Menace from the Past by E. C. Tubb

Author:E. C. Tubb [Tubb, E. C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780575107373
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2014-04-30T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER VIII

FENRIS stood in the centre of the room and his cold eyes flickered from one to the other of the watching men. He frowned, staring down at the crumpled thing at his feet, and fought the rising tide of nausea churning his stomach.

“What is it?” Setter gulped as he wiped sweat from his face and neck. “What is that thing?”

“That was Hammond,” said Fenris quietly. He stooped over the crumpled heap and forced himself to examine the flaccid ruin of what had once been a man. Carefully he touched the paper-white skin, lifted one limp arm, and letting it fall with a soggy thud to the metal of the floor. He rose, and his face was tense and strained, his eyes like chips of frozen steel, and when he spoke his voice was like the rasping of files on adamantine steel.

“What did this? What strange energy has done this to a man?”

“What has happened to him?” Branson leaned forward as he stared at the thing on the floor. Fenris stared at the big Captain, then at the thin faced little man, finally at the rest of the crew.

“Something has dissolved the bones in Hammond’s body,” he said tightly. “He was dying when he came in here, his limbs unable to support his weight, his skull collapsing on his brain, his chest caving inwards on his lungs and heart. Look at him! A bag of skin filled with flesh and blood, but no bone, not a single vestige of bone. Something has dissolved them and I want to know what that something is!”

Silence returned, weighted with menace and unspoken horror. A man licked his lips and cleared his throat with a nervous sound.

“I think that he went back there.” He jerked his head towards the rear of the ship, the section holding the mysterious Gorgons. “I seem to remember that he said something about finding a way in.”

“Did any of you see him come out?” Fenris stared at them, his lips thinned to a tight line across his teeth. “Does anyone know for certain that the Gorgons are responsible for this?”

They shifted as they stared at each other but no one spoke.

“Fetch the girl,” snapped the tall adventurer. “We’ll get to the bottom of this thing now.”

He stared at the white-faced girl as she entered, Jarl standing at her side, and she cowered a little at the sight of his stern features.

“You can contact the Gorgons?” He stared at her and slowly she nodded.

“At times I seem to be able to contact them, but mostly they ignore me, only using me as a means of communication with you.” Her eyes drifted to the horror in the centre of the room, and Fenris stepped forward, shielding the sight from her gaze.

“Try now,” he said. “Try and contact them. I must speak with them, it is important.”

She nodded, and closed her eyes, her pale face taking on an even deeper pallor as she concentrated. Abruptly she moaned, swaying a little and resting her hands against her temples.

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