Here, in the Valley of Arrows, in the Great Plains of SSARG, Tangor gathered up nuts, and barriers, and found a stream of heavy water, black water, water that sucked the chemicals from the roots of plants that gave off a darker chemical, it was conducive for space fish, and caught a space fish with his spear, one that was healthy looking, for normally space fish are not; often times, their eggs migrated like insects through space, and catch onto asteroids, and meteorites and other such things, and when they break up, and land, those surviving eggs, hatch in whatever moisture is available. Most are skeletonized, looking fish, this was an exception, the Tangor speared, only in the fact, it had more meat on its perturbing bones, than bones, and Tangor could appreciate that. He quickly brought the prized fish back to the campsite, made a fire and they ate it half raw, sucked out the marrow from its bones, it was perhaps older than him. They had been on the planet perhaps some 130-hours, walked a long distance, and the sun was hot, and they were hungry ?and Tangor was worried about his spacecraft, he was counting days and hours in earth time and SSARG's time. This was the end of the day for them, and thus the meal was tasty when they went to sleep.

Diabolical Ferocity

When morning came, Arallets opened her eyes slowly to a humming noise; a creature was over her body over her head, looking at her, staring at her, face to face now. It had ferocity in its ugly face, like a large bodied cat, lion, with human characteristics to its face.

Slowly she caught her breath, let it out slowly, to show it had the advantage, and she was not going to escape, she was subdued, and the creature put a grin on its face; thus, she kept that posture, lest it claw her to death before she gather her thoughts.

Tangor was a light sleeper, and as a result, woke up when he heard the sounds of the humming, almost a hiss, purring, and saw what was taking place, and said cordially, "It's only a Manticore, ? knowing the insult would disturb the half man, half lion, who had intelligence, not much, but enough to be insult, and this would allow Arallets to get a moments edge.

It was a male species, Arallets noticed. The Manticore had turned its head when Tangor insulted it, belittled, it you could say, and this was the moment he gave to Arallets to do whatever she needed or could do, and perhaps for himself to think of his next move, the creature was now a ting off guard.

"Yes, I want the woman, ? said the Manticore.

Arallets had learned some thinks about fighting from her mother Siren, and advanced her kill with Tangor, when he taught her (while on their voyage to SSARG); that being, some karate moves, and boxing moves, and with a swift blow to its temple, the Manticore, moved slightly, but only enough to excite it, and as it purred, and moved its head back, centering it over hers again, she struck a blow in its Adams apple [or midsection of its throat], and it choked, and coughed, and its feet wobbled, and then she took her foot and leg with an upper stroke, a very hard thrust, as hard as she could, stuck the animal in the groin area, and the beast dropped its front paws, just as Arallets rolled out from underneath the falling predator, as it whined for a moment.

The beast jumped up, choking, limping and then leaped at her, and she grabbed Tangor's leather belt, wrapped it around her forearm, and as the beast leaped the second time onto her, she extended her forearm, and it grabbed onto it with its jaws, at which time, Arallets extended her hand upwards, as if to reach the sky, making the front of the beast exposed, and that is when Tangor grabbed his knife and lunged it into the heart of the beast.

It was the agility, and swiftness of Arallets that brought about the beast's death, but it was Tangor that created that moment, and did the last forceful means in killing the beast, bringing it to its end; they looked at one another, it was a team, then they looked at the corpse, and had protean for breakfast.

They were at a point in their journey, they both needed one another, and each had their own agenda, and according to Tangor, he felt, his time was up. He had promised 168-earth hours, so he believed, and Arallets said it was SSARG hours, which would make it, 504-hours he owed her. And at this juncture, it had been 180-hours they'd been on this planet.

Chapter Ten