9.29 - Shake | Stuck Station

9.29 - Shake

Jun 20 2012 Published by under Chapter Nine

She wanted to run, but her legs wouldn’t respond, either through sheer terror or lack of practice.

Everything was moving in slow motion.

A blue light grew at the end of the creature’s arm, forming something like a sapphire sphere, four times the size of a human fist. And it flew with what seemed like glacial slowness toward Rachel-7’s chest.

Rachel-7 shut her eyes and braced for impact.

I wonder if they’ll let an Aye wearing a human body into the human afterlife, she thought bitterly.  

She spent a few seconds staring at the black and red colors that swirled behind her eyelids. Then her natural impatience forced her to look.

The sphere had unfolded into five glowing … creatures, each of which now hovered in front of her. They looked like eels, eyeless eels made of electric blue light.

She blinked back tears at the brightness.

On second glance, she saw that the eels were tendrils/fingers/tentacles emanating from a large metal device at the end of the creature’s arm.  A similar glove, minus the glowing eels, hung at the creature’s other side.

“They … shake … hands … in … some … human … cultures, … right?” Anderson asked.

The proportions were off and the fingers were too long, but it did kind of look like a human hand, Rachel-7 thought.

She hesitated a moment and then shook it, feeling the cool grip on her palm.Each eel/finger looked alive, but felt as cold and strong as the digging arm of an excavation Mek.

“Let’s … try … this … again,” the sophont said. "Name’s … Anderson.”

The blue fist abruptly disappeared, leaving Rachel-7's hand hanging in the air. Anderson returned his arm to his side.

“Rachel-7,” she said, gesturing to herself with a flourish. “Anderson?”

“Yes?” he said.

“Is everyone here a moron, or just you?"

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