Vincent Distephano jerked back involuntarily at the realization. How the hell did it get down here in the aft command capsule? He made himself stop moving as he stared in surprise at the creature’s grotesque appearance.
The alien’s eyes seemed huge, totally disproportionate to the rest of its elongated, misshapen head. The narrow, elliptical iris appeared to curve around the lens, marking it as something other-worldly, non-Terran. It blinked, its translucent lids moving so rapidly, Vinnie couldn’t say if the blink started at the top, the bottom, or even from the sides. In fact, the lids, when not in motion, could not be seen at all. It blinked again, rapidly, two, three times, then turned its head.
The creature’s jaws opened threateningly, thin ropes of clear, thick drool forming between thin lips, dripping slowly down dangerously pointed teeth. So many teeth! The lips drew back in a fierce, but silent snarl and the creature moved forward slowly.
Vinnie forced himself to remain motionless as the thing’s maw opened and closed slowly, dripping strands of thick, sticky saliva.
If one of those things got down here, he thought, there could be more of them. Maybe a whole damned swarm! Where’d they come from anyway? How’d they get aboard?
