Minx Ep. 04: The Sphere, Mesozoic Zone

Minx's head ached. She sat up slowly, opening her eyes as she did so. The same floating island was still all around her and there was no sign of the hyperman. Her right arm hurt a little and she found a small hole, as if a needle or pin had been pushed into her skin.

She wondered why the hyperman had used such an archaic device if he wanted to inject her with something. Or, perhaps, he had wanted her to know that she had been injected with something? However, as she rose to her feet she felt normal, aside from the headache.

"Ship?"

There was still no answer. At this point, Minx had not really expected her vessel to respond. Clearly, the link had been broken. She reached up to where the communication device lay hidden under her skin and everything felt normal, indicating the hyperman hadn't bothered doing anything to that technology. There was only a dull ache now as her fingers brushed the sensitive spot on her skull.

She walked through the forest, looking for Paul and Miguel. Once she found them she examined them carefully. Neither had a mark on their arms that matched hers. Why had the hyperman singled her out? It occurred to her it might have been for the same reason that Dragon had singled her out. She put a hand to her abdomen. Could he have activated her fertility with an injection and then impregnated her? Dragon had suggested that she might have the ability to control her own fertility, but to have that degree of self-control meant that there could be ways for others to control when she could and could not conceive.

The two men were still in a deep sleep, so she slipped back into the forest and went back to the spot where she'd awoken. Minx bent down and examined the marks upon the dirt. She could see where she had lain and she could easily note where Mahar had been relative to her position, and he had only been by her head and arm and then walked directly toward a nearby tree. She let out a relieved sigh.

She could hear Paul and Miguel beginning to wake up, but Minx wanted to know why the hyperman had rendered the three of them unconscious and what he had done following that act. His boot prints led right up to a tree, and she spotted something white in a hollow between two branches. It looked like paper. She reached in and drew it out.

'Dear young lady, and friends, I, Mahar, bid you welcome to my world. Please come to the tower ruins as soon as you can. Only there will you find the safety you desire.'

So, Minx thought, Mahar knows Galactic Standard, which wasn't too surprising as that was the tongue in which Dragon had first spoken to her. Perhaps all the hyperpeople spoke it? But, she wondered, why did he want us to go to these tower ruins? She shivered. What kind of idiot was he that he believed any of them would be stupid enough to think they would be safe in his citadel?

6

Dragon took one last look through his binoculars. After four weeks of drifting, the floating island had nearly reached the other shore. However, he noted that it was now drifting to the right, or north, meaning the current would not take it all the way to shore. Would Minx swim for the land, or would she stay aboard hoping for eventual rescue? Based upon Ship's description of Minx's recent behaviour it was far more likely that she would try to make it to shore on her own. That meant that would be the first place where he'd have to look for her.

He considered the sailing ship he'd designed: square sailed, double masted, and a shallow draft. It wouldn't be easy to sail, but it very well could be the first sailing ship to ply these waters. Certainly it would be the first that many of the sea creatures had ever seen.

"Ready the launch mechanism!" he commanded.

It was an intricate thing with levers, pulleys, and a balanced tripod, which would swing the boat off the beach and into deep water. Dragon was rather pleased with the outcome of all his designs. The ship was loaded with weapons and provisions and ready to go.

"Launch!"

The boat lifted ponderously from the sand, hung in the air, and then swung out over the water before it splashed into the sea.

"Ropes!" he ordered, as he noticed the humans watching the launch in amazement. They set to work pulling on the ropes so the boat didn't float away. A second set of ropes manned by three of the pirates pulled a vine gangway up that would allow everyone to board the ship without wading into the water.

"Everyone aboard!"

He watched with satisfaction as only one pirate remained behind. Wendy had voiced her fears to Alice about open water, and from what he'd heard it was clear she would never have gone aboard voluntarily. He could have forced her onto the ship, but he wanted the pirates to start looking at him as a leader and less as a threat, at least for the time being.

Dragon turned back to the village. The hominids were watching the activities of the humans, likely not understanding what was going on. Or did they? Minx had thought them fairly intelligent, so perhaps they did understand the concept of a boat, even a large one like this, and they may also have had some concept of traveling by water. Certainly the humans who had enslaved them had occasionally sent them out in little dugouts to do some net fishing. Would these hominids have myths and legends thousands of years from now about this departure?

