The First Nova I See Tonight by Jason Kilgore

Author:Jason Kilgore [Kilgore, Jason]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-31T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

GRIMMAG RUBY-EYE

Grimmag Ruby-Eye was the largest Eridani Dirken had ever seen. Like others of his species, he was basically a giant maggot with a wide, tubular body that wobbled as if filled with jelly, but he was taller than a human and as long as four people laying head-to-toe. Grimmag moved up to the dais with a caterpillar-like series of movements, his rolls of semi-transparent white skin rolling and undulating. Green and blue organs and bluish vessels were half-visible beneath, moving on their own and pumping. A line of breathing orifices as wide as a fist dotted each side of his body every half-meter or so, opening and closing independent of one another.

But his face was the most striking. Eridani don't have heads, per se, but rather a flattened front with four black, faceted eyes in a semicircle over a round mouth the size of a dinner platter that opened and closed like a sphincter. One of Grimmag's eyes had been replaced with a gigantic red, cut ruby. A jagged, gray scar ran through the eye around it. Arranged around his mouth were four white, octopus-like tentacles that waved in front of him. Dirken had heard they weren't just for touch, but also acted to "smell" the air or "taste" surfaces like the antennae of insects. On each side of his massive head were two bulbous, black ear pads.

Dirken gulped and made a conscious effort to steady himself instead of bolting.

Behind Grimmag marched a line of four servants with slave collars. The don stopped in the middle of the dais, then the Morlani stepped up next to him as the lyrophone music and singing came to an end. Their part finished, the Gogonoian and the albino human woman stepped down from the dais and took up positions on either side of the entrance to the back tunnel.

Grimmag spoke. It was like nothing Dirken had ever heard. From Grimmag's mouth came a wet sloshing and grumbling, which was joined by high-pitched punctuations — farts and whistles — that came from the breathing orifices on his sides.

The Morlani translated. "I am impressed with the returns from your hard work, my noble lords. Profits are up. Sales of Black Hole and Eros's Finger have increased nearly 10-fold in three systems. And our control over the Rigellian moons has been consolidated. Applaud yourselves."

The drug lords in the room clapped as ordered.

How the Morlani could possibly translate such a weird menagerie of sounds was beyond Dirken.

Grimmag continued, via his interpreter, "We must also celebrate recent in-roads for our trade on Corthos and the surrounding systems. 'Torac'mik'ac, step forward."

The Corthian with the palladium foil-tipped feathers strutted forward on her long, stork-like legs decorated with gold talons and ribbons. She gave an elaborate bow, then clacked in her language. A filigreed translator necklace translated her speech to say, "It is my pleasure to serve my don."

"You have distinguished yourself as a resourceful associate," Grimmag said, citing the title of a trusted mafia member. "You created a

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