Animalis by John Peter Jones Read Free Book Online Page A

it had blocked me from accessing its encrypted data,” Hank said. “The rat is sure to divulge that he was boarded by the army, and that we took the two animals, but it is unlikely that they will change their plans knowing that the computer wasn’t hacked. We have a real chance to get one step ahead of the Animalis militants.”
    After another moment of thought, the captain sighed. “If you are unwilling to decide how to keep your own unit in line, I will take it upon myself to choose a course of disciplinary action—for the both of you.” The captain looked back at the door to the pod again and said, “Get those animals contained and ready for medical to sedate.”
    Jax and Hank saluted. The captain returned it and then left.
    Hank just stood there, with his hand still held to his forehead in a salute, staring blankly into space. The echo of the captain’s boots seemed to hang in the air, vibrating. Jax wanted Hank to say something, some lighthearted joke that would show that everything was still going according to plan. But he wasn’t speaking, and his face was growing pale.
    The captain wasn’t going to send them home; Jax was confident of that. He had been paranoid to imagine that he would. He shouldn’t even have been surprised that the captain would ignore Hank’s recommendation to bring the war to the suburbs of Australia. That was a decision for a general at least. But the threat of being kicked out of the army still loomed in the possible future, twisting Jax’s gut with a sickening nervousness. And then there was the idea that the Animalis had created the two ferret creatures using this Ivanovich Machine … Jax still didn’t know what that might mean.
    Quietly, Jax began to undo the seals of his spacesuit. He stepped out into the hall and the closet door folded open. When he turned back and looked at Hank, he was still frozen in place, though he had lowered his salute.
    Say something, Jax urged himself, but nothing was coming to mind. He finished pulling off his spacesuit and hung the pieces up in the closet.
    “Hey,” Jax finally had it. “Are we going to watch that arena video or what?”
    Hank turned. “You’re actually going to like this one,” he said, and his signature smile lit up his face again.
    ——
    “What’s this you’re watching?” Felix asked, poking his head through Hank’s cabin door. “Aw no!” he said after watching for a moment. “The decapitation video? Again?” He stepped into the room and moved beside Hank. Maven stepped through behind him and folded her arms.
    Jax wasn’t excited to watch the video and adding decapitation made him want to reach to the wall and shut it off. But he wouldn’t … because somehow these horrific videos made Hank feel better.
    “Way to spoil it,” Hank whined. “Jax hasn’t seen it yet.”
    “That croc is at the top of my nightmare list,” Felix said. He sat down on the cage Jax had printed out to hold the two mystery animals. “Look at how its eyes roll back into its skull when it tries to bite.”
    The relief-like images on the wall moved as fluidly as if there really were two tiny Animalis attached to the wall. With sections of the wall extending up to four inches away from its normal flat surface, the video demanded everyone’s attention. The floor of the recreated arena sloped up slightly, adding to the illusion of depth for the two Animalis to stand on. They seemed almost puppet-like and silly—impossibly realistic dolls circling each other—but when they struck, it was with a savage violence.
    “Maven, have you seen this one?” Felix asked.
    She shook her bobbed black hair. “No.” Her eyes weren’t on the wall screen, but on what Felix was sitting on.
    Felix looked down too and immediately jumped up. “What on Earth?”
    “They’re not mine,” Hank said. He stepped away so that Felix could examine them.
    “I thought they were going to incinerate on the rat plane, so I rescued them,” Jax said. He kept