At last, he was the last one to board. The hyperman took one final look around and spied what he was waiting for. A large dog-sized spider-creature with a hard shell was slowly approaching along the beach. It was definitely not a crab, so he assumed it was Arachne.

"Ship, she's here. What do I do to get her to identify me as a friend of Minx's?"

"She collected some of Minx's belongings and brought them to her, so perhaps you should show her a sword, compass, binoculars, and some other gadgets. She might be sufficiently intelligent to recognize the two of you possess the same belongings and therefore share some relationship."

Dragon made a show of unpacking these objects and then slowly introducing them to the timid arachnid. He left each on the sand and then backed away.

Arachne came forward hesitantly. She extended an arm and touched each of the items, one at a time. She clicked several times, and then turned to face the water.

Dragon kneeled in the sand. "You probably don't understand me," he said in a calm, reassuring voice, "but you're Minx's friend and I'm going to find her. I would like you to come along. I will keep you safe."

Arachne picked up the sword, carried it to Dragon and dropped it off in front of him. He sheathed it and waited. Then, she collected each of the items one by one and dropped them off in front of the hyperman. He put them away in his pack, one by one.

Dragon rose slowly to his feet. He stepped onto the vine gangway and slowly made his way to the boat. Arachne followed him, although with some difficulty. As the humans watched in amazement, he led her onto the deck, across it and then down some steps and into his room. He closed the door. Arachne froze and crouched down. Dragon showed her the special 'arachnid door' he'd made just for her, and that allowed her to come and go from his room at will. The spider appeared to relax.

Dragon went back up on deck. "Release the ropes! We sail west!" He grinned in excitement at the coming voyage, and at his eventual reunion with Minx.

7

"We don't have a choice. The current's taking us parallel to shore and I suspect it will take us back out to sea." Minx was tired of arguing with the two men. Why couldn't they just do as they were told?

"But eventually it will come back to land, right?" asked Miguel.

Minx shrugged. "I'm making the swim." She turned and leapt into the water. She swam as fast as she could, estimating it would take her about five minutes to reach shore. There was a thin vine tied to her waist, and a couple of rudimentary spears floated at the other end of it. Other than that she had no protection from any predatory sea creatures.

She heard some splashing behind her, and was relieved to see both men had joined her in the water and were also swimming for shore. She outdistanced them easily, and was soon splashing through the shallows and keeping a wary eye on the tree line. The trees were odd, mainly coniferous, enormous ferns, and another type that looked like a tall, thin pineapple.

She crouched at the edge of the surf and waited. The forest ahead of her looked dark and thick, and she suspected what remained of her clothes would not dry out as quickly as she'd like once she was in amongst the foliage. There were bird and insect sounds all around. Luckily, there seemed to be no large predators evident, but she didn't want to take any chances. Eventually the two men splashed through the waves and collapsed upon the sand, spent.

"Why...why didn't you wait for us, Minx?" asked Paul, splayed out on his back.

"I was hoping that any sea predators that came toward us would realize that you two were slower and ignore me."

"You bloodthirsty bitch!" exclaimed Paul, rolling over to face her.

"You're the would-be rapist, Paul. I'm just letting natural selection pick who gets eaten first." The bird-like noises in the trees were disappearing. She tensed. "You may want to get ready to run."

"Why?" asked an exhausted Miguel.

Minx slowly pulled on her vine until the spears were in her hands. She untied them, and then coiled the vine around her waist. She could hear something moving slowly through the vegetation, something big. The birds (were there birds during the time of the dinosaurs, she wondered) were completely silent on her left but still making some noises on her right.

"Come on," she whispered. She ran to the right, half-crouching, and crossed the beach until she reached the trees. Swatting away a few insects, she noted that she still hadn't seen the creature that was approaching. Miguel and Paul caught up to her, panting. "There!" she said, and she pointed at a clump of trees and bushes further along the beach.

