Read Online Starship Tomahawk (The Hive Invasion Book 2) by Jake Elwood - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jake Elwood
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abandoned.
"They started to pack up their stuff," Hudson said. "Then they changed their minds. Left it here and ran."
"Looks that way," said Nicholson.
"You want us to check out the house?"
"No. Let's keep going."
He paused, though. The driveway was the first break they'd seen in the double line of trees. The house was on a low hill, and he could see for several kilometers in every direction. He didn't like it at first. The crater walls, not too far apart this close to the side of the crater, made a comforting visual barrier. They made it seem more like a proper city, where you could never see too far.
When he looked the other way, he felt goosebumps rise on his arms. More hills rose, not far off, hiding the ground from view. But he could see the crater walls curving away and fading in the distance with majestic grandeur. What was it like to live here, he thought. To see this view every day?
A plastic tricycle lay on its side near the front of the house, by a little wagon, meticulously hand crafted from wood. What would it be like to grow up in a place like this, to walk out your front door and run around in real grass, to see kilometer after kilometer of trees and plants and growing things?
Gillett said, "Lieutenant?"
"This must have been a nice place to live," he said. "Before the Hive."
She nodded. "I don't suppose humans will ever live here again."
"No. Probably not." Not unless the war goes far better than we have any right to expect. "Come on." He turned away from the yard. "Let's go find the people who lived here."
Man, I just love that guitar solo at the end. Gives me goosebumps every time. You're listening to Sharon Crowfoot on Radio Free Naxos, the voice of free men and women across the entire star system. You might be hiding at the base of the crater wall listening to a Rover radio with the last bit of juice left in the battery. You might be back in your house, jumping at every noise, wondering when the aliens are going to come through the door, or through your wall. It might be weeks since you've seen anyone except the people you're hiding out with, if you're lucky enough to be part of a group. But I'm here to remind you that you're not alone. We are the free people of Naxos. We are scattered, but we are united, and we will prevail.
Now settle back and enjoy a modern masterpiece. This is the Trash Can Trio with Back Alley Jam.
Chapter 10 – Nicholson
Ariadne had a period of rotation of less than eighteen hours, which made for a very short day. The floor of the crater was in shadow, indirectly lit by a blaze of sunlight reflected from the east wall of the crater, when Nicholson heard music coming from somewhere down the road.
He and Gillett took to the ditch on the left, while Hudson and Parrish moved to the opposite ditch. They advanced slowly, staying close to the trunks of the trees that continued to line the road on either side, climbing a gentle slope. They slowed even more as they neared the crest, scanning the ground ahead before slipping from the bole of one tree to another.
At the top of a low ridge they stopped. Gillett stood behind a tree while Nicholson knelt in a patch of brush. As he peered through the branches he saw small red berries decorating the bush in front of him, and he wondered idly if they were edible. There was something marvellous about the idea of eating wild food. Sure, he understood on an intellectual level that people had done such things for millennia before the rise of modern civilization. He'd just never encountered it in person.
Tilting his head to one side let him see past the bush and into a broad pocket of land surrounded by hills to the front and right, and rising ridges of stone on the left that went up and up, growing steeper until they merged with the vertical east wall of the crater.
The trees that had lined the road for the past several kilometers ended just below the crest of the ridge. The road ended too, fading into a pair of ruts in a
"They started to pack up their stuff," Hudson said. "Then they changed their minds. Left it here and ran."
"Looks that way," said Nicholson.
"You want us to check out the house?"
"No. Let's keep going."
He paused, though. The driveway was the first break they'd seen in the double line of trees. The house was on a low hill, and he could see for several kilometers in every direction. He didn't like it at first. The crater walls, not too far apart this close to the side of the crater, made a comforting visual barrier. They made it seem more like a proper city, where you could never see too far.
When he looked the other way, he felt goosebumps rise on his arms. More hills rose, not far off, hiding the ground from view. But he could see the crater walls curving away and fading in the distance with majestic grandeur. What was it like to live here, he thought. To see this view every day?
A plastic tricycle lay on its side near the front of the house, by a little wagon, meticulously hand crafted from wood. What would it be like to grow up in a place like this, to walk out your front door and run around in real grass, to see kilometer after kilometer of trees and plants and growing things?
Gillett said, "Lieutenant?"
"This must have been a nice place to live," he said. "Before the Hive."
She nodded. "I don't suppose humans will ever live here again."
"No. Probably not." Not unless the war goes far better than we have any right to expect. "Come on." He turned away from the yard. "Let's go find the people who lived here."
Man, I just love that guitar solo at the end. Gives me goosebumps every time. You're listening to Sharon Crowfoot on Radio Free Naxos, the voice of free men and women across the entire star system. You might be hiding at the base of the crater wall listening to a Rover radio with the last bit of juice left in the battery. You might be back in your house, jumping at every noise, wondering when the aliens are going to come through the door, or through your wall. It might be weeks since you've seen anyone except the people you're hiding out with, if you're lucky enough to be part of a group. But I'm here to remind you that you're not alone. We are the free people of Naxos. We are scattered, but we are united, and we will prevail.
Now settle back and enjoy a modern masterpiece. This is the Trash Can Trio with Back Alley Jam.
Chapter 10 – Nicholson
Ariadne had a period of rotation of less than eighteen hours, which made for a very short day. The floor of the crater was in shadow, indirectly lit by a blaze of sunlight reflected from the east wall of the crater, when Nicholson heard music coming from somewhere down the road.
He and Gillett took to the ditch on the left, while Hudson and Parrish moved to the opposite ditch. They advanced slowly, staying close to the trunks of the trees that continued to line the road on either side, climbing a gentle slope. They slowed even more as they neared the crest, scanning the ground ahead before slipping from the bole of one tree to another.
At the top of a low ridge they stopped. Gillett stood behind a tree while Nicholson knelt in a patch of brush. As he peered through the branches he saw small red berries decorating the bush in front of him, and he wondered idly if they were edible. There was something marvellous about the idea of eating wild food. Sure, he understood on an intellectual level that people had done such things for millennia before the rise of modern civilization. He'd just never encountered it in person.
Tilting his head to one side let him see past the bush and into a broad pocket of land surrounded by hills to the front and right, and rising ridges of stone on the left that went up and up, growing steeper until they merged with the vertical east wall of the crater.
The trees that had lined the road for the past several kilometers ended just below the crest of the ridge. The road ended too, fading into a pair of ruts in a
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