Time of terror
an excerpt

Robert stared at the huge spider in disbelief. He had personally brought this specimen to the zoo several weeks ago. His boss had taken him to her cabin to study the small mammal called a dancer. The giant spiders, which his boss called shelobs, preyed on the dancers. So was only logical to bring a few specimens back to the zoo to be studied. When he brought it its legs had not been long enough for it to jump across the moat that surrounded its cage. Its feet had not allowed it to climb up the unbreakable glass, like it was doing now. It was attacking the glass ferociously and Robert wondered if the glass would prove strong enough to hold it. A second spider jumped across the moat and joined the first in attacking the glass.

"Where is the man with the tranquilizer gun?" He shouted to the zoo attendant near him.

"He's coming. You must understand that we practically never use that." The attendant was waving his hands and moving around as if he didn't know where he wanted to go. "Nothing like this is ever happened here before. We specialize in bugs. We weren’t prepared to have an animal this large and dangerous, and have no contingency plans."

"What did you do to make it so huge? It’s legs are twice as long as when I brought it, and it looks like the body has grown, too.. None of them were that large in the wild."

"We didn't do anything! For weeks the shelobs kept trying to jump over the moat, but they couldn’t. Day after day, jumping again and again. Then one day they started growing. By the end of the day they could jump over the moat. I know it sounds crazy, but it was after the aurora started glowing that they started growing."

"Frankly, that doesn't sound as crazy as you think. A lot of the animals on Haven have started changing since the aurora started." Robert didn't want to tell the attendant that he was changing also. In addition to becoming able to telepathically communicate with the dancers, he was developing telekinesis. Of course, he couldn't move anything very heavy with his mind. So far he could just move bits of paper or flower petals. He saw no use for the talent, but he enjoyed using it when he played with the dancers.

The attendant pointed to a man wearing what looked like a fire fighter’s suit and carrying a dart-gun. He was covered from head to foot in a thick silver fabric, and his feet were shod in extra tough boots. A clear visor allowed him to see. "Here comes the man with the tranquilizers now."

"Good!" Robert said. He walked over to the armed man and handed him a communication disc. He watched while the man attached it to his jawbone by his ear. "This will let you hear me. I'm going to have the attendants release food into the pen to distract the shelobs. Tranquilize the ones closest to you first. I want all six of them unconscious. Do you have enough tranquilizer?"

“No problem." The man opened his ammo box and revealed 18 loaded darts. "I brought plenty of extra in case they move and I miss."

"Good man!" Robert reached out and clapped the man on the shoulder to show his approval. “If I say get out, don’t even look around, get out and lock the door.”

“Don’t worry about me, Dr. Foster. This suit'll protect me." The man smiled at Robert and walked confidently toward the back entrance of the cage.

"Don't trust the suit. These creatures look really strong, and I'd hate for you to be hurt." Robert turned his microphone on to be sure the man heard him. Then he signaled for the food to be released.

A couple of dozen two-foot grasshoppers exploded into the cage. The shelob's on the glass wall leaped back to the feeding area. There was a flurry of movement, and then all was quiet except for the sound of six sets of jaws masticating their prey.

"Now." Robert spoke into his microphone. The suited man took one step into the cage while attendants quickly shut the door behind him. The man carefully aimed at the spider closest to him and pulled the trigger. Robert had a perfect view as the dart bounced off the side of the shelob.

"Wait! Stay perfectly still." Robert said to the suited man, then asked the attendant to turn on the magnification for the cage. Small cameras were positioned throughout the cage to show close-ups of everything. He moved over to the monitor and dialed up the shelob with the dart on the ground next to it. He zoomed in to look closely at the abdomen. Instead of the smooth hairy skin that had been there before, he now saw a series of armor plates overlapping and completely covering the soft abdomen. He manipulated the cameras to get a closer view of the thorax. It had the same type of armor plating. ”Bug scat!” he said.

The activity and noise woke up Bobby. Robert felt him stirring in the cloth pouch against Robert stomach. He thought loving thoughts as his mind touched the sleepy mind of the tiny dancer. Bobby projected an image of George and Pretty One with the questioning tone. Robert sent back a mental picture of Liz to indicate the adult dancers stayed with her today. Then Robert projected a picture of the zoo and then one of the oversized shelob.

Bobby had learned on previous visits that nothing in the zoo could hurt him, so he poked his head out quickly to see the strange creatures. He sent a question feeling to Robert. Robert sent a question feeling back to indicate he had no idea. Bobby sent a jumbled image of dozens of animals changing shape and size. Robert had received that image from several of the dancers, including the matriarch. It always carried strong overtones of fear and danger, but Robert didn't understand what it meant.

"What's your name? ”Robert turned back to the young man in the cage. "John? Well John, I hope you're a really good shot. It looks like the head around the eyes and the joints of the legs are on the only vulnerable places. You think you can hit them?"

"I was a crack shot with bullets, but I'm not sure about these darts. They wobble and it's hard to be that accurate." The young man's voice was clear as it came out of the communication disc.

"Give it a try and do your best." Robert watched as a second dart followed a shaky path towards the shelob and bounced harmlessly off the leg. It was obvious the darts were not designed for pinpoint accuracy. No one had foreseen a large animal with thick armor and such tiny target areas.

He didn't want to have to kill these shelobs yet. As a deep determination to get the dart into the shelob filled his heart, he noticed the dart on the ground beginning to move. Did he do that?

He felt Bobby's mind touched his in agreement. He had made the dart move.

He reached out with his mind and intentionally tried to move the dart. It rolled a few inches closer to the shelob. He felt Bobby's mind cheering him on. Bobby flashed a picture of his practice with paper and flower petals making his ability stronger. He could feel Bobby encouraging him to guide the darts into the vulnerable places on the shelobs.

The shelob he was watching finished eating and took off after another grasshopper. He could see the other shelobs were almost done eating and would be hunting again in a few moments.

"John, the shelobs are going to be hunting again in a moment. I want you to back up carefully into the shadows by the gate and stand very still until they all get fresh prey, then we'll try one more time." He watched as the suited man obeyed him.

When the shelobs were busy again with food, Robert signaled John to shoot once more. This time Robert was ready. He pictured clearly in his mind the middle joint of the leg. He mentally reviewed the path the dart had to take and clearly imagined it entering the joint. He reached out with his mind and felt that smooth surface of the medicine bottle and the sharp point that needed to pierce the joint. He heard the faint ‘pop’ as the dart left the muzzle of the gun and reached with all his might to guide the dart to its target. He heard a thunk, it entered the joint and started pumping tranquilizer into the huge shelob. The watching zoo workers cheered.

John was aiming at the shelob, so Robert reached out mentally to guide the second dart. He focused on the upper joint and reached to grab the dart with his mind. Everything went smoothly until the last minute, when for some reason it hit the leg an inch below the joint. It bounced off and twirled into the air before it started to fall. Robert could hear the people around him taking a deep breath and holding it.

Robert somehow managed to keep partial control of the dart. It was point downward and he had only a fraction of a second to force it into the foot joint. When the dart landed successfully in the foot Robert heard everyone let out their breath, and discovered he'd been holding his, too.

Two more shelobs were tranquilized before the remaining ones started to hunt again. John obediently stepped back to shadows next to the gate so they would be less likely to see him.

The grasshoppers had calmed down by now and weren't moving very much. The shelob's walked around the enclosure holding their front feet in front of them, feeling around to scare any prey into moving. One of the shelob's noticed John standing near the gate. It's stared intently at him for several moments and then returned to its hunting pattern.