Read Dominion for Free Online Page B

take it the wrong way if I don’t stand too close, you being targeted first for destruction and all?”
    â€œNothing would make me happier than to keep you at a distance,” Meia replied.
    She moved past Thula and left the Nomad .
    â€œYou’re developing a sense of humor,” said Thula.
    â€œI had to,” Meia replied over her shoulder. “With you around, I needed one.”
    Thula glanced over at Steven. “And to think one just like her is all yours,” he said. Then he followed the others into the heart of the alien ship.

CHAPTER 8
    T hey only discovered that the far end of the connector was blocked when they were over halfway across, because the curvature had hidden their ultimate destination from them.
    â€œThat’s not good,” said Paul.
    The connector began to shake.
    â€œI’ve got worse news,” said Thula, looking back in the direction from which they’d come. “The other end has detached itself from the Nomad . This thing is closing on us.”
    Paul took a few steps back and saw that the Nomad was indeed no longer visible, for the tube had sealed itself and was now retracting, curling quickly toward them as if it were a heavy stocking being turned inside out.
    â€œWe go on,” he said. “We don’t have much choice.”
    They kept moving forward, the shrinking of the connector apparently keeping pace with them, so that for every meter they traveled, they lost one behind them. Then, when they were almost within touching distance of the barrier ahead, it opened with a disturbing sucking sound, like a muscle relaxing. Thula eyed the resulting gap warily.
    â€œIt looks like a mouth,” he said. “That, or someone’s ass.”
    â€œIt’s fantastic,” said Meia.
    â€œI knew you’d say that.”
    â€œSo do you agree that the ship really is alive?” Paul asked Meia.
    â€œI don’t know if you could call it alive, exactly,” she replied. “The vessel’s exterior is clearly some kind of alloy, which functions as a kind of exoskeleton, but so far the interior is organic. It appears to be biomechanical.”
    â€œLike you?”
    â€œPerhaps, but on a much vaster scale. The interesting question is one of consciousness.”
    Like you , Paul was tempted to add, again, but held his tongue. Instead he asked: “You mean, is it capable of independent thought and action, or is it under someone else’s control?”
    â€œOr even if it’s an actual creature, or simply organic matter adapted for purpose,” said Meia.
    â€œSyl spoke of multiple presences,” said Paul. “Whatever this thing is, it’s not out here alone.”
    He looked to Syl for confirmation.
    â€œIt’s all quiet now,” she said. “I don’t sense anything.”
    Paul peered through the opening. It was darker beyond than in the connector, which had now shrunk so far that the closed end was almost at Thula’s back. With little alternative, Paul stepped through and found himself in a small, enclosed oval space, no bigger than the Nomad ’s main cabin and with only the faintest of pink luminosity to it. Again, the surface beneath his feet was relatively firm, but with a little give. It was like standing on thick rubber matting. The others joined him. As soon as Thula was inside, the doorway sucked shut behind him.
    The light grew brighter. Veins and arteries appeared in the walls, the floor, the ceiling as, slowly, the entire oval became almost entirely transparent.
    â€œOh my God,” said Syl.
    They were in another massive chamber, but this one dwarfed the dock to which the Nomad had been brought. Now the fleshiness of its walls was clear to them, and they could pick out muscles and tendons. Strangest of all, it was filled with some kind of fluid, faintly yellow in color, through which bubbles moved, propelled from one side of the chamber to the other by muscular spasms