I laughed; Molly gave him her disdainful look.I laughed; Molly gave him her disdainful look. He picked himself up, shook the grass of his broad back and head and with a sheepish grin walked the rest of the way up the hill towards us. "You okay?" I asked as he approached. I offered a hand to brush some of the grass off of his head, and he let me, still grinning with painful embarrassment. "I'll be okay," he said. I laughed, and finally, he laughed along. I crooked a finger at him and he came closer. I gave him a hug. The feeling of insignificance came back to me as I realized that I was sitting next to what appeared to be four of the most dangerous predators on Pendor. Normal Pamthreats sometimes weigh in at 200 Kilograms and average 2.4 meters in length, so they're not as large as tigers (still the largest of the big cats) but they're more powerful. Instead of one pelvis, they have two, one in front of the other, and therefore four rear legs that deliver incredible amounts of running power. They come in two colors- summer black and winter white, and in either guise they're beautiful and they're deadly. But what's worse about Pamthreats is that the prides form psionic gestalts; what one member knows, they all know. Combat with a Pamthreat Pride is just plain stupid outside of Powered Armor, and when one learns the taste of sentient flesh, the entire pride has to be wiped out. When Karen and Yorik first came out of their tanks, I felt more than a little guilty about their creation. You see, although officially Karen and Yorik are "Sentient Pamthreat Tleils Numbers One And Two" they aren't the first. |