The Earthling's Daughter by Daniel Arenson

Author:Daniel Arenson [Arenson, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Moonclipse
Published: 2020-06-12T05:00:00+00:00

*

Maria could see it ahead.

Right there—just a short dash away!

The hangar bay. The doors out of this station. The gateway to freedom.

But crowds of squatters covered the distance, living in plywood shacks, nylon tents, or simply out in the open. Maria tried to elbow her way through. But the crowd was too thick.

"Please, let us through!" Maria cried.

A few people stepped aside. But that didn't help much.

"Let me handle this, sweetie." Charlie coned her hands around her mouth. "Everybody move! My friend has a bad case of the shits! You do not want to be near her! Move, move!"

The crowd parted, dismayed.

"Um, thanks, Charlie," Maria said. "I think."

Charlie flashed her a grin. "No problem, swee—" She yelped as a bolt flew over her head.

They ran through the crowd, heading toward the shuttle bay.

Come on, Crisanto and Gummy, Maria thought. Bring me my daughter.

She was tempted to turn around. To run back home. But her shanty lay all the way across Skid Bottom. And the Crimson Claws stood in the way. The best Maria could do now was draw them off, clearing a path for her pets.

The images flashed before her. The thousands of photos plastering Ernesto's walls. Lily crossed out.

He plans to murder my daughter, Maria thought.

"Seriously, people, back away!" Charlie shouted. "Maria has a bad fungus, you do not want to catch it. And you should see her lice!"

"We get it, Charlie, I'm a walking plague!" Maria said.

But it was working. The people kept stepping back. And Maria saw it ahead—the hangar bay.

A few small vessels docked there. The charred, dented dropships of smugglers. The corvettes of bounty hunters, bristly with weapons. The tacky shuttles of space tourists, painted with rainbows, palm trees, hula girls, and spacewhales—the logos of cruise ships that hovered a thousand kilometers outside the station.

None of those would work underwater. None could reach the sunken Sodom and Gomorrah.

But there was one ship that could. The Kinnara. The quad-craft Pippi had arrived in.

A quad-craft. Built for space, air, land, and water. Perfect.

"This is our ride to the lost starships," Maria said.

Charlie frowned. "What, we're just going to steal Etty's ship?"

"We'll borrow it," Maria said. "While Etty is recovering in the station infirmary. By the time she's strong enough to fly to Earth, we'll be back. With the Kinnara. With the lost silver starships. With the hope and salvation of Bahay."

"Still sounds like stealing to me, Nini," Charlie said.

"We have no choice," Maria said. "Come on!"

Maria was running toward the Kinnara when several Crimson Claws emerged from behind the quad-craft.

An ambush!

The Claws aimed electric batons and fired.

A bolt slammed into Maria's shoulder. She fell, screaming. Electricity raced across her. She convulsed.

Charlie fell beside her.

Jay Jay screamed and fell next, electricity racing across him like serpents.

The Crimson Claws thumped toward the fallen trio, weapons raised. Electricity kept pumping from the batons, filling Maria and her friends, pounding them with more and more agony.

One Claw approached Maria, smiling gruesomely. The ritualistic scars twisted across his cheeks.

"Our lord Ernesto summons you, Maria," one began.

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