Invictis: Eaternum Five

Prologue

The deep colors of the Huron sky no longer held aesthetic value for the man, but an ominous foreboding. He was exhausted from what seemed to be hours of running. His clothes were in tatters, and whatever he had carried with him was long gone, lost somewhere in the humid forests of this planet.

Far away he could hear the high-pitched emissions of electromagnetic radiation. His predator would soon be upon him if he dared to rest. He quickly took in all of his surroundings looking for a place that might protect him from the sensors of the thing. He knew, however, that there was no place that it could not detect him, except back where he had come from. God knows there was no going back to that place.

He took off again into the depths of the forest, he remembered the days of his youth when he played hide and seek with his older brother in these very woods. None of the hiding places he knew so well could help him now.

He started down a steep incline covered in thick vegetation. What was left of his shirt sleeve caught on one of the branches, detaining him, immobile for a few seconds. Even the thought of a few seconds more terrified him. He ripped his shirt clean off and left it behind. The adrenaline racing through his veins was not enough to overcome the fatigue that had beset him and was sapping his strength.

He knew that soon, too soon, it would have him. There was no escape, and yet ... he listened closely. In the distance he heard the sound of running water. With his last bit of energy, he took off in the direction of it.

The sounds of the machine were closer than ever, but he was determined. What was only a matter of minutes seemed like hours. He reached the place of the water after climbing down the face of a cliff. He could see the falls. He still had no idea what he was going to do, but he had to do something. Looking down the fifty-foot drop made him teeter a little.

Overhead he heard the unmistakable whining of engines, then to his horror, it was there looking at him. Its crab-like body hovering in the air descended gradually. Its single eye was fixed upon him and did not leave his form even when he dove headlong off of the cliff into the water.

The deafening crack of a plasma cannon ricocheted through the small canyon. As the man fell, the deadly accuracy of a computer calculating his trajectory, missed. The best thing about ionized plasma, however, is that you don't need to have a direct hit to kill ...