Inseminoid (9 page)

Karl was exhilarated. His heart pounded rapidly and he could almost feel his blood flowing through his veins. “And that,” he said aloud to the creature, “is more than can be said about you.” Any fatigue he might have experienced earlier had passed.

Holly ran into the lab with Mitch not far behind. Both were out of breath from the sprint across the complex.

“Karl,” Holly rushed towards him, “Sandy told me what happened. Can it be true?”

He nodded. “The Thing became agitated when it became aware of food and when I put the meat near its mouth it salivated like a rabid dog.”

“Then it confirms what’s written on the tablets,” Mitch interjected. “That this species, whatever it is, had a voracious appetite.”

“Mitch, have you figured out the script?” Karl asked quickly.

The professor shook his head. “Yes and no. I was up with the tablets until the middle of the night. For a while there, I thought I had it, but suddenly the characters changed and it became an entirely different language. Another level of communication took over. After that initial breakthrough it looks like I’m back where I started.”

Karl sipped his now-cold cup of coffee. “Keep with it, Mitch, because that’s probably our best link with this thing, this creature we have here.”

Just then, Sandy reappeared rolling a serving trolley towards her colleagues. She’d brought raw steaks, eggs, loaves of bread and a small frozen chicken. “Is this enough for now?” she asked.

Karl gave her collection a quick once-over. “Fine, Sandy. That’ll do nicely.” He picked up one of the raw steaks. It was blood-red. “Now—Holly and Mitch—I want you both to watch this. Move in closer so you can get a good idea of what’s going on.”

He lifted the steak above the creature’s head in much the same way as before with the sausage, teasing it, dangling the steak inches from its mouth. “Look at the way he gets worked up and starts spewing out liquid.”

They watched the restraining straps.

“I’m glad they’re tight,” Holly remarked.

Mitch agreed with her. “So am I.”

Finally Karl let the meat slip out of his hand into the creature’s mouth. It had no more difficulty finishing the tougher steak than the sausage.

“That’s wonderful,” exclaimed Mitch. “But look how it tries to get free. It seems to be getting stronger.”

“It does, doesn’t it,” Holly added thoughtfully. “Karl, he’s your baby but maybe you should hold off giving it any more food. Right now it’s manageable. I wouldn’t want to start something we aren’t able to finish. After all, we don’t know anything about this monster’s origins. Let’s keep it weak at least for the time being.”

Karl promised he would.

“I’ve got to get back to command. Let me know immediately if there’s any change.”

“Of course.”

With that, Holly left and Mitch followed her out.

Alone once again with his assistant, Karl put his arm affectionately around Sandy and drew her close. “I never expected to find life here. This was supposed to be just another archaeological expedition. Just like the last half-dozen I’ve been on. A chance like this doesn’t come often.”

Sandy didn’t mind being held tightly by Karl. “I know how you feel. Just being here when it came alive! I was watching a hidden part of the universe unfold before my eyes.”

Karl quickly forgot his promise to Holly. He couldn’t resist one last experiment with food. “So far we’ve fed it soft meat. Even the steak wasn’t a challenge. How about the frozen chicken? Do you think those choppers of his could do anything with that?”

“Don’t get carried away, Karl.”

“Don’t be silly.” He picked up the fowl from the tray. This time he fed the creature without teasing it. The teeth began grinding immediately, biting right through the solid flesh and bone as if it had been overcooked instead of frozen. The sound reminded Karl of an old-fashioned buzz-saw he’d seen on display in an Earth museum. Less than a minute later the creature had finished it off.

“That’s enough for now,” he decided. “It’s time to stop playing around with our friend and to begin some serious testing.”

Sandy took his hand. “Uh, uh,” she said, “you’re getting some proper sleep. You were up for most of the night. How about taking a few hours off and relaxing?”

Karl looked at his watch. “Maybe you’re right. It’s nine-thirty. I’ll rest until lunch then get down to work. You want to join me in bed?”

“Hmm, an invitation worth considering, but you won’t sleep if I’m there.”

“Yes, that’s what I mean.”

“Nope,” she said firmly. “We have a long time together. After all we just started the rotation. There’ll be lots more time for playing.”

