Chapter 87: Eggs

"Somebody is stealing our eggs!"

"What?" An intense argument came to a stop, and everybody turned to look at the zoomed image of the surface of the planet.

Twenty or so humanoid creatures crept up to the pit, one by one they took the eggs and ran away. In total twelve eggs had been stolen, with nothing to steal the rest of the thieves also ran away.

At first, they scattered away in a different direction but soon changed their positions, periodically hiding behind the rocks and inside the pits, they moved towards one direction.

Noone on the deck made a sound, captivated by the fact that there was a life form on a seemingly barren planet was one thing, but the fact that those life forms dared steal the eggs of mighty White-Blacks was wild.

People on the Green Twinkle had the same thought: "There is no way to hide when you are on the same planet."

The danger of being turned into ground meat didn't stop the robbers.

One of the crew members zoomed in the image even further to give a clear view of the creatures.

Tall, 2 meters, greyish creatures with four arms. One pair of arms, outer, came out from the shoulders and were strong and long. The second pair grew below the armpits and were short and seemingly weak. Each hand had four fingers.

The skull was egg shaped with a wide mouth full of sharp chaotic teeth. The eyeballs were located slightly deeper in the skull, apparently to protect and adapt to the difference in light.

The skin was hardened, almost as carapace. Shoulders, thighs, as well as chest and back, had been fully covered by a thick exoskeleton.

The thieves ran fast, utilizing their muscular legs and wide feet.

When all of the group stopped in front of a deep crack on the ground, members of the Green Twinkle understood where those creatures were hiding all that time. One by one they climbed down, and soon they disappeared into the darkness.

The first to speak was Safo. "How long does it take for White-Black to fully charge? Do we have time to steal eggs from those thieves? I think we can handle them."

"Usually several hours. But I can't allow you to take risks like that. You don't know how many of them are inside of that crack and there is no guarantee that White-Black won't come back sooner." Captain Seaghoul's tone wasn't his usual loud, on the contrary, he was calm and strict.

"We have jetpacks; we fly in, I scare them, we take eggs and fly back to the surface. From there you return us with teleport, and we drive the hell out of here. I think we can make it happen." Safo had some doubts but didn't think that the mission was impossible. With Kutch, Yon, and Dost.

"You are playing with your death, boy. If the rest of your team are as crazy as you then there is nothing I can do, you are the Boss." Captain Seaghoul saw that there was no way to dissuade Safo.

Safo looked at his friends, he didn't ask them to join, he just waited for their response.

All of them nodded with their own thoughts in mind. Yon agreed because he didn't want to show that he was scared. Kutch agreed because he didn't want Safo to get injured. Dost agreed because he was the only one who could save them all.

"You guys scare me sometimes, how can you be fine with the plan that I came up with? But thank you." Safo laughed at nervous friends.

They took their costumes and went to get prepared to sortie as soon as possible. The suits that helped people to sustain their life in the stressful to the body conditions of the space.

Cold, pressure, the lack of oxygen, radiation, and many other things were taken into account when designing the suits. In addition, it was light and didn't restrict the movements in battle. The price for that miraculous device was fifty ten zees each.

"Listen to me carefully, when I say that you have to return, YOU HAVE TO RETURN. Do you copy?" Seaghoul couldn't stop himself from giving instruction to the team.

Safo, Kutch, Yon, and Dost jumped down into the crack right after being teleported near it.

"I love this suit, it can make the place brighter. How does that work?" Safo genuinely loved the world that he was in, all sorts of new technologies were stunning. He only wished to share all of it with humanity.

"It is not a time to talk about it. Focus." Kutch and others couldn't hide their nervousness. The first contact with an undiscovered race was a big deal.

"Okay, sorry."

Safo's suit indicated that the temperature dropped dramatically after their dive to the crack. It was due to the lack of starlight. Here and there Safo saw pieces of old ice, meaning that it was never hot there.

'So that tall creatures could live at super cold and hot temperatures?! I wonder what their intellect level is.' Safo kept his mind busy with details that surrounded him. It was one of Miloud's lessons; pay attention to the details.

"I see a cave." Dost's vision was best of all. his android body had all types of enhancements.

One by one the team landed on the inside of the four meters wide cave, which looked more like a tunnel.

"I guess we are on the right path." Vigilantly the team moved forward.

The tunnel was about three kilometers long, one the other end was a large cave of an artificial origin.

"Wow, do you see them, there are hundreds of them. How did they survive in these living conditions?" All four were at the entrance to the cave on their bellies.

Hundreds of grey creatures were seemingly happy for the catch. Twelve individuals with the eggs in their short hands stood in the center of the cheerful crowd. The four-armed creatures jumped and danced around the heroes.

One moment they were shouting unfathomable words and cheers and the next moment they all went quiet. The creature with the widest shoulders appeared and walked with a proud look on his face to the twelve with eggs.

Twelve heroes bowed before one and presented the eggs. He took six of the eggs and waved his hands dismissing the heroes. The leader took exactly half of the catch and the other half gave it to his subordinates.

He raised his hand with two eggs in it, shouted something, and gobbled the eggs in one attempt. The crowd went crazy in cheers and dancing. Some others from behind the crowd brought a tall chair for the leader, which he occupied instantly. With another wave of the hand, he allowed the crowd to celebrate the event.

In a dim cave full of stalactites, not only from the ceiling but from walls, and stalagmites grew from the floor. Between those sharp minerals, formations danced an easygoing race of four-armed creatures. That it was a happy day for the whole species; they were about to eat "dragon" eggs.

"Safo, I have two pieces of bad news. The first one is that we won't be able to steal the eggs." Safo nodded, he already knew that there was no way for him to overpower hundreds of hungry creatures, even with his Fear skill.

"What is second?"

"The second is that their intellect level is 5. Thus we can't capture them. They are sapient, unregistered though, but still sapient." Kutch was also disappointed, he was excited to find a new species for breeding.

"I see, so sad. let's head back then."

"Fuc*! Fuc*! Fuc*!" Yon yelled into his microphone. "They are here, behind us."

Yon as a psiora in the gazelle-like animal had an excellent hearing. With his resource depending solely on his ability to distinguish between different sounds, his hearing ability increased even more.

"Don't tell me...The Green Twinkle didn't warn us. Why? What do we do?" Safo had no plan in case if White-Blacks decide to join the party.

Safo looked at the four-armed creatures and saw the terror in their eyes.

'I guess they didn't think it through either.'

Kutch took the command to his hands. "Faster enter the cave and spread to two sides. White-Blacks need their eggs, they are not here for us. We have a chance." Kutch ran forward and turned to the left with Yon behind him.

Before standing up Kutch gave motion command to Dost to go with Safo and cover him with the shield.

Dost made sure to let Safo go first and only then followed him. They turned to the right.

At the same time as Dost turned, the long, pointy jaw of the pterodactyl-like White-Black entered the cave. It crushed every mineral formation as if it was nothing. Behind the first one was the second.

Dost covered Safo and himself with a shield. Yon disappeared to his safe space. Kutch sat behind the pinkish stalagmite.