This is a chain story I am keeping alive on Hive... after 6 months of not getting to it... while I wait for my writing partner to become available again.

This is a Chain story passed between @zakludick and @therneau. Each writer authors a post based on the events of previous episodes and carries on the story.

There is very little collusion between the writers as it is challenging to discover and develop a story by attuning the writing to the partner's plot, style, and presentation.

This follows on from SLKT #3.

Space Lore Log SLKT#4

The scientist and the soldier watched as the creature examined something in the rubble before it pulled away and made a series of rumbling noises and trotted away from the wreckage that it had caused.

"Amazing." Dr. Adendorff said to himself.

"We are going to need bigger guns." Lieutenant Fray said softly.

"What?" The scientist asked.

"What?"

"Did you just say that you need bigger guns?" The doctor sounded angry but the Lieutenant stared at him unfased.

"Did you see what that creature did to a massive fortress base?" Lieutenant Frey said loudly. "And you really expect me to have to deal with that thing with what? Good intentions?"

The soldier ignored the sentiment and sarcasm and remained focused on what they saw before them. "The creature is on the move. It is... not quite retreating, looks more like it was startled.

Dr. Adendorff saw that it was true, although now the creature was bounding through the Jungle towards them. It would be on them in minutes. Even at this distance that would take this part hours to cross... it would be here soon. The scientist froze on the spot.

"Take cover!" Lieutenant Frey yelled and the soldiers and civilians ran around, attempting to find a place to hide. "Doctor! Get your ass in gear! Duck and hide!"

Adendorff stood there, hands to his sides. "What is the point?" He asked softly. "Even if we were underneath something it would just crush it."

Because he had not run and hid away, the Doctor probably got the best look at the creature of anyone in the party. The images were burned into his mind. Its form, the way it moved, a hundred details that would only surface out of this memory later. Presently he was also the only one to see that the gargantuan creature had diverted its path and had run through the valley between two mountains to the East of the party.

The Lieutenant was still hissing furiously for the Doctor to take cover when he shrugged and waved back at him. "It's not coming this way anymore. It turned off."

"What?" The soldier crawled out from underneath a massive fallen tree. "Where did it go?"

Dr. Adendorff pointed in the direction that the creature had gone. But instead of staring in that direction, something else caught his interest. He walked back to where the Lieutenant had been hiding. The tree that had fallen and looked it over. Sure enough, he found what he had been looking for.

The tree had been snapped off near the base, but the tall jungle tree had also been struck by something around three quarters up its length at something like forty meters above ground. The tree had been smashed down. Calculations ran through his head, trying to estimate the sort of force that would be required to accomplish something like that.

He walked to the base of the tree where the tree had snapped.

The damage was old. This had not happened recently. The decay around the open wood made that obvious as was the moss and other plants that grew through the gaps and around the tree trunk itself. He looked around this fallen tree and checked the treeline. Sure enough, he saw what he was looking for.

More calculations. More data that he would need to file away. He would need to write this down.

"Doctor! I do not know what you are doing right now, but it can wait." The Lieutenant stood at the edge of the clearing, his other soldiers had already behand clearing a new path and the civilians were helping.

"What?" He asked. How much time had just passed.

"I said we need to go. We need to get to Pinnacle One. If there are survivors, they will need our help!"

"Oh yes! I agree!"

The Doctor dutifully followed the soldier as they made their way to the new path being carved through the forest.

Log SLKT#4 completed!

I hope you guys enjoyed that!

Other Space Lore stories:

by @zakludick	by @therneau
SLZT Story
SLZT#1	SLZT#2
SLZT#3	SLZT#4
SLZT#5	SLZT#6
SLZT#7	SLZT#8
SLZT#9	SLZT#10
SLZT#11	SLZT#12
SLZT#13	SLZT#14
SLZT #15	SLZT #16
SLZT #17	SLZT #18
SLZT #19	SLZT #20
SLZT #21	SLZT #22
SLZT #23	SLZT #24
SLZT #25	SLZT #26/Q1
SLZT #27	***
SLZT #28	***
SLZT #29	***
You are Here!	***

by @zakludick	by @therneau
Branch Log	Queen
	SLZT #26/Q1
SLZT.Q2	***
SLZT.Q3	***
SLZT.Q4	***

by @zakludick	by @therneau
New Earth	SLKT
	SLKT #1
SLKT #2	***
SLKT #3	***

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