David Gerrold - A Matter for Men

The Chtorran was fascinated by Dr. Zymph's voice. It kept cocking its eyes back and forth, trying to locate the source of the sound. If it had any external ears, I couldn't see them. I wondered if that suggested a higher-density atmosphere. That would certainly go with a heavier gravity. Sound waves would be more intense-experientially louder. The creature's ears could be a lot smaller. But would its hearing be better or worse on Earth? Or maybe it didn't need ears. Maybe it could hear with its whole body. Maybe it could even see with its whole body.

"All right, now-" Dr. Zymph was saying, "-remember to keep very very quiet. Can I have the curtain opened, please?" It slid open like the doorway to a hanger. A single pink shaft of light streamed directly in, widening as the curtain opened. The Chtorran turned to look at it. I could hear gasps from the darkness beyond.

Dr. Zymph didn't say anything. The Chtorran's presence was statement enough. It unfolded its arms and began exploring the front surface of the cage, as if trying to reach the light.

I touched the contrast knob on my helmet and the shaft of the spotlight faded. The audience appeared beyond it in a dim green gloom. I turned the knob another klick and the bright parts of the image faded further; the darker areas brightened again. I could see the whole auditorium now. The audience was very upset and restless. I could see them whispering excitedly to one another. I could hear them rustling in their seats.

The Chtorran slid forward, lifting the forward third of its body up against the glass. I heard sudden gasps. The creature must have heard them too-it hesitated and stared, trying to focus on the space beyond the light. It remained poised in that position. This was the third time I had seen a Chtorran reared up like that; what did the position mean in Chtorran body language? Was it a challenge? Or a prelude to attack?

I looked at the audience again. I could pick out faces in the first few rows. There was Lizard, sitting at the far end of the front row. I didn't recognize the fellow with her; he looked like the same colonel I had seen her with the day before. Next to him was Fromkin, wearing another of those silly-looking, old-fashioned frilly shirts. All of them looked odd, painted in shades of pale green. While I watched, an aide came up to Lizard and bent to whisper something to her. She nodded and got up. The colonel got up with her. Fromkin waited a moment longer, then followed them off to the side of the auditorium. I knew that exit. That was the door Wallachstein had hustled me through.

The Chtorran slid down from the glass then. It turned around in its cage, exploring the length and breadth with its oddly delicate hands. It looked at me, and then it turned and looked at the guard on the other side. Did it understand why we were here? It must have. It brought its gaze back to me again. I was afraid to look it in the eye. It turned to study the audience. It peered out through the spotlight, blinking. It blinked and blinked again. I couldn't hear the sput-phwut through the glass. It kept blinking and I wondered what it was doing. It looked as if its eyes were shrinking. It peered out at the audience again and this time it acted as if it could see them through the spotlight.

There were other empty seats in the auditorium now, most of them near the ends of rows. I didn't see anyone else I knew, only a couple that I recognized. There was that constipated fellow Ted had been talking to. And Jillanna. Was it my imagination, or was her face shining a little brighter than those of the people around her?

The Chtorran slid forward again, this time with a more deliberate motion. It slid forward and forward, lifting more than half its length up against the front of the glass. I held my beam directed against its side.

In the audience, a couple of people were standing nervously, pointing. A few were even backing up the aisles. I wondered how close we were to panic. Dr. Zymph's silent presentation was more effectively terrifying the members of the conference than anything else she could have done. A movement caught my eye. Dr. Zymph was picking up her clipboard and stepping back away from her podium. Was she pointing to someone on the opposite side of the stage-?

I heard the cra-a-ack of the glass before I knew what it was. I turned in time to see the Chtorran falling forward through a shower of glass fragments. They glittered around it like tiny sparkling stars. In one smooth movement, it poured through the glass and flowed down off the stage and into the shrieking audience. It hit the front rows like an avalanche.

I sliced my beam across to follow-hesitated half a second as I realized I'd be shooting into a crowded auditorium-then pulled the trigger anyway.

The Chtorran reared up, a struggling woman in its mouth. It dropped her and whirled around-I could see that there were several other people pinned beneath it. I fired again. Where the beam touched its side, I was digging out great gouts of flesh-but I wasn't even slowing it down! I couldn't tell if the other rifleman's beam was working or not-I didn't think so. I could see that he was firing too-there was a line of bloody black divots across the Chtorran's silver back, but it was ragged and uneven. He was having no more effect than I was. The Chtorran whirled and swung and pounced. It rose and fell and rose again, its eyes swiveling this way and that, its maw working like a machine. Even from this distance, I could see the blood spurting. The creature raised up high again, another victim in its mouth. The other rifleman dropped his gun and ran.

The auditorium was a screaming madhouse now. The green-lit mannequins streamed toward the exits. The crowds were piling up at the doors in great knots of struggling bodies, jamming and trampling. The Chtorran noticed them; its eyes angled first one way and then the other. It dropped the body it was holding in its maw and moved. The Chtorran leaped across the rows to land among the screaming people, flattening them to the floor or pinning them against their seats. It flowed up the aisle. It picked the people up and threw them, or pounced upon them as it had the dogs-but it wasn't eating! It was in a killing frenzy!

I didn't know what I was doing. I ran forward, dropping off the edge of the stage-almost losing my balance-catching myself and racing toward that silver horror. I angled the blue-white-crimson beam at it and pulled the trigger, pulled the triggertrying to slash a line across the Chtorran's flesh, trying to carve the beast in half. There were people lying all around it. Most were motionless. A few were trying to crawl. I stopped worrying if they were in my line of fire. It didn't matter. Their only hope was if I could stop this creature quickly.

I skidded on something wet and sprawled sideways. I could see my beam slicing sideways across the wall-Oh, God! This is it! But the Chtorran wasn't even turned toward me. Yet.

I scrambled back to my feet. The Chtorran was terrifyingly close. It had swung around and was working its way back down the aisle again. I saw now, in dreadful clarity, exactly how it killed. It raised the forward part of its body high and brought it directly down upon its victim-this time, a member of the Chinese delegation, a slender young man-no, a girl! She couldn't have been more than sixteen. The creature pinned the screaming girl to the floor with its gnashing maw; then, holding her down with its black, peculiarly double-jointed arms, it tried to pull away-but its mouth was like a millipede's, with rows and rows of inward curving teeth. It couldn't stop eating! It couldn't stop chewing something once it started-not unless the object was deliberately pulled out of its mouth! That's why the creature held the bodies down when it backed away-so it could pull free.

The effect was to rend the body as thoroughly as if it had been pulled apart by a threshing machine. The Chinese girl screamed and jerked and twitched and then was still. The Chtorran lifted up then and began to turn-and I could see that there were human entrails hanging from its mouth. There were bodies on the floor around it-they were badly ripped and mauled. They had died horribly.