Read Online MotherShip by Tony Chandler - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Tony Chandler
Tags: Science Fiction/Fantasy
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on-off switch .
Jaric poked his beam inside the room and did not see Kyle who was still flat on the ground in the darkness. He reached for his blaster as Becky stepped next to him.
In the next second there was movement everywhere.
Jaric's right hand which held the light was suddenly in the iron grasp of two rope-like tentacles. Darkness swept over them. Jaric fired the blaster in his left hand, just as something struck it violently out of his grasp. He was suddenly lying on the cold concrete floor with something huge pinning him down so hard that he couldn't breathe.
Somewhere in the darkness, Becky screamed.
A fantastic purple glow began to light the huge room around them amid the deep shadows. The children recognized the T'kaan lights with a sickening realization.
Kyle watched as a huge worm-like form suddenly lurched at him. He fired at the shadowy thing twice, and then something grabbed him from behind. Kyle struggled, pulling one of the tentacles off from around him.
But the world went black as a horrendous pain flashed through his mind. Time had no meaning as he wavered at the edge of consciousness. But he began to become aware of something. He didn't see it. But he could smell it.
The smell was horrific. It gagged him with its repulsive and overwhelming odor—like putrid, rotting meat. Like Death.
Kyle wretched uncontrollably until his nostrils were seared from the stomach bile he hurled. He vomited so hard he felt like somebody had just beaten him until his abdomen and sides ached from the terrible blows. There in the darkness, he tried to roll over, to see what was happening to him.
Something reached for him, pulled on his still shaking arms and turned him over with heartless ease.
Kyle looked up.
The huge fangs from the lower jaw curled toward each other like stubby tusks. Kyle's eyes tried to focus, and he saw the rest of the mouth. A mouth full of tiny, pointed fangs with a huge purple tongue.
He turned his head and wretched again, but there was nothing left, only stomach bile now dripped in long sinewy strings from his nose and mouth.
All around him the sound of clicking began. The T'kaan were snapping their jaws making the eerie sound with their largest fangs.
Kyle looked away, toward his right.
Jaric and Becky were each pressed against the massive body of a T'kaan. Across their bodies it looked as though a dozen tentacles held them fast. They looked back at him with fear in their eyes.
Their worst nightmare had come true.
His body repelled at the slightest touch of the wet, greasy body as the tentacles held him close and wrapped around him. The rope-like appendages quivered with jolts of strength as they held him fast. Kyle shut his eyes against that unnatural sensation, that nightmarish touch, as more of the wet, ever-quivering tubes slid and wrapped around him. His mind slipped into wild images as he fought to stay conscious. Again the nauseating stench wrenched his stomach, now multiplied by the disgusting sensation of the snake-like tentacles sliding around his body tighter and tighter. Easily they lifted him off the ground until his face was just before the strange globular mass on top of the T'kaan's head.
“Wha, what.” Kyle muttered as he began to black out again. His head was throbbing with pain. He realized he had been struck and taken deeper into this complex. When? How long ago?
Kyle felt his body stiffen as the T'kaan spoke. Not the guttural, nonsensical gibberish of the T'kaan language, but it spoke in halting English that Kyle and the other two could understand.
“Last of man, death your fate. The final fight, no more wait.”
Chapter Ten
Mother's weapons came on-line as she targeted the three frigates. The fighters looped out in groups of three and came at her from all directions.
For an instant, she considered using her hybrid super-weapon, but there was no time to charge it. In less than two minutes the fighters would be upon her, and then the frigates would also be
Jaric poked his beam inside the room and did not see Kyle who was still flat on the ground in the darkness. He reached for his blaster as Becky stepped next to him.
In the next second there was movement everywhere.
Jaric's right hand which held the light was suddenly in the iron grasp of two rope-like tentacles. Darkness swept over them. Jaric fired the blaster in his left hand, just as something struck it violently out of his grasp. He was suddenly lying on the cold concrete floor with something huge pinning him down so hard that he couldn't breathe.
Somewhere in the darkness, Becky screamed.
A fantastic purple glow began to light the huge room around them amid the deep shadows. The children recognized the T'kaan lights with a sickening realization.
Kyle watched as a huge worm-like form suddenly lurched at him. He fired at the shadowy thing twice, and then something grabbed him from behind. Kyle struggled, pulling one of the tentacles off from around him.
But the world went black as a horrendous pain flashed through his mind. Time had no meaning as he wavered at the edge of consciousness. But he began to become aware of something. He didn't see it. But he could smell it.
The smell was horrific. It gagged him with its repulsive and overwhelming odor—like putrid, rotting meat. Like Death.
Kyle wretched uncontrollably until his nostrils were seared from the stomach bile he hurled. He vomited so hard he felt like somebody had just beaten him until his abdomen and sides ached from the terrible blows. There in the darkness, he tried to roll over, to see what was happening to him.
Something reached for him, pulled on his still shaking arms and turned him over with heartless ease.
Kyle looked up.
The huge fangs from the lower jaw curled toward each other like stubby tusks. Kyle's eyes tried to focus, and he saw the rest of the mouth. A mouth full of tiny, pointed fangs with a huge purple tongue.
He turned his head and wretched again, but there was nothing left, only stomach bile now dripped in long sinewy strings from his nose and mouth.
All around him the sound of clicking began. The T'kaan were snapping their jaws making the eerie sound with their largest fangs.
Kyle looked away, toward his right.
Jaric and Becky were each pressed against the massive body of a T'kaan. Across their bodies it looked as though a dozen tentacles held them fast. They looked back at him with fear in their eyes.
Their worst nightmare had come true.
His body repelled at the slightest touch of the wet, greasy body as the tentacles held him close and wrapped around him. The rope-like appendages quivered with jolts of strength as they held him fast. Kyle shut his eyes against that unnatural sensation, that nightmarish touch, as more of the wet, ever-quivering tubes slid and wrapped around him. His mind slipped into wild images as he fought to stay conscious. Again the nauseating stench wrenched his stomach, now multiplied by the disgusting sensation of the snake-like tentacles sliding around his body tighter and tighter. Easily they lifted him off the ground until his face was just before the strange globular mass on top of the T'kaan's head.
“Wha, what.” Kyle muttered as he began to black out again. His head was throbbing with pain. He realized he had been struck and taken deeper into this complex. When? How long ago?
Kyle felt his body stiffen as the T'kaan spoke. Not the guttural, nonsensical gibberish of the T'kaan language, but it spoke in halting English that Kyle and the other two could understand.
“Last of man, death your fate. The final fight, no more wait.”
Chapter Ten
Mother's weapons came on-line as she targeted the three frigates. The fighters looped out in groups of three and came at her from all directions.
For an instant, she considered using her hybrid super-weapon, but there was no time to charge it. In less than two minutes the fighters would be upon her, and then the frigates would also be
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