Page 11 of Monstrous Rampage
“So they don’t already have a squad formed?”
“Not at all. You’ll be the one to decide which ones to attempt to bring together. Or one. In the end, it doesn’t matter to me whether you have a full squad or just one mate, as long as you’re successful. Traditionally, dyni squads are five members but there’s no requirement each slot be filled.”
He said it so casually.One mate. As long as you’re successful.
Because he wanted to start his own breeding program.
My stomach heaved but I fought to keep my face smooth. I focused on the view screen, looking for details that might give a clue where to begin. One dynos to start. One who wouldn’t eat me as soon as he saw me.
Gulp.Choose wisely.
Step one: don’t get eaten.
Step two: don’t get mauled—and then eaten.
Step three: convince a vicious killer to follow my lead when he couldn’t be controlled by the most powerful syndicate in the galaxy that created him.
Step four: fall madly in love and earn his trust and devotion.
Step five: escape.
Piece of cake, right?
“I don’t know where to start,” I whispered.
A low chime sounded, drawing Snyder over to the wall. He opened a panel and brought back a small tray covered with a cloche. As he walked back, a table pushed up out of the floor in front of me, forming a desk beneath the view screen.
“First, you eat. We need you strong and healthy, Miss Price. While you dine, you can swipe through the videos and watch each of them. Read the reports. I’ve made all of their previous tests and statistics available to you. If anything’s been redacted, it was done by HQ before they were tagged for decommissioning. Of course if you have any questions, I am at your disposal. Simply say my name and I’ll return at once.”
Then he disappeared.
Alone in a strange alien laboratory with fifteen caged killer monsters. Waiting for their chance to eat me and make their escape.
I just needed to convince them to trust me—enough to take me with them.
I removed the cloche and found a beautiful presentation of colorful vegetables, a steaming baked potato with butter and sour cream, and a thick, perfectly grilled steak. All seemingly fresh from a world-class restaurant. Was there a cook on board? Or did they simply teleport a plate into existence? Did it taste like real food?
I picked up the fork and knife, honestly surprised utensils were provided to me at all. Even if I didn’t attack Snyder’s construct with the knife, I could end my own life before they could experiment on me. I could find a way to jam the blade into a key system and cause a malfunction that might ultimately destroy the ship.
The casualness of providing me such weapons told another tale. Most likely none of these actions would be successful. Even if I managed to harm myself, this was a DSC ship. They had technology far beyond my human understanding. They could probably resurrect me from the grave without any repercussions. Or more likely, allow me to die and simply harvest all my eggs and start cloning human-dynos hybrids in this laboratory.
Honestly, I didn’t know why DSC hadn’t already attempted such a thing.
Unless they had—were—and it’d been unsuccessful. Supposedly humans weren’t compatible with dyni at all.
Until Natalie. Her mrion fragments had made it possible.
Snyder didn’t need me alive. If I failed to cooperate, he’d simply harvest my eggs and mrions and start his own experiments.
If I wanted to stay alive, I had to cooperate. Put together my own damned squad. And then find a way to escape.
The food was easilysome of the best I’ve ever eaten. They’d given me another cup of coffee, too, along with a glass bottle of sparkling water. The coffee was hot, despite me not touching it for several minutes while I ate. The water remained ice cold—without any ice to melt in the bottle.
More subtle reminders of my adversary’s advanced technology.
I pushed the tray to the side and focused on the fifteen dyni. Randomly, I touched one of the video thumbnails, and it immediately expanded into a detailed file complete with pictures, videos, and analyses.
Designation: NSTG-A. Net Stegosaurus Araneae.
