Their claws made short work of the metals and carbon composites that made up the machines. In moments the pump was a pile of scrap and the black sludge was again pouring out of the ground. The crabs soaked their claws in it, then brought it to what must be their mouths. Satiated, some began to excrete a black filament as others shuttled them around. All the while thousands more or the creatures poured out of the sea and over the dunes. The men’s relentless assault on the creatures made no dent in their numbers.
‘Stop the flame thrower!’ Kane yelled. The man wielding it turned off the gout of flame and for a moment the crabs coming at him paused. Then, one of them waved a claw at its compatriots. First dozens then hundreds followed its signal. They all stopped going for the organic sludge and turned on the man. They eviscerated him. Their claws tore him into a thousand little pieces. Where one moment was a man the next was nothing but a pile of meat. The crabs gobbled it up greedily, some of them already turning the man’s dirty coveralls into more of the thread. One of them turned and waved to the thousands of other crabs and they mirrored its gesture. Then the thousands of crabs all turned on the men.
We hope you enjoyed this sneak preview of Interstellar Spring Book 2: Diamondcrabs and Mangoes. Go to www.jdarrismitchell.com for more!
Fireflies and Cosmos: Interstellar Spring Book 1 Page 11
