Eyes in the Dark

Eyes in the Dark is the first story in Earth Colony, and in the series as a whole. It was originally published online as the first half of Journey Into # 12. It introduces several characters: Ress, Kellin, Jarissy, Petara, Chell, Soola, and the old rex.

Several hours after a scouting party led by Garaka was supposed to return, Ress goads Jarissy into escorting her outside to take a look at their new planet. They are accompanied by Ress's sister Kellin, and the twins Chell and Soola. The party runs afoul of the old rex, who eats Chell and destroys Jarissy's beloved cudgel. Ress puts out one of the rex's eyes with a beam pistol, and coolly murders a shell-shocked Soola for "uselessness" amid the confusion.