden a Short Story by Robert A. Woodley Copyright 1997 All rights reserved worldwide.

The starship "Viper" dropped into normal space without a whisper; a dark presence suddenly appearing in the endless black vacuum of space.

Black, but not total blackness; for the points of a billion stars surrounded the starship, their timeless sparkling illuminating the galaxy with beauty, if not illumination.

Still traveling at nearly half light-speed, the ship hurtled through nothingness, it's sensors flashing out into this spatial sector, seeking and searching with the relentlessness born of technology based upon self-preservation.

The data flashed into the ship's computers; and was instantly collated, analyzed; interpreted, and displayed on the bridge terminals.

"Too damn far." noted Lieutenant Jock Adams, shaking his head. His brown hair, longish, reflected his individualism and tendency to flout regulations, and to mock the technology and rigid reliance upon it which the military tended to adopt. He was usually amused when something went wrong. His blue eyes scanned his monitor with interest.

William Fletcher, Captain of the "Viper", examined his own terminal. "Yeah. What do you think it is, Jock?" He looked up at the Lieutenant, frowning slightly. His own short, black hair was precisely cut in the mold of what was considered appropriate for Starship officers. His eyes, a deep brown, narrowed as he raised them to his Lieutenant.

"This is the third time in the last two weeks we've overshot our drop point," Adams responded. "Something in the software, I imagine. I've had the ship's main diagnostics searching for it, but so far, nothing. It may take base reprogramming."

Fletcher nodded. The problem wasn't dangerous, but needed to be fixed, and they were due back at Sector Sixteen Base within the next three weeks. The ship could be programmed them.

He looked down at the screens. A warning message flashed on the computer.

Current position is contrary to authorized parameters. Current spatial sector forbidden to all vessels. See Regulation ST-19054-3051 for more information. Enter acknowledgment of this message within one minute, or this ship shall automatically be programmed for a return to the nearest Sector Starbase.

Fletcher's eyebrows rose as he looked at the screen, and he quickly typed an acknowledgment of the message.

He looked over at Adams. "Know anything about this"?

Adams, who had been reading the message on his own screen, shook his head. "Hell no. Too many numbers for me. Let's call it up."

His fingers moved rapidly over the keyboard, and a new message flashed onto the ship's monitors:

Regulation ST-19054-3051: Vessels, manned or unmanned, are forbidden to enter the Sector of space known as "Sector V-955-3051". This sector contains a system with a primary star and six orbiting planets. For unknown reasons, an artifact, operated by some unknown form of Artificial Intelligence, patrols this system, and will prevent any incursion into this spatial territory. This artifact is possessed of weapons which are superior to any known to Terran technology, and several ships have been destroyed while attempting to circumvent or destroy this Artifact. Any vessel which finds itself within this sector should immediately leave for a more hospitable environment. The Artifact does broadcast a warning prior to taking any hostile action. Still, vessels should refrain from tempting this unknown technology. This message can only be read if a vessel has entered into this area of space, and should not be printed, saved, or shown to unauthorized personnel This message will disappear within ten seconds. End of message.

She looked up questioningly, her violet eyes wide in a perfect face; her own raven hair falling in cascades around her shoulders. She turned back to her keyboard.

She typed quickly, checked the information which appeared on her own screen, then looked up to Fletcher and Adams, who were watching her.

"We are well within the system itself" she said. Sensors report our position as well within the orbits of the outer two planets. No warning or other message has been transmitted by any entity."

Adams and Carter were both watching Fletcher for his decision.

"I've located the artifact, Captain," she stated. "Wait a moment for further inflow."

A moment later she continued. "It's big. Several kilometers in diameter. Saucer-shaped, and orbiting the second planet out. Appears dead in space. No transmissions whatever." She looked up expectantly.

"Initiate communications?" she asked?

Fletcher hesitated. "No. We might trigger something unpleasant."

