"Destruction to the outrage and the perpetrators of this abomination,"

Attila interpreted.

"My sentiments exactly," returned Machiko.

She thumbed a switch on the car's control panel. The motor throbbed to life. Her senses were so keen now, she instantly smelled the engine discharge.

"All right," she said. "All we have to do now is wait for the diversion." They waited.

This waiting seemed to be a bit of a strain upon the Predators. They had ceased their warming maneuvers and now stood tall and still against the night, ready for the Hunt, but Machiko could sense their impatience, their bloodl.u.s.t.

They would as soon charge the settlement now, diversion or no diversion, but their patience and obedience to their new Leader held them in check.

The same patience of lions, hanging back in the bushes, waiting for the proper time to lunge and give chase to a herd of antelope.

Problem was, this time the herd of antelope was heavily armed!

"What time is it?"

"Two and a half minutes late," answered Attila.

"What the h.e.l.l is taking them?"

"There's no way to tell. They're all out-I hope doing their jobs."

Another moment pa.s.sed.

"d.a.m.n-t.i.t," said Machiko. "This is what we get for using a d.a.m.ned body as a radio. There's no way to carry it around with you."

"A relay system could have been concocted, but it would have been difficult to regulate. No, Machiko. Have confidence. You have chosen your allies well.

They are good soldiers."

Machiko looked yearningly toward the settlement.

Its taller buildings were in its center, and they gleamed in the moonlight, the smaller outlying buildings huddled around them like children gathered around parents. The genetic factory was one of the farther buildings to the northwest, but it was to the west that the attack party was skulking; this was the portion of the fence that Daniels claimed could be most easily deactivated.

Then, as though in answer to her mental commands, the diversion began.

The bright flare of an incredibly incandescent explosion leaped up from the far side of the settlement, like a knife in the sky.

Moments later another separate explosion of radiance, slightly more amber and jagged, shot up-a rocket flare, without the rocket.

Yes!

Machiko called out, "Advance!" raising her hand at the same time: the agreed-upon semaph.o.r.e.

They moved out.

"Oh, ye of little faith," said Attila As though in agreement the thunderous sound of the initial explosion finally reached them. The second echoed soon after, even louder.

"Ah!" said Machiko. "That should get their attention. That should bring their forces to that side. Meanwhile, we go in through the side closer to the factory." There were two Predators lying on top of the roof riding shotgun, and the added weight slowed the vehicle down somewhat. However, as fast as the Predators were, they still clearly struggled to keep up. They did not complain. The fighting frenzy was upon them, and they had plenty of strength and energy to draw upon.

Less than a kilometer separated the fence and the factory.

When they reached the perimeter, Machiko noticed a s.h.i.+mmer.

Her heart leaped into her throat.

What-were the force fences still up?

What had happened to Sanchez, G.o.ddammit?

However, as they got closer, she could see that a section of the fence was down, and two figures were gesturing at them.

Sanchez and Daniels, waving guns.

"Come on, come on!" Daniels yelled. "There's a d.a.m.ned good chance, diversion or no diversion, they've spotted you on sensors."

"I thought you took care of that," said Machiko.

"I did. You just never know."

The two opened the back door and hopped into the backseat while the car was still moving.

"Hey! I thought you two were going to stay out of this part. I thought that was the agreement."

"h.e.l.l with it," said Sanchez. "You go, we go."

"Yeah," said Daniels. "Anyway, I want to see what they've got in there before you and your weird aliens blow it all up."

Machiko had about one moment of consternation and concern, which instantly changed to appreciation and a land of hard, flinty, steely love. A comradely love born of brethren in arms.

"Okay, it's your b.u.t.ts. Off we go-"

"The Alien Mobile!" said Daniels.

Sanchez said nothing. He just got his gun out as Machiko hauled a.s.s toward the factory.

"So there you are," said Daniels, leaning his brawny visage over the seat and regarding Attila's head, snuggly fitted between two boxes so that it wouldn't roll around. "I must say, it's been d.a.m.ned strange working with that headless body of yours, buddy."

"You think it's been strange for you? You're not the one who's counting on Machiko Noguchi for transportation. I am not the dependent sort."

"You've been a G.o.dsend, I'll tell you that. What else can this android body of yours do?"

"That's something that I am finding constantly surprising," answered theandroid head.

"Well, for the record, in contrast to these hunting behemoths I find myself surrounded by, you're Mr. Normal." Daniels looked around. "Hey! Where the h.e.l.l'd they go?"

