The asteroid ship slowly approaches a grey and black planet. Haticat reads its measurements off the monitor. “Gravity levels comfortable. The atmosphere is almost pure nitrogen. We’ll need to carry oxygen with us.”

The hero business has been tough. The galaxy seems to be experiencing a period of relative peace. What little need there has been for mercenary work has gone to others. In the meantime, Nathaniel has been focusing on exploration. It has been fun, but for a long time he has seen nothing truly special. Every planet has begun to look the same. Just one week past his twenty-first birthday, he is feeling quite bored. “Special features?”

“There are some rough-looking mountains just south of the equator,” Fred reports.

Nathaniel sighs. He has already lived longer than most boys and girls, who tend to live short, violent lives. His intelligence from drinking the smart juice has allowed him to keep clear of trouble. His health from drinking the healing juice has given him long life. He is now entering a phase in his life where most of his peers in experience are adults, but adults are boring. “Okay, land us somewhere in the foothills where we can see them. I’ll be eating lunch.”

As expected, the planet is grey sand and black sand. In some places, the sand gives way to a fine silt. There is nothing to see here. Then they see the footprints. “These are Snarugi prints,” Nathaniel says.

“There were no signs of life on the sensors,” Fred says.

“Well, let’s go see what they’re up to,” Nathaniel says.

They follow the prints for about six kilometers until coming across a mine entrance. Doctor Bill scans the area. “The mine is shielded – to both intruders and sensors.”

“That’s why Fred didn’t see it,” Haticat says.

“Why hide a mine? There must be something awfully valuable inside,” Nathaniel says.

“I believe a neutron pulse will destabilize the trazonic field long enough for us to slip through,” Doctor Bill says.

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Nathaniel says. He pulls a small, black device from his pocket and tosses it at the mine opening. It stops in midair for a second, caught in the field, then it falls straight down. “Hurry.”

The four explorers run through the opening and Nathaniel retrieves his device before continuing down the steep tunnel. The sand gives way to sandstone and then to harder minerals. They don night vision goggles able to convert the small amounts of reflected infrared they produce into visible light. The tunnel branches several times and they still see no Snarugi. “Just typical mining equipment. No clue of what they are after,” Doctor Bill whispers.

Exploring a little further, they come across some baseball-sized crystals imbedded in the rock, faintly glowing blue. “Look at those,” Haticat says.

“Do you think this is what they’re mining?” Fred asks.

“Maybe,” Haticat says.

“I don’t understand. These readings make no sense. I can’t even figure out where the light energy is coming from,” Doctor Bill complains.

“Let’s take one back to the ship for analysis in the laboratory,” Nathaniel says.

After picking one free, they carefully return the way they came and use the same device to break out of the mine that they used to break in. It is dark outside! “Is it night? How long were we in the mine?” Fred asks.

“Haticat, how long is a day on this world?” Nathaniel asks.

“Thirteen hours. We should have plenty of daylight left,” Haticat answers.

Nathaniel looks up and sees the stars moving across the sky, leaving blurred trails behind them. “What is going on?” he whispers to himself.

They are suddenly surrounded by six Snarugi aiming trazer guns at them. “Who are you and how did you find this place?”

Captain Nathaniel and his crew explore the jungles, swamps, and beaches of planet Dahk, where the days and nights are six hours each. It is hot and humid. On Dahk, the leaves are green and tree bark is orange. Most of the plants smell like pasta. Others smell like rubber, smoke, habanero peppers, garlic, fried chicken, or mud. The jungles are home to intelligent dogs with brown bodies and white tails. The swamps are home to intelligent eagles with brown plumage. The beaches are home to intelligent, “pogostick” seals that hop on their tails while on land. The sea is largely unexplored, even by the seals. In many places are small islands of turquoise topped by amethyst. There are many volcanoes strung along tectonic plate boundaries. No one knows what dwells in the deep.

While on the shore one morning, Nathaniel and his friends stack towers of small stones, challenging each other to make taller and taller towers that will not fall over. Nathaniel is careful to pick out the best stones, looking for ones with relatively flat surfaces.

Then the shellfish arrive. Haticat looks up from his work to see several large bivalves walking onto shore. They resemble both oysters and scallops along a spectrum, with some being more oyster-like and others being more scallop-like. Many tiny feet project from their hinges, allowing them to walk upright, holding their shells vertically. Five eyes poke through each shell, giving the bivalves ten eyes each. They stand about three meters tall.

Fred sees them at the same time. “What are those?”

This gets Nathaniel’s attention. “Let’s go see.” The others follow Nathaniel as he approaches the strange creatures. Looking out over the waves, he sees at least a hundred more breaching the surface. Land is being invaded by sea. They are seeing some sort of migration. Haticat takes a photo and Nathaniel turns on his scanner. “The shells are only partially mineralized. They have big brains. I wonder if we can communicate.”

One of the giant shellfish turns to face the explorers edge-on. Haticat yells at it, “Hey, can you talk?”
Suddenly, a narrow jet of seawater squirts out with such force that it knocks Doctor Bill over. He falls between two turquoise boulders into a tidal pool full of daisy corals. “Hey! Why did you do that?” Nathaniel yells.

Another jet of water hits Fred, knocking him over as well. Then Nathaniel is hit. As he stands up and dries himself off, Haticat and Mojo are hit. Some other creatures have crawled over the rocks behind them and close in. Nathaniel warily grasps his holster. “Let’s move away,” he says.

As they retreat, Doctor Bill is hit two more times and surrounded. Nathaniel shoots a warning shot at a rock. The shellfish seem not to notice and continue to close in. The one closest to Doctor Bill opens its shell slightly and what looks like a tongue sticks out towards him. Zrrrrrt! Nathaniel shoots a laser right inside the shell. A loud scream-like noise fills the beach and the injured creature immediately returns to the surf. The others seem not to notice.

Nathaniel, Haticat, and Fred shoot the other creatures around Doctor Bill, leaving several burn marks, but with their shells closed, they seem not to feel the lasers. By this time, those further down the beach in both directions have clearly started to close in on them. One shoots a water jet at Mojo, who returns fire. “Into the jungle!” Nathaniel yells.

Two Halpile crabs, Dram and Draam, walk through what was recently a forest. While a few smaller plants remain, there are no trees. Great holes remain where they were rooted. “What could do this much damage?” Dram asks.

“Probably the same thing that left these trails,” Draam says. They follow wide paths where the soil has been smoothed and compressed. Soon, they come across a pile of ash.

“Were the trees burned?” Dram asks.

“I don’t know,” Draam says.

They keep walking and eventually see something strange in the distance. Getting closer, they recognize the planet guardian of Halpile, the aracial adult that manages the planet. It is a crablike creature the size of a house, covered on top and sides by curved, telescoping spines. It is not moving. Wanting to keep a safe distance from any adult, the boys send over a drone to get a better look. The guardian is dead. It appears to be rotting apart. Several of its spines have fallen out. It is covered with black, burrowing worms the boys do not recognize. “Do you suppose what burned the trees killed the planet guardian?” Dram asks.

“We need to tell someone about this,” Draam says.

“We’re The Newest Heroes. We’re responding to your distress call.” Nathaniel says upon entering the radio station on planet Yogo.

The giant centipedes who live there explain the situation. They are being terrorized by a monster. It destroys everything they build and beats up anyone who tries to stop it. It seems to hate technology. The only reason it hasn’t taken down the radio tower is because of the electric fence around it. “You mean the broken fence we stepped over to get here?” Haticat asks.