The Arachnid: New Eden - book 2 by Kishore Tipirneni

Author:Kishore Tipirneni [Tipirneni, Kishore]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780578724522
Publisher: Tipirneni Software LLC.
Published: 2020-11-12T22:00:00+00:00

The gathering was tame considering that it was one of Vinod’s parties. The scientific team and Ted sat around a table drinking Grey Goose with various mixers. There was, of course, the constant blast of classic rock coming from Vinod’s Bluetooth speaker, which played “More Than a Feeling” by Boston.

The group was physically and emotionally exhausted from the events of the past several days and was in a reflective but celebratory mood.

“I can’t believe we beat that thing,” Ted said, his right hand holding a bloody Mary with Tabasco.

“It was a group effort,” Joshua said. “We couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help. But Ted, you got the ball rolling by getting that thing to chase you into the garage. That’s courage with a capital C.”

“I’ve outrun a lot of wildlife in my days,” Ted said with a laugh. “Mostly gators, plus a few nutria and wild hogs. And I didn’t want to waste all the money the Navy invested in my training.”

Liz looked down at the table, a somber expression on her face. “Well, I didn’t do much of anything. I wish I’d realized that the helium was filling the third floor before I passed out.”

“Come on, Liz,” Vinod said, holding her hand. “You kidding me? You were a huge help. If it wasn’t for you coming up with that formaldehyde idea, that thing would still be alive. Everything we did was because of you.”

“Besides,” Joshua added, “your most important contribution may be yet to come. Looks like you’re going to be in charge of studying the dead arachnid. There are still seven more of those things running around, and you have to find out what makes them tick. Can you imagine trying to do what we did seven more times?”

Vinod shook his head. “Jesus, Josh, you really are a buzz kill sometimes. Can’t we just have one night to celebrate still being alive? Come on, man. We did a fucking unbelievable job. All of us, including Porter.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Rachael said, raising her glass.

The others clinked their glasses against hers and drank.

“Hey, I have another toast,” Ted said. “To all my brothers that paid the ultimate sacrifice.” His voice cracked with emotion as he thought of all the men he had lost. “We’re all indebted to them.”

Tears formed in Rachael’s eyes as she thought of the fallen soldiers. She raised her glass a second time. “To the seals.”

The group sat in silence as they contemplated those who had not been as lucky as they. They all knew they were fortunate to be alive since killing the arachnid had entailed far more danger than they had anticipated.

“I’m going to call it a night,” Ted said. “My shoulder’s still pretty sore, and I’m tired.”

“Gonna miss you, Tabasco,” Vinod said. “We’re flying to Berkeley tomorrow, and you’re going to be on the other side of the country.”

“Same here,” Ted replied. “Y’all my people. Make sure you keep in touch. I want to know what you find out about the arachnid.”

“Absolutely,” Joshua said.

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.