“I love that you never run out of guns.” Ben.

Officer Jariel turned in his seat and found the King standing on the catwalk. Face downcast, the King gripped the rail. Jariel made his report.

“Sir,” said the Navigation Officer. “Detecting signatures of three cloaked Sharanttan vessels crossing the western limb, flying low. Course calculation in progress.”

Sam glared into the eyes of the Officer. Jariel turned to avoid the anger of the King. “I know where they're going,” said Sam. He slammed the rail with a balled fist and swore in his native tongue. “Ajuu vet!”

Several stations turned in surprise, but like Jariel, quickly sought to avoid the King's wrath. Sam straightened and flexed. Then called over his shoulder as he ran for the lift. “Armed soldiers to my transport!”

Affe waved from the side roof and caught Crispin's eye. As Affe and Aggi climbed down the fire escape, Crispin said to Raul, “I think the twins want a ride.”

The twins ran from the house as Aggi called, “Can you take us to town?”

Raul, idling the engine, smiled around Crispin and answered, “Climb in back.”

Ben opened the front door, holding his coat in one hand. Heaven stood on the upstairs landing, so he spoke loudly. “Aggi taught me a game. It's called Love/Hate. Want to play?”

Heaven, with hands on the rail, asked, “How do you play?”

“You say what you love or hate about the other person,” answered Ben.

Heaven asked, “How do you make points in a game like that?”

Ben turned in the open door and said, “You have to guess what the other will say.”

Heaven called down, “Either close the door or put on your coat. Are you guessing?”

Ben closed the door and put on his coat with a happy nod. “Yep.”

Heaven stood straight and said, “I love your obedience and hate your flightiness.”

“Darn!” said Ben. He turned and opened the door.

Heaven returned from her room donning a coat. “No points for you,” she said. “This walk should clear my head. So, what do you hate about me?”

Ben turned in the door and pulled it to. “Aliens,” said he.

Heaven looked up from buttoning her coat. “Aliens?”

Ben nodded. “Out by the tree line.”

Heaven threw her hands up. “Figures,” she said. Then, her eyes narrowed as she ducked back into her room. She returned with a pulser in each hand and a ready smile on her lips. “So, what do you love about me?”

Ben looked up and gaped. “I love that you never run out of guns.”

As Heaven reached the bottom stair, a blast of energy struck the front door. Ben ducked. Heaven ran to the piano alcove and peeked through the window. She spotted an odd alien craft by the trees to the north. Like many-legged bugs, the aliens skittered toward the farmhouse. Heaven ducked just as the window shattered. She crouched low and ran to Ben's position. The window near them shattered and the door took another strike.

Looking quickly through the window, Heaven saw the four Orlainese guards in defensive positions returning fire. Before ducking back, she took several shots at the aliens.

Heaven looked into Ben's eyes, her own as wide as his, and said, “They move like spiders. I hate spiders.”

Heaven peeked out and fired. Three of the guards had fallen. The front of the house took several more shots, then, the door took a large blast that knocked it from the hinges. Heaven took Ben's arm and pulled him into a crouch.

“Stay low,” she said.

Enemy fire increased; the house shook and rattled. Heaven pulled Ben into a huddle. Then, she heard a different weapon; enemy fire paused. She turned and looked through the window. Bright flashes came from the sky, scattering the enemy. Heaven turned and sat with her back to the wall.

She had actually worried. Now that Sam was back, Heaven took a breath. She turned to Ben with a smile of encouragement. She spoke into Ben's ear. “Sam's coming in hot.”

Ben listened to the energy exchange outside and nodded. A ship was descending, firing broadcast. Enemy gunfire had stopped as larger weapons came into play. Ben saw in his mind where each element of the fight was positioned. Then came a large ugly noise and silence.

A moment later, Sam kicked in the front door, his face hardened into an angry scowl. He wore a sleeveless tactical T, and an APE was strapped to his shoulder. He turned in the door and spent a magazine strafing the tree line. As he fired, he yelled, venting his adrenaline charge like a roaring lion.

Heaven saw blood on Sam's arm. She turned to peer from the hole that used to be a window. Sam's black transport lay on its side issuing flame and smoke. She counted four fallen in the overgrown field.

The Ape fell silent and Sam yelled, “Damn those bugs!”

Sam stepped inside and lowered the muzzle. He pressed a blue-gray Orlainese pulser into Ben's hand. Ben gaped. “Me?” he asked in alarm.

Sam spoke loudly. “You've done it before. Just point and shoot.”

He stepped around Ben to search Heaven's calm gaze. “You ready?” he asked.

She raised her weapons and nodded. Sam stepped back to the door adjusting his shoulder strap. He spoke over his shoulder as he looked boldly outside. “We got bugs in the trees. Two ships are disabled. One ship is missing.”

