In the end, Quank had had to return to the Ark and retrieve a grav sled in order to haul the carcass of the 3-meter-long legworm, but the thing was now laying before the hose connected to the ship. Using a long knife, the hunter sliced the worm open and, as extra incentive, took a spray bottle of blood out and sprayed the worm near the head before heading back inside the ship.
Now, the wait.
Since he had time until (he hoped) the insects started to arrive and feast, the hunter decided to take a look around. Moving to the edge of the cliff overlooking the pass, Jorzen spotted something unusual, some half kilometer to his left, also near the cliff's edge. What he had first taken to be several trees seemed, in fact, to be mobile, and moving in his direction. Jorzen assumed they'd been drawn by the arrival of his ship, and wondered if they were the ones Matsu Ike had mentioned. Curious, he thought, as they were all supposed to be dead. Taking a glance back at his ship, Jorzen decided to meet them halfway.
As the two groups approached each other on the high top of the pass, Jorzen spread his arms wide to show he meant no harm, but realized the environmental suit he wore somewhat obscured his facial features. "Hello," he called to them. "I'm not from around here. Just visiting, picking up some insect samples. Not a Karran native, so..."
The three tree-like aliens, which Jorzen could now see easily topped twelve feet in height each, spread their branches in a mimicking gesture. Quank could hear their green leaves rustling, though no breeze filled the air.
"Sorry, I don't understand you. I thought...didn't the Karran's..."
The lead tree-thing moved even close to the cliff's edge, and bent a bough downwards. Jorzen, still too far away to be knocked off the cliff by one of the creatures, looked over. There, he saw a series of ledges, with cave openings in each.
"There? You live down there? Have you been hiding all this time?"
Leaves shook once more.
"Hunh."
The tree-like aliens moved still closer to Jorzen. In response, the hunter moved away from the edge of the cliff, since he still couldn't judge the creature's intent, placing them between himself and the pass. The aliens moved past Quank, their rooted trunks carrying them like wooden tenticles across the earth beneath them. As they passed, Jorzen could see the indication of facial features about three quarters of the way up their trunks; boles that resembled eyes, openings where a mouth might be. Once of the three had a blackened scar running down its right side and was missing several large branches near its crown, as if it had been struck by lightning.
The hunter fell in behind the tree creatures, having to walk quickly to keep up with the large creature's pace, until they stopped before his ship. The scarred one turned on its many roots, raising one of its thick limbs and making its rustling conversation.
"My ship," said Jorzen.
The tree pointed again, more forcefully, and rustled louder.
"It's my ship," repeated Jorzen, confused. Sighing, he pondered the situation, while at the same time seeing that insects had already begun to swarm the corpse of the legworm. "Look, I need to go inside my ship and start collecting these insects. I'm looking for Swarmers. The tiny ones. I'll be right back."
Quank moved to the opposite side of the ship, away from the insects and worm, lowered the landing ramp, and jogged up. Once inside, he removed his head covering and gloves, laying them near the door. Moving quickly through the ship, he arrived in the cargo bay, where the intake hose was attached to a large tank normally reserved for aquatic creatures. Activating the suction, Jorzen was able to pull hundreds of flying insects into the tank. As he shut the hose off, he only hoped that he'd gotten the Swarmers as well.
As the hunter moved to pick up an analyizer, though, the ship rang out with a heavy blow, then another, and a third.
"I've got a bad et cetera and so forth," he murmured.