A large reptilian snout had pushed its way out of the concealing vegetation, just above the sand. It was as long as Minx's arm and triangular. The mouth opened, revealing curved, but otherwise conical teeth. Then the head lifted as the creature moved out onto the beach. The beast was as big as a large crocodile, with a long thin tail and a spined sail upon its back.

"A dinosaur!" wailed Miguel.

The beast froze and looked about. All animal sounds around them had vanished, informing Minx that this was a predator and likely a voracious one. It took a few more steps out onto the sand.

"We'd better get going before it spots us," suggested Minx.

"Aren't you going to fight it?" sneered Paul.

She ignored him and backed deeper into the forest. Through the trees, she could see the creature walk over to where they had come ashore. It put its snout to the sand.

"Damn!" she whispered. "It's going to track us by scent!"

She turned about and made her way deeper into the trees, being careful to make as little sound as she could. The two men continued to follow her, waving away biting insects as they clambered over projecting roots that were barely visible in the shadows. She gave up on the idea of returning to that beach to make a boat; that was likely part of this carnivore's territory and therefore regularly patrolled. Perhaps, she thought, she could find another more isolated beach?

She came to a sudden stop at a murky, slow-flowing stream. Looking left and right, she spied no easy way to cross it and still keep her feet dry.

"What is it, Minx?" asked Paul.

"Hush!" She listened as best she could. There were very definite sounds of slow pursuit through the underbrush behind them. She had no choice but to go on, or that sail-back reptile would catch up to them.

She slipped her left leg into the inky water very slowly. The slimy liquid came up to her knee before she felt mud and silt with her toes, at least she hoped it was mud and silt. She put her weight on her left leg and sank just a little deeper.

"Okay, let's go."

The three began wading across the stream. Minx found it hard going, as the mud pulled on her feet whenever she tried to lift them to take another step, and the stream deepened the further they went into it. Biting insects of every variety surrounded them in clouds. There was a splash somewhere nearby, and the water was disturbed several metres upstream. Miguel, being the closest to the source of the noise went white, panicked and began splashing around in the water.

"Quiet!" Minx demanded.

It was no use, though. Miguel was fighting his way through the water and mud as fast as he could go, and it was making a lot of noise. There were more splashes downstream. Paul fled after the other man, leaving Minx alone and in the rear.

She continued to make her way slowly and carefully, but she could see from a strange wake on the surface of the water that something man-sized was coming closer and closer to her. When the wake was just over a metre away, she plunged one of her spears into the mud right at the head of the disturbance.

A black, rubbery tail, as thick as her thigh, swung up and through the air. The water around her bubbled and splashed violently. Red blood appeared on the surface and began spreading.

Minx looked at the surface of the stream and realized that other creatures were drawing closer, and that she would soon be surrounded unless she moved faster. She lifted her legs from the mud by putting her weight on the spear, then collapsed into the water. She crawled along the muddy bottom of the stream blindly, until it shallowed enough that she could lift her head up and take a breath. There was a branch nearby and she grabbed it, then pulled herself up and out.

She lay on the muddy shore for a split second, then rolled over and crawled away from the stream. Once she was free of the muddy bank she stood, spotted Paul and Miguel and headed over to them. Her temper faded as she drew near.

"What were they?" asked Paul.

She shook her head. "Dangerous. But I think they'll keep that sail-back thing from following us."

"You hope," said Miguel quietly. He slapped at some large fly that had landed on his bare arm.

8

Dragon paced the deck. After several days of sailing there was scarcely enough wind to push the boat, and while he didn't want to have to resort to rowing it looked as if he had no choice. "Break out the oars!"

Alice ran below decks, followed by two of the pirates. They returned in a short while with a dozen oars. The hyperman nodded to his First Mate.

"You lot!" she yelled, addressing the cave dwellers. "If you want to live then you're rowing!" She and the others tossed the oars at them.

"Even me?" asked one of the men.

"Especially you, Gable!" shouted Alice.

Dragon suppressed a chuckle. Gable had been stupid enough to think that sleeping with the First Mate gave him special privileges. The man may posses a certain charm, he thought, but he's going to need more than that to compete with a hyperman!

