The Man on the Meteor by Ray Cummings

How long we slept I do not know. Nona brought me back to consciousness; she was twitching at my arm and whispering in my ear frantically.

"What? " I demanded; but she silenced me. She was pointing with a trembling hand. I saw what it was. Half a mile away perhaps, over the sand hills, I could see figures moving. Living things were advancing toward us along the water-bottom!

I sat up, alert. Living things! I would capture and kill one for food.

But as they came steadily closer, I saw that each of them was nearly as large as ourselves-and there were ten or more of them. I trembled; and Nona and I drew back into the fern to hide.

The things continued to advance. Soon I saw that they were upright, coming along the sand as though walking, slowly but steadily. I thought they had not seen us. Nona and I lay very quiet, with our hearts pounding with fright. Soon the things were so close that I could examine them in detail. They were apparently human as ourselves-made after a general plan like our own.

I have since named them Marinoids-a name that may serve as well as any other. The males-or shall I call them men? -were some five feet in height. Their bodies were pink-white, smooth, with a glistening skin. They were clothed-crude greenish garments wrapped around them tightly. They had feet and jointed legs, which, however, were connected by a flapping membrane. Their chests were over-large. There were four arms, two at each shoulder. The arms waved in the water sinuously, like the tentacles of an octopus. At the ends of the arms were fingers-very long and slim-and a huge pincer, like that of a crab.

Yet for all that, these beings seemed in human form. The heads were hairy and round, with two eyes only slightly protruding, a nose, and a mouth not much different from my own save that it was larger.

The women were slightly shorter and more slender than the men, with long dark hair that floated habitually above them.

In this party which now approached us were ten individuals-four of them women. In spite of their size, there was about them-both women and men-a curious aspect of _unsolidity_. I felt less afraid of them as I realized it. They looked as though I could crush them in my arms. Their chests especially seemed no more than thin, inflated membranes, expanding and contracting with extraordinary rapidity.

I wondered, with a sudden flush of triumph, if these things would be good to eat. I whispered it to Nona.

"I can capture one," I said confidently.

"Wait! " she cautioned.

The Marinoids were still walking toward us along the sand-slow dragging footsteps combined with a sort of waddle for their legs were hampered by the membrane which connected them. Their arms were waving back and forth. The backs of most of them were bent, with their faces downward as though they were examining the sand.

I must have made some movement. They saw us! They stopped, and seemed to grow suddenly alert. The men consulted together, pointing at us; the women drew partially behind them as though for protection.

I struggled upright, in spite of Nona's warning and her restraining hold. I would fight these things-kill them for our food. It would be a glorious feast; my Nona was hungry.

I plunged forward. The Marinoids were alarmed-startled would describe their aspect better. The men stood their ground; the women darted upward through the water, swimming on one side with legs waving the connecting membrane like a great fish's tail.

One of the Marinoid men had shouted something. I could hear his voice plainly-words seemingly-a rasping order. Nona was behind me, following me closely, ready to help me fight.

"Quick! " I shouted. "Catch one, Nona!"

It was so futile! The Marinoid men left the sand and darted at us so quickly that we could not have eluded them had we tried. They were upon us in an instant: I was helpless as they threw me down and with surprising strength in those three-foot long tentacles, wrapped them around me and held me.

Three of the men were thus engaged with me; and two were holding Nona. But they did not attempt to hurt us; indeed, they seemed to avoid doing so.