Orphan's Destiny
Chapter One
"ANYBODY OUT THERE? OVER."
Static, not a human voice, cackles back through my earpiece.
Sssss. Pop.
Ten feet across this egg-shaped chamber, the hull-plate barricade
I've thrown across the entry glows red. The Slugs are burning
through their own ship to finish me. Roasted metal's tang singes my
nostrils. Two minutes, tops, then Slugs will surge through their
opening like man-sized, armored maggots.
I reverse the pistol in my hand to use it as a club. The gesture
measures my resolve. The pistol's empty magazine well measures its
futility.
I sigh and my breath worms out and glows purple in Slug interior
lighting. Before my heart can beat, my helmet ventilator wicks away
the condensation like a stolen soul.
My legs sprawl across the quaking Slug metal-blue decking and I
thump my numb, armored left thigh with a gloved fist. Leg infantry
needs two good legs. I could limp if I had to. But to where?
I let my back sink into the rescue-me yellow mattress of the
Polytane hull-breach plug. That's how we boarded this monstrosity,
like pirates in Eternad armor, but th ... read full excerpt from Orphan's Destiny ebook