He looked over at Jock Adams. "What do you think?"

Adams frowned. "Looks like this artifact, or whatever it is, has been protecting the second planet. Apparently something went wrong with it." He paused. "I don't think I'd mess with it, though. Why don't we approach the planet from the other side, and see what happens?"

Fletcher nodded. "Plot a course to orbit at 180 degrees from the orbit of the artifact, Commander. That will put the planet between us and it at all times. Begin scanning the planet as we approach."

Tavia typed, and soon the Viper was orbiting the second planet, and information was displaying on the screens.

Fletcher examined the data. "Interesting. Earth-like in size, atmosphere, mass. Two land masses, large oceans." He looked at his lieutenant. "Want to take a closer look?"

Adams grinned. "Sure. How can anyone resist a forbidden planet?"

Fletcher nodded. "Prepare shuttle number one. Jock, get three crew to go with us. Tavia, you have command."

Several minutes later the shuttle separated from the Viper, and entered the atmosphere of the planet. Soon they were low enough to see the terrain of the continents, oceans, clouds, rivers, and myriad evidence of life.

"Life forms everywhere," Jock Adams noted, examining his screen. "A veritable Eden."

Fletcher smiled. "All right. Eden it is.. Let's land and see if we can find a garden."

Ten minutes later the shuttle was on the ground, it's landing spot a clear, grassy area whic separated a tropical forest from a blue sea. Sensors indicated a favorable atmosphere, and Fletcher ordered the hatch open. He and Adams looked out upon this beautiful world as the hatch slid into the hull, and steps slid down to the planet's surface.

Adams followed him, and then Jason, one of the crew. Two crewman remained aboard, one to watch the planet's locality through sensors; and one to maintain communication with the Viper.

Fletcher and his companions moved slowly away from the shuttle. Each wore an armored suit, thin and light, but powered and virtually impermeable to penetration. Although sensors had indicated a breathable atmosphere, each man wore a protective helmet, with air filter. The air itself might be innocuous, but the insects, spores, and other air-borne items they might encounter might not be so harmless.

They were approaching the forest; when suddenly they noticed movement within. A shape was flitting along it's edges. The three men raised their plasma rifles, and waited.

Fletcher looked again, and blinked. He had thought he'd first spotted a sinuous creature wit several legs running, but as it emerged from the forest he could see that it was in fact some sort of humanoid.

Now he could see it better, and was astonished, for it was not only humanoid, but was in fact human. Virtually indistinguishable from himself.

It was running towards them, waving, and looking back over its shoulders. It was obviously running away from something.

"Look!" Adams shouted, pointing at the forest to the left, a few hundred yards distant.

The other two men spun to look, and saw three huge creatures exiting the fringe of the jungle and come hurtling towards them. The creatures were grotesque caricatures of centipedes grown to colossal proportions. Even from this distance it could be seen that they were at least thirty feet in length, and were incredibly fast on their innumerable legs.

"Back to the ship!" Fletcher ordered. He notified the shuttle by communicator, and held his arm up to the alien humanoid, who slowed, and then stopped, perhaps twenty meters away.

Fletcher thought for a few seconds; then, looking at the terrified features of the humanoid, who was gesticulating at the monster centipedes, and at the ship, and clearly shivering in terror.

His compassion for others of his species surfaced, and he nodded and smiled at the humanoid, gesturing that the man, for it appeared to be male, should go towards the shuttle. He wondered at his empathy for this alien, but couldn't help feeling that this was no less a human than himself.

The humanoid smiled back, nodding his head, and ran for the shuttle.

The men were backing towards their vessel, their eyes on the speeding monsrosities whic bore down upon them.

Fletcher fired his plasma rifle, and a white hot line streaked out, to hit the ground in front of the centipedes, as Fletcher thought of them.

The creatures didn't even slow, and came on with frightening speed.

"Shuttle, prepare for launch. One man on the gun. We are under attack. Fire when ready. Target will be obvious."

