The water was freezing cold when I smashed into it. I tasted salt and realised that this was more than just a tank. With my eyes closed tight I reached into the pocket of my overcoat and removed the object Apollo had planted there. I felt a mouthpiece, a mask. With every fibre of my being I had to fight the instinct to keep my mouth shut tight and forced the breather in there. I fumbled blindly, trying to find the vent to get the water out of my mouth. I depressed the little button and an explosion of bubbles came flooding out of the front of the mask. Now breathing normally, I steeled myself and opened my eyes…
adventure
They Worship It: Chapter Three
“Don’t just stand there, woman!” said the captain. “Get his suit off! I intend to do some reconnoitoirey before they notice he’s missing.”
“I don’t think so,” said Apollo, squeezing the trigger on the prod experimentally. It seemed to crackle louder the harder she squeezed. “For one thing, that suit is sealed tight. If I had to guess you’d need an acetylene torch to even make a start. For a second, with that faceplate they’d sniff you out in an instant.”
“How’d you figure that?”
“Don’t insult me. Suit sealed that tight, I doubt they can survive in an oxygen atmosphere. Look,” she said, pointing with the tip of the prod…
A Twisted Game of Cat and Cat: Chapter Two
The message came through the laptop with a bright sound like a bell: /IT’SREADY/. The plans. Geist never went through official channels for anything unless he had to, and this was no different. Luckily for him, he knew a guy in the records office. He slid the laptop into his bag, slipped his sunglasses onto his face, and left the hotel into the dullest weather he had ever seen in his life when it wasn’t actually raining. It was as if the sky had turned to asphalt. He folded up the sunglasses and stuffed them into his pocket, feeling naked without them…
A Twisted Game of Cat and Cat: Chapter One
The name of the dead man was Maximilian Bradley. Not that he knew he was dead yet. The blinking green name stood out on the black screen like a neon sign over a dive bar. Underneath it was a number with too many zeroes at the end of it. Geist had heard of Bradley, of course. Who hadn’t? He sipped the honey-coloured liquor from his glass and contemplated. This was a chance to make history. Of course, if his name showed up anywhere in the history books it would be curtains for him.
The Deadman’s Finger: Chapter Four
Matches snapped beneath Hawks as he fell like a cat with a lead weight on its back. Luckily the floor was also formed of dank earth which cushioned his fall. He got up, briefly wondered if the fall hadn’t rendered him blind, then grabbed the tails of his overcoat which were hanging in front of his face and flipped them back over his head. There was a faint, acrid smell in the air which he couldn’t identify, and an iron-y taste settled on his tongue. He stumbled about in the darkness, bashing his shin on something metal that bounced away. Cursing, he ceased his explorations and allowed his eyes to become acclimated to the darkness. He wished he had been more careful with the matches…
The Deadman’s Finger: Chapter Three
The first thing the book called for was a straight knife. A margin-note by Laroux indicated that “bread knife is right out”. Hawks opened his second desk-drawer on the left side and removed a short, very sharp knife from a plate of dinner that he was keeping in there for later. It looked like it would do, although it was substantially less vicious than the knife illustrated in the book…