Karl drew Sandy to him. “Promise?”

“I promise,” she said and kissed him lightly on the lips. “Now get out of here. You left a mess from last night and I’ve got a good couple of hours cleaning up after you.”

He started to reach for some papers on his desk, but Sandy grabbed his arm. “No! I said
sleep!
Don’t take your work to bed with you.”

“You win. Let me just move our friend back to his corner.”

He rolled the slab to the other side of the room, switched off the overhead light and went through the portal.

“Call me if you need me.”

“Go!” Sandy shouted out the order.

She immediately began to clean up the lab. Half-filled beakers with spent chemical solutions and used test tubes were scattered around the room. Anything she wasn’t sure of, she lined up on one of the examination tables. She was careful not to dispose of anything that Karl might still need. Then she picked up the many computer programs that littered the doctor’s desk, trying her best to put them in some sort of order. Karl may have been a damn good doctor and biologist, but as far as Sandy was concerned, he kept a pretty sloppy laboratory.

After a good three quarters of an hour of cleaning, organising and scrubbing, she stood back with sponge in hand to survey the results of her effort. “Bet it won’t stay long like this,” she muttered.

Making one final check she noticed a chemical spill she hadn’t seen before on the table next to the beakers. She rubbed at it hard but in her exuberance her hand slipped and knocked over a beaker, spilling its pink liquid across the table and on to her white lab coat.

“Shit!” Sandy quickly removed her coat and her gloves. “Oh hell, it’s gone through to my clothes.” She stripped down to her bra and panties. Suddenly and for pretty much the first time since Karl left she remembered the creature in the dark corner of the room lying strapped to the examination table. In her present state of undress she felt exposed. “Don’t be stupid,” she told herself. “It’s just like being naked in the same room as a pet dog or cat.” She turned her back to the creature and went to the sink to wash all traces of the chemical from her skin.

Sandy was towelling her hands dry when the feeling that someone or something was watching her every move came over her. She turned around slowly. From the dark corner the creature’s head was turned towards her and its pupilless eyes seemed to glow, very much like a cat’s in the night.

With the towel still in her hands, Sandy walked over to the slab. The strange Being was remarkably calm and she began looking at it in detail. Then for no apparent reason it opened its mouth. She drew back a step. Its claws started once again to push against the leather bonds.

Sandy switched on the overhead light to get a better look. She knew Karl wouldn’t have approved of her being so near the creature but she couldn’t control her curiosity.

It lay a foot from where she stood. Sandy was intrigued by it. She’d even forgotten she was still holding the towel. She let her gaze roam over its body and fall on what Karl had said was probably its sexual organ. A pair of foot-long rods joined at the crotch were covered with a slick foreskin that continually rolled forward and back. The rolling action on each rod appeared independent of the other.

A thought fleeted briefly through her mind and she shuddered. “When I start imagining things like that it’s time I lined up a good shrink. Wow, wait till I tell Karl that one!”

Her curiosity now satisfied, Sandy reached to kill the light but she suddenly caught a movement in the corner of her eye. She stopped and looked down at the creature. Its head was only inches from her large breasts. It had once again become agitated, straining at the straps, its claws dug into the foam rubber mattress.

“I’d better get out of here,” she said finally. She switched off the light and returned to her work. But the Being’s eyes followed her and a low rumbling noise came from its depths.

It was dark in the corner where the creature lay, so Sandy didn’t see its mouth open and the yellow liquid begin to spurt. Its strength was returning. It rocked back and forth on the table. Slowly at first, then with an ever-increasing intensity. Picking up speed like a boulder careering down a mountain, the creature moved the entire table from side to side. And then it crashed into the wall. The noise sent a shock wave through Sandy. She spun around.

“Oh, my God!” she cried, yet she was glued to the spot watching the frenzied Being. “Oh my God, I’ve got to get to Karl.”

Before she could move a step the creature tore off the leather bonds as if they’d been made of tissue paper and rolled on to the floor letting out a deafening roar. It had its freedom!

