<strong>On E Deck</strong>, things are almost painfully peaceful.<br/><br/><strong>Above</strong>, with Alex and Kat in the hibernation chamber, things get very loud, very fast.<br/><br/>No sooner has Kat spoken, than something - something fast, flexible, heavy and animal - strikes her squarely on her bottom.  It feels like an enormous worm - a tendril with flesh like rugged ripples.  Feelers on one end of it wrap about her waist in a sticky star pattern, affixing with a terrible wiry strength.  Those lean fibers girdle her narrow middle.<br/><br/>Then the pointed end of the worm begins to punch through the seat of her fatigues.  The head of it is tough, the lunges ferocious.  In a rapid series of jabs, the tip tears through the fatigues and shoves for her core.<br/><br/>Alex can see the thing is a worm - a worm a mere three inches wide, but nearly six feet long, thrashing its mottled gray-yellow body with horrifying force.