Chaos Space - Marianne de Pierres [20]
As the creature continued its search Jo-Jo saw that it had no definable face but that the feelers uncurled from a set of mouth lobes. Each feeler ended in bulbous tips that appeared to be tasting the body. When the tips reached the dead man’s face they paused, hovering above the closed eyes. A needle-like probe shot out from one of them, directly into the man’s eye socket.
Jo-Jo was overwhelmed by a putrid sweet scent that made him want to gag. Hot burning liquid climbed through his throat, causing such a sharp pain in his chest that he had to clamp his mouth shut to prevent a moan escaping. Bethany’s fingers clawed at his foot.
Keep it together, Beth. Keep it to—
Then he heard a deep, distressed sob. Not Beth. Petalu Mau. But Jo-Jo didn’t dare move his head to look.
The creature stopped its feeding and retracted its feelers inside its mouth lobes. The upper part of its torso rotated in a semicircle as if it were straining to detect the source of the noise.
Jo-Jo wondered which its strongest senses were. Clearly it could hear—but how well could it see?
It crawled closer to them—only a table length away now—undulating as though it was caught in a strong wind. Extending its feelers again it ran them along the tabletop and down the closest legs.
Bethany let go of Jo-Jo’s foot. She was going to run. He knew, because that was what he wanted to do himself. He felt his leg muscles bunching.
The creatures seemed slow-moving enough. Maybe they had a chance if they were.
He pressed his palms against the floor, ready to push up, when he caught a movement from the corner of his eye: a humanesque figure running straight towards the CTL column. The creature near them spun with freakish speed, bunched its body and sprang after it.
Jo-Jo raised his head.
In several agile bounds the creature covered half the distance to the column. But those closer to the column beat it there. One of them knocked the ‘esque down with its raking mid-claws and the group fell on him, feelers intertwined and fighting for position.
Jo-Jo hugged the floor and began a furious belly-crawl towards the service lift, his adrenalin stoked by the victim’s cries. He crawled over bodies, barely feeling the flesh beneath their clothes. He didn’t look at their faces—didn’t look anywhere but at the red light pulsing gently above the service lift.
When he was only a few body lengths away from it he became aware of movement at his elbow. Bethany scrambled past him, blood spattered over her grimly set jaw.
She reached the lift first and hit the button to summon it.
Jo-Jo pulled her back down, but across the trade court the group feeding on the fallen ‘esque retracted their feelers and started up an odd swaying motion.
They’d seen her.
‘Be ready,’ Jo-Jo rasped. He watched the lift icon pulsing downward as the lift itself descended from the top tier of the station.
One of the creatures bunched its body and sprang towards them.
As the lift icon hit the midpoint of its descent Jo-Jo jumped up and grabbed a chair, ready to swing.
Bethany threw herself at the lift door, pounding the summon button repeatedly. ‘Please!’ she cried. ‘Please!’
Jo-Jo raised the chair. Time, he told himself. Just buy some time.
Then he felt a hand on his arm.
Petalu wrenched the chair from his hand. The big man’s torso was heaving from exertion and sweat still poured from his plump face. But his earlier fear had gone. His eyes were quite calm. ‘Me.’
Jo-Jo dropped back, looking for another weapon, but there was nothing within close reach. He backed up against the lift door next to Beth.
The creature bunched to spring as the door opened. Bethany fell inside with Jo-Jo after her.
Then Petalu took one almighty swing...
TRIN
They felt the water a long time before they saw it. It reached for them with fleeting salty touches on their skin and a stinging flavour at the back of their parched throats, giving heart to the misery of their flight. In the lightening sky Trin saw the outline of the high dunes and the hint of sea mist.
A few hours only.
He had ordered