Copyright statement: This is an original work by the two authors. Any resemblance to any person, living, dead or fictional, is unintentional and coincidental. The writers retain all rights to this work, and the copyright may not be infringed.
Wonderland Revisited
By Nancy Smith and Linda Garrick
Prologue
An Arcturian sprinted down a narrow space between two buildings. He had been running a long time and fatigue made him stumble. Behind him, much nearer now, he heard the drum of booted feet.
He dodged down another alley, stumbling again. He had run and hidden, and run again, but at last they were closing in. The Arcturian paused a moment, glancing at his chronometer in the semi-darkness. Long enough.
He felt a small glow of satisfaction. The ship had blasted off thirty minutes ago and the Underground would have its chance. It would take the Jilectans time to trace his movements of the last four hours, and still more time to figure out that he had concealed the thing they sought aboard the ship. It should be long enough.
The alley came to a dead end. The wall was of stone, at least three meters high, and smooth as a trenchcrawler's underside.
He leaped, caught the top with the bare tips of his claws and hauled himself upward. As he reached the top, he heard the soft hum of a stunbolt. Weakness coursed through him as the edge of the beam brushed him. His fingers lost their grip and he fell backwards. His legs gave out as he landed, and black-clad bodies converged on him. The time had come.
The Arcturian drew his blaster, flicking the switch on the weapon's butt with a taloned finger. There was an alarmed shout and the hum of a stunbolt once more. Blackness closed down, and dimly, like the rumble of far-off thunder, he heard the roar of the exploding blaster.
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tbc
