The holoview flickered then went dead. The scientists stumbled about in pandemonium, gazing at one another. The creature had effectively nuked two impossible adversaries in a matter of minutes. Now it was champion of the arena.
Dez’s mouth sagged. “What the hell? How did the thing get out of its Imagron? You must have blasted it too heavily, Vrand.”
“No way,” the operator grumbled. “Those were only force 6 rays.”
“Then they must have secreted acid!” Dez cried. Red suffused his cheeks.
Mutters and grunts coursed through the scientists. The first hints of panic spread. No way of knowing whether the moth-alien predator was still contained in the war room or had somehow burrowed its way out of the containment sphere.
“Those are ten foot thick, solid titanium walls,” Dez mumbled to himself hoarsely.
“You going to take that chance?” asked Vrand.
“Surely, it could not get out?” He bit his lip. “Vrand, you take Biz and Mastri out to the beast access ramp and see that it’s secured. I’m alerting bio-hazard. Use the access tunnel on level D4 if you need to. Be careful!”
Vrand gave a low grunt and strode briskly off.
Dez’s mouth quivered. “They’ve never done that before—how can it be possible?—” he trailed off, his hand shaking.
Regers slapped him hard on the back. “Dez, you’re a wreck. Surprised you?—I told you not to fuck with those bugs and look what you did, you got a whole rodeo show going here that’s going tits up. I was lucky to get my money when I did—a million yols for getting that scrap metal to your yard. Now you’ve got a colossal mess on your hands.”
“They can’t do that,” babbled Dez.
One of the remaining engineers muttered, “They just did.”
“How can they be that intelligent? How’d it know the camera was there?”
The engineer shrugged. “Something alerted it to the camera.”
“Think! There’s no logical reason for it. Or reason for them to attack their brethren, actually, the opposite, there’s safety in numbers, Darwin’s survival of the species.”
Regers stared at him as if he were daft. “It’s a fucking alien. How do you expect to understand it? Your dimestore psychology models and R&D experiments mean jack shit to it.”
Regers could see that Dez was clearly out of sorts. “Loosed the beast from Pandora’s box? What’s to stop them from installing themselves in a FTL ship and blinking off between the worlds? How then’s your Bio-Imagron thingy gonna save you? They’ll bust through that like rats chew through cheese.”
Dez stared unblinking as if in a sleepwalk.
“Your problem, not mine.” Regers shrugged. “If you were trying to scare me with this moth freak show so I wouldn’t come after you sometime down the road, it didn’t work. That said, I don’t want to be a hundred light years within you or any piece of your operation.” He made for the exit. “Come on, Deakes. We’ve got our own battles to fight. I’ve had enough of this circus act.”
Chapter 22
The Zikri war Orbs circled in orbit above Xares, a rose-tinged planet, home to some 200 million people. The Mentera fleet drifted a score of miles away like wolves before a flock of fat sheep. Its thousands of mantises, aphids and destroyers gathered in no less menacing configuration. Now they drifted in a slow spiral ready to swarm down upon the planet.
Invasion of the hapless world was slated in minutes. A red light signaling a Code Critical flashed on Admiral Nrog’s communicator.
An armed detail of four massive Zikri entered the battle command bridge, tentacles glistening.
“Sir,” the lead security squid chittered, “a rogue ship has been captured and brought aboard Orb destroyer SP01 Uglik.”
“Who? One of ours?”
“One of the Mentera ships. We flagged it earlier. The ship we presumed malfunctioning that took out Mentera aphids and one of our rearguard Orbs. We tractored the ship into locking bay and managed to break through the hull, discovered it manned by three rebels, two human and one Mentera…the same ship set out to comb Kraetoria for intruders.”
Nrog’s motilators bristled in anger. “Those stupid Mentera and their non-existent security.” He twitched. “Transport the spies aboard via amalgamator”
“As you wish.”
“Anything else to report?”
The lead security squid’s train of thought shifted with its parting polyp of a mouth. “Some peculiar Mentera recorder has been discovered aboard. The rebels claim ignorance of it.”
“Bring the unit for examination.”
“Right away, Admiral.”
Nrog whistled a fluting chirrup and patched through to First Officer Jring of the Mentera fleet.
Jring’s singsong voice sounded over the com. “A successful coup, Admiral. Both of us should be pleased with our achievement. One hundred thousand prime slaves have been shipped to Carcarus, a far world for factory tanking. For you, quite a score of factories and resources gained from one human planet.”
“Yes, quite, Princeps. Yet another matter concerns me. Some news of a security breach—in your ranks,” he added with a disturbing air of menace.
Jring clicked his mandibles.
“A rogue ship, two humans and a Mentera. I’ve detained the spies for questioning. Another special item has been retrieved.”
“Why don’t I come aboard and take a look?”
“I was expecting no less.”
Jring signed off.
Nrog paused in moody reflection. Zikri and Mentera, recent allies but age-old foes since time immemorial. Wary of each other’s propensity for violence and treachery. Could he trust Jring? Odd that Jring hadn’t captured and dealt with these spies earlier.
With haste, Nrog glided down the dim-lit hall to the interrogation chamber with
