Starfist FR - 03 - Recoil Read Online Free PDF Page A

else fails, send them home. Meanwhile, I’ll keep the president informed and maybe she can put pressure on the politicos.”

    “Sir, what it’s going to take will probably be a full-scale Skink invasion somewhere. That should get everyone’s attention mighty fast.”
    Aguinaldo scratched his chin. “You’re probably right, Pradesh, let’s just hope their first port of call isn’t Earth.”
    “Well, sir, wherever they hit us, let’s hope that when they do, we’re ready for them.”

CHAPTER
    THREE
    The House of Pain, Undisclosed Location He screamed and screamed, “Mumeeeee! Mumeeeeeee!” but the pain and terror only intensified. The Brattle Home, New Salem, Kingdom
    “ ‘And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem.’ ”
    Hannah Brattle smiled, put a marker between the pages of her Bible, and closed it. “And on that note, it’s about time for lunch,” she informed the three boys.
    “More? More, Mumee?” Moses begged. Hannah smiled at the boy, for she had come to think of him as human, and laid a hand on his head, stroking it gently. Moses loved it when she did that. He turned his strangely convex face up at her and smiled. It was the smile of an idiot, full of vacant pleasure. Moses loved to be stroked and he loved the sound of Hannah’s voice, but she doubted he understood much of what she read to him. Hannah sighed. Joab and Samuel, her two sons, no doubt they would soon be soldiers in the Army of Christ, but poor little Moses—she shook her head sadly—he would never live up to the name she had given him.
    “I’ve read the entire Gospel according to Mark this morning, Moses. I’m an old lady, my voice needs a rest. And my stomach tells me it’s time to eat! Afterward you boys can go on down to the river if you want and see if you can find another Moses.” Joab and Samuel had found Moses as a baby at the water’s edge and brought him home with them. They wanted to call him “Jedo,” because that was what they thought he had told them when asked if he had a name, but Hannah had quickly dubbed him “Moses” because he had been found abandoned among the bulrushes, and the name had stuck.
    “Awrrrright!” Samuel chortled. “Down to the river, Moses!”
    “Oh, good! Good!” Moses began to pirouette on his stubby legs. Any suggestion of play, especially play involving water, excited Moses because once in the water he was totally in his element. Then the webbing between his fingers and the toes on his large feet extended, helping to propel him through the water like a fish. Zechariah Brattle, the nominal leader of the New Salem community, Hannah’s second husband and stepfather to her boys, had returned to New Salem a few days after Hannah had agreed to let the boys keep Moses. “We have a big problem,” he told his family as they sat in their living room one evening. He gestured at Moses who crouched on a blanket spread out on the floor, uttering contented noises, munching cookies Hannah had baked that morning.
    “Why, father?” Samuel asked, apprehension in his voice. He glanced at his older brother for reassurance.
    “Father, Jedo’s harmless,” Joab protested. “He can’t possibly be one of them!”
    “No doubt about it, son, he is one of them,” Zechariah answered. “I’ve seen them up close, and believe me, he’s a devil, or a Skink, that’s what the Marines call them. Oh, he’s not full grown yet, boys, but make no mistake about it, he is one of those creatures.”
    “Father,” Hannah interjected, “he’s been with us for days now. He is no different in his manner than these boys of mine were at his age. I think he’s just another of God’s creatures. You aren’t suggesting we turn him over to the