Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 13, 2025
Against that, the Nipe had all those hands; and with his low center of gravity and four-footed stance, it would be hard to knock him down. If Stanton lost his footing, the fight would be over fast. Stanton lunged suddenly forward and planted a left in the Nipe's right upper eye, then followed it with a right uppercut to the Nipe's jaw as his head snapped back.
The image of the Nipe on the glowing screen was clear and finely detailed. It was, Bart thought, as though one were looking through a window into the Nipe's nest itself. Only the tremendous depth of focus of the lens which caught the picture gave the illusion a sense of unreality. Everything background and foreground alike was sharply in focus.
And that, of course, was never achieved. Just what had set off the Nipe's anger hasn't been established yet, as far as Stanton knew. At a meeting one day, he had simply become more and more incomprehensible, and then, without any warning, he had leaped out, killed three of the men with his bare hands, and gone out the window.
Stanton moved in to press his advantage and landed a beaut on the Nipe's lower left eye. Then he tried a body blow. It wasn't too successful. The alien had an endoskeleton, but he also had a hide that was like somewhat leathery chitin. He pulled back, out of the way of the Nipe's judo cuts. His fists were beginning to hurt, and his leg was paining him badly where the Nipe had clamped on to it.
Even when he reared up, the Nipe's head was only three feet above the concrete floor. The Nipe came in again more cautiously, this time. Stanton punched again with a straight right. The Nipe moved his head aside, and Stanton's knuckles merely grazed the side of his head, below the lower right eye. One of the Nipe's hands came in in a chopping right hook that took Stanton just below the ribs.
Some thought that the call had been from a deranged person. When the Nipe actually showed up at the appointed place, those minds changed rapidly. The Nipe's ability to use any human language was limited. He picked up vocabulary and grammatical rules very rapidly, but he seemed completely unable to use a language beyond discussion of concrete actions and objects.
But there was a slight limp in his movement as he back-pedaled away from the Nipe. That full-handed pinch had hurt! Stanton was angry now, with the hot, controlled anger of a fighting man. He stepped in and slammed two fast, hard jabs into the point of the Nipe's snout, jarring the monster backwards. This time, it was the Nipe who scuttled backwards.
Some of them were watching the screen, but most of them seemed to be watching Stanton, although they looked away as soon as they saw his eyes on them. Trying to see what kind of a bloke this touted superman is, Stanton thought. Well, I can't say I blame 'em. He brought his attention back to the screen. So this was the Nipe's hideaway.
He wondered if it were furnished in the fashion that a Nipe's living quarters would be furnished on whatever planet the multilegged horror called home. Probably it had the same similarity as Robinson Crusoe's island home had to a middle-class Nineteenth Century English home. There was no furniture at all, as such.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking