Read Risk Assessment for Free Online Page B

So far. But that might happen at any moment. You’ve been so busy concentrating on rounding them up, that you’ve not even considered what dreadful creature it is they were fighting against. And that perhaps it saw in those coffins a way to Earth. It might also explain how that one coffin just so happened to drift ashore.’
    ‘No,’ sighed Jack. ‘No no no no. . .’
    Agnes just looked at him. ‘We shall see, of course,’ she said, and folded her hands complacently.
    And, on the shore, the Vam awoke.

VI
    A SHOAL
    OF BARNACLES
    Which is chiefly dedicated to the Glory of the Vam and the regrettable transience of estate agency as a profession
    ‘Interesting,’ was its first thought.
    It wasn’t surprised to be still alive. The Vam had always existed – it would have been more surprised to be dead. Somehow it always continued. Even though at the moment. . . barely. A quick check told it that it occupied a mass of less than ten centimetres in diameter and barely a few millimetres thick. ‘Interesting,’ it repeated. What a comedown! Was this all that remained of the Vam? A creature that had wrapped itself around whole solar systems. . . reduced to little more than a splat on a. . . where was it?
    It reached out into its memories, and realised that very little remained of them, and much of that was over-compressed. No matter. It would grow, it would repair and, when it occupied enough mass, it would unpack those glorious memories. It had no idea of where it was, or how it had got there. It tried out its senses, and discovered it had very few. It extruded an elementary sense membrane and established which way was up. There was some form of landmass beneath it. There was an atmosphere – although it could not yet analyse that. However, an atmosphere allowed it to infer that there would be life somewhere. And if it could feed, then it would grow, and the Vam would live again. The Vam! The Vam! The glorious hunger of the Vam!
    It stretched itself down, pressing into the ground. . . perhaps there was some food in there. Nope. Ah well. Something would come along eventually.
    Opponents of the Vam would have laughed at its first prey. This was a creature that had eaten entire planets, which regarded the most impressive space fleets as a mere snack, and would casually drape itself around a sun. And the best it had managed so far was to eat a pigeon.
    The bird had been wandering across the beach, and had noticed the shiny, shiny black surface of the Vam. It had been interested in its own reflection, and had wandered too close. Humiliating as it was for the Vam, it was enormously glad of the meal. Nearly every process had shut down. It was close to total exhaustion and denaturing. It was beginning to think the unthinkable – a universe without the Vam.
    And then that pigeon leaned too close.
    The Vam savoured its first meal in. . . no, still no idea. The meat was surprisingly rich, which boded well. The Vam briefly regretted not currently having a way to see its victim’s struggles, or, more importantly, to hear the cries as it wrapped itself around it, and then the sudden, sickening pop ! But it promised itself that soon it would gain some senses. In the meantime, it luxuriated in a first kill. Like a cat in the sun, it stretched out, and then carefully wrapped itself around the corpse, consuming every last piece.
    It would, it decided, let itself grow a little, and also move around. Just slightly. A small portion of Vam examined the brain of the creature. There was so little to learn. Some impressions of flying. Water. Blue sky – which probably meant oxygen, always a good sign. Others of its kind. Things that were Bigger Than It And Moved. And that was about it. A pity, but not a complete write-off. The simple fact that the creature lived in some fear of persecution meant that there were probably predators. Good. It had been a while since the Vam had clambered all the way up a food chain, and it was rather looking forward