Attack of the Space Vampires E-Book

Tami Veldura

• Herausgeber: Story Prism Studios
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Attack of the Space Vampires

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Attack Of The Space Vampires

About The Author

Copyright

Attack of the Space Vampires

By Tami Veldura

When Gwen jumped the Heron she tended to get a feel for her destination before pulling space and time around her. The wyrmholes she utilized led from star system to system, since the dragons that created them bathed in the solar radiation.

This wyrmhole felt cold on the other side, as if the sun were too dim to warm its surrounding space. Gwen was nervous about making the jump, but pulled the ship through anyway. If she didn't like where they ended up, she could always jump back after a short rest.

She should have listened to her gut.

Before Gwen had even completed the transition from one point in space to another, the Heron shuddered with several heavy impacts. There was no way to stop jumping, though, forcing Gwen to complete the transition despite the unknown threat.

They landed in a void of inky space--a dark nebula of some kind that had once been a star system but was now just a graveyard of dust and ash. There was no sign of whatever had struck them.

At the helm, Charlie quickly assessed their situation. Her hands flew over the controls. "Shields at forty percent and falling but I can't figure out why. No hull breach."

Dizzy from the jump, Gwen staggered to the chair beside Charlie and leaned back with her eyes closed. "Is there a camera out on the hull where we were hit?"

"Plenty of cameras, just no light. We're in the middle of some magnetic cloud…"

Gwen opened one eye to see Charlie dialing in one of their drones. It had a grasping arm and an array of lights for wreck assessment, only the Heron wasn't meant to be the wreck.

Charlie flew the drone smoothly out of its bay and around the Heron, where the lights caught the fleeting form of some creature darting away.

Gwen sat up. "What was that?"

"I have no idea, they're running away from the light." Charlie swung the drone about, following the swift shadows from one end of the ship to another. Finally she turned off the lights for a moment. Gwen saw her counting under her breath. Then she flashed them all on at once.

A swarm of dark multi-limbed creatures startled under the light. Several at the edges fled, but one caught in the center turned on the drone, baring bright white fangs and claws. The video feed from the drone cut out.

"What the fuck was that?" Gwen leaned over Charlie's shoulder to page through the last moments of the drone's camera. Teeth. Claws. At least four arms. Big, reflective black eyes.

The Heron shuddered under a heavy impact.

"I think it's time to go," Charlie said with mock-cheer.

"No kidding." Gwen returned to her jump circle, a spot behind the pilot chairs that gave her room enough to stretch out. She closed her eyes, let her breathing quiet, and reached out with her mind.

The wyrmholes in space stood out to Gwen like a run pulled in fabric, or a ragged seam. They were something she felt, not saw, and the experience was highly tactile.

So when something found Gwen's reaching mind and smacked her back down, she stumbled on the Heron and fell to her knees, holding her head. "Oh my god, ow." Her head throbbed.

"Gwen?" Charlie stood from her pilot chair but hesitated to run to her.

Gwen held up one hand, cradling her head with the other. "Hold on. I'm alright. Let me try again."