The Soul Eaters (The Thin Hex Line Book 1) by Gwyndolyn Russell (e reader txt) 📕

The stomach, even if a little large didn't fill it all. It was here she found what resembled a soaked, plastic bag.

"If they have none of that, then how do they populate? What about waste?" Reaper crossed his arms.

"Precisely. This isn't foreign...but I can't tell what it is...Midi! Come here! Scan this for me." She thought for a second. "Actually scan everything. Thoroughly. I want to know everything."

The drone hovered over, poked and prodded the fleshy bag, scanned it. It beeped while it processed, then printed out a series of papers. It beeped excitedly, bounced in the air. Then went for what was laid out in the tray to repeat the process.

Reynolds skimmed over the paper.

"Ah, I know that look." Reaper said. "What is it?"

"Well, it seems to be the reproduction organ, but it's just a sac of...incomplete DNA. Stem cells and other things I've never seen before. It appears to be asexual. Neither male, nor female. Asexuality, while rare, isn't too crazy, but that would mean they would need no help in reproduction. Yet from what this shows, DNA chains are incomplete, so it may be a young creature. Too young to reproduce." She sighed. "Something doesn't add up… Midi, when you're done, could you prepare the slicer? Get the diamond blade, we'll need a thin slice of bone. I'll get the carbon dater. Since its carbon based...I could better determine its age."

She gathered up all of the papers Midi printed out and sat down to skim through them.

Seeing her close up to focus on her work, Reaper wandered off. She didn't need his help. In fact, it seemed no one needed his help. Everywhere he went, everyone was busy. It was pure chaos with everyone running around setting up camp, checking supplies, cooking, delivering.

He was proud in a way. Everyone knew their role and rolled with the punches without a thought about it.

Any other Captain would have taken the opportunity to relax and simply oversee. Take a nap, eat a meal. Reaper could not bear it. His hands trembled. He needed to do something. Anything. Fuck, he was a soldier, not a pencil pusher. Sitting around, doing nothing while everyone else worked around him drove him crazy.

What could he do? There was nothing to shoot thanks to Fenris scaring everything away. He should have gone with Jackal. Stretched his legs and see something new.

Where had that valkyrie gone anyway? These last several nights had been quiet. He almost missed the howling. It was like a phone call. He knew it was all right out there as long as he could hear it.

Reaper dug through the crates in the cargo hold. They had several drones packed away. As soon as he found it, he pulled it out of its confines.

Large enough to carry a dog with four propellers to keep it afloat and stable at high altitude and a 360 camera, it would be the perfect device to get a good look around the area.

He flipped its switch and set it on the ground. Took the controller out of the case and set it to autopilot. He guided it out of the ship’s cargo bay, then climbed up to the top of the ship.

He sat himself down and remotely piloted the drone around their camp. Then into the sky for a bird’s eye view of the surrounding land.

Fields as far as the horizon stretched. A temperate forest that faded into a jungle west bound. Mountains reaching above the clouds to the far north. The temperate forest south bound ended abruptly, but he did not send the drone close enough to see why.

Aside from plant fauna, there was nothing else. No animals he could see. No sign of eos. No sign of Fenris.

He had expected the planet to be barren. According to what those Alphas said at Avant-Garde, the eos destroy and eat everything. They rid planets of all life.

Consumed in the video feed of the drone, Reaper didn't notice the sound of leathery wings beating against the air. No one did.

Up high on the ship, he was exposed. A stray from the herd. Without numbers to protect him, he was a vulnerable child.

Talons dug into his back and shoulders. He hit the hull of the ship face first, the controller fell down a hundred feet to the dirt.

Mjolnir gave a roar of orders, the first to see the attack.

Reaper shouted, writhed against the blistering hot metal. He couldn't see what was on him. It weighed a ton. Easily kept him down. Wings pounded him on either side, the talons flexing in and out of his flesh to get better holds. Then came the beak. A long, narrow metal snout with a dagger tip. It gave a shrill screech as it pecked away at his head, neck, and back.

No matter what he did, he could not get that stupid bird off. He covered his head and neck with his arms.

Mjolnir and a few of the soldiers took aim and fired. Some were distracted by more leathery birds swooping down.

Scared, the larger one on Reaper, got a hold of him and took off, dropping from the ship to catch the wind. It soared upwards, carrying Reaper in its talons.

Reaper held on for his life watching the ground get smaller and smaller.

Another creature screeched and swooped underneath. It pecked at him, tearing off a strap of his suit.

Then a second pass. This time the beak landed on point and ripped Reaper right out of the talons of the other one. It dropped low, just over the trees and looped around in an attempt to throw off the other fliers.

It seemed everyone wanted a piece of him. More of those birds came in, knocking him away from the one carrying him. He dropped like a rock only to be scooped up again.

Mjolnir and his small group of soldiers gave chase, following the flock of birds and Reaper. They did not dare shoot blindly. They took time to aim and hit the ones swooping