"Captain?" He turned his attention back to Alice. "We have extra oars."

"No, we have extra rowers."

"I see." She ordered some of the pirates to row.

That left his crew with sixteen idle hands, excluding himself and Alice. He called out to his First Mate, "Send eight below for sleep. They'll stand the second watch. You'd better go, too."

"Aye, Captain."

The blond-haired Gable gave her a raised eyebrow as she walked by him, but Alice merely shook her head.

Dragon allowed himself a smile. He altered course to the north, hoping to catch a more favourable breeze. After an hour the wind picked up, and he had the rowers raise the oars. Dragon had the sails adjusted to catch as much wind as possible. Then, he set about assigning meaningless tasks to each of those upon deck.

"Whales!" was called out across the deck a couple of hours later.

"Where?"

"Over there!" came the reply to Dragon's query. He shook his head in disgust.

The beasts were large, but not as massive as he'd thought they'd be. They had bulbous heads and grey bodies. He tapped his chin in thought. He turned to the man who'd spotted the whales. "Keep a sharp eye out for something following them. There were predators bigger than whales millions of years ago."

He ordered the rest of those on deck back to work. Dragon drew his laser pistol and stared at it in thought. With his peripheral vision he could see the humans scampering away from him. However, he had more important matters to think on.

"Ship?"

"Yes, Blackbeard?"

"Have you noticed any new problems in your systems other than the break in communications with Minx?"

"None. Why do you ask?"

"Mahar."

Dragon pointed his laser pistol into the sky and tried to fire the weapon. Nothing happened.

"He's neutralized my laser pistol."

"It could be a coincidence."

"There are no coincidences among my people."

"That, in itself, is something of a coincidence." There was a brief pause. "He has the ability to target and negate specific pieces of technology, Dragon."

"Yes. Meaning if he isn't in complete control of this world, then he might as well be. It also means that he's likely listened in on all communications between us, and between you and Minx."

"She's going to be pissed! We talked about some pretty personal stuff, Dragon."

"So when I find his remains Minx should be my first suspect?"

"Very funny. Although, you might want to try handcuffing her before you strip-search her. I don't think she's ever done that before, and you seem to have a taste for that sort of thing."

"I'll keep that in mind. It was your idea for Minx to disguise herself as an almost completely furless catgirl on Anima, wasn't it?"

"It made things more interesting for her, and caught your attention."

"Get some more rest, Ship, and let me know if there's any change in your systems."

"Captain!" came the call from the pirate who'd spotted the whales.

"What is it, John?"

"A shadow in the water behind the whales. A big shadow."

Dragon raced to the rail. There was a huge darkness, torpedo-shaped, following the whales. He couldn't see what the creature was, but it was as big as the boat. As the hyperman watched, the whales accelerated.

"Break out the spears!" Dragon ordered.

John pulled out his laser pistol.

"That thing is useless now." Dragon tilted his head, inviting the pirate to fire it at the shadow. The man did so, and nothing happened. "There's another hyperman in this world and he's rendered our laser weapons inoperable."

Some of the pirates were handing spears out, and Dragon watched as those cave dwellers on deck were also given spears. They each looked at him fearfully, but he merely turned his head back to the waves.

The shadow had turned toward their boat, apparently having discovered the new and slower prey. It passed underneath, and before Dragon could cross the deck a large yellowish tentacle rose from the water and wrapped itself around the railing on the side farthest from him.

"It's a giant squid!" shouted Dragon. "Use your swords to cut the tentacles! Spears will only be useful if they score a hit on it's head, especially it's eyes!"

As more crewmen ran on deck with spears, Dragon pointed to the centre of the deck. Out of the corner of his eye he spied Alice, spear in one hand and sword in the other, step up onto the deck and give Dragon a frightened look.

Two more tentacles rose over the railing on the port side, and the ship tilted frighteningly. Three men lost their footing and fell and rolled until they struck the railing. However, the creature's body still had not come into view.

Dragon roared in anger. A tentacle came lashing down from above him. He sidestepped it and slashed at it with his sword as it struck the deck. The smell of ammonia filled his nostrils.