Page 27 of Stripped By the Alien

The corridor ahead curves downward, and I start walking. One hand trails along the wall. The living surface feels warm beneath my fingers, and every few seconds a pulse travels through it. The sensation makes me increasingly aware that I'm walking through something alive.

Several side passages appear as I continue. Each one seals before I can reach it. After the fourth time, coincidence stops feeling like a convincing explanation.

A membrane opens ahead. I move toward it, and it closes. Another opens farther down the corridor.

I stop and stare. "You're definitely doing that on purpose."

A scratching sound draws my attention upward. A pale many-legged creature watches me from the wall for several seconds before disappearing into a fold of tissue. Almost immediately, the next membrane opens.

Then a deep bellow rolls through the ship, stronger than before. I look behind me: Sealed wall.

I look ahead: Open passage.

The choice is becoming increasingly theoretical. With growing suspicion, I continue forward.

The corridor ends in a small circular chamber, and I slow as I enter. At first it looks harmless enough. Then the membranes begin closing around me.

One seals behind me. Another closes to my left. I turn in a slow circle while more exits disappear. Within seconds every route is gone except a single opening on the far side of the room.

I stare at it while my mind catches up. The ship has spent the last several minutes steering me from corridor to corridor. The opening passages. The sealed routes. None of it was random.

"You're herding me," I whisper.

The floor vibrates beneath my feet. A pulse travels through the walls. At the same moment, the final opening begins narrowing.

That decides the matter.

I gather up the ridiculous packing wrap and hurry across the chamber. The membrane starts closing as I approach, forcing me to duck through the shrinking gap before it seals completely behind me.

For three steps, everything seems normal. Then the floor disappears.

The realization arrives an instant before something slams into my back. The impact lifts me off my feet. My arms fly outward as I lose balance. I try to catch myself, but there's nothing to grab. Before I can understand what's happening, I'm propelled through another membrane ahead.

Then the universe opens around me. Stars blaze in every direction and all the air is ripped from my lungs in one explosive exhale. My eyes and tongue start to sting and burn.

For a moment my mind refuses to accept what my eyes are seeing. There should be walls. There should be a corridor. There should be something beneath me.

Instead there is only open space.

I reach toward the ship on pure instinct, as though I can somehow pull myself back through willpower alone. The motion accomplishes nothing. My body continues drifting away while the darkness stretches endlessly around me.

Panic slams into me. My arms and legs thrash uselessly as I tumble away from the opening.

The Beast didn't guide me here by accident. It threw me outside, into the vacuum of space.

The stars shine around me, but everything is more silent than anything I’ve ever experienced.

I need air. My chest convulses. A scream tries to form, but I have no air in my lungs. The darkness around the edges of my vision arrives immediately.

Then something hits me. An arm clamps around my waist with crushing force.

The impact spins me again. Hard armor presses against my body. My brain loses track of everything except the desperate need to breathe.

The giant alien. He has me.

For a moment there is only violent motion. Living membranes rush toward us. Something opens ahead. The alien trembles with what has to be a growl, making me shake.

Then we burst through. Air slams into my lungs and I gasp like a fish on land. I suck in a ragged breath that turns into a cough. Another follows. Then another.