The serpent's body was thick but through brute force John managed to hack through. The severed part of the serpent's body writhed and flopped around like a dead fish. The top half fell onto the ground and tried to slither away. John didn't care where it went, it was already as good as dead. He lifted Charrack's head.
"Are you alive still?" He asked.
Charrack groaned and coughed weakly. "Barely, my ribs are broken though."
"Well I can't carry you, so you need to try to walk."
Charrack gave John a weak nod and stood up. He leaned on a tree for support as his ribs cracked against each other with every breath. He struggled to move his arms and his legs were shaking. He was not in fighting condition and wouldn't be for at least a month.
The two started plodding along even slower than before. Stopping every few minutes to rest. The day seemed to drag on and on. By some miracle they managed to avoid any further encounters with wild beasts.
When the sun began to set on the horizon they spotted a large cluster of ruined stone buildings. The Valk once had an outpost on this planet for hunting large game.
Charrack patted John on the shoulder, with any luck they would find a portal that was still intact. If they could find some way to power it, they would be set to go home. With newfound vigor they rushed into the outpost and began searching the buildings.
The communications center was collapsed in on itself. All that was left was rubble and broken glass. A storage unit has been torn open and cleared out by animals and was now a nesting ground for a small pack of scavenger mammals. The barracks was in decent shape and didn't even look overgrown. But what really interested Charrack was the operations center. The portals were supposed to be kept underground with an emergency backup power generator.
They made their way over to the entrance and peered inside. John searched through his pack and found a flashlight. He flicked it on and shone it's light through the entrance. The air was still and dusty, nothing had gone through in a long time.
"Stay close." Charrack cautioned, slipping through the entrance as quietly as he could.
The ground was covered in dirt and shattered glass. Claw marks were carved into the walls and ceiling. Something big had been here.
John put his hand up against one of the claw marks and the groove was as wide as his palm. He took a step back and looked around the room again. All the desks and monitors were pulverized, nothing seemed intact.
The two went further in until they found a door that was half closed. It was about twelve feet tall and just as wide. A pileup of dirt and rocks prevent it's collapse and hundreds of scratch marks surrounded the opening.
John set aside his crutches and got down on his belly to look inside. He moved the flashlight around and caught sight of a portal, still in decent shape but a little worn down in one side by what appeared to be tooth marks. He silently swept his light around and spotted a massive beast in the darkest corner of the room. He didn't have time to make out what it was because he scrambled to put his light out and move away from the entrance.
"What's the matter?" Charrack asked.
John held up his finger to his lips and shushed him. They waited for a moment and heard a slow whooshing breath that rattled the door. Another moment and all was silent again. John slowly grabbed his crutches and tried to tip toe outside but Charrack didn't follow.
John plopped down at the entrance and put a fresh stick of gum in his mouth. Whatever he saw was not good news. If they couldn't get to the portal they were stuck for sure. He glanced around for Charrack, when he couldn't see any sign of him he started to panick. Did he pass out when he tried to get away? Did he not understand the danger, or did he decide it wasn't worth trying anymore and just give up on survival and feed himself to the slumbering giant?
Before John could convince himself to go back inside to save him, Charrack hobbled into view.
"I found out what's wrong with the portal." He said somewhat cheerily.
"Are you crazy?" Just whispered in a flustered manner. "You are going to get yourself killed!"
Charrack shook his head. "Not likely, the mole bear was just sleeping."
"Mole bear?" John asked. "Was it hibernating?"
"Yes, they can sleep for up to a year before eating, drinking or, anything really. Based on how much fat is has left I'd assume we have another month before he wakes up."
"So what now?" John asked. "Do we fix the portal and leave?"
Charrack shuffled his feet. "Well the core is missing, I'm not sure how we could replace it."
John leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. Why couldn't things just be simple? If something took the power core it could be anywhere by now. If the Valk broke procedure and took it with them, they were stranded for good. If an animal took it, it would probably be destroyed by now and thus, they would remain stranded. A horrible thought occured to him.
"Don't dragons like shiny objects?"
"I guess so," Charrack answered. "But I don't like where this is headed."
"Isn't the core encased in a shiny piece of metal?"
"Yes," Charrack conceded, "platinum."
"If that's so, do you think one might have taken it?"
"Well I hope not, but it does seem possible."
Charrack hoped John was wrong in his assumption, but it did seem plausible if not horrible. Any other options didn't seem to have a bright side. The monkey-like animals didn't seem likely to keep something intact for so long, birds probably weren't capable of carrying it off, nor would they have found it in the first place. The only possibility that it could have been intact was if it was preserved in a dragon's lair....