Tendrils

For those who have been following, these are the sensory organs of the devil's archer. They are sensitive to touch and pressure, to detect prey items that pass within shooting range.
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Out of the Woods (excerpt)

The engine room is a strange place to treat a patient. It’s fifteen degrees colder than the rest of the ship. I have to weave my way through a warren of electromagnets, wires, and whatever else feeds the nuclear fire that keeps our feet on the ground. Twice I’ve banged my head on the cold water pipe that spans the room. It’s right at forehead level, just out of my field of view when my eyes are trained on the uneven ground. When the ship begins to decelerate and up becomes down, that pipe will be a tripping hazard. This is no place for the living. It’s a dwelling for machines.

Nevertheless, Erin seemed right at home in the nest she’d carved out behind the computers. The monitors displayed two moving graphs under the heading “Capillary Shields” and a half-finished game of Go, but she wasn’t looking at these. She was poring over a document on her tablet – her contribution to the mission summary report. Everyone else had finished theirs already. Hers was blank.

Erin had the look of a resident fighting sleep at the bitter end of a 36-hour shift.

“Vander’s been bugging me to fill out this report.”

“I figured.”

“It’s not as easy as I thought it’d be. I remember the attack like it was yesterday, like it’s happening right now, but I can’t put any order to what happened before or after. And that’s what he’s asking for. He wants to know why it happened, and all I can say is, the minute we set foot in that place there was no avoiding it! I remember looking into the trees and knowing there would be no safe path home. The archer consumed everything, like the kudzu in the garden upstairs. It’s amazing we made it as far in as we did before attracting its attention. Meanwhile, you were halfway around the world and Rashid was trailing behind, spitting blood, with two fingers jammed into the hole in his throat. He couldn’t talk, but he got on his knees and pointed to the roots that alert the archer to our presence. Step around those, and we’d be safe. And I’ve got to put all that in words the Earth folk can relate to.”

I thought, can’t it wait? From what I understand, we’re not moving fast enough for the time lag to have much effect. A few extra days here is a few days on Earth. Vander needs to learn patience. I’ll have a word with him later.

- Dr. Luo Ping
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