“Did I?” the alien said in a dangerous tone. The small pistol disappeared from his hand, and he reached down to his belt, drawing one of his twin pistols. The weapon looked like Nori’s old Disruptor, only bigger and meaner. Fle'gak trained the gun at the Navigator and kicked an object on the floor toward her. It rolled on the floor, stopping at her feet.

Nori looked down. It was a piece of equipment, obviously alien in design. She looked back up.

“This is a piece of an Inthidlon mark-3 escape pod,” the alien declared. “Just like the freighter I’m looking for used.” He pointed his gun at Nori’s face. “Now you’re going to tell me where my packmate is, or I’m going to shoot. This is not a stunner, in case you were wondering.”

Nori raised her arms. “Wait, please. This is all just a big misunderstanding. An escape pod did crash on Earth, yes. Bulco’s team found it, and they scavenged the wreckage, but they didn’t find a body.”

The gun fired. A dark blue beam passed next to Nori’s head, exploding a hole in the wall behind her. “Lies! Then why do I still detect my packmates communication implant? He’s here somewhere! You’re hiding him from me!”

Nori lowered her arms and the Scout’s eyes narrowed in suspicion as he followed the movement. Behind him, Bulco was doing something with the beaker. A bloody jar was lying empty on the floor next to him.

Nori looked with amazement at the hole the gun had made in the wall. The alien’s eyes followed hers. “Yes, you should be afraid. A hit from the Talon is enough to vaporize your head. And if you don’t tell me--” He stopped abruptly as he noticed the same thing the Navigator did.

“There is something behind this wall!” He hissed and moved closer to inspect, his gun still pointing at the Navigator. With his other arm, he drew out a small beeping device. “I see … a shielding wall, very clever. But it will take more than that to fool a Scout. I just need to find the right frequency and … got it!”

The wall moved. It extended outward, then split in the middle and the two halves slowly moved to opposite sides, revealing a small secret chamber behind it.

A metal surgical bed took most of the space.

And on it, was a dissected body of a naked Inthidlon.

Fle'gak eyes widened to twice their normal size. “No ... “

Bulco grunted and shifted on the floor, sitting up.

Nori looked at the Engineer with horror. “What have you done?”

The large man barked a short laughed. “What have we done? We did what we had to, to get stronger, to survive.”

The alien whirled around and pointed the Talon at the large man. “You savage brutes killed him. You desecrated his remains. You’re nothing more than animals.”