Predator - Incursion (38 page)

“So don’t keep me in suspense.”

“There are ship traces out there that are familiar.”

Mains frowned, trying to understand. The flat holo screen on the unit before them glowed a gentle blue, and scattered across its surface, and deep down, were at least a dozen pulsing red specs. Each had a list of figures and numerals beside it. He could read them, but none of them made sense to him.

“How do you know them?”

“I don’t. My suit does. It’s uploaded with some of the latest navigational software, and I added some of my own improvements. I’ve got several dips into quantum folds that the Company would probably prefer I didn’t. It’s the least important one that’s flagging up these ship traces.”

“Which one?”

“Historical. Johnny, at least seven of the traces I can find here are Fiennes Ships. They’re all coming back toward the Sphere, heading for drophole locations.”

“They were never meant to come back.”

“Right, and they’re moving at speeds way, way beyond their capabilities when they were sent out. This one, the
Susco-Foley
, left the Sphere almost five hundred years ago. The
Aaron-Percival
, fifty years before that. And the others… none of them should be here, Johnny.”

He closed his eyes, because it was all becoming horribly clear.

“Nurseries,” he said.

“Yeah. That’s what I was thinking. Those Xenomorph bastards have to be born somewhere.”

“How many people did those ships carry?”

“
Susco-Foley
was the smallest of them, and old records suggest almost seven thousand passengers in cryo-sleep.”

“And there’s seven of them.”

“That I can see, yeah.”

“Holy shit.” He shook his head. “Holy
shit
. Okay, prepare another transmission. We’ve got to warn whoever we can.”

Behind them, the speared android Patton made a noise. It was a strangled, gurgling, sickening sound. Mains went closer, trying to make out any words. But the android was not attempting to speak.

As Mains heard the chilling scratch of countless claws approaching from below the flight deck, Patton began to laugh.

TIM LEBBON is a
New York Times
-bestselling writer from South Wales. He’s had over thirty novels published to date, as well as hundreds of novellas and short stories. His latest novel is the thriller
The Hunt
, and other recent releases include
The Silence
and
Alien: Out of the Shadows.
He has won four British Fantasy Awards, a Bram Stoker Award, and a Scribe Award, and has been a finalist for World Fantasy, International Horror Guild, and Shirley Jackson Awards. Future novels include a new thriller from Avon,
The Rage War
(an Alien/Predator trilogy), and the
Relics
trilogy from Titan.

A movie of his story
Pay the Ghost
, starring Nicolas Cage, is due for release in 2015, and several other projects are in development for TV and the big screen.

Find out more about Tim at his website
www.timlebbon.net

A big thanks to the whole team at Titan. It’s wonderful to work with a gang of such passionate and professional people who are, above all, fans of the genre. Thanks to Fox, especially Josh Izzo and Nicole Spiegel. A big thanks to everyone who let me use their names in the book. Apologies for killing some of you. But what a way to go, in the depths of space fighting some of cinema’s most iconic monsters…

COMING SOON FROM TITAN BOOKS

The Yautja and the human race face a common foe, armed with the deadliest weapons imaginable. Even if they work together, is there any way to stop an army of Xenomorphs?

APRIL 2016

And don’t miss the devastating conclusion:

TITAN
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