Chicken Scratch

The Feroer drops onto all fours, planting his palms on ground with tail lashing and a ridge of fur standing tall down his spine, and at first you think he is going to charge. Then, the rubbish floor of Vortex trembles, and you watch in horror as it starts shifting under with the same fluid ease as cream butter in a churn. One of the fleeing Vortexans stumbles over the instability, and much as the Fringe devoured the old man's leg so many months ago, it swallows the arms she outstretched to catch herself. The invasion has generated such a din that you can not hear her screaming, which is a small mercy.