Read Online Pilgrim by S.J. Bryant - Free Book Online

surrounding trees. The branches were so thick it was impossible
to see far into the forest.
    A rustle of leaves turned her attention to
the branches above her head.
    Spread out through the trees and hanging
from almost every branch were large monkeys. They were covered in
brown fur and their mouths and hindquarters were decorated with
bright blue skin. Their mouths opened wide to reveal elongated
fang-like canines. The teeth were so big, they could puncture
straight through Nova’s arms and come out the other side.
    She stood absolutely still. The only parts
of her which moved were her eyes. She’d encountered primates
before. They were always one of the first species introduced to a
new planet to ensure survivability of human colonists. These had
probably come out of the crashed colonisation ship, two hundred
years before. Clearly, they had thrived on the new planet.
    Unlike previous primates Nova had
encountered, these had enlarged heads. Their foreheads extended out
and up, much more like a human head than most of their ape cousins.
They stared at her; their only movement was in their tails that
swished back and forth.
    Her heart fluttered in her throat as she
searched for a way out. All she could think about was the agony
she’d feel if the monkeys attacked.
    She cleared her throat. “I come in
peace.”
    The monkeys blinked but didn’t respond.
    She shrugged. It was worth a shot, these
wouldn’t be the first primates who could talk. Her eyes moved
around the circle of monkeys, counting. There were at least
twenty-five that she could see. They didn’t seem overly aggressive,
but then why were they staring at her like that?
    She kept her gun up and took a step to her
left.
    The monkeys erupted.
    They screeched and bounced between the
trees, pulling back their lips to reveal massive teeth. Their cries
echoed around the trees and their movement shook a flurry of leaves
loose. They beat at their chests with their fists and leapt high
into the air from the branches.
    Nova’s heart flew into her throat. Her
breathing constricted and sweat broke out on her forehead. Her
fingers clenched around her gun. She jumped back to her right where
she had been standing before the outburst.
    The monkeys froze. They settled back down
onto their branches, stopped shouting, and resumed staring at
Nova.
    “Alright, not that way,” she said. Her
breathing and heart rate slowed. She gradually loosened her grip on
her gun and let her shoulders relax.
    She looked around at the monkeys again. The
majority of them were in the branches in front of her and to her
left, leaving the path behind and to her right mostly clear. She
decided to go with her gut and took a step to her right.
    The monkeys didn’t move. Their eyes followed
her footsteps but they remained calm.
    She walked to her right until she was out of
sight of the monkeys and then resumed her previous course. She
glanced to her left and saw that the troop was keeping pace with
her in the trees. They followed along beside her for a hundred
metres and then they stopped. They stayed in their trees and
watched her walk on.
    She shivered at the feel of their eyes on
her back. Still, a troop of raging monkeys was better than the
psychotic children from the village. She made a note to check the
Cloud to see if that was normal primate behaviour.
    Nova shrugged and kept on walking, staring
between the trees. Just as her legs were aching with the pain of
her hike, she spotted a glint of metal in the distance. She stepped
between a pair of trees and there it was again, a sparkle of
sunlight on steel.
    She quickened her pace. As she drew closer,
the huge ship came into view. It had been a massive vessel, a
colonisation craft capable of carrying over two hundred passengers
when it crashed. The front end was buried deep into the forest
floor so only a small portion of the tail end was visible above
ground
    She moved in closer until she stood behind
the last line of trees before the ship. The