The survival packs in the Honey B’s three lifeboats contained laser pistols for the crew to use. Nezla and Sora wanted to go along on the expedition, but Vini ruthlessly vetoed that idea. She herself stayed behind to keep them company and Dru, as usual, remained with the ship. The hunting party thus consisted of Bred and Tyla, Luuj, Johnathan and, of course, the Umpire.
They wandered through the forest, looking for stoneys and gaping at the scenery. Ootyoce was an eerie place, the most alien any of them had ever experienced. The local equivalent of chlorophyll was a reddish substance, and the effect was of walking through a forest stained crimson with blood. The tree trunks were sturdy crystalline structures that caught the red sunlight and reflected it in rainbow patterns, but the dark r
