[Critique] The Good Provider

Jason ran, carrying Amy in his arms.

The surrogate was fast and powerful, but it had no built in weaponry of any kind. They had lost both rifles when the beast came crashing into the jungle clearing where they had been collecting and classifying samples of the local plant life. Unfortunately, his body was not fast enough with Amy's added weight. The rampaging beast was slowly catching up as it chased them across the vast savannah. Jason clutched Amy closer and ran on.

Jason accessed the command interface and pulled up a schematic of his robotic body, studying it as he ran. He was searching for anything that might help him somehow protect Amy. As he examined system after system, he finally realized there was a way to accomplish his goal.

"You have to trust me, Amy." he said. "I am going to have to set you down."

"Alright, I'm ready when you are." she said, but she sounded far from convinced.

Rerouting energy conduits and charging his capacitors well beyond their normal tolerances, he suddenly stopped and wheeled about, setting her down as gently as haste allowed.

He turned towards the charging behemoth. It was a nightmarish cross resembling something between an immense Rhinoceros and a Musk Ox. It's huge hairless body was powerfully muscled and a deeply mottled brown in color. Two long downward curving horns protruded from a massive bony plate in its forehead. Near the end of its snout was another horn angled upwards and slightly forward that tapered to a fine point. It's tiny black eyes were deeply set into its skull, almost certainly to protect them during confrontations. Jason doubted it could see very well.

He held out his hand as a torrent of built up energy flowed from him. Blinding white bolts of pure energy struck the creature in the head and enveloped it. It's body spasmed in shock as it fell to the ground, it's momentum causing it to continue to slide towards them.

At the last second Jason ceased his assault and scooped up Amy. He deftly stepped aside as the unconscious beast slid past them and finally came to a stop in a cloud of dust.

"Well." he said to her. "That was close."

"I knew you would save us." she smiled. "I didn't even know robotic surrogates could do that!"

"Me either." replied Jason. "Not until I tried it! Necessity is the mother of invention they say!"

Abruptly the trees at the edge of the forest crashed to the ground as the herd broke through and into the open. Hundreds of the creatures were now stampeding towards them. They were in danger of being trampled to death by something they hadn't even come up with a name for yet.

Jason did the only thing he could do, he ran.

Ahead was a canyon, if he could make the jump across they would be safe from their pursuers. He was pushing for maximum speed now. Veering towards a rock formation and using it as a natural ramp, he launched into the air. He knew he was going to fall short but he was well past the point of no return now.

Amy knew it too. She screamed.

His hand caught the far wall and smashed through the hard gray rock causing a shower of debris. They slid downward several feet before he could halt their motion. He heaved Amy upwards and over the rim of the canyon wall just as the rock he was clinging to broke free and he started to fall. Amy landed hard, but was relatively unharmed, she crawled to the edge and looked down into the canyon. She could barely make out the gleaming silver body smashed against the rocks far below.

"Oh shit." she whispered. She stood and dusted herself off while taking in her surroundings. The bulk of the mountain range rose high above her, blocking her view of the pale yellow sun of this world. Catching movement out of the corner of her eye, she became acutely aware of the furtive shadows darting amidst the rocky landscape nearby.

Jason found himself back at the remote selection menu. He snatched up the first available unit he found and bolted from the charging station. Amy was alone on the mountain and he had to get back there.

He ran outside and looked towards the Kestrel bays. They were empty. Jason was much faster than any of the ground vehicles so he was better off remaining on foot. He detoured through the repair bay which had once been a cargo hold of the Discovery, the ship that had brought them here. Quickly acquiring a plasma field generator and an industrial grade capacitor from storage, he plugged them into his body's receptors as he began rerouting his power systems. He sent out a wide broadcast message to any Kestrels close to the coordinates he sent. There was only one close enough to make any difference.

"Raven here Jason, what's up?"

"Amy is up in the mountains, alone and unarmed!" Jason replied.

"What the hell, Jason?" she asked. "Never mind, we'll discuss the reasons later. On our way."

