What should I work on next?

26 October 2008

First Sunday on the Veiled Planet

26 October ….

Today was an interesting day, to say the least. We started off nicely with a wonderful Mass from Father Flannigan, followed by a nice lunch of grillag. It tastes quite well as our cooks seem to be able to create a seven-course meal from the most modest of resources. Unlike Earth, where it seems that everything tastes like chicken, grillag tastes somewhat like an alligator tail as the meat has different flavors. The men followed lunch with a friendly game of rugby, matching Marines versus Army. A few black eyes and muscle strains occurred during the match, but it was a good way for the troops to unwind.

On the interesting side it seems as though one of the Army patrols was ambushed by a bunch of ‘Blood-eye’ frogs. Private Allen was on point when one of the beasts jumped on him, thankfully for him, Corporal Garza was on point as well and is a reliable shot with his Martini-Henry rifle. Garza was able to kill the beast with a single shot through the beast's blood red eye. We had heard of these dangerous giant frogs during one of our briefs by British Royal Marines while at Fort Anahuac, but were not really sure of their existence. After all who would believe that frogs are carnivorous? I mean, more than just bugs and such? One of the Black Legs is a ‘Combat Correspondent’ and he managed to take a picture of three of the amphibian beasts. They were relentless and their burping sound echoes just before an organized, wolfpack-like attack. Thankfully, only Private Allen was hurt during the exchange, suffering a grotesque bite and a broken shoulder. It also seems the saliva from the beast is of some sort of an acidic substance as the skin has a slight burn around the bite.

Tomorrow morning the Officer with a squad of men are off to Camp Trafalgar and will get to see how the endurance of the Pachysaurs maintains over the long trip. Mr. Griggs is estimating it will be a week to ten days on the trip total. Personally, I think it will take longer, as the undergrowth on Venus is like nothing I've ever seen. RSM Taggart will be in charge of the Black Legs and I will be over my Marine Sappers.

Today while making rounds Sergeant Garcia was with the Triceratops, and it is amazing to me the way he has with animals. I have seen the way he can tame a wild horse and wild dogs, and I would not have thought it would be the same with a six ton Triceratops, but to my amazement he literally had the thing eating heart fruit right out of his hands. When I asked Garcia about it, he says his family has always been able to speak to animals. He told me a tale about how his grandfather when he was a boy tamed a pack of wolves near the Guadeloupe River while he was fishing.

Well off to discuss schedules and plans with my Army counterpart RSM Taggart. I must close and will write more next week.

1 comment:

Eli Arndt said...

Your accounts of Venus are cool. Keep them coming.

-E