Chapter Nine
Sneaking into the ship had been easy. The man had opened the ramp and gone inside. The alien had wasted no time in crawling inside. It had moved quickly and had hidden itself before the man had even turned around.
The man had exited a few moments earlier and it was left by itself. There had been a rumble and the creature felt as if it were floating. The sensation soon passed and it found it could move easily.
It would wait for the man to come back.
Trevor sighed with relief at the sight of so many stars. He had escaped with his life, and now the only thing that worried him was cancer. But even that seemed unimportant at the moment. For the time being he would think about Earth. Home. In a few minutes he should go crawl into a hypersleep chamber and sleep the rest of the trip.
He unbuckled his harness and climbed out of his chair. The course had been set and the cargo ship would return to Earth, three weeks from now. Trevor was already looking forward to the long sleep. He just prayed he wouldn't have nightmares.
The alien sensed movement. The human was returning. Now was the time to kill it and be done with it.
Trevor left the cockpit and entered the area of the small craft where three cryo-tubes sat, waiting. He went to the nearest tube and tapped for a few seconds on the keypad built into it. With a hiss, the tube slid open. Three weeks. Just as he was about ready to climb into the tube, he heard a hiss. He knew it wasn't mechanical this time.
Even as Trevor was turning around to look behind him, he knew exactly what he would see. Dark, sleek body. Elongated skull with a set of killing teeth. The long, agile tail. He stared it directly in the face. Again it hissed, and revealled its inner mouth which began extending slowly from the creature's open jaws.