They all fired their guns directly at the worm-like creatures now, scoring direct hits.

The monsters reared, screaming in pain as the white-hot plasma seared through them, but they came on, injured but not yet vanquished.

Fletcher gaped, then turned with his companions and ran towards the shuttle. Seconds later the shuttle gun opened up above them, lashing out it's own death, and the men turned their heads around to see the centipedes melt under the barrage of plasma.

Still Fletcher could feel his fear, a tangible trembling sensation of terror. He looked around, and suddenly the edge of the forest exploded with the creatures. Hundreds of them raced out of the jungle and sped towards the ship.

The humanoid was standing outside the lock, pointing at the oncoming horde, and shouting in an unintelligible language. His vocal mechanism seemed to utter human-like sounds, and Fletcher was further fascinated.

He gestured to the lock. "Get in, whoever you are. We're leaving in a hurry."

He waited till Adams and the crewman passed him, then ran up the steps and into the shuttle.

In another second the steps retracted, and the lock began to close. As it slid shut, Fletcher could see the monstrous centipedes hurtling forward; their numbers decimated as the plasma cannon dealt white-hot death, but itself not enough to stop them all.

"Take off. Now.. Let's get the Hell out of here!" he shouted, and even before he reached his seat the ship rose in a swift hover, causing more than one occupant to lose balance as the ship swept up to a height of two hundred feet.

Fletcher was still frightened; moreso than he could have possibly imagined. It didn't make sense. That wall of frighteningly fast monstrous creatures; with jaws and legs and skin like armor; so savagely attacking without any fear. It had been nightmarish.

He looked down, and could see hundreds of the creatures, gathered below, looking up, appendages waving. His fear dissipated some. It was ridiculous, but he was still somehow afraid.

Twenty minutes later the shuttle approached the Viper.

During that time their prisoner, or guest, or specimen, had sat on the floor, eyes wide, and had silently watched the crewmen in frank astonishment.

Fletcher smiled as he thought what a savage must think of a starship shuttle. He watched the man carefully, and chuckled as the savage looked first at one thing; then at another, his eyes wide with wonder. Fletcher wondered how humans could possibly survive on a planet with suc monsters as had attacked them.

Undoubtedly this man was descended from humans which had entered this system and had been forced to land. There could be no other explanation for his appearance. A long time must have elapsed for him to have lost knowledge of language, but on such an incredibly savage world, Fletcher thought anything might have been possible. He was glad they had been able to save this survivor, at least.

He opened communication with the Viper.

"Fletcher here. Ready to dock. All crew present, plus one indigenous native."

Commander Tavia Carter's voice betrayed her surprise. "One what, Captain?"

"A human. An actual human. We saved him from some much more indigenous and deadly life forms. Wait till you meet him."

"Captain, you know we cannot bring alien life forms into the Viper," she stated.

She was right, Fletcher realized, technically speaking.

"Captain," Tavia continued her voice nervous,. "Sensors indicate an energy source emanating from the other side of the planet. Whatever that artifact is, it seems to be coming to life."

Fletcher was frightened again. Almost unaccountably so. He looked around, and could see that the others felt it, too. He looked out the viewscreen at the planet below, and shuddered.

Their guest was also looking down, then around. He, too, seemed scared.

Fletcher spoke to his commander. "Tavia, we're docking. Something tells me we need to get the Hell out of here, and we can't do it in this shuttle. When we dock, scan the shuttle. If you find anything out of the ordinary, with any of us or our guest, disengage and vaporize the shuttle. Then get the Viper out of this system. Keep the planet between you and the artifact. If everything scans okay, open the damn lock. I'm not dying in this shuttle for nothing, and I'm not staying around to see what that thing on the other side of the planet might do."

Fletcher's previous confidence in the prowess of his starship had unaccountably and completely vanished, and his fear mounted as the shuttle drew closer to the "Viper".

