[Galaxy Of Fear] - 09(22)

CHAPTER 14


The dark tentacles sank into the Ithorian’s skin, burying themselves inside the victim’s body. Tash blinked. The tentacles vanished from sight except for a dark tracing of lines, like veins, that showed beneath the skin.

But the Ithorian himself had changed. His body stiffened and he seemed to be waiting for something. “What was that?” Zak asked.

“Spore!” one of the Ithorians gasped in a voice filled with terror.

“I am Spore,” said Hodge and the Hammerhead together. Hodge grinned, and he and the Ithorian spoke again. “For years, for centuries, I have been trapped on that lifeless rock. In that airless tomb! At last I have lives to feed on again!”

As one being, Hodge and the Ithorian turned on the other three Hammerheads and opened their mouths. More black tendrils erupted from their mouths and eyes, snaring the three Ithorian doctors. In the midst of her horror, Tash thought the black strings looked like the roots of a fast-growing weed.

Spore had now captured all the Ithorians.

Spore and his victims turned on Hoole. “You are next to join me,” Spore said.

A whole forest of tentacles leaped out to capture Hoole. But Hoole had vanished. In the Shi’ido’s place appeared a crystal snake. The slithering creature twisted and squirmed, slipping out of the tangle of black tentacles. Quick as a light beam, the crystal snake dodged to one side. Its skin crawled quickly across its body, and Hoole appeared again.

His dodge had carried him to the other side of the clearing. Spore stood between the Arrandas and the Shi’ido.

“Run!” Hoole ordered; then he plunged into the forest.

With no other choice, Zak and Tash fled in the opposite direction.

They ran blindly, jumping over tree roots, ducking under branches, scrambling up small hillocks. The horrible vision of those black vines bursting out of Hodge’s mouth made their feet move long after they were exhausted.

Finally, Tash’s tired feet tripped her up and she toppled down a gentle, grass-covered slope. Zak fell right behind her, and they came to a stop at the feet of another grove of trees. They rested against the dark trunk of a Bafforr tree.

“Wh-Wh-What…?” Zak panted. He didn’t need to finish his sentence.

“Spore,” Tash answered. “That’s what was trapped on the asteroid.”

“And Fandomar let it loose?” her brother guessed.

Tash shook her head, almost too tired to speak. “I don’t think it was her. I think it was Hodge. It infected him somehow, took him over. Now he’s infecting everyone else.”

“Every time those vine-things touch someone, it’s like they become part of Spore,” Zak said. “It’s like they’re suddenly all connected.”

Tash shuddered. “What do we do?”

“Find Uncle Hoole,” her brother suggested.

“Right,” she agreed. “Then find a way to warn the Tafanda Bay. Whatever this thing is, the Ithorians seem to know about it.”

“That’s what scares me,” Zak said with a shake of his head. “Did you see how scared they were?”

“But they trapped it once before,” his sister replied. “Maybe they can do it again.”

Suddenly, Tash stiffened:

“Tash, what’s wrong?”

She didn’t answer at first. Sitting with her back to a Bafforr tree, she had felt the warning signal even more powerfully than before.

DANGER!

“They’re near,” she whispered. “Come on.”

Getting to their feet, Zak and Tash slipped behind the tree as quietly as possible, then backed deeper into the grove of Bafforrs. Zak didn’t know how Tash knew Spore was close, but he had trusted her feelings in the past. This didn’t seem like a good time to start doubting her.

Tash felt her mouth go dry. The feeling of dread continued to pulse through her brain. Danger was in the air around her.

Hoole appeared at the top of the hill down which they’d fallen. He hurried down the slope toward them, his eyes scanning the trees and underbrush.

“Uncle Hoole!” Tash whispered when he had gotten within earshot. “Over here!”

The Shi’ido’s head whipped around the minute he heard her voice. A few quick strides carried him right up to the tree that hid them.

“Zak, Tash, I am glad I found you,” Hoole said.

Tash beckoned him into the shadow of the tree. “Uncle Hoole, you’ve got to hide. Spore is very near. Come on!”

Hoole shook his head. He smiled and held out his hand. “No, no, Tash. Everything is fine. Join me.”

Zak stepped out from behind the tree and toward his uncle’s waiting hand. Tash started to follow, then froze. Join Me.