Deep Penetration; Alien Breeders I Read Online Free PDF

it should have familiar—and yet it was and she realized
that could only mean that she’d seen it before.
    She struggled to search for another
explanation. Was it some sort of trick to make her feel as if she
was as mad as a hatter?
    It seemed far too elaborate for
that—unless they’d found a world very similar to Earth?
    It looked like Earth and at the same
time it didn’t seem familiar at all. What had he meant by saying
they’d regenerated her? What had he meant when he’d told her it
wasn’t the Earth she’d known?
    She was very afraid she was beginning
to understand and yet she refused to allow the thoughts to take
hold of her, pushing them to the back of her mind.
    She was developing blisters from the
slipping boots before the first crumbling wall came into view. She
halted abruptly, staring at the fading colors she could see where
climbing vines had been ripped away to reveal parts of what had
once been a building of some sort. Tariq stopped and turned to look
at her questioningly.
    Swallowing a little convulsively when
she recognized the symbols on the wall, she looked at Tariq a
little beseechingly. “I don’t want to see this.”
    His gaze moved over her face. “You
wanted to know.”
    She swallowed with an effort around
the knot in her throat. “I don’t think I want to
anymore.”
    He returned to her, settling his hands
lightly on her shoulders. “You’re strong, Emerald. You can do
this.”
    She looked up at him mournfully. “Do
what?”
    “ Face what you must to
learn the truth.”
    “ I’m … afraid,” she
admitted.
    He pulled her closer, settling his
arms lightly around her. “I know, child, but I also know that you
are brave and strong. If I didn’t believe you had the strength to
face it, I wouldn’t have brought you.”
    Emerald settled her cheek against his
chest, feeling like the child he’d called her, and yet comforted by
his embrace. The sense of security vanished almost as soon as he
pulled away and doubts rose again, but she allowed him to lead her
deeper into what had once been a great city.
    Emerald felt her flesh creep as they
walked, felt as if the gaping holes in the crumbling walls were
eyes staring down at her, almost as if they were accusing her.
After a few moments, they reached an intersection and she
discovered the source of some of the noises she’d been hearing
growing steadily louder.
    Approximately a block from the
intersection, she saw people laboring. She glanced at Tariq
questioningly, but he was focused on the activity ahead of
them.
    “ What are they doing?” she
asked curiously.
    “ Excavating,” Tariq
responded shortly.
    She could see that. She just didn’t
understand what they were looking for. “For what?”
    His gaze flickered over her briefly
before he looked away again. “Answers.” He halted when they reached
the dig, looked around, and finally walked her to a low stone wall
and told her to sit. Abandoning her there, he strode purposefully
toward the hole in the ground and halted at the edge, his legs
slightly apart, his hands on his hips. In a few moments, Emerald
saw a figure she thought she recognized. As he neared Tariq, she
became certain it was Koryn.
    “ We found two more!” he
said, excitement threading his voice. The look of pleasure vanished
and an expression of shock washed across his features as he glanced
in her direction and spied her. “What is she doing
here?”
    Tariq turned to look at her. “She
decided to explore on her own and find her answers.”
    “ So you brought her here?”
Koryn asked, his voice tight with angry disbelief.
    Tariq’s expression tightened. He
didn’t say anything. His expression was sufficient to silence any
further objection Koryn might have made.
    Koryn nodded stiffly, wrestled with
himself, and plunged onward. “You said she was too … important to
our mission to risk. Her mind is too fragile right now.”
    “ I underestimated her
determination and her ingenuity,” Tariq responded