22.      Fallout

Marvin reports the loss of a drone to a large predatory creature with teeth and claws during exploration surveys in Deltan territory. Analysis of the wreckage and bone samples suggests this unknown airborne predator may have driven the Deltans from their original homeland, forcing them to migrate to areas where they encountered the gorilloids.

Bob receives news from Marvin that one of the exploration drones has been destroyed by an unknown creature. Video footage shows the drone being attacked mid-flight, with the image corrupting as something with teeth and a beak-like muzzle damages the device. Marvin uses filters to enhance the corrupted imagery and conducts a SUDDAR scan to locate the wreckage several kilometers from the attack site. The drone is found bitten nearly in half with deep parallel claw marks gouged into its metal shell, indicating substantial bite force. Marvin presents bone samples bearing bite marks identical to those on the drone, suggesting this predator has been hunting Deltans. Bob and Marvin theorize that this previously unknown airborne predator may have been the actual reason the Deltans abandoned their original territory, forcing them southward into lands where they encountered the gorilloids—making the gorilloids the lesser of two threats rather than the primary threat Bob had assumed.