Arach by C.M. Simpson (books to read for 12 year olds TXT) 📕

world to stand on its own. You no longer have any right to claim it.”

“We disagree,” the arach’s speaker countered. “If you do not leave us to our prey, you will be hunted next.”

Delight’s voice was tight when she replied.

"Last warning: Leave the system, or your will join the dead on the Shady Marie.”

The arach’s gaze swept Delight’s control center.

“We will not leave, and we will not become food for the wasps. This is your final warning. Leave the system, or you will be sentenced to death for assisting the rebellion fomenting on the planet known as K’Kavor. The Queen of Hunt Clan K’Tkenach has spoken.”

This time, he did not wait for a reply, but cut the comms.

“Here they come.” Askavor’s voice came through my head, just as his less-human vocalization split the silence on the bridge. “Stand by for boarding.”

I dove into the ship’s security feed, checking to see that the queen and her teams were in place. I found them ready, but said nothing. Mack had taken control, once more.

“Shuttles inbound,” he announced, and I heard the warning sounded all over the ship. “All crew to their pods. All crew to their pods. Emergency evacuation procedures are in process. All crew to pods. Odyssey is on stand-by for pod retrieval. All crews to pods.”

I watched the scramble as personnel who had been outside the pods made for those nearest. They had hesitated, until Mack had said Odyssey were on stand-by. Once they knew there would be rescue, they didn’t hesitate, any longer.

“Lock ’em down, Rohan,” Tens said, and I watched as the code shifted around the pods, until every pod containing a crewman was locked tight. When Tens next spoke, it was to me.

“We’ve got them, Cutter. No-one’s going to be left like a packaged dinner for those bastards to eat.”

And then he kicked me out of his system, and back to the control center.

“It’s bad enough Rohan and the spider are in there, without you, as well.”

Fine. Whatever!

“Easy, Cutter,” Mack said. “Your turn will come.”

I wondered how, exactly, given Tens wasn’t going to let me into the system to either see what was going on or defend against arach hacking attempts, and Mack was in control of the defenses—which was my fault, seeing as I’d handed it to him. Oh, and seeing as I couldn’t move without falling over. What exactly was I going to be good for? Bait?

And where the everloving fuck was my gun?

“Good point,” Mack said, and got out of his chair. “Tens, you need to let her in so she can fill the gaps.”

I watched as Mack looked over at Tovy, and got the impression the two of them were talking. That struck me as a worry. Tovy was the sole vespis representative on the bridge, but he was also the sole medic. Mack had said it was best to leave Doc in his pod. We would need him once the arach had been defeated.

I could see his logic, but I missed the Doc. He would have had me on my feet in time for the coming fight.

“And so will I.” Tovy spoke from beside me, and I realized I’d taken my eyes from him and Mack long enough for them to come and stand, one on either side of my chair.

I shifted uneasily, and whimpered as the injuries K’Tina had inflicted tore at the movement.

Goddamnit! I had to be tougher than this. We had a battle to fight.

And just as I thought it, Tens opened up a link back into the security system, and hooked through the external feeds so I could see what happened when the arach tried to open the hangar bays. They hadn’t been expecting the doors to stay close, and I didn’t wait for Tens, I started searching for the hack the arach had to be making.

“You think they’ll just float about out there, waiting for the doors to open?” Tens challenged.

“No, but they’ll try the easy way, first.”

“Easy way?”

“It’s how they got in, before,” I said. “Must have been something we missed.”

I refrained from pointing out that the security system was his responsibility, and therefore the fact they’d hacked it was because of something he’d missed. He wasn’t stupid, and he didn’t need it rubbed in. We just had to fix it.

“Shut it, Cutter.”

Man, and I hadn’t said a thing!

“You said plenty!”

Not where he should have been able to hear it. If he chose to eavesdrop on my thinking, that was his own damned fault. I started hunting for the breach, realizing Askavor and I hadn’t found it before. Damn! That meant a second incursion would be partly my fault, too.

“Just find the fucking thing!”

I might have found it funny, if it wasn’t so serious. As it was, we found the breach, but it was clogged by dead code. That wasn’t going to hold them for long—although it might give them reason to slow down and think.

“These are arach, remember?”

Askavor’s voice told me the spider had joined us in our search for the weak point in the system. I got a sense of him studying the dead code, and then he danced out a new string of vespis symbols embedded in a line of Galbas. He passed it to Tens. “Here.”

I’ll give Tens this, he might have hesitated, but he stuffed that code over the breach, anyway, even if he fixed the weaver with a slightly angry focus.

“You will teach me this, when this is over.”

Askavor didn’t argue.

“Agreed.”

I wondered what the arach would try next, and switched back to the external feeds. Well, that couldn’t be good. I had the vague impression Mack was talking to someone, and then he was right back in my head, pulling what I saw from my mind.

“Well, fuck me,” he said, and reached out to the vespis queen.

“Clear your people out of the bays. They’re blasting their way in.”

Switching the feeds, I caught a glimpse of the queen and Tek drawing their people back into the corridor. Rohan was on the