Ragnarok: Colonization, intrigue and betrayal. Andrew Claymore (primary phonics books .txt) đ
- Author: Andrew Claymore
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âReasonsâŠdonât⊠mattter,â the pilot said slowly and deliberately. âYourfeelings donât matter. Webecame a fief, so we needed a lord. Thatâs Gleb. Heâs wed toLuna. Sheâs our lady.â
He nodded attheir prisoner. âAnd you just made this young woman the second inline to their throne. Takeyour hands off her.â
âWho do you thinkâsin charge here?â Kolm yelled.
âI donât needto think about it,â the pilot said evenly. âI knowwhoâs in charge.â
Kolm stared at him forseveral seconds. He took his hand away and spat on the deck by thepilotâs feet in sullen anger.
âGo take thecontrols,â the pilot said. âLet me know when you pick up theprox-beacon on the Edged Star.â
He lowered his weaponand Kolm stalked forward, muttering curses. Kolm flopped into thepilotâs seat and deactivated the auto-fly.
The pilot turnedback to Gabriella. He used aholo-menu to release her wrists from the ceiling, though they werestill cuffed together.
She fell to thefloor, humiliated by thisshow of weakness but sheâd been hit on the head and trussed up likea side of beef for the gods only knew how long. Not thatlong, she realized. Orthat guy would have bled to death.
She shudderedwith disgust as she felt a hand touchher leg but then another slid behind her shoulders and she realizedher captor was just picking her up off the decking. He sat her on theport-side bench, her cuffs linking to the seat between her legs soshe couldnât get up and wreak any mayhem.
He sat opposite her,deactivating his weapon and holstering it. âThis is nothingpersonal,â he told her in a voice devoid of any emotion. âWeârejust following orders.â
âWhose orders?â shespat. âYour orders come from Gleb and Luna. I doubt theyâd haveapproved of your âordersâ.â
âWe donâtwork for them.â He leaned back, crossing his arms. âDonât worryabout it. Chances are, youâll be handed back as part of some dealand everybodyâs happy.â
âHappy?â sheexclaimed. âYou killed my mother you vat-grownpiece of shit! Thatâs the kind of thing that doesnât getforgiven.
âThereâs no placein the galaxy you can go to avoid the consequences. My aunt didnâtstep out of a chamber like you did, you stupid bastard! She grew upwith her sister, the woman sheâs known since she was born, thewoman you just killed in front of me!â
The manâsdispassionate expression faded, replaced with a look of uncertainty.
âYour bestbet,â she snarled, âis to take that pistol, kill that prick inthe cockpit and then blow your own brains out. My aunt willget her hands on you.
âSheâs gonna pullyour eyes and fingernails out, one by one, and then hang you withyour own guts.â
âShut her up, Len, orI will,â Kolm said but his voice was shaky.
âYouâre goingto be first,â she yelled at Kolm. âYouâre going to die in theslowest possible way I can think of!â
âGods, Len,smack her in the mouth!â Kolm urged.
âJust shut up andfly,â Len ordered angrily.
âShit! Thereâsthe beacon.â The shuttle banked. âDamn near hit the damn ship!â
A wash of light cameback through the shuttle as the passed into a hangar-bay.
âLen tobridge,â theman across from Gabriellanearly shouted. âEngage the path drive and get us out of here!â
Kusha?
North Highlands, near Unity
Terrymoved through the forest, checking on his HUD for Vikramâsposition. Still not moving?
Ifthe teen had been heading for the place where theyâd found himlying on the ground, the entire family would have been racing toretrieve him. Since he was nowhere near that place, Frank had askedTerry to go find him.
Terrylooked past the HUD and his blood ran cold. Heâd wandered out intoa clearing right in front of a feathered tiger.
Theterrifying beast was lying on itâs chest, front paws splayed outand its huge maw hanging open. Terry stared at it, his own mouthhanging open in shock.
Hishand, seeming to remember before his brain, drifted toward the potentfirearm at his hip.
âItâsdead,â Vikram said quietly.
Terryâshand clenched on thin air, at least a handâs-breadth away from thepistol-grip. He crouched in alarm, both fists up in front of him.
âHolyshit, Vik! Can you not?â
âSorry.â
âIwas already on the edge of a brown-pants moment there.â
âAndme telling you itâs dead was somehow more scary?â Vikramasked absently, still staring at the scene in front of them.
âYeah,well, I didnât know you were so closeâŠâ
âCauseif My mom heard you suddenly shooting at that dead thing, Sheâd behaving a moment of her own.â
âWhatkilled it, anyway?â Terry edged closer.
âCareful,âVikram warned. âLook at the ground around him.â
Terrylooked, seeing more than just the deadly looking creature. Howdid I miss all those glowing blue bulbs? âWhat arethose? Spores?â
âTheyhave spines,â Vikram pointed. âSee? A few of them are stickinginto the tigerâs belly.â
Terryused his HUDto get a closer look. âThe wound is bigger than the spine. Thereâssome kind of acid present, along with a compound similar to the sapof those ânap-treesâ.â
âThisworld loves putting people to sleep, doesnât it?â Vikram glancedat Terry. âI think weâre looking at a phase in the life-cycle ofthose âglowwhalesâwe first saw at the party.â
Thelarge, blue-glowing creatures that had floated over Unity during thecelebration had been seen again, from time to time, and always atnight. Nobody knew what drew them down from the mountains.
âTheydissolve into spores?â Terry nodded. âThat could explain why theycome down out of the mountains. No large animals up there to feedthose things.â
âTofeed the larvae,â Vikram said. âTheyâre being injected throughthose spines. The acid must be for pre-digestion, to make feedingeasier for the larvae.â
âThatâŠis⊠really⊠nasty!â Terry shuddered.
âAndthey got a bonus,â Vikram added. âLooks like heâd caught one ofthose root-eaters and now itâs full of larvae as well.â
âHuh!âTerry shook his head. âWouldnât be the first large predator wholives on small animals. Now that we can lookatone of these guys up close, you can see it has a hard beak and itlooks like itâs been roughed up by nosing around in dirt.â
âAndthose claws...â Vikram pointed. âTheyâre scary as hell buttheyâre flat, for digging.â
âCanâtwait for Kent to hear about this,â Terry said, grinning. âHeâsbeen shooting these feather tigers and the seedlings heâs plantingare getting eaten almost as fast as he puts them in the ground.â
âSoâŠâVikram rose to his feet. âYouâre making sure I wasnât sneakingoff to look for Kusha?â
âNo,we knew you were over this way,â Terry told him. âWe
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