Colony by Benjamin Cross (ready player one ebook .TXT) 📗

“I’ve no idea,” Ava replied. “They’re acting more nervous than aggressive. They look… scared.”

Callum’s brow furrowed. What the hell could scare these things? As his finger tapped against the rifle trigger, the entire chamber lapsed into sudden silence. The unexpected and complete cessation of sound was one of the eeriest noises Callum had ever heard, and a shiver passed through him.

All movement had stopped. The cavern stilled. As one, the creatures shed their colour, the effect like a ring of light going out around the room. Shadows now, a sea of bared gums and dilated eyes, they stared over at the intruders, waiting.

* * *

“What do we do?” Volkov demanded, his voice echoing out around the newly silent cavern.

“Perhaps you should tell them that you don’t believe in them!” Darya replied. “Why not offer them a bribe?”

Volkov went to slap her around her insolent face. But as he raised his hand back, a breeze blew across his neck. It was warm and rhythmic. It reeked of stale meat and left an oily trace on his skin.

Doctor Lebedev obviously felt it too, and her expression froze.

Together they turned towards it.

Volkov gasped.

Darya’s jaw dropped.

There was something staring at them across the top of the egg pile.

Chapter 19 Tansu Taibaa

1

Callum, Koikov and Ava looked on, open-mouthed, as two large forearms, slender but rippling with muscle, emerged from behind the nest. Each hand forked into three fingers, tipped with claws. At the other end, the two shoulder blades resembled upturned axe-heads, the skin sucked taut around them. And attached to the backs of the elbows were membranous flaps, finely feathered wings, running all the way along the underside of the arms and out of sight along the concealed torso.

When the arms had reached forward, up over the edge of the island, and the claws had picked into the rock either side of the clutch, the creature raised its head to peer at Volkov and Darya.

In contrast to the others, its movements were not brash or aggressive. They were slow, almost timid, and spider-like. At first, its enormous black eyes barely crept above the eggs’ pinnacles, as it scoped out the two intruders. Then they rose up to reveal a much stubbier but still beak-like snout, lined with rows of jagged teeth. It shuddered as it sucked in a series of breaths, tasting the air.

“What the hell is that thing?” Callum managed at last.

“It’s a Troodon,” Ava replied bluntly.

“What are you talking about? It’s three times bigger… and it’s got wings, not just feathers, but actual, real wings!”

“Yeah,” Ava said. “But look what else it’s got. A mix of reptilian and avian traits, the same enormous eyes, the same teeth, the same claws, plus it’s resident in the same hive.” She indicated the horde of creatures massed around the room. “You telling me these things would tolerate a different species in here?”

As Darya and Volkov stood rooted to the spot, the creature clambered fully up onto the island before them. The more Callum saw of it, the more he suspected that Ava was right. Its lower half was much more Troodon-like. Its hind legs were long and muscular, and it carried the same sickle-like toe claws, only the size of scimitars. Its tail, still dangling down over the edge as it perched behind its clutch, was tipped similarly with large, decorative plumes.

“They must be polymorphs,” Ava said. “A polymorphic species of dinosaur. Who’d’ve thought it!” Even under the circumstances, she couldn’t keep the wonder from her voice.

“Polymorphs?”

“A species with more than one phenotype. Like with ants, where you’ve got workers, soldiers and queens. Each phenotype or caste is physically distinct, either because of gender variation or because it’s designed to perform a specific social role. Workers forage and build. They’re male and they tend to be small, your basic model ant. Soldiers are also male. They protect the workers and they tend to be bigger, often with increased body armour and weaponry such as large mandibles. Queens found colonies and lay eggs. They tend to be much bigger, with bigger abdomens and they’re often flyers. They’re all still ants, just different manifestations of the same animal.”

“So you reckon that’s some kind of Troodon queen?”

“Uh-uh. The carcasses I’ve seen so far have all been female. The genitalia’s clear. Also,” she pointed forward, “if I’m not mistaken then that thing’s got a penis.”

Callum looked on as the creature continued to sniff around its nest, its massive ribcage expanding and contracting with each breath. Sure enough, there did appear to be a red-tipped protrusion between its legs.

“I’d imagine it wouldn’t usually be so prominent,” Ava said. “Either he’s displaying because he feels threatened, or he might be subconsciously sexually aroused by the scent of all the females.”

“Funny,” Callum replied. “They’re having precisely the opposite effect on me.”

“Cute.”

“So he’s a king then? Some kind of emperor?”

“Probably, but he’s something else as well. Something much worse.”

With care not to disturb the remainder of the clutch, the creature now leant forward and sniffed at the remains of the shattered egg at Volkov’s feet. Then it froze. Slowly, it raised its face back up, the full intensity of its gaze coming to rest on him.

“How the hell could it be any worse?” Callum whispered, pulling the rifle firmly into his shoulder. Beside him, he could hear Koikov making ready with the bazooka.

The creature’s beak curled back suddenly, exposing its blood-red gums and rows of jagged canines. Then, in one swift movement, it spread its wings protectively around the remaining eggs. Its eyes narrowed and it hissed at Volkov, its fore claws scraping at the rock to either side with renewed agitation.

“Oh, it’s a helluva lot worse,” Ava said. “He’s a father.”

2

Volkov felt the warm flood of urine soaking through his underwear.

He had been frozen to the spot ever since the creature had emerged from its hidden roost below the stone island, barely able to breathe for fear. Oddly, it was this final humiliating loss of bodily function that