Alan Dean Foster Aliens Vs Predator War

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Back to the ship, wait for Nirasawa, and then have him fetch Keene and the
others, we can conclude our business on the way back to Earth , . .
"Vincent, take point, I don't know the layout," Briggs said, reluctant to tear
his gaze from the struggle.
Truly astounding. There was a clattering sound coming from the strangely
dressed synth, perhaps some mal-function. If Nirasawa could incapacitate it,
carry it back to
"But Mr. Briggs, isn't that your ship?"
That got his attention. Briggs's head whipped around, his gaze following
Vincent's pointing finger. For a second, he couldn't believe what he was
seeing, unable to comprehend that Irwin would dare
but the
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elite Jumper was speeding away from the station, its sleek form unmistakable
against the starry sky.
Damn her, when I get back to Earth, I'll
When he got back. Of course he would, but sud-denly, he wasn't so sure that he
should be worrying about what he would do to Irwin at some future date. There
were more immediate concerns and for the first time since he'd landed on this
forsaken hole, for the first time in years, he had no idea what the next step
should be.
20
T.
I he force of the explosion pushed Jess underneath the shuttle, lucky for him;
as it was, Lara had to slap out a patch of burning fabric on his leg before
dragging him away from the growing fire.
She wasn't sure what had happened, she'd heard Ellis shout and then there was
the explosion, the shut-tle rocking violently. She'd run out and seen Ellis
fran-tically pulling the hose away from the ship, huge sections of the deck
covered with burning fuel. She'd seen a flailing shape engulfed in flames only
a few me-ters away, and for one terrible second, she'd been sure that it was
Jess. If she hadn't heard him groaning from beneath the transport . . .
, Ellis joined them behind the shuttle, helping Lara pull Jess to the far
railing, but Lara knew that they wouldn't be safe if the tanks caught fire.
Jess started to come out of his daze, looking up into Ellis's stricken face as
he rubbed at his jaw, obviously in pain.
"Ever heard of overkill, kid?" he asked.
Lara laughed weakly. Jess was okay, that was the important thing but the
realization that they weren't going to be flying anywhere was sinking in,
making her feel very, very tired.
God, is this ever going to end?
"What happened?" Lara asked.
"I think I killed us," Ellis said, so softly that Lara barely heard it. "There
was this thing, it attacked Jess
. . ."
He trailed off miserably, the dancing light of the de-veloping fire on his
face making him look incredibly old. Lara put the rest together quickly
enough; he'd sprayed the assailant with fuel and somehow, some-thing had
caught fire.
"It was invisible," Jess said, using the rail to drag himself to his feet.
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"Some kind of electrical device, got shorted out and boom."
Lara couldn't find it in herself to be surprised. A personal cloaking
mechanism? Sure, why not, it was no stranger than corporate mass murder, no
more im-probable than being fished out of the abyss on a dead shuttle in the
first place.
There was a soft humming overhead and they all looked up to see a small ship
go streaking across the
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dark, close enough for them to see the Weyland/Yutani logo. Lara thought she'd
heard other ships earlier
. . . . . .
and what are the chances that there's still anyone left willing to give us a
lift? Or anyone at all?
If there were people around, they sure weren't interested in putting out the
fire that was currently consuming one of their landing decks.
"Briggs?" Jess asked, still watching as the ship shot away from the station.
Lara nodded. "Probably." She didn't say what she was thinking, what Jess and
Ellis surely already knew.
If a high suit like Briggs, who'd wanted them so much that he'd come to Bunda
himself was giving it up

then things here are bad, really fuckin' bad.
Maybe the thing that had attacked Jess had been busy with the researchers,
before; that might explain the ceaseless alarm, anyway. Or maybe it was just
the fact that the station's platforms had continued their slow tilt, at least
fifteen degrees now; if they slanted much farther, there wouldn't be a stable
deck to take off from.
"We gotta get out of here before the shuttle catches," Jess said, although he
didn't look well enough to do much more than stand upright. And Ellis looked
like he was on the verge of some emotional col-lapse, his entire body
trembling, his eyes wide and shining with unshed tears.
"I'm so sorry," he said, taking a step away from them, his hands clenched into
fists. "This is all my fault."
"Hey, I might've done the same thing," Lara said, "or Jess. It's "
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