Prologue

Humanity left him here. He knew that for a fact. They left him to die, simply because he was an experiment.

Kennedy Forewith explored the jungle that surrounded the complex he lived in. Thanks to the experiments, he was able to breathe the air of Pandora, but only for short periods of time. Oxygen was still in the air, but it was laced with deadly chemicals, not to mention that it was extremely thin, due to the size of Pandora.

When he needed, he could summon a helmet that retracted beneath his armor, so he could get enough nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere when his time ran out.

Ken volunteered for a super-soldier program that aimed to make humans immune to the chemicals in Pandora's atmosphere. Ken was the closest they could get before they bailed, and he only had a temporary resistance.

He heard a rustle in the bushes to his right. The worst it could be was the thanator, but it was killed, so it had to be viperwolves, right?

He summoned his helmet and let it cover his head. His suit was made from a blend of unobtanium and titanium, so it was highly flexible and very strong. He doubted that it could handle a thanator attack, but the scientists assured him that the suit would protect him, no matter the danger.

He would find out when he discovered that the creature in the bushes was, indeed, a thanator. But it was far smaller, so he guessed that it was a juvenile.

Nevertheless, it was dangerous. The feline predator growled at Ken and hissed, warning him away from the bush.

Ken did as it wished, but why did it shoo him away? His curiosity got the better of him and he summoned a small drone to look inside.

The thanator was mourning the death of her cubs. Ken didn't think that viperwolves would leave uneaten corpses behind, so he guessed that they were killed by a male thanator. Since thanators were the Pandoran equivalent to panthers and lions, this was likely the work of a male.

He took pity on the poor thing. Since she was so young, the cubs were probably the thanator's first litter. He wanted to help, but how?

He called the drone back and retracted his helmet. He bent down to get a better look, then sat in the grass.

The thanator took notice of his actions and peeked out of the bush. She was wary and stayed in the bush, but she didn't try to drive him off.

"It's a start," he thought to himself.

Three months after mankind left, and Ken was still alive. He surprised himself with how resourceful he was.

The female thanator, whom he had named Circe, was still distrustful of him. However, when he came back from his hunts, he would leave her enough of the carcass for her to sustain herself.

The wildlife of Pandora was tainted with the same dangerous chemicals that plagued the air, but Ken was insistent. The more he ate, the sicker he would become, and the more resistance he would develop afterwards. It was a win-win scenario, for him.

He would watch as Circe would roam around the area, looking for any predators that would put her new litter in danger. Ken figured that the male who killed her cubs probably mated with her afterwards, so he wasn't that surprised.

Somehow, Circe didn't see him as a threat. This was surprising, but he made no threatening gestures toward her, so she probably acknowledged him as a fellow female thanator.

He was outside, repairing an air-conversion unit that had faltered. He heard Circe walk around behind him, but he wasn't worried. The drone above his head would alert him if she got too close. After finishing the repairs, he stood up and turned to see Circe.

She was a beautiful example of the thanator species. She had grown to almost three-quarters the size the previous thanator was, and her belly was visibly swollen with her oncoming litter. Unlike the previous thanator, Circe had green skin on her opercula and the inside of her mouth, instead of pink. Ken wondered if this was a genetic fluke or a full-on mutation.

She shared a look with him. She was clearly conflicted with letting him stay in the area, but he made no threatening moves, so she would tolerate him for now.

Her frill raised when rustling in the bushes was heard. She growled in defense, and Ken equipped his helmet.

From the bushes came a pack of viperwolves. Ken knew that they were dangerous, but why would they try to attack an expectant female thanator?

Of course. She had children, so she was slower and unable to defend herself properly.

Ken ran in front of Circe and stood between her and the viperwolves. She growled in surprise, but her attention was on the desperate pack of canids that were circling them.

A viperwolf tried to attack from the front, and Ken kicked it away with ease. Another tried to attack Circe from the side, but she swiped her claws at it and killed it instantly. This fight went on for a while, until the viperwolves finally gave up and ran away.

Circe looked at Ken.

"Oh, boy," he said aloud.

Circe took a tentative step forward and looked him over. Like most species on Pandora, the thanator had no noticeable sense of smell. However, their eyesight and hearing was very good, and they possessed special chemical sensors that acted similar to noses.

She rumbled lightly before grabbing a viperwolf carcass and returning to her bush. Ken let out a breath he had been holding the entire time.

"Well, she's grateful, at least."

A full year after Ken was marooned here, and he was faring very well.

He and Circe were now hunting together. She would kill her own prey, while he used his own weapon to kill an animal that she flushed out. They were mostly apart, otherwise, but she would let him check on her to see her progress.

And she was doing very well. Her litter was developing as expected, and it seemed like she would be giving birth before long.

It was night, and Ken was looking around for any openings in his defenses. They were all fine, except for the skirting that covered the area underneath the base.

An enormous hole had been torn in it, and the dirt had been dug out.

"I hope it's not viperwolves," Ken sighed as he crawled inside. "Circe would have a field day if there-"

He cut himself off as he saw the familiar glow of green eyes. He turned on a soft-glow stick and saw who was in the burrow.

It was Circe, and she was nursing her new litter of cubs.

Ken smiled as he saw the cubs. They were barely a week old, which corresponded with the thanator's year-long gestation cycle. Circe licked them clean of any dirt or parasites that the cubs were getting from the den.

From this situation, Ken concluded that Circe trusted him enough to establish her nursery den under his base, since leaving the cubs at the birth den would put them in danger.

He sat there as a cub wandered over to him. He let it gnaw on his boot before gently handing it back to Circe, who took it by the neck and set it down next to it's siblings.

He laid down in the dirt as he watched the cubs suckle from their mother. He held his hand out to Circe, who touched it with her muzzle and let him gently graze her leathery skin.

Ken could barely contain his excitement. He was now friends with the most feared predator on Pandora!