17
The alien spacecraft fires a plasma blast which explodes into the ground one hundred metres in front of Littlefoot. The craft speeds past us, its mass around three times the size of a Humvee.
‘Was that a warning shot?’ says Zhen.
‘If it was,’ snorts Quell, ‘the pilot’s got a terrible aim. Nowhere near us. Where’s the warning in that?’
Takeshi is incredulous.
‘He has a huge cannon that fires some kind of plasma projectile unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. That’s the warning in itself.’
‘Don’t worry unduly,’ says Charles in my comms, forever the epitome of calm. ‘The pilot won’t shoot on the sauropod. By the rules of the game, he’s allowed to shoot at you but not the dinosaurs.’
‘That’s very reassuring,’ I say and Charles raised eyebrow notes the sarcasm in my voice.
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