Egbor made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat. “Bah, keep him! No doubt a female such as yourself will never spawn any young, given that I never managed to get a proper heir off you. Useless female. Might as well mother a useless half-breed male,” he sneered. “You deserve the parasite, as you so aptly call him.”
Terri watched as Azan’s smile dropped away, her expression turning cold and hard. She wondered if the female would attack then. Every muscle coiled with tension, just waiting to spring upon the male.
Egbor laughed and opened his arms. “If you wish to attack, then do so, Azan. I will see to it that you are put down like a crazed beast for your mutiny.”
The entire crew stilled, their attention riveted to the pair. Azan’s eyes flicked over to them, and she noticeably relaxed, the tension draining away as if it had never been there, an easy smile spreading across her face.
“It does not appear that doing so would be in my best interest,Captain,” she said with a twist of her lips as she adjusted Garswal’s weight. “I hate you with all the fire of two suns, but I am yours, as always.”
The captain chuckled, the sound out of place in the empty silence of the tomb that theEvandrahad become. “And that is why you are my second. You hate me, yes. I see it in your eyes just as I saw it every time that I laid with you, but you are my weapon. You know no other existence than your service to me. I know you too well, Azan. You will never risk everything.”
Terri wasn’t so sure about that. She would already have killed the captain herself if she had access to any kind of reliable weapon, and if the threat of the pirate ship didn’t hang over them. Azan’s position was different, but no less delicate if she had any plan to exact the vengeance that Terri had seen brewing within the female without serious repercussions.
Her eyes trailed over to the remaining Igwins. There hadn’t been many to begin with among the crew, and the captain had brought every one of them, as if they were his personal hounds. Now there were only five left, but even at their reduced number, they still made her uncomfortable. Hell, one alone would be enough to do the job. She couldn’t help but stare as they moved with an anxiety she had never seen in the predators.
Their full attention had been focused just moments earlier on Azan, not with the sexual hunger that Terri often felt focused on her, but with a certain amount of fear that made her wonder what Azan had done to inspire it. Now, however, they were eyeing the water ahead. The nostrils in their muzzles flared, and their large eyes rolled, betraying their nerves.
One turned his head to look back at her, his orange tongue slipping out hungrily as he licked his teeth. It didn’t last long, however, before he was once more staring out at the water further down the corridor. Regardless of what his instincts demanded of him, his fear was far more powerful.
Terri squinted as she peered down the hall, her heart leaping as she saw what appeared to be a large fin push out from the water. A very,verylarge fin. It sank down and disappeared so quickly that it almost appeared to be a trick of shadows, but she knew what she saw.
“Veral…” she whispered as she reached forward and grabbed his arm.
“I am aware,” he murmured, his blue eyes scanning the water. His hand closed around hers as he cautiously led her forward, farther down the hall. “Stay close, anastha. It seems to have withdrawn for the moment, likely to draw us deeper into the water where it can efficiently kill us, but it will return.”
“What is it?”
“Ship systems appear to identify it as Experiment 226. An aquatic destroyer. Large tubular body covered with fins for accurate fine motor abilities in addition to a large dorsal fin and tail. It escaped from its containment tank when the hull was breached in the western laboratory unit and followed the river until it made its home in this sector of the ship. It hunts by echolocation in the water, releasing vibrational songs once every hour, though the frequency increases to once every six standard minutes when it enters frenzy mode. Its range is impressive, but we have not yet approached close enough for it to notice our presence.”
“Fuck. Will we be able to get into the storage area before it returns?” she asked.
“Unknown. The odds are difficult to calculate. There are too many unknown variables regarding fallen structures farther within the ship that may reduce mobility in parts of its territory, or whether wildlife will travel within the vicinity of its den to lure it out into the river.”
“Why would it attack wildlife?”
Veral slanted her a surprised look. “Because it still has biological needs. It requires an energy source. It is why the Elshavan made the weapons as hunting beasts. It was so that they could acquire energy from natural feeding processes. It cannot reproduce, but so long as it is supplied with energy from feeding, it will continue to exist.”
“What is that?” Azan called out, her arm shaking as it rose to point to what looked like a partially sunken metallic skeletal frame.
It was horrific. Terri couldn’t imagine what it must have looked like alive. Although the skeleton lay at an odd angle that made it difficult to discern specific features, she was able to note what looked like a long, barbed tail that appeared to stretch out behind it at. What was far more noticeable was its long, narrow skull. With four huge orbital sockets, it no doubt had keen sight, but more disturbing were the massive tusks that jutted up from its jaw, surrounded by two rows of sharp teeth, each surpassing the length of her arm. Massive claws rested near its head. It was huge, and no doubt had been responsible for much of the mess in the corridor.
“Experiment 195,” Veral reported. “Land predator, quadruped with camouflage capabilities. It had a reinforced musculature and aerodynamic frame that would have allowed it to run at high speeds. It appeared to have been caught in this part of the ship during the crash. With the flooding, the emergency closure of the area would have made it impossible to escape. Without an energy source to hunt, it terminated.”
“Terminated, huh? That’s the first good news I’ve had all day,” Terri replied.
“I second that,” Azan said, a subtle shiver stealing over the pirate as they bypassed it.
She wasn’t the only one disturbed by the sight. The crew slowed, lagging behind, their reluctance to continue evident in every step they took. Even Egbor had eyed at it with concern before ordering his guard and a number of his crew to take point in defensive positions around him.
But he didn’t call a halt to the insanity.
The dread coiled within Terri sank deeper as they left the remains behind them. TheEvandrawas nothing less than death.
23
Veral was aware of every breath his mate took as the water steadily rose around them. Her eyes were flicking back and forth over the water, tension tightening the muscles of her limbs. There was nothing nearby; he would have sensed it cutting through the water as it approached, but he understood her instinctive need to remain alert. It was wise to be cautious.
The creature hunting within the water was not one to be underestimated. That it was confined to the water made it no less dangerous. Water was unpredictable at the best of times, but that the creature could hide within it and use the hazards of the flooded area against them was concerning.