In trying to make it to the door Sandy stumbled backwards. And that delay—however slight—was all the thing needed. In one long massive leap across the room it was on top of her, its lobster-like claws holding her hands and feet apart. She tried desperately to fight back but she was no match for the creature and mercifully lost consciousness. Her senses were being spared what was yet to come.

When the creature saw she was no longer struggling, it released its grip on her and with a curiosity of its own began examining the young woman spread beneath it on the floor. Suddenly and without warning it flung itself on to Sandy and dug its sharp teeth into her bare shoulder. Blood trickled down her arm from the wound. A moan came from within her but the creature was oblivious to all but one thing. Its tongue lashed out and whipped back into its mouth taking with it a sample of the woman’s blood. It stared at her belly then its eyes fell lower. A claw grabbed the elastic of her panties and ripped through the flimsy material.

With unrestrained fervor the creature inserted one of its sexual organs into her womanhood, pushing the long thin member deeper and deeper, and ejaculated into her. Then the second organ penetrated and ejaculated in the same way.

The creature rose from her body, a body now covered in greasy yellow saliva. The fluid was on Sandy’s face, her breasts and it ran down her thighs.

The Being broke for the door, leaving Sandy on the floor in a pool of muck. But the doorway was sealed. The creature propelled itself against the portal until with a final burst of strength it smashed through. Stopping only to get its bearings now and again, it moved slowly and cautiously down the long lonely corridor.

In the command centre Kate was watching the monitors when she caught a blur an one of the screens.

“Holly, can you come over here?” she called. There was urgency in her voice.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know. I think I saw something flash on to the number two corridor scanner.”

“Something? Well, what did it look like?” Holly asked, coming over to the battery of screens set into the control panel.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t make it out.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t Karl dashing around like he usually does?”

Kate shook her head. “It wasn’t Karl. Wait a second, let me punch up corridor two’s second scanner. Maybe we can pick something up at the other end of the runway.”

Kate pushed the button. The picture went black, then returned. But there was nothing visible except the empty corridor.

“What’s that?” Holly asked suddenly. “In the corner of the screen.”

“It wasn’t there a second ago. Maybe it’s a speck of dirt on the lens.”

“It doesn’t look like dirt to me. Enlarge the picture. Blow it up by three—no, make it four—times.”

Kate turned a dial and the picture expanded.

The object moved ever so slightly. “I didn’t think that was a speck of dirt. That’s the end of a claw! Swing the camera around.”

Kate put the camera on a 180-degree rotation. There was nothing out of the ordinary until suddenly the screen went dark.

Holly pressed herself against the control panel. “Punch up the lab scanner and quick!”

A woman’s body flashed on to the screen.

“It’s Sandy!” Kate shouted.

“And the creature’s gone! That’s what we saw in the corridor. Somehow it’s escaped.”

Kate looked up at Holly but the commander’s attention was riveted to the screen. Something was coming into view. It was out of focus but Holly had no doubt what it was. She pounded her fist on to the emergency alarm switch setting off a shrill intermittent siren. The creature leapt into view. It appeared confused, not knowing which way to go. Its head rolled back and seemed to be staring at the ceiling.

Holly picked up the microphone and threw a switch on the audio console that opened every speaker in the system. “We’ve got a Code-Red Emergency. The creature has escaped from the lab and it’s trapped in corridor two. I’m remoting the hatch locks to keep it confined. Gary and Kate, I want you to head down there immediately. Don’t take any unnecessary chances. Destroy it if you have to.”

Just then the professor stormed into Command. “What happened? How did it get loose?” Mitch wanted to know.

“It’s free and it’s attacked Sandy.”

“Is she hurt badly?” Mitch asked.

“Can’t tell. I only picked it up on the lab scanner.”

“I’m going down there.” he said, heading towards the door.

“No! I forbid it! Your responsibility on the mission is academic. Kate and Gary are trained for this eventuality. They know how to handle it.”

“Holly, I’ve got to be there.”

Mitch didn’t wait for an answer. He knew he was disobeying orders but it was too important for him to stay behind. Holly had other, more pressing things on her mind and figured she’d deal with Mitch later. After all, the mission was taking place mostly because of his association with it and his eminence in the field of intergalactic archaeology.