Admiral Solomon turned around, following Moonwood's gaze and froze. What he saw was beyond all the horrors he had seen before.

Crawling out of the blue sand, a monstrous creature made its way to the surface and soon stood in its entirety before the assembled crew.

Its whole body was flat and scaly brown armoured.

It had four legs on each side of its body and two long arms with big pincers next to its huge jaw, above which six eyes of different sizes were staring at them.

Huge fangs protruded from its mouth, moving back and forth at every screeching sound the creature made.

But the most frightening thing was the large sting on it' s long and thin tail.

Its whole appearance was reminiscent of a giant scorpion with spider teeth and eyes.

In shock unable to command, unable even to speak Captain Narson just stood there, eyes wide open.

The others were just like him. Even the Admiral who was actually trained for such situations, could simply not move and certainly not take a shot.

Eye to eye with the monstrous creature, no one dared to move.

The creature did not move an inch either. It just stared into the crew and the crew stared back.

Suddenly it made a horrible scream, shaking the marrow of each one.

The sandy earth on either side of the creature began to pile up and two more creatures of its kind appeared. Ready to attack, three of the monsters stood before Captain Narson and his crew, aggressively rustling their spiky tails.

Moodwood was the first to find the language again.

"Run!"

whispered Moodwood with a breathlessly pressed voice.
Just in time, they ran when the three creatures attacked.

Faster and faster the crew increased their speed in order to build up a lead over their attackers. The direction in which they ran did not matter. The main thing was to run far away from these creatures as they could. 

But it was hopeless. The creatures were faster. 

Again and again, they pushed their spikes into the ground over their bodies to catch their victims and finally grab them with their rattling claws. 

And again and again, the crew had to dodge the attack from the air. 

Dust and sand were thrown up with every stroke of the spikes and more and more often the crew members stumbled.

Soon they reached a stone gorge, which under other circumstances would have been quite fascinating for Cari and his research.

The blue stone walls were rising up into the air in seemingly endless widths of hundreds of metres. The relief of the walls seemed to be washed out in different shades of blue and at some meters projections or cults could be seen.

But now his urge to survive was stronger than his thirst for knowledge.

The crew continued their way into the gorge.

"There," Narson shouted to his crew. "That lead looks promising."

He pointed to a narrow ledge a few twenty metres in front of them, which housed a cave-like hollow that seemed to reach deep into the stone wall.

"Very good Captain. The beasts won't make it in there," Solomon replied triumphantly. 

"You and the rest go ahead. I'll watch your backs."

The Admiral ran a few metres ahead and sought cover behind a big stone.

The others followed as fast as they could.

He loaded his weapon and positioned himself and set his sights on the creatures. This was exactly what he was trained for. He was now completely in his element.

When the Captain had reached his cover, he fired.

He almost never missed his target. This time too, he fired with precision.

But the shot of his laser weapon didn't seem to do much with this creature.

Briefly irritated by the impact of the deadly laser beams, the creature shook itself and then continued its pursuit unhurt.

Solomon fired a few more times, but even this didn't seem to do much for the creature. It only made it more aggressive.

"Captain my firepower is useless. I can't do anything about it!" he let his captain know.

"But Admiral the Lieutenant, the Commander and the Doctor are still out there.

"You don't say so, Captain. I am very much aware of that. But my shots bounce off them like on Branium."

"Then try to aim for the softer parts," the captain suggested.

"Very well."

The Admiral started firing again, but this time he aimed at the mouth of the advancing creature. He fired.

The creature trembled in pain and fell back a few metres.

„Got one, two to go."

Now the Lieutenant had also reached the cover.

The Commander only needed a few more metres, but the Doctor had difficulty maintaining his speed.

"Captain, I think our Doctor is weakening. He won't make it," Commander Cari said, when he reached the lead as well.

"Solomon, fire already!" Narson asked his admiral.

"I only have one left. The shot must be right"

"Then make it fit then!" said the Lieutenant. Looking anxiously at the scene in front of her.

The Doctor was still being pursued by two creatures who, after losing one of them, stabbed him more and more relentlessly.

Moodwood noticed his legs sagging away and he was in danger of falling for good.

The ground beneath his feet shook with every step of the two creatures behind him.

Solomon fired. The laser beam missed Moodwood's face by just inches.

A roaring noise mixed with the screaming of the creatures filled the gorge.

The last thing Moodwood felt was the ground sinking beneath his feet.