Bootstrap Colony by Chris Hechtl Read Free Book Online Page B

and
another to replace it. He hit the release for the brake cable, then the lights
and finally the hitch. The tractor pulled forward, and suddenly the load leaned.
Startled he jumped back, just as it settled forward and down with a thump,
listing to the left side. “Damn,” he snarled.
    He warily approached, finding one
of the front feet had sunken into a hole. “Great, gophers, just what I didn’t
need.” A spider rat climbed out of the hole and up the leg of the flatbed.
Swearing he swatted at it with his hat, then gave up and turned to the next
truck. He checked the area before unhitching it, which wasted a little time.
Enough for the third and fourth truck to enter the perimeter. Quickly he
unhitched each, and then reluctantly sent all four out to the park. The fifth
and sixth arrived almost together, he unhitched them and then piled into the
truck. He passed them after the exit the gate, and then sped up.
    Checking the perimeter security
at the park, he was amused that the encounter with the Rexes was logged, but no
other sign of them had been detected. If he could get in and out, he should be
okay.
    This time he vowed to keep the
rifle handy. The Bushmaster was a great rifle, easy to swap parts, folding
stock, and modular, but it didn’t have the kill power he needed. He switched
the Bushmaster for a Barrett. The rifle was a Barrett M107, but the fifty
caliber rounds in the current clip were poison darts. If the massive hydrostatic
shot didn't kill the animal the lethal poison would stop its heart and
autonomic nervous system so it would suffocate. If it had a heart and nervous
system that is.
    Topped off with distilled
tropical cone snail venom, each round was guaranteed to drop a charging
elephant with one prick in less than a second. He wasn’t too happy about having
them, playing with poison was just asking for trouble, but having something
that can drop a large animal that fast was just too useful to pass up.
    Bob had pointed out that the
hydrostatic shock wave from a fifty caliber bullet would blow a hole through a
Buick he could fit his hand through, but since he wasn’t sure if he could get
clean kill shots, and wasn’t sure what he would run up against, he had ordered the
poison darts as a precaution. When in doubt overkill.
    He had standard fifty caliber
rounds for the M82 Barrett, but he was not sure they would drop an animal of
that size with one shot. Besides, if he had kept the pistol, shot gun, or
Bushmaster, it might have just made the Rex mad and its family too. He
seriously didn't need to face a wounded predator nor its angry family. Wryly he
smiled at the thought, and then put it away to focus on the surroundings.
    He had toyed with the idea of
launching the micro UAV, but it didn’t have the range or sensor suite to do a
good job. Besides, recovering it could be dangerous, just like that encounter
with the raptors.
    He arrived at the park and got a
report that the Rexes had been sighted down river. He checked the area
carefully with the binoculars, but didn’t spot them until one came out of the
river on the opposite embankment. It paused, shaking its feathers and preening
them for a moment, and then stepped into the brush.
    The juvenile swam to the shore
and stepped out, dripping water. It preened a bit, not noticing the shape in
the water behind it. Mitch bit his lip, watching to see if he was right about
what was going to happen. Suddenly with a burst of speed the giant croc
attacked, latching onto the rear of the juvenile and tossing it to the side and
back into the river. With a screech of terror the baby flew through the air and
landed with a splash. The parents returned to the embankment, cawing and
thrashing at the croc as it latched onto the juvenile and then sank into the
dark depths of the river. The parents thrashed around for a bit, snuffling at
the embankment, and then moved off back into the brush.
    “Computer log giant crocs as
amphibious predators. Threat level red,”