Shadowed(57)

Nina had spent years babysitting a little boy who lived down the block from her who was obsessed with dinosaurs. Having watched plenty of documentaries on the prehistoric monsters, she thought this alien creature looked kind of like…

“It’s a triceratops,” she muttered.

Reddix frowned. “What?”

Nina shook her head. “Nothing. It’s…it looks like an animal that used to live on Earth millions of years ago. Well, kind of, anyway.”

Because this triceratops was covered in long, bright purple hair. Also, its three horns seemed to wiggle strangely—that was until she realized they weren’t horns at all but tentacles.

“Oh my God,” she whispered, putting a hand to her mouth. “It’s not really a triceratops at all. What is that thing?”

“Nothing good.” Reddix sounded grim, and he tightened his grip on the blaster.

“What do we do?” Nina asked.

“Nothing. We wait. Watch it through the viewscreen.” He gestured at what Nina had been thinking of as the windshield. “If it leaves us alone, we leave it alone. If it bothers us—menaces the ship—I’ll go out and give it a little incentive to make itself scarce.”

“Oh,” Nina whispered. She stared again at the big purple triceratops thing. When it jerked its head up and down, the long hair flopped out of its face, and she could see three big, glaring yellow eyes at the top of its head, just under the two tentacles placed on its forehead. The gesture reminded her of a sheep dog jerking its head to get the hair out of its eyes—if a sheep dog was huge and weighed two or three tons, that was.

The thing came right up to the ship and actually put its long, beak-like snout right up to the viewscreen. The horn-tentacle on the tip of its nose waved against the glass like an elephant’s trunk. It made snuffling noises and nudged the screen, making Nina gasp and shrink back farther into the chair.

“Is it…can it get in? Can it break the glass?” she asked Reddix in a whisper.

He shook his head. “Don’t think so. But a creature that size could do considerable damage if it wanted to. Let’s hope it loses interest.”

But the purple tentacled triceratops didn’t seem to be losing interest at all. In fact, if anything, it was becoming even more intrigued by the ship. It snuffled all over the viewscreen and then lowered its massive head and began snuffling the underbelly of the ship. Nina gripped the armrests of the pilot’s chair, her knuckles white, as she heard its deep sniffing sounds coming from somewhere beneath her feet.

Then the ship lurched.

She gave a muffled shriek and nearly tumbled out of the chair. Only Reddix’s hand on her shoulder saved her. There was another lurch, more violent than before, and the ship shook.

“What is it—what’s it doing?” she gasped.

“Trying to turn the ship over—trying to make us vulnerable. That’s it.” He stalked toward the door. “I’m going out.”

“Be careful!” Nina begged.

“Don’t worry. I won’t be long.” He slapped open the door switch, and a blast of cold, strange smelling air suddenly filled the cabin. Nina took a deep breath, and alien scents filled her lungs—sweet and bitter at the same time. She felt suddenly light-headed, but she couldn’t tell if it was something in the air or her own fear. She did know one thing though—she couldn’t just sit here while Reddix went out and risked himself. There had to be something she could do to help.

Standing up, she glanced around the ship until her eyes fell on a long metal bar hanging on one wall. She wasn’t sure what it was used for normally, but it looked like it would make a good weapon. Not as good as Reddix’s deadly looking blaster but better than nothing. Grabbing the metal bar, she held it poised in front of her and followed him out of the ship.

“What in the Seven Hells are you doing out here?” Reddix growled over his shoulder as she stepped out. “Get back inside.”

“No.” Nina lifted her chin and gripped the metal bar tighter. “I can’t just sit there and do nothing.”

“You can, and you will. Now get—” His angry words were cut off when the purple furry triceratops suddenly reappeared. To Nina’s surprise, it had the big gray beach ball looking thing in its beaked mouth. When it noticed Nina and Reddix, it cocked its head to one side, regarding them with one of its yellow eyes that wasn’t covered in hair. Its three tentacles waved in what might have been interest, but at least it made no move to approach them.

“Gods that thing is massive,” Reddix growled. “At least stay behind me, Nina. Don’t make yourself a target.”