The weeks had gone by, almost tedious. And then, like a thunderclap in a summer sky…
…in the distant reaches of the Camerone system, five small stars twinkled. The Deimos radar operator confirmed they were military ships.
- "Either it's a discreet invasion force and Huan screwed us, or it's Huan himself and he's got utterly useless Drift pilots," said Tohil to Rav. "Officer Ruslan, establish contact."
Contact was not accepted. Tohil wanted to remain optimistic-an incompatibility of Drift, perhaps. But the scenario of an invasion force, even a small one, seemed increasingly plausible. He ordered Rav-who was aboard the Alké-to recall all units to Camerone and prepare for a jump to the secret destination given by the captain of the Alecto, grumbling:
- "That fucking Andreï, he jinxed us.
- And you, where will you Drift to?" asked Ravzan.
- "We'll manage."
Tohil cut the contact. He had no idea. He asked his pilot to prepare a jump for Francisco, but he knew they would be picked off like flowers there. Find a solution…
The radar operator announced that a unit about two meters across was moving at grapnel speed toward the ships. Scans ruled out the hypothesis of a fusion bomb: it was an organic device. A passing Xeno? No risk to take: he ordered a missile fired.
The missile shot toward the thing, but it abruptly changed direction.
- "What the fuck is that thing?" asked Tohil. "A damned Xeno with an inertial grapnel in its gut?"
- "Some Xeno ships are organic, Admiral," commented Ruslan, the radar operator with a forked beard.
- "How can we blow it up mid-flight?"
- "My admiral, if it's organic," declared Favour, a short, stocky woman with braided blond hair, "we can concentrate a drilling laser on it. By the time it gets here, part of its mass will have burned."
- "Drilling laser it is. This Xeno picked the wrong day to travel."
The laser was invisible but the monitors confirmed their alignment with the object, which was approaching the Deimos steadily.
- "It has lost ten percent of its mass," announced Favour. "It burns like a comet."
- "The onboard AIs have reconstructed the interferometer images, my admiral. These are Starfleet ships."
Ruslan turned toward the admiral, worried:
- "They wear Lodovico's blue."
Tohil leapt up:
- "It's a biological weapon. Favour, keep going full force, burn it! Ruslan, tell Admiral Ravzan and the entirety of the Fleet to flee to the agreed-upon destination! Adelaide, relay the message: the entire crew must arm themselves and wear full protective suits. Bring fifty suits to the bridge. At once! This is a matter of life or death! Where is the supply officer? You, Sybilla? Put a pilot in every one of our Ravens, Tygers, and any ship lying around, and send them to help the others flee. Huan… Huan betrayed us. Goddamn it, I'll kill him."
Through the Deimos's screens, everyone could see the flow of Tygers, Ravens, Alexandrites, and small auxiliary craft, overloaded, working their grapnels to bring back ground troops as quickly as possible. The Anicroche had landed to gain time. Already the Alké and the other major ships were orienting and drifting apart from each other to avoid tangling in the imminent Drift.
Tohil refused to believe that a burning, dying organic mass two meters long could undo their meager forces, but on second thought the Aleph had been even smaller.
Ozzie, the other radar operator-a man who kept calm in all circumstances, with huge eyes and a middle part-added:
- "Other masses are arriving from the ships. Five. The ships are slowly moving. Impact of the first mass in ten seconds, the others in ten minutes, the ships in thirty."
- "Favour, try to burn the others as they arrive. I want Renzo at the helm! Renzo, you intercept them. The Deimos will be the shield between their attack and the others' escape, understood?"
A small vibration ran through the ship. The organic aggressor had hit the hull. Adelaide, the first officer on this watch, informed Tohil that the mass had reached a storage section and pierced the hull. It rested in a place where maintenance parts and AI backups were piled up. Tohil ordered the security doors around that section sealed and two squads of six men, armed with blasters and grenades, to wait in front.
The suits and weapons arrived. The officers, still managing their stations with eyes fixed on the screens, suited up-even Tohil. He asked Adelaide for a report on the squads stationed at the door and she announced:
- "One of the two is no longer responding."
Tohil asked the onboard AIs for a video report, which appeared on the screens. All eyes turned toward the aggressor, seen from every angle. It was a living creature, a Xeno, on four legs with three joints each, a demon's maw without eyes but with the teeth of an ultimate predator, and above all, two pairs of long, powerful tentacles. The creature had smashed the door in a few blows, then hurled itself screaming onto a man to devour him.
Ruslan had fainted, collapsing like a sack onto the comm terminal.
The other tentacles of the creature whipped through the air and cut down the remaining soldiers. In moments, only the monster remained alive. On the bridge, two officers lost their lunch onto the floor.
Five more were going to arrive within minutes… no one would make it out alive.
Tohil gave his final orders to Adelaide:
- "Alright (he seemed dazed… he knew he was going to die), first officer, you will… you will… damn it… what to do… Adelaide… give the order for everyone to abandon ship. On the bridge, you will try to hold out as long as possible while the others flee. We are going to save lives by sacrificing ours. We were trained for this. I will be on the front line."
He grabbed the blaster and stood before the massive, open entrance, with two other officers. The rest took position behind their operation consoles.
Favour, who had taken Ruslan's place, informed the admiral that the monster was tracing an optimal line toward their position, ignoring engines, hold, and crew quarters.
- "It's intelligent, too," she said.
- "It's intelligent AND informed," replied Tohil, strangely calm. "If I'm hit, fire, even through me, understood? We must gain minutes, seconds."
- "The first ships are leaving in Drift," announced Favour.
- "Then you can all be proud of yourselves. Today you have all successfully fulfilled the noblest mission destiny could have offered us."
A lost sailor ran down the corridor before Tohil. The monster appeared behind him and pounced. For a moment, before firing, the admiral observed its skin: burned by the laser, it was reconstituting before his eyes; it seemed to be adorning itself with the organs of its victims to absorb them. The sailor-a man Tohil had once met while loading vegetables, a grim-looking fellow-was in pieces. The admiral adjusted the blaster's aim.
And then a mighty noise, just above. Metal screeching, and a tremendous impact, its vibration echoing from wall to wall. Right overhead. Goddamn it. The other five. Everyone looked up… even the monster, curiously human… the impacts grew stronger and stronger. Behind the holes forming above, barely guessed at, fell heavy as tombstones the security doors meant to ensure airtightness.
The monster waited for its comrades before charging, defying Tohil with its stance… and the final impact struck the ceiling, in the corridor, right between Tohil's squad and the creature.
And it was not a monster. The intruder rose. It was the Wau.