A Bug's Life Read Online Free PDF

the ship wasn’t as hard as I’d
been worried it would be – we ensured we had firm holds on the
Birthing Sac, Doven altered his illusion so that we could see the
real cargo hold, we aimed for the belly of the ship, pushed off at
the same time, and floated towards our goal.
    There were a few pieces of debris floating in
our way, but Dr. Wufren managed to shove them away telekinetically,
and we avoided minor unpleasant encounters on the way
back.
    We’d aimed well, and the hold door opened as
we got close. Bullfrog and Kyle were tethered to the inside of the
ship and they shoved off to catch us. Once they had holds on the
Sac, Willy mechanically rewound their tethers and pulled them and
our precious cargo back into the ship.
    The three of us who’d gone out of the airlock
now pulled ourselves back via our tethers, reached the ladder,
unclipped, and went back inside. I went last, and as the airlock
door closed behind me I heard a group sigh of relief on the
com.
    “Get out of the suits and to stations as fast
as you can,” Roy said. “We can’t warp out of here, so I want to
leave as soon as possible.”
    “I have an idea,” Kyle said as he flooded the
airlock with oxygen and let the three of us fully back into the
ship.
    “And what is that?” Roy asked, patience
clearly forced.
    “Polliskins inside of space suits,” Kyle said,
as he helped us get our spacesuits off. “If we can get the babies
into Polliskins, then into a space suit, they can probably manage
warp. We could even try putting them just into the Polliskin
helmets.”
    “And you think, in the entire history of the
Pillar race, that not one of them ever thought of that?” Roy
asked.
    Bullfrog joined us. “Maybe not, Roy. It would
be a rare Polliwog who would have been interested in them prior to
the Purge. And I don’t think they were frequent visitors to
Polliworld.”
    “They look like your people’s idea of food,” I
pointed out. “I’d be willing to bet that it would have to have been
a rare Pillar who wanted to risk getting eaten just to visit
somewhere new.”
    “We must ensure these survive,” Tresia
said.
    Dr. Wufren nodded. “However, Kyle’s idea is
sound. And one that, frankly, only someone who traveled with a
Polliwog and visited Polliworld regularly would think
of.”
    “I like the kid’s idea, but I have a question
– how will we get them into the suits without crushing them?” Willy
asked. “Because the helmet idea won’t work.”
    “We’ll have them stay in Round Form,” I
answered. “I have a plan as well. Besides, they’re willing to take
the risk. Now that they know for sure that we’re trying to save
them, that is.”
    There was silence on the com, and the
expressions on Kyle, Willy, and Bullfrog’s faces shared that they
felt I’d finally gone around the comets once too many times. Tresia
and Dr. Wufren, on the other hand, looked unsurprised and also
determined.
    “Group meeting, in the hold,” Dr. Wufren said.
“DeeDee, Tresia, and I have something to tell the rest of
you.”
    “We will complete two tasks at the same time,”
Tresia added, “and get our young survivors set up to survive their
rescue.”

    The six of us gathered all of our Polliskins
and met up with Roy, Doven, and Ciarissa in the cargo hold. Roy
looked worried and unhappy. “Tell me again why we’re not trying to
get out of here and why my entire crew is being
insubordinate?”
    “It was a test,” I said, as I looked at the
Pillar still sleeping in their Sacs. The last ones from this
colony. “They wanted to be sure they could trust us.”
    “They who?” Willy asked.
    “The Pillar. These Pillar. I know why the
Diamante Families destroyed Pilla and why they want to kill every
last Pillar left.”
    Ciarissa cocked her head. Her blonde hair
floated around her – our gravity generators were working, this was
just the way Ciarissa’s hair was most of the time. I didn’t know
enough Espens to know if this was common or not with