The Black Seas of Infinity by Dan Henk Read Free Book Online

those men above. The hard part
would be dragging the suit up the ramp and into the alien craft
without making too much noise. Hitting a brief stretch visible to
the men upstairs, my head started to pound, a desperate anxiety
creeping in. The trek felt impossibly long and slow, but in a few
minutes I was ensconced by the shade of the wing. Now to drag the
suit up that ramp. A thin rubber tread covered the shiny metal
ramp, but this body was immensely heavy. I set it down, panting as
I tried to catch my breath. The lingering smell of chemical vapors
sickened my stomach.
    I really didn’t have time for this, but my
back already ached. Ignore the pain. It will all be over, for
better or for worse, very soon.
    At the sound, the voices above me got louder,
and I froze. Every nerve ending was raw and screaming. The very air
seemed to gel. Seconds crept by, but no one appeared. I slowly
staggered up the ramp again, the sweat on my brow now a film of
salty water fighting to get into my eyes.
    After a few agonizing minutes, I stumbled
over a slight bump and into the shadowy opening of the craft. The
interior swirled around me like a dream, or maybe a nightmare, the
air charged with a strange, ionized sterility.
    I was so close. I hoisted the mass and
continued my awkward backward shuffle. The feet bounced along the
floor ridges, the strange material of the craft absorbing the
noise. I rounded a curve and stopped at a porthole…at least I think
it was a porthole. It was a tunnel straight down with curved rungs
that served as handgrips. A pale light wafted up languidly from the
depths below. I dug some parachute-strength nylon cord out of my
leg holster, wrapped it under the arms of the suit, and crossed it
over the chest to make a virtual harness. I encircled it a few
times, tied it off, pulled out a few feet of cord, doubled it over,
and continued wrapping. This gave me a secured upper body, with
several lengths of cord hanging free.
    I bent over the porthole, tying the ends of
the cord to the first rung. Circling around, I grabbed the feet and
shoved the suit headfirst into the hole. The loose cord whipped by,
the hulking mass crashing into the row of descending rungs, then it
rebounded and continued its plunge. The rope hit the end of its
slack, bringing the suit to an abrupt stop. The form dangled,
listlessly drifting from side to side. Everything was deathly
silent. All I could hear was the sound of my own panting. I climbed
in, the taut nylon rope running down the center of the rungs and
minimizing the opportunity for a handhold. I scampered down past
the first gap, leaning to the left side to avoid the cord as much
as possible and coming to a stop as the hanging body blocked my
descent to the second. The opening I wanted was just to the right
of the rungs and directly below, a black maw barely penetrated by a
distant light. I managed to squeeze past it by pushing against the
limp body and descended into to the abyss. I gathered my strength,
removing my knife from its sheath, and took a deep breath. With a
jerk, I pressed my shoulder into the form’s back. It swung toward
the hole as I slashed at the cable. Tumbling into the opening, it
landed with a violent crash and crumpled over on its side, where it
lie stiff and contorted. In the dim light it resembled a soldier,
felled in some long forgotten war. My heart beat wildly in my
chest. Almost there. I jumped into the maw, landing just shy of the
suit. My momentum carried me forward, and I tumbled overtop the
form, crashing into the wall. The collision stunned me, blurring my
vision and leaving me disoriented. But I couldn’t pause now. I
glanced over at the tunnel I had descended and realized the alien
suit and I both were casting huge shadows, like something out of a
noir movie. My back was killing me, and my strength was giving out,
but I was so close now. Panting and soaked in cold sweat, I rounded
a corner and staggered up to a familiar door. Beyond the threshold
lie what