Page 2 of Ghost Ship Numenon

In short, her looks were a distraction, which explained how I came to put too much weight on a loose floor panel. It creaked as it bent under my weight, and Maddie whipped her head around with lightning speed. Cursing my luck, I leaped forward with hardsuit-augmented speed, my fingers driving into her wrist as she drew her blaster. She stumbled back, dropping the weapon, and we both watched it bounce once, out between the bars of the railings, before tumbling into the darkness below.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Kahdrex?” The human female snarled the question, backing up fast and shaking her numbed hand. I followed at the same speed, unwilling to let her get out of arm’s reach.

“I am here to reclaim this ship for its owners, the Dissana clan,” I told her. That was true, though the huge bounty they would pay was more important than any abstract historical claim. “Unlike you, here to loot it for profit.”

Her eyes narrowed, anger flaring in them. “You think I’m here for the money? Fuck off. I’m here because this ship made history. No one’s been able to recreate the Anima Numenon. After two hundred years, it’s still a unique achievement in AI tech.”

Our eyes met and I hissed a warning, though I could not articulate what I was warning her about. Her defiant glare ignited the longing in my soul, and it took an effort of will not to rip open her suit to see just how far the blush spread. My fingers flexed as though caressing her, and my racing heartbeats filled my ears.

I wasn’t the only one feeling that pull. A tremor ran through Maddie’s body, and her tongue darted out to lick her lips. The way she tried to hide her attraction to me only made her more desirable, and I wondered what would happen if I reached outand grabbed her now. Would she fight her lust or give in to her desires?

There’s one way to find out.I reached forward, brushing her hair aside, feeling the heat of her skin as she froze.

Then her skin paled and her eyes widened, looking past my shoulder at something in the darkness. A strangled yelp burst from her throat as she bit down on a scream, and I spun, lashing out at where she focused her gaze. Luck was with me, and the heel of my palm connected, the crunch of snapping bone loud in the silence. Only as the body was falling did my brain catch up.

I’d punched a corpse, one of the honored dead. Head knocked sideways on a broken neck, eyes gone, and skin stretched tight over the skull. A monstrous thing from dark legends, reaching out for me with hardsuit-enhanced strength. Had it gotten a grip on me, I doubted I’d be able to escape.

Worse, it wasn’t alone. More hardsuit-clad corpses lumbered out of the darkness, cutting off our retreat.

3

MADDIE

More figures stumbled out of the shadows one by one, moving in eerie unison. Kahdrex scrambled back from the one he’d struck, blue skin paling to a sickly green as he watched it rise to its feet, head lolling on a broken neck.

“What thezzuhd?”he said, then repeated it at a roar, snatching a heavy wrench from his tool belt and swinging it at his foe.

The thing—Ireallydidn’t want to think of them as people—brought its arm up with far more force than I’d expected, smacking the wrench out of Kahdrex’s hand. The big alien looked as shocked as I felt, hesitating a fraction too long. With its free hand, the shambling corpse grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him closer.

Fuck it, I should let him die,I thought, but I was already moving. Cursing the loss of my blaster, I snatched my multi-tool from my belt, switching it to an industrial cutting blade and swinging it down with all my strength. The blade carved through the thing’s hardsuit, then its flesh and bone.

Even when the hand was no longer connected to the arm, it kept hold of Kahdrex. But the body changed its focus to me, anda swing of its free arm would have smashed me if Kahdrex hadn’t yanked me back and out of the way.

“What the fuck are you doing, idiot?” he snarled without looking at me. “You don’t know how to fight.”

“I’m saving your ass, dipshit,” I snapped back, looking at the thing stumbling after us. A missing hand didn’t bother it any more than a snapped neck. “That goddamned thing was about to tear out your fucking throat.”

“Stay behind me.” That was the only answer he gave, ignoring my point. My blood boiled.

“I should have let it eat you.”

“I’m not letting these things have the pleasure of killing you. You’remyprey.”

I didn’t have time to deal with the complicated emotions his phrasing sent washing through me, so I tried to ignore the butterflies unaccountably taking wing in my stomach. “We can kill each other later. Right now, let’s get to my ship and get the fuck out of here.”

Kahdrex’s pause was telling. Silence, broken only by the static hiss and the footsteps of the approaching dead.

“What did you do?” I backed away, letting him stay between me and the shamblers. “What the fuck did you do to my ship?”

“Your ship is fine! I just…might have nudged it away from theNumenon.A little.”

It was my turn for a stunned silence. Lucky, since it saved my life. Speaking, I wouldn’t have heard the footfall behind me as we backed away. Spinning, I saw a skeletal face peering out at me through a cracked helmet, elongated jaws wide, fangs glinting in the flickering light.

The static hiss roared in my ears, and I shouted something, I don’t know what. My multitool slid into the monster’s ribcage before I knew what I was doing, but the thing didn’t even slowdown. It grabbed for me and I jerked back, nearly losing my tool in the hurry to get away.

I almost made it. The thing’s hand caught my wrist in an iron grip, jerking me toward it. That would have been the end of me, but Kahdrex clasped my shoulder, pulling me in the opposite direction.

For a moment, I was the rope in the universe’s most terrifying game of tug-of-war.

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