***
Thomas and the others had followed the fire right up to the tarmac. They had had to back away a few times when the wind changed direction and blown the flames back toward them. The brush was barely alive, with a lot of dead, dry branches, so it had burned very hot and fast. It was also moving out in all directions, not just toward the spaceport. Thomas hoped it had killed a lot of those cursed creatures.
They made their way across the tarmac toward the ships, carefully watching for any signs of where Daemon and the women had gone. Alan checked the hatch to the transport ship and found no signs that anyone had used it recently, so they moved on. They were sure Daemon had come this way. Alan had found a hunting knife and one of Daemon’s bloody shirts at the edge of the tarmac. They split up to check the rest of the ships. If any of them found anything they would call for the others before going in the ship.
Arnold went for the two small yachts. He figured if nothing else he might find some booze left on one of them—he wasn’t afraid of some oversized bug. It took him a few minutes to find the hatch on the first yacht, and figure out how to open it. Arnold checked to see where Alan and Thomas were before shouldering his rifle and pulling his pistol. He only had four shots for his pistol but it fired a .50 caliber bullet. He cycled the hatch to open and stepped back. The machinery to open the door came to life sluggishly and slowly broke the airtight seal before pulling the door in and then sliding it to the side.
Arnold gave it a few minutes to air out some as he checked on the other two again. They were still looking around. Alan was walking toward a crashed military ship, and Thomas was checking some shuttles. Arnold entered the yacht and headed to where he thought the Bridge should be. It was only a two-hundred-ton ship so there wasn’t much passenger room inside. He passed through what he figured was the recreation area to a corridor that went in the direction of the front of the ship. The corridor had three doors, one on each side, and the third straight ahead at the end. He decided to check the two doors first to make sure nothing got in behind him. He never saw the door that went aft from the recreation area.
He opened the door on the left, holding his pistol ready. The room stank of decay, a cloud of dust billowing out into the corridor as the door slid into the wall. Arnold stepped back, coughing a little on the dust. He pulled a rag from his pack and wrapped it around his face before going back to see what was in the room. The only light was what was coming through the hatch and a few small portholes. The room was a sleeping cabin with a large bed taking up most of it. There were nightstands on both sides and a trunk at the foot. The room also had a desk and a couple of padded armchairs.
Arnold stepped in to get a better look around. A few dim light came on, illuminating the room in a hazy light.
Arnold checked the desk first and sure enough in the bottom right-hand drawer he found a bottle of scotch and two crystal glasses. He pulled out the bottle and one of the glasses. He cleaned the glass before pouring himself a double shot. The scotch had a smooth taste and felt like velvet sliding down his throat. The warmth of the alcohol spread out from his stomach, bringing a smile to his face. Next he went to check the nightstands, but before he did, he realized there was something under the covers on the bed.
He grabbed the end of the covers with one hand, aiming his pistol with the other, then slowly pulled the covers away to reveal the mummified remains of a man. Arnold pulled the covers all the way off, making sure there was nothing underneath but the corpse. Once he was sure, he turned his attention back to the nightstands and found nothing of interest. He found a variety of men’s clothing in the trunk but nothing he wanted to wear. He returned to the desk to collect the scotch and put it in his pack.
Arnold was smiling when he opened the door to the other room. This time he expected the dust so it didn’t bother him. The room was larger than the other, with more furniture and a small bar. Arnold wanted to go straight for the bar but he made himself check the bed first. The lights came on in this room as he entered just like the last but they were brighter in here. Arnold could see the outline of what he thought was another corpse on this bed. He went to the foot of the bed and pulled the covers down in one tug, instead of slowly. He stumbled back a few feet when he saw that the corpse was a woman and she was not mummified like the other one. In fact, she could’ve been sleeping, except for the fact that she wasn’t breathing. Her head was buried in a pile of pillows and the covers still lay on her legs from the knees down but what he could see was fantastic.
Arnold started to think of all the nasty things he could do to that body. He carefully inched closer and reached down to touch her thigh. Her skin was very soft and felt about room temperature. Arnold realized what she had to be: A companion robot! The rich bastard who owned this ship must have bought his own pleasure bot. Arnold couldn’t believe his luck. He could do all sorts of perverted stuff to her and she would always be ready and willing for more. He needed to figure out how to charge her up, but first a quick test run was in order.
Arnold excitedly stripped down, leaving on only his socks. He climbed on the bed slowly, caressing the robot’s body as he worked his way up. When he reached the pillows, he pushed them aside to reveal her beautiful face. She had high cheekbones and almond-shaped black eyes. Her hair was jet black and silky smooth. As Arnold brushed her hair off her face, he found two small horns at the corners of her forehead just above the hair line.
He thought they were odd things to have added to a sex bot.
He didn’t notice that her hands were moving or the fact she was breathing.
Arnold started kissing her soft full lips and became lost in his lustful dreams.
The succubus was fully awake now. Arnold’s perverse and lustful emotions had brought her out of her hibernation. Arnold was lucky in a way: Succubus feed primarily on the emotional energy of lust more than any other. She was satisfied to let him do as he pleased for now. The problem Arnold faced was that no human could last long enough to fully satisfy a succubus’s lustful desire. When he was done she still wanted more and was not going to let him go until she’d drained him of every bit of life energy he had.
This succubus had learned patience while she waited for someone to open the door and release her from her prison. She took her time and drained Arnold’s mind as well as his body. Her ability to use telepathy allowed her to learn everything Arnold knew. Her kind would be considered super-genius by human standards, so learning what little knowledge Arnold possessed didn’t take long. She wouldn’t consume the last of Arnold’s soul until she was sure he had nothing more to teach her, and even then she planned on taking as long as she could. His perversions pleased her and she was going to push him to his limits and beyond before drinking in that last bit of life energy he had.
Outside, Alan reached the military ship, and started checking the area for any signs of Daemon or the girls. His whole arm was tingling now as if it were asleep. He was sure he’d been poisoned and prayed that it didn’t spread any farther. Alan was nervous about being alone. He would have preferred to stay together as a group; it would have been slower but a lot safer.
Alan froze when he heard a noise come from inside the ship. It sounded like metal being dragged across metal. Alan slowly turned to where the sound was loudest just in time to hear a BANG. The noise scared him half out of his skin. He stumbled back away from the ship, but it was too late; the creature inside had felt his fear and now hungered for his terror. A huge claw pierced the armored hull of the ship as it dented outward.
Alan turned and ran toward where he’d left Thomas and Arnold, screaming the whole way.
As he came close to the other ships, the slumbering creatures inside were awakened by the taste of his fear. They all wanted him. It had been so long since they had eaten. Creatures of all shapes and sizes came pouring out of the ships.
Alan saw them and screamed even louder as he turned and ran across the tarmac toward the woods.
Thomas was more angry than scared. How could
that fool have been so stupid? First he gets attacked by the bug thing, now this.
Thomas’s anger saved him from the monsters; if he’d been afraid, they would have detected it and turned on him, too.
Thomas watched Alan run, wondering how far they’d let him get before they finally killed him. Thomas took another look around the area and decided there was no way the girls could have seen Alan and the creatures and not panicked and attracted the same attention. They couldn’t be near here. He turned to hike farther into the town to look. He didn’t care if he died as long as that wench that had killed his son died, too.
Escape from Endeavor Page 42