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They really shouldn't be wasting time staring at each other.
The Hard Meat herd came back quickly, numerous, angry, and murderous.
Even though Scar belongs to the young hunter whose signature is "suicidal confidence", he is not yet at the point where he thinks he can handle the black wave with the Plasmacaster.
As the monsters run towards them, Scar and Ooman retreat from the chamber to the passage. The slain Hard Meat is still there, with the combistick soaking in its guts.
"A short partnership, but a sweet one." Ooman said her last words. Scar tilted his head slightly. His bio-mask couldn't tell if she was being cynical or really relaxed about death.
We haven't given in to Cetanu yet, Ki’cti-pa-di. Scar comes to a control wall that looks like a historical stone and uses the keyboard to start awakening Yautja's hidden technology, just as he had practiced on Mother Ship.
"If you've got a plan, you better damn hurry," says Ooman, who is watching the running death.
Yup, Ki’cti-pa-di, talk dirty to your new alien; you're really something.
Scar concentrated on the buttons, none of which could be wrong; otherwise, this Blooding Ritual, not unlike the last one, would still kill him. Of course, if there are no difficulties, is this still his trial of the afterlife? (or simply a hell)
...Unless it's all a pathetic hallucination.
He finally got through the system.
"Very pretty. But what does it do?" Ki’cti-pa-di seemed to like the glowing walls. Scar suddenly wanted to ask her why she didn't leave when she saw the new way out—was it because the light in that room wasn't as bright as this one?
Oomans seem to like the light.
But Scar's bio-mask had no usable recording, so he remained silent, carefully reaching out to grab the ever-fearless Ooman from behind before the spot where they stood was hit by a falling boulder.
Grid's sharp claws almost reach Scar's throat.
The Hard Meats try to break through the barrier, but only their mournful voices can be heard.
Ooman pulls out the torch she left behind and tries to find her way out by the faint light, but soon finds herself in another Alien dead end.
"Great idea you had, locking us in here," she praises in a last-word tone.
"Hum." Scar condescended, using his vocal cords.
They needed to prepare properly, and here is a good place to do it; they had the materials. With the sound of armors falling to the ground, Ki’cti-pa-di spoke awkwardly, "Whoa, slow down, tiger."
As Scar searched the database for "Tiger", the sudden high temperature and hot light caused the bio-mask's infrared vision system to flash and startle him, and he roared at the perpetrator.
With a clicking sound, the gadget (the flare) was carefully placed on the ground by Ooman as if it were a dangerous weapon: "It's just light. Light."
Ooman's optical vision needs illumination to see around.
The light does not affect Yautja, but the temperature does; the hot thing makes it impossible for Scar to see the perimeter of the ground clearly. If Ki’cti-pa-di were standing behind it, Yautja's eyes would probably not be able to see her.
Scar continued to dismantle the damaged equipment, at least to get the benefit of the weight reduction, while Ooman watched him intently. He didn't know why she was looking at him so intently; he didn't have any of the various kill marks on his body to admire... Wait, is she looking at his dreadlocks?
Scar's suddenly a little worried that she's going to come up and try to pull them—it's Ki’cti-pa-di!
Fortunately, Ooman's attention is quickly diverted, and as she plays with some of the discarded body-warmers, Scar's frostbite starts to hurt again.
Although the Isolated Clan was isolated in a cold place, Yautja is already unsuited to cold conditions, which would have made him even weaker than he was last time. Of course, the gods may have felt it was only fair to the hunters who could anticipate some of the conditions, such as Scar's brother, who chose the netgun and downgraded the wristblades instead.
After removing the damaged armor, he will need a new battle suit. Take out the ceremonial dagger, the last priority weapon, though acid-proof, a weapon used to take trophies from fallen enemies.
The Hard Meat belonged to Ki’cti-pa-di (also a tuition fee), and now Scar wanted to teach her to take trophies in ways other than kicking prey in the head. He drags the prey into the corner to prevent the acidic blood from spilling everywhere.
The long-abandoned combistick was soaked in sour blood and guts. It had been one of Scar's first weapons and had taken up most of his training time, being kept clean every day...
Scar didn't stay silent for long. If he had more time to live, he would have gotten used to changing weapons.
After showing the new apprentice the end of the broken weapon and tossing it aside, Scar secured the prey with one hand and inserted the ceremonial dagger into the gap in Hard Meat's abdominal armor, along with the knowledge he had reviewed in his mind.
The anatomical demonstration began. Though Scar had learned from watching the video on the Clan Mother Ship and only began the actual operation when he entered the pyramid, it was better than Ooman, who knew nothing.
Scar's dreadlocks swayed as he went about his business, and Ooman watched intently as they shared, in the darkness, a traditional activity from a time when humans still lived in caves and hunted mammoths.
Scar carefully butchers the prey, making sure the whole process is observed by the students.
