Peril in Paradise by Zanne Raby

Author:Zanne Raby [Raby, Zanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zanne Raby

CHAPTER 18

Is this a dagger which I see before me?

–SHAKESPEARE

2089 CE—The planet Cepheus-9

The viscous mud sucked at Daniel’s boots. With each footstep, a squelching pop filled the air. The sticky clay tried to drag him into its slimy brown embrace and dogged him on his journey across the sodden field. Under the driving rain, Daniel shrugged deeper into his jacket and shook his head at the sight of his two sons running ahead, jumping with wild abandon into puddles and splashing each other with no regard to the downpour.

A drop of water rolled along Daniel’s forehead, across his brow and tumbled down his nose. The hat was doing no good and his rain jacket was just as wet inside as it was outside. Checking his sodden wristcuff, he scanned for incoming messages.

Damn… nothing… where is she? he wondered, hoping that this inspection had been cancelled. That the alarm was a monsoon-inspired mistake.

Water spilled from the brim of his hat and Daniel tugged it down just as Lewis raced up to him. His eldest son skidded to a halt in a little hollow, sending a shower of filthy water splashing over Daniel. With a repentant look on his face, the young teen stuck out his hand as Daniel brushed the muck from his pants.

“Sorry Dad…” he said apologetically, “but look what I got.”

Opening his palm, a mass of brown specks began to wriggle, and some of the little creatures started to crawl across his hand.

“Magnify,” Daniel ordered his visor. “Strange,” he mumbled, peering at the tiny critters. Grabbing one of the diminutive hexapods between his fingers, Daniel turned it over for a closer look.

Brown and bean-shaped, the beastie flailed its articulated legs helplessly under his inspection. A distinctly pock-marked head bore a set of two segmented antennae above a pair of bulbous eyes. The elytra on its exoskeleton were lined with tiny hair-like setae which opened to display a pair of iridescent purple underwings.

“You know what? This looks like a Tagarian Flea Beetle. But it can’t be…”

“I remember them from Urkyn,” the teen replied as his brother came racing across the water-logged field. “They infested the grain, and we had a big bonfire to kill them off.”

“We gonna have a fire, Dad?” Max asked with all the enthusiasm of a nine-year-old. Water sprayed from Daniel as he shook his head and Max grunted in disappointment. “Those bugs are crawling all over the plants,” the youngster added, pointing to the squirming captive that his father held by the wings, “and check out what they did to ‘em.”

A sprig of greenery was shoved at his father and Daniel’s eyes dilated at the sight of the ravaged plants, scarred from the battle waged with the noxious non-native pest. His face was set into a grim frown as he examined the floppy green leaves; ragged gashes punctured their wrinkled blades, and their puckered edges were shredded and torn. Daniel shoved a few of the leaves deep into the pockets of his rain jacket, then threw the remnants of the plants into the mud before searching again for his boss.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.