"They've put their invisibility devices on. If you look at them peripherally, you'll notice a blurring of their form as the light bends around them."

"Jeez. Yeah. You're right. These are some high-tech whizzes for such barbarian-brains."

"Who knows where they got it?" said Machiko, shrugging. "Maybe they stole it. Maybe they have scientists."

"Heads up," said Ned Sanchez. "Factory dead ahead-and it looks like, for all our efforts, they still have a welcoming party."

Livermore Evanston was expecting something like this.

Nonetheless, when it came, it came more spectacularly than he'd expected ....

And from inside the compound.

His instruments told him that.

He'd antic.i.p.ated an attack sometime this evening, and so, after taking a long nap, enjoying a steam bath and a first-rate therapeutic message, he'd camped out here, in his state-of-the art war room.

Even though Blior was situated in the middle of nowhere, he'd always been aware of its military future, and so one of the first things he'd constructed, in the bas.e.m.e.nt of his central fortress, was a personal bunker, linked to the topside world by the most sophisticated sensor and communication system possible. Here he was safe and snug from any kind of attack, s.h.i.+elded behind firm layers of permacrete, and steel. At his fingertips was a wealth of weapons.

Still, for all its s.h.i.+mmering completeness, Livermore Evanston hadn't expected to be using it this soon.

Nervously, he snacked on his own special blend of spiced, salted nuts for the energy and stamina he felt he was going to need, even though he'd packed in a full dinner that night, supplemented by vitamins and tonics, minus his usual doses of alcohol. Cigar fumes hung about him now as he stared out his screen, watching as the light of the explosions reached for the nighttime sky.

"d.a.m.n," he said. "They're breaking into the south perimeter."

"We're dispatching forces to deal with it, sir," said Zorski, via radio.

"Yes, of course. But watch out," said Evanston after the computer a.n.a.lysis floated up on the screen. "Those blasts came from within the fence."

"Saboteurs?"

"Got to be."

"d.a.m.n." "Look," Evanston said, "there's no reason to leave the princ.i.p.al thing we're worried about unguarded. Just put out an exploratory force to see if there's really anything coming in. It can always be reinforced if necessary."

"Evanston. We've got people out here-civilians. Guests."

"Give them guns. Tell them it's a part of the show we're experimenting with-and just might get out of hand. If they're not security, just have them shoot at anything that looks like a monster or Machiko Noguchi from the window."

"Yes, sir," said Zorski. "But don't you think you're being a little too glib?"

"I wouldn't be glib, Zorski, if I didn't think that this wasn't something we could deal with."

"That's a fine thing to say when you're tucked in safe and tight where you are."

"Ah-do I detect a hint of insubordination? May I remind you, Zorski, that you're one of the architects of this great plan, and every bit as enmeshed as I?".

"Frankly, I wish I was enmeshed down there with you right now."

"Zorski, Zorski." He might have been saying "Tsk, tsk." "Rewards demand risks. This has never been a sure or safe enterprise. And yet its rewards will be astronomical."

Zorski sighed. "Right. No time to bicker."

"Time to fight. Time to solve problems. I'll be here, the voice of experience, monitoring, controlling the vital elements that need controlling.

And believe you me, Zorski. If worst comes to worst, I'll be out there with a blaster pack strapped to my back."

"Yeah. Right. I'll believe that when I see it."

Communication ceased.

Evanston turned back to his equipment, glittering and s.h.i.+ning competently.

He just wished he actually felt as confident as he sounded.

Anyway, there were far more effective measures that could be taken than strapping a weapon on himself.

The thought made him smile.

He almost hoped it would come to those measures. The results could solve a great deal of testing.

Humming an aria to himself, his hands began to tap emphatically across controls.

Chapter 26.

Lights.

They blazed on with unexpected brilliance. It was as though a batch of stars had suddenly settled down upon the sides and top of the building that held the biolab factory and then blazed their light in shafts toward the approaching troops.

Machiko Noguchi had been in raiding parties before with the yautja, of course, but she'd never been in an actual planned military maneuver against an armed opponent.

She was running this one by the seat of her pants.

So she was surprised that the exactly correct thing sprang to her lips, even as fire began to rip through the newly brightened night.

She pointed. "Kill lights!"

The result was immediate, and shockingly effective.

The alien rifles went off almost as one, hurling plasma and laser beams with pinpoint accuracy. Most of the lights were eliminated. Crash of plasgla.s.s. Trickle-tinkle down the sloping sides of the factory.

"Okay, we're out of here," said Daniels.