The compy didn't seem to feel any sort of threat around them. 'But we're back now, Margaret Colicos. And safe among friends.'

'Safe?' Orli didn't know if she would ever feel entirely safe again. Not long after she and her father had left dreary Dremen to become colonists on Corribus, black robots had wiped out the settlement, leaving only Orli and Mr Steinman alive. To make a new start, she had come to Llaro. And now the Klikiss had invaded.

DD's optimism was unrelenting. 'Margaret understands the Klikiss. She will explain them to the colonists and show you how to live together. Won't you, Margaret?'

Even the older woman had a sceptical expression on her face. 'DD, I barely understand how I survived. But you're right. My years of training as a xeno-archaeologist should count for something. I observed, and I managed to stay alive.'

Orli reached out and took her calloused hand. 'Then you have to tell Mayor Ruis and Roberto Clarin what you know.'

DD dutifully took her other hand. 'Knowledge is helpful, isn't it, Margaret?'

'Yes, DD. Knowledge is a tool. I'll explain what I learned and hope it turns out to be useful.'

As they descended the hill toward the town, they walked directly past several spiny Klikiss warriors and a troop of mottled yellow-and-black builders that had begun to dig long trenches, disregarding any boundaries the colonists had marked. Anxious, Orli held the woman's hand tightly. Margaret was unruffled, though, she paid no more attention to the individual Klikiss than the creatures seemed to pay her.

Why are there so many types of Klikiss? They've all got different colours and markings.' Orli had even seen some with almost human heads and faces, like hard masks, while most just looked like bugs.

'Klikiss don't have sexes, they have sub-breeds. The large spiny ones are warriors to fight in the many hive wars. Others are gatherers, builders, scouts, scientists.'

'You can't be serious. Those bugs have scientists?'

'And mathematicians, and engineers.' Margaret raised her eyebrows with a certain measure of admiration. 'They discovered the transportal technology, after all. They invented the Klikiss lurch and left detailed records and intricate equations on the walls of their ruins. Those creatures solve problems through brute force - and do it well.'

Orli watched the swarming Klikiss, whose clustered, towerlike structures looked like a giant hive complex. 'Do they have a queen?'

Margaret stared with unfocused eyes, as if buried in unforgettable nightmares. 'Not a queen - a breedex, neither male nor female. It is the mind and soul of the hive.'

Orli drew the woman's attention back to the real question. 'But what do they want?'

Margaret remained quiet for so long, Orli thought she hadn't heard. Then the archaeologist said, 'Everything.'