Ooman's learning ability cannot be bad; there are many counts of excellent fighting skills they used to defeat Yautja, and Scar was confident in his Ki’cti-pa-di.
Soon there were piles of removed armor and disgusting soft tissue on the floor.
Finally, the student in the class began to move, but asked, "What are you doing?
Scar was shocked.
Un-Blooded and Young Blood take every opportunity to train, and Yautja's trainers are not very friendly. Since he can't pick up his student and smash her, Scar has other better ways...
He stops his work and lifts the remains up to the curious female. Scar buried himself in Hard Meat's long, soft lobe of a brain, searching for something... Then a dagger was poked into it.
Hard Meat's remaining hand suddenly came to life and swung at the female.
"Ahhhhh!"
Scar watched with delight as the new student screamed and jumped backwards, emitting a rapid clicking sound from his undulating chest and laughing endlessly. Ah, Paya, what fun!
In front of Ooman's stunned and unhappy eyes, the young hunter continued to stab the brain lobe with his dagger, causing the dead Hard Meat to swing around with its front claws in a deadly fashion.
Scar peers out from behind the prey's head to see a terrified Ooman, his head tilted back.
Scar felt a certain chill of challenge in her.
If Ki’cti-pa-di continues to be inattentive, Scar won't mind coming up with more and worse bad jokes to punish her.
After the game, he goes back to work.
Ki’cti-pa-di touches his thick skin again and asks, "What are you doing?"
Scar is patient. Perhaps his generosity will surprise other Yautja, but he's just a young hunter who meets an uncanny and unexpected partner, dies, and then meets her again.
So he almost patiently used acidic blood to demonstrate to the females the importance of weapons and shields, as well as Hard Meat's self-protection against acid. These outer shells are to be removed for their protection and weapons.
Scar finished and tilted his head towards Ooman - get it?
Ooman read it, sighed in amazement, and said the word Scar couldn't be found in the database. "Of course!... A porcupine can't stab itself." She finally understood. "I get it, I get it. We'll keep it together and make it to the surface."
Scar finally had a chance to use the recording and did something he hadn't done before: he touched Ki’cti-pa-di's arm. The fluffy jacket filled with feathers felt slightly cool, but it warmed up immediately and burned Scar's cold fingers.
—Ki’cti-pa-di has touched his arm so often that he should be polite. The other hand touches the bio-mask to play the recording: "Keep it together... Make it to the surface..."
Ooman's face twists and turns, forming a "smile", which the bio-mask judges to be a "positive emotion". She taps her small palm against Scar's relaxed fist and says, "Deal!
Yautja's body temperature was much higher than Ooman's, but Scar felt as if he had been touched with a temperature net.
The moment was interrupted by a cry from the depths of the pyramids.
Antarctic Queen must begin to break free. Time is running out, and Scar doesn't want to face the Queen in a pyramid full of little Hard Meats. They must return to the surface and let the pyramid sink with the Hard Meats.
It is better to sink Queen also.
...Although he wants the loot, he really wants it. But Scar's advantage is that he's calmer and more observant than other young people, so he won't deliberately open a suicide battleground.
A piece of the outer shell is pressed onto Ooman by Scar. She understands the urgency of the situation and offers to help him attach the new armor to his thick skin.
Ooman and Yautja begin to work together as a team.
The female ends up with a shield made of a domed head shell and a tail spear weapon; she needs more protection than Yautja, so she has a battle suit made of a thigh shell on her chest; her limbs are protected with pieces of Hard Meat and waterproof tape; a helmet made of rope and nylon buckles; and shoulder pads made of ribs. Hard Meat's long tail is now a small dagger in her belt, with flares and survival knives next to it.
Scar, of course, needs his bio-mask, life-support system, and main metal backpack; the original shoulder armor with the Plasmacaster device; the remnants of the body heat net scattered under several pieces of temporary armor; a barbed spear; and the other hand hidden in the scrapped shuriken's broken blade inlaid with Hard Meat's shell gloves.
Behind the wall is filled with Hard Meat, and Scar doesn't know what will happen next. They might die here or encounter more terrible things, or he might wake up from a nightmare the moment the wall rises.
But for now, at least, the dream isn't too bad.
He turns his attention to Ooman, who is waiting for the wall with bated breath. In an important rite of passage, he meets a warrior worthy of Yautja's respect, and then they support each other and fight side by side?
Perhaps there is more to it than that.
Scar's hand with the spear was again placed on the ancient keyboard on the wall and danced, he and Ooman tensing their bodies amidst the rumbling sound, watching the boulders on the way back to the ceiling...
They were ready to fight, but the attack never came.
In the empty hallway, the Hard Meats were not there.
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The Queen called them away.
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Novel's English correction accept, welcome to point out mistakes or provide constructive suggestions. But I will revise it after a while to avoid several different suggestions.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfwJdUI9uGf
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