Heaven stood behind Sam. Ben stood at his side. Ben asked, “Are we going out there?”

Heaven replied, “Of course.” Ben shrugged acquiescence.

Sam slapped in a mag and hoisted the Ape, looking into Ben's eyes. He grinned and said, “Time for some pest control.”

Sam stopped by the dirt road. He stooped to touch the back of a dead soldier; Ben and Heaven waited for his moment of silence to end. Sam placed a small beacon on the soldier's back. No need for words, his crew would retrieve the dead.

Behind the smoking transport, Sam crouched by another dead soldier and swore softly. “Damn!”

Sam took Ben and Heaven through the overgrown field, seeking cover behind saplings and grassy hillocks. He signaled Heaven to a tree on his left and Ben to a tree on his right. Thankfully, the trees beyond the field were larger, providing adequate cover.

Sam opened a connection with Heaven and spoke softly into his wrist comm. “I sense them just ahead.” He saw Heaven nod from her position.

With his back to the tree, Sam turned to look toward Ben, who stood peering around the tree just beside Sam, his pulser behind his back. “I meant that other tree,” said Sam to Ben.

“That was too far,” answered Ben.

“And, why are you standing with your gun behind your back?” asked Sam, annoyed with Ben's younger self.

Ben replied, “I didn't want to accidentally shoot my foot.” Ben turned to look at Sam. “What if the aliens show up?”

Sam raised his voice. “What kind of question is that? You shoot. You point the damned gun at them and shoot.”

Just then, enemy fire splintered the trees they were using for cover. Sam crouched and let the tree shower around him. He looked up to see Ben somersault backward through a spray of destruction while firing his weapon mid-air. Sam was satisfied to see the pirini at work.

Sam stepped out with the APE blazing death and devastation. He bellowed fury as he walked forward, strafing the trees ahead of him. Trees were shredded by the needle-like projectiles of the APE. Nothing stood between Sam and his requisite destruction. With the spent mag, trees sagged and fell against neighboring trees. Sam reached for a new mag.

Heaven walked forward, both guns unloading charges at a furious pace. The spiders no sooner peered around a tree than Heaven dropped them where they stood. Her focus was keen, her breathing controlled. She moved without effort on the wings of her training. Heaven stopped and put her back to a tree to listen. Sam, to her right, was firing his big gun and bellowing rage. Heaven looked down at a dead spider and shuddered.

They wore armor and had two ugly mouths. As far as she was concerned, a dead spider was a good spider. She was pumped; she felt the adrenaline coursing through her. Heaven took a deep breath and stepped from behind her tree, guns raised. She was ready and willing to rain destruction to the last one of them. She walked calmly forward; she fired with her left hand, then fired with her right. She could hear Sam but had lost sight of him.

So many spiders! They just kept coming. Heaven never lowered her guns but fired almost continuously as she zeroed in on the noise of the King and his APE. When a tree splintered beside her, she could feel the energy raise the hair on her arms. She turned and fired with both pulsers, taking down a group of four alien bugs.

“Ha!” yelled Heaven triumphantly. “Ha!”

Sam was just ahead. She could see him through the trees. He turned in a sweeping semi-circle with the muzzle of the APE above his head. He took a mighty stance as if daring the aliens to show their ugly faces. She stood beside Sam panting, watching Sam's sweaty face and noting his labored breathing.

Heaven looked around and asked, “Where's Ben?”

Ben opened his eyes and looked around. He was on the floor of a cave. His shirt was ripped, and his head throbbed. Standing with some difficulty, Ben fingered the tender lump on his head. Ouch! He was not so much in a cave as in the back nook of a cave. Two Sharantta field generators blink lethargically in front of his nook, locking him in. Beside him were three old crates and a dusty canvas tarp. Noises from his captors issued from the larger part of the cave.

Ben tried to pry open the tops on the smaller and medium-sized crates with no success. Then he stacked them on top of the larger crate to make room for thought. Nothing came to him. He stood close to the energy barrier and peered around the corner to see his captors. He got an incomplete glimpse.

“Hey!” called Ben. “Who hit me?”

A low-ranking foot soldier approached the barrier. Its body was covered in cheap armor; its movements were a dance of complicated spider-like gestures. It reared before the energy field and tapped its chest plate as it spoke.

“I, Kivat Belebele, hit you,” said the creature.

Wincing at the sight of the alien, Ben asked, “Did you have to hit me so hard?”

Turning, Belebele turned back and answered. “Loved it.”

Kivat Belebele returned to his fellow soldier and said, “Jikza, that.”

Kivat Jikza still puzzled over the old communication spike. “Why that?”

