Chapter 12 - The Angry (3)

Harmon took about two days to reach the summit of the mountain. During that time, he was able to find two more warm caves along the way so that he could rest, sleep and hide from his pursuers. Thankfully, he sighted no Teardrop during the journey.

"Perhaps the Shadow Advisor lied to me about the pursuers only to get some advantage," contemplated Harmon. "So far, I can see no trace of anyone chasing me. If it was a lie, that makes the Shadow Advisor even more of a troublesome mystery, a ghostly figure that knows too much and says too little. An ally with bad communication skills or an enemy in disguise? Time will tell. I have a feeling I might meet that guy again soon."

Since spotting the mountain two days ago, Harmon kept his light off. If the Teardrops were following him, they wouldn't know which way he went. And if unknown creatures habited the mountain summit, they wouldn't see him coming, and he would have the element of surprise.

Reaching the summit, he took one battery from his pocket and turned on his green laser pointer. He tried to put on a bit of spread mode, allowing him to cover a wider area but at a lower range. He watched dumbfounded as he looked at the massive egg-shaped structure he saw from so far away. It was not a building, as he imagined.

"Darn, what is this thing?" exclaimed Harmon in awe. "It looks like a… spaceship. It has propulsors in its back and is connected to some weird devices. Are all of the structures around this spaceship… are they some kind of charging devices? Or it is… is it like a protection ring?"

The strange spear-shaped structures formed a perfect circle around the giant egg, forming something of a nest. There were dozens of them of impeccable symmetry. Harmon's ever-unsatisfied OCD could feel the mathematical perfection of this architectural masterpiece. It was the mark of a brilliant civilization.

"The biggest question now… is anyone living here?" wondered Harmon impatiently.

Unfortunately, he had no time to admire it more as he heard distant sounds closing in from behind. Chills fell down his spine as he turned to see hundreds of Teardrops rolling up across the steep surface of the mountain.

"Darn, so they did follow me!" exclaimed Harmon, heart beating fast.

The ground started shaking as the numerous Teardrops flooded the place, leaving a massive trail of dust behind.

"There's too many of them for me to fight," decided Harmon. "I need to turn off the light and run. Run the opposite way, towards the egg."

The area fell dark as Harmon quickly headed towards the installations. It didn't take him long to realize that the Teardrops moved faster than he did. They could easily catch up with him with enough time, rumblings growing closer. He needed to act quickly. Perhaps the egg or the spears around were making some sort of energy that he could use.

He tried to shoot a few beams at the Teardrops, but his battery charge was too weak. The laser barely boiled some of the monster's water body, slowing them down but hardly making any difference.

"No, it's pointless; I need to scan the area ahead instead," shouted Harmon, changing his focus to the egg-shaped structure. He used his light beam to scan various places on the bizarre constructions. To his surprise, they were surprisingly clean, despite the enormous amounts of dust everywhere. These structures were well-maintained, making it highly plausible that someone was living there.

And someone would see his green light beam.

"Darn," exclaimed Harmon in annoyance. "I'll be once again trapped between two parties, just like before when I had to pick between the Teardrops and the Shadow Advisor."

"Plup-pup, popo-plup!" came furious watery noises from behind.

As he ran, Harmon took off his shirt, and while holding it with one hand, he would burn it by shooting lasers from the other hand. Within a few seconds, the end of his shirt burst into flames.

"Turns out," he thought, "even at close range, this laser of mine is still pretty dangerous."

Some of the Teardrops were dangerously closing in. Harmon shot one with the close proximity high-power laser, cutting it in half, its water splashing on the ground. He also tossed his burning shirt at another Teardrop, causing it to melt and evaporate.

"Plup-pup-pup-pup!" cried the Teardrop.

As he was closing in, Harmon noticed a fence ahead of him made of rigid steel poles and metal fencing. It was about 6-7 meters high, and its top was covered with barbed wire.

"Darn, I wish I'd seen this earlier," he muttered, annoyed, but then his eyes widened upon a sudden realization. "Maybe I can burn this metal and pass through. Or maybe I could still climb over and escape, even at the cost of hurting myself."

Harmon reached the fence and tried cutting into it with the laser, but his laser was not strong enough. So he started climbing, almost reaching the top where the barbed wire was. Unfortunately, the last meter from the top was inclined on the outside. He did not have the climbing skills to get past that, and the spiky wires didn't make things any easier.

Teardrops soon reached the base of the fence. Fortunately, Harmon was out of their reach, so the best they could do was to gather around at the bottom, hoping Harmon's arms and legs would soon become tired.

"Looks like I'm safe for now," Harmon sighed, looking down. "But I can't hang in here forever. What now?"

Harmon turned his light beam back on and scanned the area once again. To his right, the fence was connected to one of the spear-like buildings. It was about 50 meters away from his spot, and the wall of the towering structure was too smooth for him to climb. He could move slowly in that direction while clinging to the fence, but what then?

"What is that thing over there?" he wondered as he looked at one of the tower's corners. "It seems like a strange black box with a cable connected to it. I've read about that gadget in a book. I believe humans call it a recording camera. Actually, no, it's rather a security camera. This device can make memories of places you cannot see and show them on a screen later. If that's the case, it must be… it must have…"

It was his chance. Harmon took a deep breath, gathering his focus and strength. He needed to get to that source of energy. His body rushed towards the spear-like tower, tired hands and legs switching from one pole to another. One wrong foot and he would fall in the middle of an angry crowd of Teardrops. As he stepped towards his target, the little monsters followed, with more and more individuals coming closer. Eventually, the watery group grew so thick that Teardrops started climbing one on each other. Some of them were very close to his feet. He was running out of time.

"Just a few more meters, so close…" Harmon mumbled.

"Pup-plup, pulup-plup!" came excited noises from below

Before he could realize what had happened, a Teardrop touched his leg, and everything went dark.