Realizing I haven't written in almost a year ... Sorry readers, I have no excuse - I've been lazy. So I sat down today and wrote you a little teaser of what's to come.
Please Enjoy!
Chapter 25: Teaser
Twisting, with only enough time to see leather fluttering, his Matron and twin disappeared through the archway. The news his brother brought barely registered and the fact this revelation had momentarily prolonged his life offered no joy. Turning back to the abyss above, he closed his eyes and struggled to breathe.
The wound on his chest pulsed, oozing and bubbling between every gulp of air. Barbed tentacles from the Queen's feeding orifice sliced deep into tissue, routing past his ribs and into the cavity beneath. With remnants of the drug still circulating, his body was sluggish to regenerate the damaged arteries and so, he lay with his wrists stretched above his head, flesh bitten raw by his inevitable struggle with the metal cuffs.
Dully, he noted rumble of the hyperdrive but beyond the engine's humming, there was only silence. The isolation tugged at him, driving him farther away from his Matron's audience chamber and deeper into melancholy.
XXX
John left his office with the skin between his shoulder blades itching. Reaching back, he scratched the spot and finished the motion by running his hand through the unruly shock of hair adorning his head. Off kilter since breakfast, Jennifer's grey stare haunted him through his self-imposed isolation of paperwork. Black letters on a white background offered a momentary distraction to the matters dogging his thoughts until he shuffled through his reports and came across one in particular. Purposely oblique on the whole Genii prison, John couldn't help but read and re-read his words – recalling the details hidden between the lines of text he dared not share.
Woolsey had asked him about the events, wanting more detail than John had provided, and John had been just as evasive in that interview. 'Off the record' Richard had said. The assurance gnawed at John's conscious and, distractedly nodding at a fellow expedition member, John's chest tightened as he approached Richard Woolsey's office.
Wavering, John paused in front of Woolsey's door, his knees twitching with the urge to pass by. With a slow breath, John raised his hand and lowered his head as if averting his vision would somehow lessen the blow to his ego. Where the frosted glass ended, a pair of sensible black pumps was visible.
'Nothing good can come of that,' John thought and sharply withdrew his fist before he could rap on the door.
XXX
Clinging to the transporter's metal wall, Jennifer gulped. The pieces to her manufactured life were falling back into place far too easily. Brady's comment about signing the papers this morning meant someone had already lobbied on her behalf but she couldn't decide who in this cast of characters would have done so. Suspicion congealing in her gullet, the lump managed to wedge itself into the back of her throat, threatening to choke the air from her lungs.
The transporter door opened on the dormitory level and escape to her quarters was only a few steps away when her ear comm crackled. Ignoring the tones signaling a private message, she headed toward her room. The chimes sounded twice more - insistent she respond. Annoyed, Jennifer reached to remove the comm from her ear but hesitated. What if it's important? Inwardly debating the importance of the call, she could always claim she had been asleep in her quarters but guilt overrode her apprehension and, grimacing, Jennifer keyed the control dangling behind her ear.
"This is Dr. Keller."
"Jen." Woolsey's voice invaded her ear with a clipped tone. "We need to talk. My office. Now."
XXX
Holding a snarl behind a row of exposed teeth, anger roiled in the depths of Todd's bowels, hot and visceral. Crouching, he waited for the opportunity to pounce.
Lips curling into a smirk, the Scientist eyed Todd's position before pushing off the support. Slinking forward, the wraith halted at the corpse separating the two, tapping the dead Second with the tip of his boot. "Do not think to challenge me, your crew has been immobilized and the ship secured, though it seems I owe you my gratitude." The lilt in the Scientist's voice mocked Todd's fury as the wraith indicated the carcass of the Second with his chin. "She detests when I dispatch one of her agents."
The cavalier comment prickled Todd's skin, the air in his lungs thickening into sludge as 'She' reverberated down his spine.
Clearly, the Scientist relished Todd's response to his revelation. Almost giddy, he raised his head as if sniffing the air and breathed, "Ah, she has already boarded."