Free The Thirteenth Man by J.L. Doty Page B

in a dozen places, but the pain associated with one particular ache on his arm rose to a level above the rest. He lifted his arm, and on it found one small drop of the green ooze.
    He stumbled to his feet, and careful not to step in any of the green slime he leaned over the sink, ran water on his arm, washing away the ooze to reveal a small bite mark in the skin. The pain didn’t stop, a searing burn that grew steadily. On closer examination he saw that the bite was more of a puncture wound and something beneath the skin moved, writhing and thrashing about.
    Charlie stumbled out of the fresher, ran to the bed where he’d tossed the uniform he’d stripped off earlier, started rifling through the clothes. His hand found the hard edge of plast, and desperately he tore the plast knife loose from its sheath. He ran back into the fresher, and leaning over the sink, he slashed the knife across the puncture mark in one smooth motion. His blood flowed freely into the sink as he dropped the knife, and with his free hand squeezed the wound with all the pressure he could apply.
    The little creature that had invaded his body popped out of it like a pimple, and the searing burn suddenly disappeared, replaced by the good, clean throb of a nasty cut. The small reptile that landed in the sink was now almost the size of the tip of Charlie’s thumb. The tiny creatures he had glimpsed in the green ooze had been a fraction of that, and he realized that in just a single minute the creature had grown within him more than tenfold. He started to shake as he understood the death meant for him, for if the little reptile had spewed the slime all over him, he’d have had hundreds of the tiny things invading his body.
    â€œC lever of them,” Cesare said, “separating us like that. We sweep my suite and Theode’s and Arthur’s, assume our guard will sweep the barracks and any rooms assigned to our staff, and no one realizes you’ve been sidetracked to a suite in the main palace.”
    As Cesare’s personal physician stitched up the cut in Charlie’s arm, Roacka examined the small bot, then the little reptile still pinned in the fresher door. “The hunter probe was just a feint.” Roacka nodded toward the little reptile. “The Finalsan flying snake, now that’s a nasty one, lad.”
    Charlie learned that the snake’s intent had been to punch its sharp beak into his torso, then spew its entire brood of young into his body, its last dying act the culmination of its breeding cycle. It might have taken an hour, but the little monsters would have completely consumed Charlie, then consumed each other until there were only a few of them left, a nice means of culling the weak from the gene pool. Charlie didn’t say anything to Cesare, but this felt more like something Gaida would cook up.
    Roacka voiced Charlie’s thoughts. “Gaida?”
    â€œNo,” Cesare said. “I don’t think so. She’d have too much to lose, and almost nothing to gain.”
    Charlie glanced at Arthur and their eyes met; another little hint of that bargain both of them had always suspected existed. Neither of them said anything, knowing full well Cesare would deflect any inquiry on the subject.
    â€œI agree,” Arthur said. “This was cooked up by someone very high up in the palace structure.”
    Charlie asked, “Lucius?”
    Arthur shook his head. “No, my money would be on Adsin; this looks like something he’d try, and he is originally from Finalsa. Of course, we’ll never prove anything.”
    Cesare turned to Major Pelletier, head of his household guard. “Major, I want two bodyguards on Charlie at all times.”
    Charlie had never had to tolerate bodyguards before, and found them to be intrusive even now. That evening the two men followed him down to a reception he had to attend. At least they peeled off from him as he stepped into a room filled with