Tor (Women of Earth Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

profile. The valley of his neck dipped, and rose again into the broad expanse of his chest that tapered to the flat plain of his belly. She could almost picture the bent knee of one mountain of leg behind the extension of the other. That leg ended in a sharp drop off of land that was clearly a foot.
    The sight of land brought a silly grin of relief. The pod was taking her to land.
    She couldn't take her eyes from it until flashing lights drew her attention to the console. A series of figures appeared similar to those she remembered from her chemistry books. The symbols accompanying them were different, of course, but she was sure there was a computer somewhere in this pod sensing the composition of the world around her.
    The analysis continued and the land form grew closer. She could see the dark green of vegetation and the irregular line of beach along the shore. The pod slowed as it neared the land.
    Something bumped against the bottom of the pod. The capsule bounced and settled back into its line of flight. The something bumped again, and then rose, taking the capsule with it. For the first time, Wynne felt like the pod was not in control. It tilted dangerously to the side, giving Wynne her first clear view of what lay below. Ignorance was definitely better.
    The blue-green water was shallow and clear except where the dark, rolling shadow stirred up sand and stone from the bottom. While she only got a glimpse of it before the pod jolted back into position, it was enough to tell her that the creature below was huge. Straining against the straps that held her, Wynne craned her neck and watched the undulating phantom slide away, only to turn and charge back.
    She screamed when it slid over the capsule instead of under it. The capsule wobbled, sank, and strained to move forward against the added weight. Tentacles, all equipped with long rows of sucking lips and sharp, tiny teeth, roamed over the lid as if searching for an opening, and then it slipped away. With its release, the capsule shot forward. Twice more the tentacles reached for the pod, both times from behind.
    Wynne kept pushing against the straps that held her as if she could make the pod move faster until she realized that at the speed she was moving, landing on the rocky shore ahead would be dangerous. Then her feet pressed against the floor.
    "Whoa. Whoa!" she shouted as if her casket was a horse.
    Leaving the tentacled creature behind in deeper water, the pod slowed. Fans of water arched in its wake. It scraped bottom several times before coming to a stop several feet beyond the waterline.
    "Mission complete. Oxygen levels adequate to sustain contained life form. Gravitational pull..." The voice spewed numbers while figures and graphs played across the screen.
    Wynne had no idea what the rest of the information meant, but she didn't hear anything that sounded like a warning. The straps holding her in place released and the whole pod shuddered and hissed as the seal between the two halves broke. As much as she wanted leap from the claustrophobia inducing pod, she hesitated to lift the lid.
    It was a good thing, too. Not a minute later, another pod skid past within inches of her own. It came to a stop a few yards beyond. Prince Not-so-Charming immediately raised the lid of his casket, climbed out, and began pulling his pod up the beach and into the trees beyond. He waved to her to follow his lead and shouted something that she couldn't hear.
    Wynne reluctantly emerged from her cocoon and was promptly struck by a strong wind and a wave of dizziness. Her stomach churned and her knees buckled. She slid to the ground, holding her head. Wind whipped around her and the air was filled with a nauseating odor.
    Far out over the water, orange storm clouds roiled and raced toward shore. She fought against the urge to vomit, rose, and began pulling at the pod. It moved, but not nearly as fast as the rising water. No longer smooth and glassy, angry waves crested beyond the rocky