Feed. It was that word that loosed Ash from the shocked stupor. He yelled in terror and ported out of the room so wildly he hit off the corridor ceiling and fell in a flailing heap, scrabbling to put his back against the wall. What the hell was that?
He clapped a hand to his chest and brought it away wet with blood; a convulsive glance downwards showed him a deep, raw wound just below his collarbone with an odd symmetrical pattern of tiny scratches on either side. Feed. It had injected him with something, he could feel it, a dizzy head-rush that set his heart thumping. Or maybe it's thumping because something just tried to eat me.
He brushed away a Fetcher that was trying to investigate the wound, and sent it off to fetch others. This was going to need some careful thought.
The creature was aware of him immediately when he reappeared; the slight twitch of its head warned him. He stayed out of arm's reach this time, uncomfortably conscious of the thing's right hand slowly clenching and unclenching by its side. His own voice was barely more than a whisper.
"What did you inject into me?"
For a long moment it seemed as if the creature was not going to respond, then it let out a short sigh. "An enzyme, it won't cause any... lasting damage."
"What do you mean, no lasting damage, you were trying to eat me!"
"I was trying to feed on you."
"What's the difference?"
The dry hiss of laughter again. "Come over here ...I'll show you." It turned its yellow eyes towards him, angling its head slightly from side to side in a curiously insectile gesture. Triangulating my position.
"You were badly injured," Ash said. "You must try not to move."
"I must feed. If I feed, I will heal," the creature stated flatly, blinking. Ash sent a Snoop hovering in for a closer look, and saw that while one of the creature's pupils still gaped wide, the other was a thread-thin line bisecting the yellow iris. Suspicion solidified into certainty: occipital trauma. He hunkered down, more confident now.
"You can't see, can you?"
The creature snarled at that and flung its right hand desperately out towards the sound of his voice, trying to drag itself closer. Ash saw the contorted face blanch bone-white as the sudden movement twisted its broken leg; the thing uttered an odd mewling cry, and fainted.
It was probably just as well. Ash hauled the unresponsive body into a sitting position with the help of a posse of Fetchers, and positioned himself behind it with his arms wrapped round its torso so that the unconscious creature was propped against him with its head lolled back on his shoulder, water still dribbling from the rats'-tails of white hair that flopped across his face. Ash had sent a Snoop ahead to warm up the Tank; he seriously doubted that he could port this thing successfully if it was trying to kill him at the time. With a head injury, he wasn't keen to try sedating it, so this little window of opportunity was it. He'd port them both directly into the Tank, supervise the Snoops and Fetchers while they secured it and prepped it for surgery, then port out and leave them to it.
He spat another strand of wet hair off his lips, and sighed. I am really not getting paid enough for this.