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“What the hell is that? It had better be made up.”

Georgia smiled. “It’s something you don’t ever want to meet. What about other alien life?”

“There’s nothing showing. It’s just us and the flesh eating moles.”

They kept walking, and a few minutes later, Ash grunted. He stopped so abruptly that Georgia bounced off his back.

“What is it?”

“Nothing. I whacked my head on a rocky outcrop. Be careful when you go past this bit.”

Georgia shuffled past the sharp rock as the passageway continued to slope gently down.

They carried on for another five minutes until the tunnel broadened.

“Whatever’s in here is right up ahead,” Ash said.

Georgia tried to look over his shoulder but couldn’t see past him. A few seconds later, she found herself standing next to Ash in a small, open cavern. A quick glance around showed there was no one else in here, but they had been, and recently. There were leftover food pouches and debris, suggesting it had only been a day or two since other people had been here.

“You check the right side of the cavern. I’ll go over here.” Ash pointed in the opposite direction.

Georgia nodded. Ash stuck to her side if there was any hint of danger, so the scanner must be showing minimal life forms and nothing that looked threatening.

They spent the next hour scouting the area, checking through crates and packing boxes.

“There’s nothing useful here,” she said. “You said there were signs of animal life down here. Where are they? I’ve found food packs, so there must be some tucked away somewhere.”

“They could be farther along the tunnel. Follow me,” Ash said.

They left the cave and walked along another short passageway and entered a second, larger cavern.

Georgia rushed over to the glass tanks set against the rough stone walls. “There’s something inside here. Oh, crap. It’s a horn headed viper.”

Ash peered into the cage next to her. “What’s this?”

She glanced in the tank. “Jeez! It’s like a collection of the most deadly animals in here. That’s a Kootivan spitting toad. Don’t let its spit touch you. It’s toxic.”

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem. It’s dead.”

She cursed as they did a quick check of the rest of the tanks. Some were empty, but there were three more occupants, also highly venomous. Two of them were breathing but only barely.

“Why the hell were they keeping these animals in here?” Georgia said.

“For use as poisonous weapons?”

“What were they planning to do? Set an angry toad on their enemy?”

He shrugged. “You can train most animals with the right incentive.”

“They’d never have been able to control these things. They’d more likely turn on their captors than anyone else.”

“Maybe they planned to sell them. You know, you’re a big man because you own a dangerous animal.”

Georgia wrinkled her nose. A faint scraping sound across rock had her turning. She sucked in a breath as a huge, tiger-like creature stood in the entrance they’d walked through. It was a tiger from her worst nightmares, with huge fangs, and it was twice the size of your regular Earth tiger. There were open wounds on its head and stomach, as if someone had performed surgery and hadn’t finished the job.

The creature’s enraged gaze met hers, and it snarled.

Ash was instantly standing in front of her, his gun out.