Prisoner of Earthside: A Novella (STRYDER'S HORIZON Book 2) by Daniel J. Kirk Read Free Book Online Page A

one asked.
    “None of your damn business. But it’s not against the law, I think.”
    “Oh hell! Don’t you dare drag me into any nonsense.”
    “I’m trying not to. Just go keep your mouth shut.”
    “Don’t you tell me what the hell I should do. You are going to bring us all down.”
    “No, damn it. If you must know I’ve got a live jhornosp onboard. You know no one sells them in Earthside, you need more than a license to, well we’ve got tons of wild ones all through Burnside. The law is just selling, not possession. I can give one to some one. That’s what I’m doing.”
    There was a long moment of silence from the suspicious one, and then he walked away.  The loud sigh came from his co-worker, the jhornosp smuggler before he walked off as well.
    The jhornosp smuggler.
    It repeated in my head a couple of times before my frozen brain began to feel real uncomfortable. Alice had already begun shifting her weight hoping to keep her guard up.
    Jhornosp were about as big as an average man’s abdomen.  They moved by flattening out their bodies and slinking along. They had lots of teeth, they were like a bag full of teeth, that flattened and puffed itself out looking for its next meal.
    Jhornosp will eat anything. They just have to make it edible first. And that’s the part that turned my stomach. Other critters will just bite you, but the jhornosp slimes you. Then your flesh starts to sprout what looks like a salmon-colored fungus, but is actually spores of ammonia.  They pop if you scratch them. And it doesn’t end there. If you don’t scratch them you’ll have a more delightful time, but you’ll end up a meal regardless. Now if you happen to scratch, because you were unaware that a jhornosp kissed you, or because you couldn’t take it anymore and would rather not wait out the process of becoming food, well then you got to feel and smell the change in your body. In about thirty-five minutes you go from itchy to incapable of committing suicide. Your bones turn to mush and your nociceptors turn the volume knob to eleven, which makes you very aware of the pain you’re experiencing. Once each nerve in your body pops, you’ll be numb, and alive, and ready for eating. Jhornosp are always alone until food is ready, and then they slide out of every nook and cranny you never knew existed.
    It was dark where we hid. Only the light from the metal grates gave any definition to the shapes between us. I just hoped the rats were real, and the jhornosp had already prepared its meal.
    To think I’d almost thanked the man for trying to get his suspicious buddy to move along. A part of me really wanted to scream for them, beg them to protect us, arrest us. I think Alice was having the same thought.
    Then I heard a sound.
    I’d heard it before, only that was before I could relate it to the information I had just learned. There was a jhornosp stashed beneath the metal grates with us. I really didn’t want to die like that. I began to make my way beneath the grates. I had this brilliant idea that I would kill it and somehow avoid getting licked.
    I think when fear is at its strongest we do things that sound thought out in our heads, we even convince ourselves this is the best available option. But I really hadn’t put much thought in how to manhandle and kill a jhornosp in such a tight space.
    The sound grew louder as I was headed in the right direction. Above the metal grates the cargo had blocked out any light. I moved into darkness. I stopped, bobbing my head from side to side in hopes of letting enough light down my path to see where I was headed. Then I saw its meaty flesh, breathing.
    The jhornosp could be no further than a meter away. It turned towards me. All those thoughts about this being a good idea soiled my pants. But I knew I couldn’t scurry back. I had to face it. I had to hope I wouldn’t be licked.
    I panicked. I hyperventilated. I didn’t move until my brain cracked and the light behind my shaking