“You used your implant!” Zotz exclaimed. He looked at Ravana in awe.
“Girl and machine in perfect harmony,” she replied gloomily.
Inside the tent, the dim light of Shennong shimmered softly upon a confusion of tightly-packed trees, shrubs and undergrowth drenched in heavy condensation. The air was alive with the gentle cacophony of rustles, chirrups and slithers of creatures of the night, punctuated by occasional glints from tiny watching eyes. The lack of artificial light emphasised the primeval ambience. An unnerved Ravana, Ostara and Zotz found themselves huddling close as they peered into the riot of foliage before them.
“What is this place?” murmured Zotz wonderingly.
“It reminds me of the banana plantations near Lanka,” Ravana remarked. “They grow them inside big tents to keep pests and poachers out.”
“Whatever it is they’re growing here, it isn’t bananas,” muttered Ostara. “This is very creepy. Any chance of some light?”
Ravana thought the request was directed at her, but was saved from having to hunt for a light switch using her implant by Zotz, who quickly rummaged through his bag and withdrew a small sphere with twin rotor blades on top. After pressing a switch on the base, he threw the globe with its now-spinning rotors high into the air. A split second later the hovering sphere blazed into life. The jungle shadows were instantly banished as the globe illuminated the tent and Zotz’s triumphant grin with a stark and blinding white light.
“Neat,” admitted Ravana, shading her eyes. “One of your inventions?”
Zotz nodded. “The fuel cell is only good for ten minutes though.”
The bright light transformed the scene before them, revealing the jungle as a twisted, chaotic explosion of vegetation that showed no signs of being an orderly crop plantation of any kind. The dark foliage was the characteristic myrtle green of plants native to Yuanshi and Ravana was instantly reminded of the ancient forest near her childhood home. For a moment she thought she saw a grey shape deep in the undergrowth, then it was gone.
“Did you see that?” whispered Ostara. “It looked… alien.”
“Yuanshi’s own flora and fauna,” said Ravana, her voice filled with awe. She took a few steps along a narrow gravel path leading into the jungle and then paused. “A lot of the native plants and animals are deadly to humans and were deliberately destroyed when Earth crops were introduced. This could be some sort of nature reserve.”
Intrigued, she walked on, her senses primed to the sights and sounds of the plantation. As she moved further from the gate, Ravana felt the eyes of countless hidden watchers upon her and twice more saw a brief blur of grey as a shadowy creature moved through the bushes ahead. At one point her mysterious guide seemed ready to emerge into the open, then abruptly disappeared when Ostara and Zotz crashed noisily through the undergrowth behind with such a commotion that even Ravana jumped. All this time her cat continued to act very oddly and squirm in her arms, its electric gaze darting back and forth as if it expected to be leapt upon and eaten by a fierce jungle beast at any moment.
The path ended abruptly at the edge of a circular pit in the ground, several metres in diameter and more than a metre deep. Arranged neatly inside the earthen hollow was one of the strangest sights Ravana had ever seen: row upon row of large greyish-green spheres, each half a metre wide and covered with silken threads. As she stared, her cat wriggled free from her arms, jumped to the floor and cautiously sniffed the edge of the pit.
“My word!” exclaimed Ostara, as she and Zotz came up behind her. “Look at the size of those, all covered in webs! Is this the nest of a giant spider?”
Ravana shuddered. “Don’t say things like that!”
“They look like eggs,” Zotz murmured. “Giant alien eggs.”
“They can’t be!” protested Ravana. “There’s nothing on Yuanshi that lays eggs like that. All the big native animals died out when people arrived and started terraforming.”
“Those are definitely alien eggs,” Zotz declared. “Probably ready to explode and spew out some face-sucking creature at any moment. Have you never seen the Alien films?” he asked, seeing Ravana’s confused and rather horrified expression. “Alien versus Godzilla III was added to the Dandridge Cole holovid library just a few months ago.”
“I don’t watch horror films,” Ravana said firmly.
Zotz was flabbergasted. “But the Alien holovids are classics! They go all the way back to the old-style movies of the twentieth century!”
“What about Alien: The Opera? You must have heard of that one,” interjected Ostara. “Remember Administrator Verdandi at Newbrum? Her mother is a famous diva who played Ripley in the recent revival. Your father took me to Bradbury Heights Opera House to see it.”
Ravana blinked. “I don’t remember that.”
Zotz nodded eagerly and to Ravana’s amazement suddenly broke into song:
Ravana stared at him. “I’m almost lost for words,” she said. “Is that why you call my cat Jones? After some moggy in a horror film?”
“It’s more science-fiction than horror,” Zotz protested weakly. “In the original movie, Jones is the only crew member to survive other than Ripley. In Alien and the Terrorclones, the cat mutates into tiger cyborg and saves Ripley from the Mechanoraptor.”
“I’m obviously missing some class entertainment,” muttered Ravana.
“Can we forget Alien for the time being?” interrupted Ostara, sounding exasperated. “We’re supposed to be trying to get to Ayodhya to rescue your father, yet here we are standing next to a pit of alien eggs in the middle of nowhere, debating the merits of science-fiction horror films! We need a plan!”
“The light from my lantern won’t last much longer,” added Zotz.
He jumped and gave a shriek. For a moment, Ravana thought she saw an indistinct grey face in the undergrowth peering up at them, then frowned and decided it was a trick of the shadows. A split second later, the light from Zotz’s hovering globe failed and they were promptly plunged into darkness, then heard a faint crash as the powerless sphere fell to the ground. Now they were away from the canvas walls and deep in the jungle, the darkness was complete. Ravana could not even see her hand as she reached out to find Ostara.
“An alien!” exclaimed Zotz. “Anyone got a light?”
Out of nowhere, the beam of a torch pierced the gloom. Startled, Ravana, Ostara and Zotz turned and were instantly blinded by the light.
“Who’s there?” demanded Ostara. The words of her brave challenge trembled.
“I was hoping you three would run away once we landed,” grumbled a male voice. “That at least would have saved me the bother of wondering what to do with you.”
The beam changed into a gentler, more diffuse glow, revealing the stern but roguish features of Hanuman, the pilot of the Sun Wukong. The lantern was in his left hand, leaving his right free to linger cautiously upon the butt of the plasma pistol holstered at his waist.
“You!” Ravana cried, picking up her cat. “What is this place?”
“And where could we go?” asked Ostara. “We’re miles from anywhere!”
“Actually, on the other side of the forest is the main road to Anjayaneya,” Hanuman pointed out. He acted annoyed, then relented and gave Ostara a wink. “I’m sure you could have flagged down some friendly trucker willing to take you back to civilisation. How did you get in here? These plantations are supposed to be secure.”