He gets aggressive!

Time was up. He saw the carnivorous insect creatures approaching the rover. The ground started to shake left and right. Not from them. The rover rocked side to side before the monsters even touched it. This earthquake in the hills felt every bit as rough as it did in the snowy plains, maybe worse. Snipher suddenly recognized the moment where the rover's balanced left-right wobble changed to a motion, a rotation. It was tipping over. He realized it was too late to fasten a safety belt and landed on the side window as it cracked against the rough ground. The metal roof supports had already been strained too much, and gave way. Time was up.

He leapt out of the openings in the cracked windshield and began swinging his two new weapons in figure-eights on either side. The spikey carnivores got the idea and backed up from him. He shouted and growled at them. An opening appeared as two of the creatures were less interested in getting a face full of crowbar than the others.

Fighting for his life, maximum shrinkage

He pressed his advantage. The two retreated further, and he soon had an opening. He ran a short distance along a familiar path. He found himself at the hollow tree with the colony of large but less aggressive bugs. At least it was something to protect his back. The arachnid insect beasts did not want to have anything to do with those bugs, it appeared. That struck him odd, considering he was certain he saw them eat the bugs he had tossed at them minutes ago.

It looked like he was pinned down, surrounded by aggressive (often bipedal) insectoid beasts which looked to be dramatically different species, yet they hunted as a pack. That was another stark difference from any living things Snipher had known before landing on this world.

The third party in this standoff made the first move. In the sunrise the bugs started to leave the nest. Thy seemed much smaller this time, like they were missing their tail abdomens.

Snipher kicked one at his adversaries. They kicked it back, uninterested in eating it. Strange.

On a hunch, Snipher dropped the joggle tool and reached blindly into the hole. A couple of bugs took the opportunity to bite his hand, allowing him to pull them out. The two door guard bugs were full size, like he had seen earlier. It was time for experimentation again. He flung them at the carnivorous beasts. They (gladly?) devoured them.

It was time for experimentation again.

But there was more to it than just gulp and swallow. He had the time and inclination to watch the process closely in between threatening with his crowbar. One crustacean thing lunged for the large abdomen but seemed to fear the pincers and mandibles on the front end. With a cautious flick, it broke the bug in half, not quite in half. The top half scampered right to Snipher, between his legs, and disappeared into the nest. The bottom half was then gobbled like a plum or a grape.

Repetition of the process gave the same results, except with the insect creatures taking turns in a pecking order from largest to smallest in the pack.

Then Snipher saw what was happening. He had heard that on his home world skunks are immune to bee stings. He realized he was a metaphorical skunk robbing a beehive and tossing the honeycomb to the bears.

"Fast learners you are," he told the insectoid crustacean monsters. The light gravity of this planet did not reward great structural strength. Their thin skin and shells (no matter how sturdy their carapaces looked) was little defense against the bugs' sharp weaponry. Just as Snipher's thicker skin was no match for the mandibles and claws of the larger beasts. Unlike himself, they were eggshells with hammers, all offense, no defense. A deadly game of paper - scissors - rock might also be a proper analogy.

Now that he saw it, what could he do about the situation?