The Last Symbiotes 3: Living Starship by King Dante

Author:King, Dante
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-01-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Like Naara had promised, a small chamber opened up just inside the main entrance of the vault. It was accessed by a sliding door. This door must have had a gene-lock of some description, which read and recognized symbiote DNA, because it slid open when Naara pressed her hand to a panel.

Once they were inside, the airlock had sealed behind them, and Decker had removed his mask, Naara took him by the sleeve and pulled him over to a couch that lay across one wall. It was filled with a foam that was at once supportive and as yielding and comfortable as down. Decker found himself letting out an old man sigh despite himself.

“You’re weary?” Naara asked.

Decker gave her a laconic grin. “I think that’s just my ground state of being these days.”

Naara bit her lip. Her eyes were large, and there was a serious aspect to her. Decker thought she looked preoccupied.

“You’re feeling okay? After the fight, I mean?” he asked. “I saw you were a bit shaken up and…”

Naara shook her magnificent head. “It was not the fighting that affected me so.”

“No?”

“No,” the symbiote of heat and fire said. “no, it was more to do with… Well, with you, Captain Decker.”

Decker’s eyes narrowed in puzzlement. “Me?”

“Yes.”

“In what capacity?”

“In the capacity of being a human male, I suppose,” Naara said. “You see, after you left, the other symbiotes filled me in on a few things. They explained the surge of chemicals and the rush of sensations and… Well, they told me that… That men are a little like… Boots.”

Decker gave her a blank look. It was not a hard thing to do. His face mirrored his mind.

“Boots,” he repeated.

Naara nodded emphatically.

“Yes, males are a little like boots apparently,” she said.

“Uh, why?” He felt like he was trying to tread water, only with no legs.

“It was, I thought, a very good analogy, so far as these things go.”

“Uh-huh,” Decker said.

“You see, males, like boots, can be beneficial.”

“Right.”

“But mainly… They are nice to look at,” Naara said, speaking like one who had carefully memorized something she heartily agreed with.

Decker opened his mouth. Decker closed his mouth. Then he opened it again and said, “Naara, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Naara held up a hand. “You see, the others explained that getting the, ah, the right one could be a lovely accessory to an outfit, yes? And there are times when you literally could not complete certain tasks without them. And then there are times when you’d rather do without them all together.”

Yeah, I suppose that sounds about right so far, Decker conceded, though he didn’t say anything in case he interrupted and they had to start this whole thing again. Still, as confused as he might have been, he had to admit that it was nice not having his mask and breather on.

He inspected the faceplate on his helmet as Naara took a moment to marshal her thoughts. The scratch that the automaton had put across it was deep and almost perfectly at eye level.

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.