Read Infinity's Shore for Free Online Page B

Frankenstein’s monster, pieced together from the parts of many corpses. So seemed the monstrous vessel hauling me to who-knows-where. Each time we crossed a hatch, it seemed as if we’d pass into a distinct ship, made by different artisans … by a whole different
civilization.
In one section, the decks and bulkheads were made of riveted steel sheets. Another zone was fashioned from some fibrous substance—flexible but strong. The corridors changed proportions—from wide to painfully narrow. Half the time I had to stoop under low ceilings … not a lot of fun in the state my back was in.
    Finally, a sliding door hissed open. A phuvnthu motioned me ahead with a crooked mandible and I entered a dim chamber much larger than my former cell.
    My hearts surged with joy. Before me stood my friends! All of them—alive!
    They were gathered round a circular viewing port, staring at inky ocean depths. I might’ve tried sneaking in to surprise them, but qheuens and g’Keks literally have “eyes in the back of their heads,” making it a challenge to startle Huck and Pincer.
    (I
have
managed it, a couple of times.)
    When they shouted my name, Ur-ronn whirled her long neck and outraced them on four clattering hooves. We plunged into a multispecies embrace.
    Huck was first to bring things back to normal, snapping at Pincer.
    â€œWatch the claws, Crab Face! You’ll snap a spoke! Back off, all of you. Can’t you see Alvin’s hurt? Give him room!”
    â€œLook who talks,” Ur-ronn replied. “Your left wheel just squished his toes, Octofus Head!”
    I hadn’t noticed till she pointed it out, so happy was I to hear their testy, adolescent whining once more.
    â€œHr-rm. Let me look at you all. Ur-ronn, you seem so much … 
drier
than I saw you last.”
    Our urrish buddy blew a rueful laugh through her nostril fringe. Her pelt showed large bare patches where fur had sloughed after her dousing. “It took our hosts a while to adjust the hunidity of ny guest suite, vut they finally got it right,” she said. Her torso showed tracks of hasty needle-work—the phuvnthus’ rough stitching to close Ur-ronn’s gashes after she smashed through the glass port of
Wuphon’s Dream.
Fortunately, her folk don’t play the same mating games as some races. To urs, what matters is not appearance, but
status.
A visible dent or two will help Ur-ronn show the other smiths she’s been around.
    â€œYeah. And now we know what an urs smells like after actually taking a
bath
,” Huck added. “They oughta try it more often.”
    â€œ
You
should talk? With that green eyeball sweat—”
    â€œAll right, all right!” I laughed. “Just stopper it long enough for me to look at you, eh?”
    Ur-ronn was right. Huck’s eyestalks needed grooming and she had good reason to worry about her spokes. Many were broken, with new-spun fibers just starting to lace the rims. She would have to move cautiously for some time.
    As for Pincer, he looked happier than ever.
    â€œI guess you were right about there being monsters in the deep,” I told our red-shelled friend. “Even if they hardly look like the ones you descr—”
    I yelped when sharp needles seemed to lance into my back, clambering up my neck ridge. I quickly recognized the rolling growl of
Huphu
, our little noor-beast mascot, expressing gladness by demanding a rumble umble from me right away.
    Before I could find out if my sore throat sac was up to it, Ur-ronn whistled from the pane of dark glass. “They turned on the searchlight again,” she fluted, with hushed awe in her voice. “Alvin, hurry. You’ve got to look!”
    Awkwardly on crutches, I moved to the place they made for me. Huck stroked my arm. “You always wanted to see this, pal,” she said. “So gaze out there in wonder.
    â€œWelcome to the Great