And now the main body of the thing began to be visible. It was vaguely conical, with the apex inverted, the arms of it issuing forth from the sides. A single glowing eye bulged from the top.
“It looks nasty,” said Nick, “but I don’t think it’s very powerful.”
“It might bang us up a bit, though,” added Timbie.
“The beastie is after something. Look at the way those three arms are swishing around.”
The thing was virtually monochrome except for the jet black of the single eye. The arms were flailing in the general direction of the ship, coming closer with each cast. But apparently it had not reached them yet.
“Do you suppose it can’t see well?” asked Dorothy.
Before anyone could answer her the creature had already acted. For caught now in one of the brilliant arms was a flattish many-legged thing, looking more like a centipede than anything else. It had a barbed tail like a scorpion, and was writhing and trying to spear the other desperately. But the hunter had calculated well and encircled its prey in such a manner that the barb could not reach it. Closer to the brilliant body the struggling thing was borne, then a slit appeared in the side of the victor, and a deep red orifice grew. The flattish creature was popped into this; the cavity closed with a snap and again the shell of brilliant cone-thing seemed to be unbroken.
Caught in the brilliant arms was a flattish thing that looked more like a centipede than anything else.