Less than a moment later, docking was completed. Shutters raised, and he could see crewmen observing them, while scanners, probes, sensors, and cameras probed the interior of the shuttle.

"Hurry up, Commander!" Fletcher ordered, his fear becoming tangible. He could almost see the artifact coming to life; a malevolent, monstrous technological death machine, waiting to awaken completely on the other side of the planet, before it began to move in search of prey.

"All scans negative for anomalies, sir." Tavia replied. "Still, this is against regulations, sir, for the record."

"Acknowledged, Commander." Fletcher said. "Jock, what's your feeling."

Adams looked into the camera. "I concur with the Captain, for the record, Commander Carter." I've got a feeling we need to get the Hell out of here, and pretty damn soon!"

"Confirmation noted, Captain," Tavia said. "Hatch is opening."

The hatches opened, and Fletcher and the crew hurried into the Viper. The human hung back, frightened, and Fletcher had to grab his arm and drag him into the starship. The man was more terrified than any of them, and Fletcher felt sorry for him.

His own fear had left him to some extent, but he could still sense the presence of the alien artifact. "Maximum power to engines. Keep the planet between us and that thing. Unlimited acceleration till we reach jump speed; then jump. I don't care where we drop into, Just get us the Hell away from here. Calculate some known co-ordinates while we accelerate."

He smiled at the savage human, and firmly but cordially escorted the man to one of the guest cabins. Gesturing for the man to sit, Fletcher left, closing and locking the door. He signaled to a crewman, and told him to guard the door. The man appeared harmless, but he wasn't taking any chances.

He could sense the vibration in the ship as the engines roared to life. The starship shot away, accelerating at almost unimaginable speed. He watched the monitor, his heart beating madly. The ships sensors showed increasing energy, but apparently the artifact was still in stationary orbit. For some reason he started sweating profusely.

He mentally willed the engines to propel the ship faster. "How much longer to jump speed?" he asked.

"Ten seconds, sir", Adams responded.

Fletcher breathed a sigh of relief. Ten seconds to safety. He counted them down in his mind, as shutters closed down over the ship's viewports. He held his breath.

Four, three, two, one..----A new vibration traveled through the ship, and resulted in a familiar tingling. They were gone. Whatever was back there would never know they had ever existed.

When they dropped into normal space, he would notify Base of what had occurred. He could feel relief flowing through his body, and noticed he was wet with sweat.

He leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes. "I think we dodged a bullet back there. I need a rest. Wake me when we drop." His body relaxed as the last vestiges of fear and adrenalin melted away, and he dozed, as the "Viper" put increasing light-years between itself and the alien presence behind them.

The giant, saucer-shaped ship came awake. Lights flashed, and the ship rose from orbit in an instant. Outward it accelerated with unimaginable speed, it's vast array of sensors scanning the entire sector of space, cubic light-years in all directions, seeking some explanation for the slight energy anomaly it's sensors had detected.

The ship moved in normal space, but far faster than light-speed as it weaved through the system; and then beyond, seeking and searching.

For an hour it scoured the system and space beyond. Then, no further information forthcoming, it turned back toward the second planet.

Setharath watched as the last Marasha was released from it's cage.

The great beast, sinuous, with hundreds of legs, and segmented, reared up, it's appendages testing this new environment. Huge fangs dripped as it turned in one direction; then another. After a moment, it dropped to its normal horizontal position, and moved toward the forest wit breathtaking speed.

From his lander, Setharath vaporized the cage, then instructed the lander to leave the atmosphere and combine with the mother ship. Within seconds, this was done, and in seconds more Setharath entered his Trellan Starship. He issued another mental command, and the Starship rose from it's position orbiting the planet.

As it rose, it left behind a huge, saucer-shaped guardian ship, which remained behind in orbit, its sensors flashing out in all directions.

Setharath smiled to himself. Another Galaxy scoured of the Hraxx.

