The fugitives would ignore the corridors save for one. Since Loo and Bonnie’s escape, everything larger than a water pipe was constantly monitored. This time, all would flee quickly topside, then cross to another exit and use it to reenter the base as close as possible to the hangar. Ryo hoped the authorities wouldn’t consider the possibility that once outside, the aliens would then try to escape back inside.

It was difficult to be patient. Ryo’s pleas for time were backed up by the burrow master—“Captain”—of the aliens, Elvirasanchez. She did not talk much, but her words were listened to.

Eventually Fourth Season came to an end with the festival of Teirquelot, a cause for celebration among the base personnel. At an outpost as dreary as Sed-Clee, holidays were taken seriously.

Cannisters of sleep gas had been installed by security personnel around the aliens’ chamber, which precaution was intended to prevent any alien rampage. Ryo planned to turn the security measure to his friends’ advantage.

Many months had passed since Loo and Bonnie’s escape. Relaxed security combined with the holiday allowed Ryo to slip from room to room without question. No one saw him readjust the cannister control valves, even though several timeparts of nerve-racking activity were required to complete the job. Now, when the cannisters were activated, they would spew their soporific contents not into the monsters’ quarters but into the surrounding areas.

Only one corridor was to be left ungassed because it led to an emergency escape ramp that ascended to the surface. Ryo worried some about the aliens’ tolerance, but the humans assured him even Deep Cold would not prevent their making the short run to the next exitway.

Using ventilation towers, Ryo had triangulated the position of the hangar holding the monsters’ shuttlecraft, then he selected the closest exit port visible. Once inside again, their precise location would determine their next moves. To his unpracticed eye, the exit port seemed quite near to the shuttle hangar.

He would wait until the guard had been reduced to its minimum, which would probably coincide with the height of celebration. The monsters would feign sound sleep inside their chamber. Then, appropriately masked, Ryo would circle the surrounding rooms, opening the gas cannisters everywhere except in the chosen corridor.

If standard procedure held, two guards would be stationed in that corridor, and Ryo would somehow have to neutralize them. It should be easy, for they would not be expecting trouble. But it was still the part of the plan that worried him most.