Without warning, the dragonfly flitted right up to the viewport glass to stare at them with glassy abandon. It flew closer to gaze at Regers through the glass, now with a cold depthlessness of expression that could barely be described. Its impossibility of existence, the fabulous dexterity of its alien wings had the other crew members awed, but not Regers—or Dez who knew this type of species all too well. Regers’ eyes nearly rolled out of their sockets with the utter horror of it.
“What in fuck’s name?” Deakes muttered.
“It’s controlling the mechno—” Dez lifted an arm “—like the creatures did down in our labs on Phallanor.”
“What, you know about these things?” Jennings croaked.
“It’s one of those ‘Dim Zone’ creatures hatched from the plant bulbs Yul brought back. Hresh must have gotten his hands on one and tried to use it to power his bots, like we did. This time the thing destroyed his lab. Regers, turn this ship around and get the hell out of here.”
“Mathias may be down there.”
“Forget Mathias. The man’s dead if that dragonfly thing is flitting around loose.”
Regers grunted. The fact was true enough.
The dragonfly and its avatar came closer. Creib muttered a curse. He tried to gun the engine and strike at the thing. The maneuver only slapped it hard against the glass and sent it buzzing back. The insect, juiced with malicious intent, looped around in a dizzy semicircle and smashed its blunt nose against the glass.
“What in hell are you doing, Creib, you stupid A-hole?”
“I didn’t like how it was hovering there mooning at us. The wings could gum up the Varwol antenna or the stabilizer plate.”
“You think?”
The insect came buzzing in again to strike at the glass with the mechnobot in tow.
“Shutter the glass! Blast the thing!”
Creib struck a fist on a blue knob. The armored plates slid down over the viewing glass. Deakes let out a lusty howl. He tapped at keypads and set sights on the creature with the fore-cannon.
Dez raced toward him to slap his hand away. “No, you fool. Don’t fire at the thing! It’ll only retaliate and kill us all!”
“How? A little bug like that?” Deakes snorted.
“Don’t underestimate them. The insect already thinks we’re a threat to its habitat.”
“Why the fuck would it?” Vincent sneered. He turned to look over his shoulder, then zoomed in on the weapons array, touching pads to target the thing. “Does it look like we’re going to mess up its crib?”
“They’re aliens, you dumbfuck,” Regers said, clenching his fist. “What do you think?”
“How do you know all of this?” Jennings demanded of Dez.
“I studied them on Phallanor,” panted Dez. “The same type of creature Yul brought back from The Dim Zone as a bulb. It hatched. Two of them. Into one of these dragonfly-moths. They’re practically invincible. We tried to control the specimen. It only made a shambles of our lab—like this base. Something must have gone wrong down here. Hresh’s experiments gone amok.”
A sudden movement had the visual monitor beeping warnings. A bug-shaped prow emerged, lifting over the battered hills to the north of the base.
Deakes gave a low whistle. “A fine parade here. Just what we need. So much for Hresh and Mathias.”
The disturbing shape loomed out of the morning stillness and came straight at them. A mantis-shaped craft with high curving bow and sweeping cannons.
“What the fuck?” Vincent swore.
“It’s a LY-Mentera fighter.” Creib’s hands shook as he punched in escape coordinates on the console.
Regers leveled his E1 at Dez’s neck. “Some sneaky trick of yours, Dez? If you want your head blown off, then you’re off to a good start.” He pushed the E1 closer to the man’s ear.
“I don’t know anything!” Dez babbled. “Christ, Regers! Mathias must have gotten in trouble, like you said, stirred up the Mentera, but it was Zikri he got entangled with before he went missing, not Mentera. I don’t get it. Don’t blame me.”
“I don’t believe you, you egg-sucking slime.”
Ramra gulped. “The Mentera must have had this place staked out. Either that or this acting CEO friend of yours led us into a trap.”
“That’ll earn you demerits, Dez,” Regers snarled. “A blast to the face.” He smashed him in the nose with his rifle. Dez’s nose erupted in blood.
“OW! You bloody bastard,” choked Dez. “Wasn’t me planned this Remus shit.”
“Well, those ships are bug ships, not squid ships. Creib,” Regers yelled, “get us away from this rock. Max impulse. Now! Wait—take us on a high arc, as far from the planet as possible. We can activate warp as soon as we clear atmosphere. No low looping shit!” Regers reached for the Varwol.
“They’re too close,” cried Creib. “It’ll foul up our grav signature!” The ship rocked to Mentera fire.
“Shit, those bugs are fast,” cried Deakes. The ship rocked again, shields holding. The hovering mechnobot turned and swiveled its turret toward the approaching Mentera craft.
Regers thundered, “Blast them!”
Vincent rained heat beams at the offending craft. But the enemy’s superior fire lashed back at them, sending them in a tumbling roll. The Mentera mantis-fighter ship, superior in every aspect, was going to crush them. Superior shields, armor, speed, dexterity. Another creepy aphid craft fighter with mantis-like prow sprang up from the same shadow-laced place as its peer. Regers loosed a string of curses. These ships must have been waiting for someone to show up.
At the prospect of being thrown back in a locust tank, Regers clawed at the nav controls. Jennings gave a despaired croak. “Your insanity got us into this mess, Regers—Get us the hell out!”
“They’ve snagged us in a tractor grip,” Ramra