Morgan wheeled in the air, piloting the nimble Kestrel towards the coordinates indicated. It was a very fast aircraft, a compact squat body powered by omnidirectional jets. He punched it to maximum velocity.

He and Raven were soldiers. Both were enhanced with cybernetic augmentations that gave them outstanding strength, speed and agility. They would need every advantage that could be provided to protect humanity on this hostile world.

The agile creatures moved with feline grace. Vaguely amphibious or perhaps reptilian in appearance, they seemed out of place here in the mountains. Amy had to remind herself that she couldn't really make comparisons to earth creatures simply based on their outward form. They possessed a hard shell of armored black skin which looked very much like obsidian from a distance with a series of short stubby ridges protruding from their backs. Their low flat skulls reminded Amy of a salamander, as did the rest of the sleek body which was about the size of a Komodo Dragon. Their teeth, however, reminded her more of a shark than anything else. They had long curved claws and she was fairly certain they could climb.

Amy moved higher up into the rocks. They moved towards her, catching her scent or perhaps sensing movement. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. She decided to call them Shadow Dragons or Umbra Draconis in the ancient Latin which could be loosely translated as "shadow of the dragon". At least there was now a name for what was about to kill her, even if nobody knew it but her.

Raven popped the canopy of the Kestrel as Morgan came in to land. She leaped out, aiming for the creature closest to Amy. She fired a single shot that simply ricocheted off the creature's nearly impenetrable hide.

"Great." She muttered to herself, holstering her pistol and drawing her sword as she fell. She landed in the midst of them. They hissed at her, surprised and angered at her sudden intrusion.

Jason was again approaching the canyon. The herd was now complacent and grazing peacefully as he raced through them. He reached the canyon rim and jumped. Without Amy's added weight it was not difficult to make the distance. In fact, he realized almost immediately that he had over-compensated.

Raven was a blur of motion and flashing steel. The creatures kept pace. They were fast! They moved like liquid around her. Her blade simply glanced off their armored skin, but at least she had distracted them from Amy.

Morgan set the high powered sniper rifle on the rocks and took aim. He squeezed off a shot. The creature's head exploded in a cloud of red mist.

"Gotcha!" he yelled triumphantly.

The creatures all paused in their attack on Raven and looked his direction.

"Oh shit." he said as he quickly chambered another round.

Moving as one, they turned and came for him.

Without warning, Jason landed in a semi-crouching position between Morgan and the charging creatures, the force of the impact threw up a tremendous cloud of dust and debris. The sound was deafening.

The creatures skidded to a halt, unsure what to make of this new gleaming silver intruder. One of them hissed a warning at him and started to swish its tail slowly back and forth.

Jason rose and spread his arms out before him, blinding pure white energy crackling between his outstretched hands. His entire body was enveloped in a shimmering aura. A fine web of glowing white plasma danced around his form. He reached out towards them, his hands glowing with power.

"Holy shit!" said Morgan, slowly taking his finger off the trigger.

The creatures started backing away. They looked at one another uncertainly and then suddenly seeming to reach a decision, turned away from Jason and did the only thing they could do. They ran.

Morgan approached Jason almost casually, carrying the rifle balanced on one of his broad shoulders. He kicked at the dirt a moment as if gathering his thoughts. Finally, he looked up as Raven joined them, sheathing her sword.

"I think they ran because they sensed the power within you, and somehow knew they couldn't overcome it." Morgan said after a moment. "That means they're smart as well as damn near bullet proof. Not a combination I'm excited about."

Amy had climbed down from her perch in the rocks as the energy dissipated from Jason's body. The otherworldly glow had left him now. She approached him cautiously.

"Is it safe now?" she asked.

"Yes, it's safe." he replied.

She ran to him and wrapped her arms around him tightly, squeezing with all her strength.

"I knew you would come back for me!"

In that moment, more than any other, he wished he had survived the crash that had landed them on this alien world. He wished he was more than just a digital backup of himself residing in the colony's computer network. He wished that right now he could feel her body pressing against him.

He wished that more than anything.