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It was a freak accident. A one in a billion kind of accident that cost ten times that. The whole damn reactor had a cascade failure and, simply put, exploded. The whole damn thing said ‘fuck it’ and melted down. Fortunately the entire crew reached the escape pods, each landing safely on the planet below. Unfortunately, said planet was classified as what is affectionately referred to as a ‘deathworld’. Fatal to all but the most prepared. Even more unfortunate that the lifeboat Dr. Álvarez had managed to jump in just before the damn ship exploded was otherwise full of herbivores from docile worlds.
Fantastic.
That didn’t mean they were hopeless, however. It was a one in a trillion chance that the planet they had landed on was. On top of that she just so happened to have specialized in lithic age studies with plenty of hands-on experience, and the one thing that was in abundance around the immediate crash site were the raw resources of stone and what appeared to be wood in various forms, namely in large splinters and broken branches. Kneeling down to examine some smaller specimens, prompting some probing from her crew mates.
She heard a timid voice pipe up from behind her, “D-Doctor I admire your professional drive but now is not the—” but before Xaraxys could finish he was interior by a sound, something ungodly if one believed in such things.
“Now is exactly the time” she replied, continuing on with her work. Her focus never wavered despite the encroaching howls of hell.
Xaraxys spoke up again, “We must flee!” he leaned forward, trying to pull her away by her shoulders using his tendrils, “Please, we must go! It is the only way!”
The good doctor was able to shrug him off, “To run is death, can’t you hear how fast that thing is moving? None of us can run that fast, not even J’klak’k.” J’klak’k, in response, solemnly nodded their long head up and down in a learned human motion. The thing was far, but not far enough. Xaraxys slumped as Álvarez finished her specimen collection.
Excellent. Flint seemed to be abundant on the surface of wherever forsaken place they had landed, perhaps they had crashed into some stone or clay deposit not too terribly deep in the topsoil. Even the wood was of good quality, stronger than that of earth to be certain.
She heaved a great sigh before standing and spinning around, “Alrighty, folks! Go gather a few long sticks large enough to be staffs” Álvarez finished with a nod. The others knew not to question a headstrong human by now and immediately set about their task as close to the wrecked pod as possible. Xaraxys, meanwhile, stuck around to further confront her.
“Sofía” he said, inching closer “I do not doubt your capabilities, but what use are sticks and bones against a demon?”
She chuckled at that last part, much to Xaraxys’ befuddled horror, “We actually have a saying about that! ‘Sticks and stone may break my bones’, and that’s what we’re gonna do—break that thing’s bones”. Xaraxys’ expression only exaggerated more, or at least from what Sofía could tell.
He froze, even his tentacles were utterly still. Slowly in the following moment though they eased from their rigid poses. He spoke once more, “W-what… what”. He stopped, and if Sofía hadn’t known better she could’ve sworn he’d taken a deep breath, “What must we do?”
Sofía gave him a hearty smile, clapping him on the shoulder “That-a-boy! Now, get me some flint” Xaraxys wiggled his body a little, a sign of uncertainty or confusion, “uuuuh, shit, I think it’s called Gorlaxæxyx”
His form compressed and recoiled up before he slithered off to the side in search of material. Sofía turned not long after, kneeling down once more to begin knapping some basic points. Nothing fancy, basic Mode 1 stone heads. Quick, cheap, and efficient. This world’s flint was harder too, which took several more strikes to shape, each accompanied but an equally hard grunt. Damn these rocks. Sure enough though they broke before her, and within minutes she had several points primed and ready to go.
The others had finished gathering the rest of the required materials. Some of the sticks were too short, but there were enough. The beast was nearly barely down on them now and they could practically feel it’s breath on their backs, assuming they breathe that is.
Xaraxys cried out once more “Doctor if you have a plan now is the time”. There was a reverberating undertone to his voice that he gets when he’s particularly stressed. Understandably, he was using it at the present moment.
“Yeah yeah yeah, I heard ya. Garternin, I need some adhesive!” And no sooner had she said it that they had obliged, ejecting bodily secretions to the desired area. It was an ability developed over millions of years to build and repair their underwater dens solidifying in moments. She passed out the new implements to her crew mates, and just in the knick of time.
The demon had arrived.
Even in the moonless dark, the thing had a horrible, definitive shape; massive, larger than even a Zarillian Bandorak; countless fangs and daggers stuck out from behind the lips, seemingly too many to count; it was the same with its glowing crimson eyes; its hide was patchy and shimmered in the myriad of shadows.
“What are we supposed to do with these against that—” but before Xaraxys could speak, Sofía charged forth with a mighty, guttural howl that none had ever heard before. Her conscript-comrades in arms took strength from that as they charged forth into bloody battle—even Xaraxys—not far behind her, something stunning each and everyone of them. They all had heard the tales, the lavish retellings of human feat after feat after feat.
Now, however, they understood humanity’s classification as peak predators, and would never again question tales of the deathworlders known as humans.