The Ancient Ones by David Brin

Author:David Brin [Brin, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-18T22:00:00+00:00

9.

“K eep moving,” said the guy jabbing a stake into my back.

It didn’t feel all that sharp - just a pointed stick. But I knew that the other end fit snugly into some kind of arbalest or shooting device, capable of propelling the shaft with considerable force. Anyway, a weapon that could terminate a blood-sucking vampire was surely powerful enough to inconvenience a poor Earthman, stranded on a strange - make that bizarre - alien world.

Nor did I feel much protected by the crowd surrounding us, in a huge and garishly-lit casino.

“Don’t try to draw attention,” growled my captor, prodding me through a bustle of tourists and gamblers, thronging the lobby of the Golden Palace - willing victims in a commercial version of the predatory “lifestyle” that pervaded this planet.

Still, even as the fellow shoved me forward, I gave the crowd another quick scan for a pair of figures - two “recent” zombies who had been my only friends, so far, here on Oxytocin 41c. But if I really had glimpsed Sully and Moulder dressed as hotel bellboys, there was no sight of them now. Instead, I nearly got trampled by a cluster of lycanthrope families, on holiday, gnashing their tusks and baying at scantily-dressed succubi. Beyond them, a row of dapper dracula-types stood transfixed before flashing slot machines, pulling coin after glittering coin out of their silken capes to keep feeding those fanged, mechanical maws.

I guess everybody has a weakness, I pondered, feeling a bit detached. There’s only so much a nervous system can take before going numb. Mine had been pummeled by every variety of undead creature imaginable, and now this poke in the spine sent me stumbling toward a curtain that partly concealed a narrow side door, no wider than a broom closet, where things were sure to get no better.

“Open it and get inside,” commanded the trench-coated figure propelling me along. Indeed, it turned out to be lined with mops and buckets and cleaning supplies. As soon as the first door closed behind us, my captor came around, still leveling the weapon at me, to pull three times on one of the wall hooks. A secret panel slid aside, revealing a new hallway.

“Where’s a cop when you need one?” I murmured, quite tired of being pushed around, ever since I slurried down to this benighted world.

“Funny you should mention that. I am the police. And you are under arrest.”

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