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Opening scene of Emergence, the first book of the All-Dimension series.
#HardSciFi #BookTeaser #TemporalFiction #Multiverse
Tied down on a large metal table, lay a slender, almost frail, roughly five-foot humanoid figure. Shivering on the table, naked, it wasn’t clear if it was in fear or from cold.
Bending down from the shadows, a face entered the light above the small humanoid. It had thick-looking grey skin, through which protruded small knife-like spikes that resembled great white shark teeth, in rows on the cheekbones and down the jawline. It certainly gave the impression that punching that face would be unpleasant.
A menacing voice spoke in an alien tongue, translated to English as, “Are you ready to co-operate, Gully?”
The whimpering Gully steeled himself before he dared respond, “It is not my place to reveal things about other species.”
The large face smiled, “I was rather hoping you would say that.”
Lifting a large syringe with a dauntingly thick needle, which appeared small in the colossal hand lined with larger versions of the tooth-like spikes on his face, the tormentor asked, “Do you know what this is?”
Gully replied, “Yes.”
Ignoring Gully’s confirmation that he did, the tormentor detailed the drug, as if a fascinating subject that anyone would want to know, “It is a mix of, among other things, micro-dose hallucinogen and adrenaline. The Mortians sell this interesting blend as a sensual enhancement. It is rather handy when it comes to what you will derive no sensual pleasure from. You must forgive the size of the needle. Our medical supplies do not properly cater to one of your petite stature. This is the thinnest we have, I’m afraid.”
“The other guy told me that already.”
The large face grinned, but was devoid of mirth and replied in a crisp tone, “Yes, you brave little defiant, but I like the sound of my voice. Where are my manners? It really is your turn to talk, isn’t it?”
Then the needle found a vein in the arm of the little man on the table, before the tormentor began, “So. Last we spoke, I asked if you had any suggestions on where my ships could go next. And no, I won’t negotiate on relief for your people, so… don’t even ask for that.”
“I’ll die before I unleash your evil on another people.”
“Oh, you’ll die,” the tormentor chuckled. After an awful pause, he continued, “then I’ll revive you, and you’ll die… and I’ll revive you, and on… and on… we… go. You’ll meet your deity and be ripped from her loving arms, over… and over… and over…”
A tear began to form and ran down the right-hand side of Gully’s face, into the disheveled hair over his ear. The tormentor then leaning close, whispered in an eerily compassionate tone, “Everyone talks.”
Gully could smell the scent of old raw meat and blood on his breath, and in the dark beyond the harsh light shining into his eyes, saw the faint outline of a very large horse-shaped body atop which the torso of the tormentor housed the face of evil.
Gully’s screams turned to a gurgle, as it echoed through dimly lit metal passages, of a ship floating in space, nowhere near habitable planets, compounding the isolation and hopelessness.
The void listened, silent and unyielding.
amazon.com/dp/B0G3J8QBVQ
English