Belebele answered. “Go to Fi'st Calaf Motianak. He go to M'd'ian Malmogat. Why Ninth Lioba Hamolg take name; why Fifth Lioba Zhajamal? Take gunlah to Malmogat, he give us high name. Antenna outside.”

Ben called around the corner. “I can hear you.”

Belebele skittered to the barrier, removed his helmet, and held it in the elbow of a high arm. “Talk too much, gunlah. Soon enemy of Sha'antta kneel to g'eat he'o, M'd'ian Malmogat. He savo' you' juices.”

Ben responded. “Rs are like a speed bump in your language,” said Ben. “Why does that sound familiar?” He reached out and touched the barrier, then quickly drew the stinging digit to his lips.

Belebele made a laughing noise and said, “Touch again, gunlah.”

Ben asked, “What did I ever do to this Malmogat character? Did I call him four eyes?”

“All know tale,” said Belebele. “Inimical human cut off talmah. Gunlah! Deface' of faces!”

“I did that?” asked Ben.

Belebele skittered back and forth in a nettled manner. “Add to ve'biage and I will savo' you' juices. Eat slow. Get fat.”

Ben said, “Your belly plate is already large. Can you afford an adjustment?”

Jikza made a laughing noise and said, “Malmogat take name and head.”

Belebele turned and replied in an angry tone, “You, that! Call Malmogat! I savo' the human, get fat like high bo'n. Happy bend neck to M'd'ian.”

Jikza said, “I will 'oll you to chopping block.” Jikza laughed. Belebele laughed.

Ben said, “You guys are a hoot. We should be friends.”

Belebele turned away. “Silence, gunlah! You make me slobbe'.”

Heaven ran through the trees calling at the top of her lungs, calling Ben's name over and over. Sam struggled to keep up. He worried for her. Sam searched his pockets as he followed and found he had no more magazines. He discarded the heavy APE and raced to catch Heaven.

“Ben!” called Heaven. “Ben!”

Sam overtook Heaven and pulled her around by an arm. “Stop!” yelled Sam. “Just stop a minute!”

Her response was testy. “What?!”

Sam took a quick breath. “You may be running right into the bugs. I'm out of ammo.” He struggled to catch his breath. “Stop and think,” pleaded Sam.

Heaven raised her guns, one by each side of her face, and leveled her eyes on Sam. That was her answer. Then, she turned and set off through the trees, calling Ben's name, her gate more cautious. Sam followed.

“Ben! Ben!” called Heaven. Then, she spoke to Sam as he fell in beside her. “How could you just let him wander off?” Her words were more of a challenge than a question.

“He's a grown man with one of my best guns,” answered Sam. “The last I saw of him, he was holding his own. He had full access to the pirini.”

“Well and good,” said Heaven, “but he's not here. Sam, I can't lose him. He's already died on me twice.”

“Yeah, but he didn't,” said Sam. “Not really.”

Heaven vented her frustration with a loud exhalation. “He's my PUP. I'm supposed to protect him, take him to the Nashtatra.”

Sam asked, “Is he your PUP? Your golden apple? Or, have you traded this old man for a newer version of another old man?”

Heaven ignored Sam's jab. She said, “There's a clearing up ahead with some caves in the hills off to the left.” Then, she could no longer constrain her answer. “Yes, he's young. And handsome. And well-built. I admit all of that, but I'm a professional. I'm a constable of the royal court.”

Suddenly, Sam turned and ran to his right. “Over here!” he called to Heaven.

Heaven caught up with Sam. He was searching around a tree in the high grass. What troubled Heaven hung from a broken limb on that tree. It was Ben's fake suede coat. She took down the coat with a sense of trepidation.

“No,” she said to herself.

Sam stood brandishing the gun he had given Ben. Noting Heaven's lost look, Sam sought to distract her. “There's blood on that stone,” he said, pointing. Heaven looked up from the coat. Sam continued. “There are fallen leaves all in one spot. Ben was ambushed from above.” Heaven looked up into the limbs of the tree, and Sam stepped past the bloody rock to point at the grass. “A body was dragged through the grass. North. Toward the clearing.”

Heaven looked into Sam's eyes. “Are you a tracker now?”

Sam replied with a straight face. “I'm everything I need to be.”

The clearing was just ahead of them. They turned and entered on the right end of a rough oval. No sooner had they entered than an armored werewolf appeared from nowhere and raced toward them, howling. A spider rode on the back of the beast with its legs firmly encircling the animal's chest. Sam and Heaven fired simultaneously. The beast fell, and the spider, thrown from its back, twitched.

The clearing shimmered. An alien craft uncloaked and rose above the trees. Tall grass whipped in the energy flow as long arms separated from the jointed ship, and the Sharantta aimed their weapons at Sam and Heaven.