The Most Terrible Beast – Khristo Poshtakov – 1800 words (Sci-fi)

As you read the story, glance at the sky now and then. Is it changing colour? The most terrible beast may visit our Solar System too.

The Most Terrible Beast

It was a regular bar room, one of those found near null terminals or spaceports in any point of the intelligent universe. Nickeled holders for consuming various gas mixtures occupied the bar, their sterilized inhaling mouthpieces sticking out from the consumption sockets. Any patron of the place would be thoroughly familiar with the selection of cocktails; nevertheless, their numbers were engraved in a dozen galactic languages. Four members of humankind sat on the comfortable stools in front of the bar. Three of them already knew one another, and the fourth one had just joined their company. They had been drawn together by their common need to kill some spare time between flights.

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