Beneath the Neon Sky by Alex Scarrow

Author:Alex Scarrow [Scarrow, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B00AHG4H7E
Publisher: Grrr Books
Published: 2012-12-22T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

Jez spotted the shuttle a hundred yards away from where Ellie had parked the cat earlier that afternoon. From the black and white strip across the wings and the tail-fin, illuminated by landing lights, she could see it was a marshal’s ship.

What’s a city marshal doing out here?

Her first instinct had been to lay low inside the module she was in and see what was going on. She snapped off the torch and watched with growing curiosity through a scuffed, sand-blasted porthole as several torch beams flickered across the cat. She saw the silhouette of someone leaning forward to look inside the plexitex blister. The thought occurred to her that maybe something awful had happened to Ellie’s family, or perhaps Aaron, and the police had arrived to bring the girls the news.

But then as the torch beams flickered around and across one of the men, she saw he was carrying a weapon.

That’s not good.

She felt a cold thread of fear weave across her chest.

It was quiet out there, silent. The men - she counted six of them - began to move with a steady purpose towards the colony’s buildings. She wondered how they could have arrived without either her or Ellie hearing the roar of the shuttle’s engines. They must have cut them on approach and glided down stealthily. That was why it was parked so far away from the cat…to ensure even the un-powered thud of touchdown on the hard-baked clay wouldn’t be heard.

As the dark forms drew nearer she could hear their voices. They spoke quietly and intermittently. Although she couldn’t hear yet what they were saying, the intonation sounded foreign; they had off-world accents.

A torch beam flickered momentarily across the small porthole she was looking through and she quickly ducked out of sight, hoping that her sudden movement had not attracted any attention. Moments later she heard the rattle of footsteps up an entrance ramp and onto the metal grated floor, echoing down inside the colony structure towards her.

Freg, they’re looking inside!

The footsteps grew louder and more numerous as it seemed all six shadowy figures had entered the interior. After a few moments they came to a halt. Jez guessed they were in the very next module to the one she was cowering in.

‘So, they’re in here somewhere,’ said a voice muted by an oxygen mask, a softly spoken man. From the gentle tone of it, someone used to giving unquestioned orders. He didn’t sound like a law marshal. ‘Alright, let’s not mess around here. Shoot them on sight, do you understand?’

She heard the murmur of assent from the others.

The softly spoken one continued more quietly. ‘As soon as you’ve got their samples, Nathan….I want you to take them back, along with the Quin family tissue samples and prep them for testing. We’ll take the first flight off this cruddy planet as soon as we’re done here.’

The footsteps resumed again, growing louder as the men swept down the short connecting conduit towards her module.

Oh crud.

Jez scrambled

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