They need to be stopped, Jace thought. No quarter.
As the two Omull came towards the ship on their clawed feet, tentacles extended from the back of their heads waving about, Jace thought of cutting off those heads and tentacles with his rahir. Even if they were within range though, he and Khoth were not to attack the Omull. They were to stay hidden.
His eyes slid towards Khoth then and he wondered if the Commander was thinking the same thing. He couldn’t ask Khoth because that would create sound and using the suit’s texting capability--even the aspect that allowed them to use their eyes--might cause them to move and, again, cause noise. So they’d agreed to be silent.
He frowned, Gehenna, how did you know Khoth was thinking of cutting off my head?
Oh! I track where he’s looking and, obviously, all of his vital functions--
Obviously, Jace laughed internally.
And there are certain micro-expressions that are very telling that he makes before he fights, she rattled off. But really, it was obvious.
Uhm, obvious?
He cares for you, Jace, her voice softened. He would never let the Khul harm you.
Jace blinked. Y-yeah… but he would be cutting off my head.
With love! Cutting off your head with love! She enthused. So why weren’t you freaked out when I told you?
I was! I mean… at first, but then I thought of that girl’s face, Jace said and swallowed, nausea bubbling up again.
He fought off the urge to squirm as he felt imaginary bugs tickling his skin. The thing was that he had to remind himself that his suit kept them imaginary as there were tubes with larvae not two feet from him.
The thing is, he continued, I was going to ask him to do it. You know? Kill me if…
Yes, but you’re nowhere near that yet! Things are not that dire! Gehenna cried. Which was why I intended to paralyze him if he even so far went to touch that hilt!
He cracked a grin. I’m glad you’ve got my back, Gehenna.
Of course!
His grin though faded as the ship opened and the gangway started to lower. The two Omull were joined by half a dozen Cetixes. These caterpillar-like creatures--if a caterpillar were hundreds of times larger than they were on Earth--wore what looked like harnesses on their backs with hoses attached that lead into the walls of the ship.
Hoses large enough to…
I think that’s how they’ll move the people, Gehenna whispered. They’ll suck them up--
Don’t! Don’t tell me, Jace said as bile was already rising up his throat.
All he would need would be to throw up in his space suit.
He heard the tick, tick, tick, of the Omull’s claws as they were the first to come inside the ship. He and Khoth were on that main floor where the gangway entrance was. But, beyond being shielded from discovery by Gehenna’s electronic sorcery, there were only a few inches of the chitin between them and the Omull. Even without the ship camera’s equivalent of a microphone.
Tell me again that you’re safe, Gehenna, Jace demanded as his breathing rose, frosting the glass of his helmet before the internal cool air supply wiped it away.
She hadn’t been able to fit with them here. So she was hanging from the ceiling in the engine room. Just more coils in a room full of coils with the lights in her squid-head dome shut off.
I’m safe. I’m more worried about you, she said. Those two Omull are suspicious even though my hack is perfect!
He saw what she meant. The two Omull had split off at the top of the gangway--one heading to the left and the other to the right--going around the external circle of the walkway near the pods. They would pass right by him and Khoth! The urge to grab his rahir or his pistol or Khoth’s nearest hand was so strong that sweat broke out across Jace’s brow as he fought the instinct.
We don’t know what caused this ship to return to the Hive, Jace pointed out, focusing on that instead of the steadily approaching Khul. Maybe we tripped something and they’re looking for the cause of that.
I see no evidence of that, but I suppose it's possible, Gehenna mused.
The Omull to his right--he called this one Jerry--was not only a few pod-lengths away from him and Khoth. The Omull to his left--this one he called Raul--was further away, but was intently scanning each pod, looking into the faceplates, peering around them as if looking for injuries to them--or perhaps if someone uninfected was hiding inside--and being more pokey.