It was always a battle. Once established, the Hraxx were hard to eradicate or control. This was the seventh Galaxy within the preceding eight thousand years in which he had discovered, and stopped, their spread.

The Hraxx were the most dangerous, intelligent, powerful, savage life form his own species, the Trell, had ever encountered.

With Psionic, telepathic abilities which were not only immensely powerful, but absolutely lethal, and intellect which evolved throughout the life of a Hraxx, from it's larval state to it's final, almost incomparably savage adult form, no other life form could stand up to the Hraxx.

None but the Trell.

Setharath had felt the savage psionic blasts from the several Hraxx adults which he had left alive on the planet, but he was shielded from them, and the Marasha were immune. The Marasha, in fact, had been genetically engineered to prey upon the Hraxx.

Not the small, larval form. The Trell disliked wiping out a species totally. When the larvae reached adolescence, however, their mental and physical abilities triggered a response within the maharsha, who hunted them relentlessly.

Thus were all life forms preserved, including the Hraxx, even if imprisoned for a finite life upon an oxygen world, which inhibited the maturation of the Hraxx.

The Trellan smiled. It had taken the resources of the Trell several centuries to rid this galaxy of the Hraxx, whose intellect and brilliance, together with telepathic abilities so immense, inevitably resulted in brutal slavery or extinction for all species which came into contact with them.

The Hraxx were so superior that within a few centuries they would conquer vast portions of a galaxy. Asexual in reproductive capacity, a single individual could begin the propagation of an entire culture.

Setharath recalled thousand years it had taken in the preceding galaxy. Finally the Hraxx had been exterminated, except for those few which had been imprisoned on an oxygen world, the second from its star.

In such an atmosphere, the Hraxx could survive and propagate, but could never reach anything near their adult potential, though in later adolescence they possessed powerful telepathy, and could change shape molecularly to match that of any prey. Once within mental distance of the prey, it's mind was under the emotional influence of even young of the Hraxx, and the result was inevitable.

Fear, love, gratitude, friendship; these were all emotions which any juvenile Hraxx could easily implant into any sentient or nonsentient being. Except the Marasha.

The Marasha would be enough to control the excessive evolution or propagation of the Hraxx, and if a problem arose, the guardian ship was well equipped to take any action, including vaporization of the planet itself, to prevent the escape of any Hraxx.

The guardian ship would also keep any other ships from entering the system. Nothing could withstand a Trell ship.

Once every few centuries a Trell guardian ship needed to regenerate its own

energy field; reprogram itself; and repair any hardware or software problems; whic required the ship to shut itself off from the outside environment for a very brief period of time. Even in such a state, however, the ship would come alive at the sensation of any direct scan, inquiry, communication, or other external sensor directed at it.

This time period was so small that no ship which was within, or near, the system would have any chance of traveling anywhere near the planet at normal space speeds before it was detected and warned; or if necessary destroyed, by the guardian ship.

Setharath smiled. He supposed that it was not beyond all possibility that a starship would actually come into the system directly from non-normal space, contrary to all logic and interstellar principles of navigation and safety; find the planet; during that exact brief period when the guardian ship was dormant; fail to signal the ship; immediately land on the planet; locate one of the few Hraxx which had developed into a larval stage which enabled it to exercise mental and molecular powers; permit a Hraxx close enough to be able to utilize those powers; take the Hraxx aboard, and then permit the creature to actually enter a starship; and exit the system without the guardian ship knowing of its escape.

He laughed. It was theoretically possible, but any species with that kind of luck, and that kind of stupidity, would never have crawled up onto the shore from the seas of life to begin with.

He instructed his ship to plot co-ordinates for the nearest unexplored galaxy, while he smiled at his thoughts, and prepared toconnect with the ship's, virtual reality, while his ship began to move at unimaginable speeds away from the forever imprisoned, deadliest species ever encountered in space.