Read Imminent Danger: And How to Fly Straight Into It for Free Online

pitiful creature!” Hroshk exclaimed, rising to his clawed feet to tower over the little alien. “You tremble though no harm has befallen you! Such cowardice must not go unpunished.” He phhh -ed as he detached a short rod from the side of his belt.
    Miguri looked terrified. Eris couldn’t understand what was upsetting the little alien so horribly. Is it that rod he’s afraid of? she wondered. She got the feeling she was missing something.
    Hroshk handed the rod to Tarsis, saying, “Two will do.”
    Tarsis grinned, exposing sharp yellow fangs. “With pleasure.”
    The captain dismissed the guards, who seized their captives and marched them from the bridge. When Eris tried to speak to Miguri, Grashk said, “Silence!”
    As soon as they returned to the cell block, Miguri tried to bolt for his cell, but Tarsis grabbed the tiny alien with two of his six arms and yanked him back. The Claktill’s hair drooped miserably as he squirmed around in the Ssrisk’s grasp.
    Tarsis raised the rod. There was a handle on one end and a shiny metal cap on the other. The reason for Miguri’s panic soon became clear. Tarsis flicked a control on the handle, and the metal tip was suddenly surrounded by crackling electric currents.
    “What are you doing?” Eris exclaimed. She stepped forward, hoping to intervene on her friend’s behalf. But Grashk grabbed her arms and held her immobile. “Ow!” she yelped as Grashk’s scaly fingers tightened.
    Hoisting Miguri up in the air, Tarsis ruthlessly shoved the metal tip against the Claktill’s left thigh. Miguri screeched as Eris watched in horror. “Why are you doing this?” she cried. “He didn’t do anything wrong!”
    “Captain’s orders,” Grashk hissed.
    “Well, your captain’s a sadistic bastard, you know that?”
    Down came the electrocution device again. As Miguri writhed in agony, Eris struggled to escape her captor’s many hands. “What is wrong with you people? Is Hroshk going to fail his performance review if he doesn’t torture enough prisoners?”
    “We do not question the captain,” Grashk said.
    Hroshk is insane, Eris realized. An insane, sadistic lizard-man who likes to torture innocent prisoners for fun. And so, apparently, is Tarsis.
    Tarsis dropped the smoking, whimpering Miguri to the floor. The Claktill immediately bolted for his cell, limping on his injured leg. Wanting to go comfort her friend, Eris snapped, “Let me go, Grashk!”
    Then Tarsis stalked toward her, twirling the rod like a baton. “Give me the human, Grashk,” he ordered. “Two jolts each.”
    Eris wanted very much to punch Tarsis right in his scaly face, but she settled for snarling, “Go ahead! Do your worst!”
    Tarsis bristled at her tone and then reached out three hands to grab her. But to Eris’s surprise, Grashk intervened. He hit Tarsis’s arms aside and then released Eris and pushed her behind him.
    As Eris pressed up against the wall, the two Ssrisk began to circle each other warily. The spines on their tails extended wide to expose greenish fins, and the twin rows of scales on their heads rose like spikes. They were both making an angry rat-tat-tat sound like a machine gun firing.
    “Why did you stop me, Grashk?” Tarsis spat.
    “The human has just shown courage in the face of adversity,” Grashk returned with equal venom. “She does not require punishment.”
    Tarsis brandished the rod threateningly. “You will respect the captain’s orders, not defend some pathetic terrestrial!”
    Grashk pulled himself up to his full eight feet of height. He had a good six inches on Tarsis. Clenching two fists together, Grashk swung his arms and slammed them into his opponent’s chest, knocking the alien back several feet. Then, pounding all six fists against his blue chest, Grashk hissed, “You will respect my orders, Tarsis!”
    Rat-tat-tat -ing angrily, Tarsis backed off. After glaring for another few seconds, he dropped the rod at Grashk’s feet, hissed, and turned tail