Several armed AAnn stood beneath the nearest wing. They glanced up in surprise as the crawler rumbled into view. Ryo shot one of them before the others could move. The group suddenly broke and ran frantically for the ramp that led from the ground to the belly of the shuttle.

Ryo caught another AAnn with a second bolt halfway up the ramp, watching coldly as the creature jerked and twisted downward. Several energy beams reached from the other retreating soldiers toward the crawler but, fired wildly and in haste, they missed the agile machine as Bor sent it winding in unpredictable directions.

Now they were crossing under the stern of the first shuttle and careening toward the second. Ryo sent several shots crackling toward the twin exhaust jets and then the rocket openings between, hoping to disable some vital component. He had no way of knowing if the bursts were effective.

By this time panic was giving way to reaction among those on board the craft. Suddenly a powerful wash of energy radiated from the bow of the second ship. It carbonized the ground ahead and to the left of the charging crawler.

“Turn, turn!” shouted Aen. Bor responded with soft clicking noises indicating acknowledgment and mild annoyance.

The crawler raced for the concealment of some tettoq trees. A second energy blast seared the earth where the crawler had been heading moments earlier.

Other rushing, mechanical sounds reached them. Looking back over the stem of the crawler as they disappeared into the shelter of the tettoq boles, Ryo could make out moving figures hurrying toward the shuttles. Some were on single-tracked machines that carried soldiers in pairs. Others ran on foot. All were pouring out of the town.

The fire from the second shuttle was joined by a flare from the first. Beams from both swept the tettoq orchard in search of fleeing enemy. One struck near enough to explode the crawler’s rear tread. But by that time the overworked vehicle was limping into the far thicker cover offered by the jungle.

Almost reluctantly, a final, fiery burst cut down two massive lugulic trees, which fell with a ripping crash just to the left of the damaged crawler, carrying down vines and lesser trees with them. Then a rich, rising whine filled the air.

“Can you see what they’re doing?” Bor asked, maintaining as complex an evasive course as he could manage with the damaged tread. Ryo and Aen tried to stare through the trees.

“The ramps have been taken in,” Ryo said excitedly. “Judging from the noise, I’d say they’re preparing to leave.”

“Surely not because of our little diversion?”

“Who knows?” Pride filled Aen’s voice. “They were certainly surprised. Perhaps they think several dozen of us, mounting deadlier weaponry, are preparing to attack them.”

“Such speculation is unbecoming,” Ryo murmured.

“The circumstances support it,” she replied.

“Then again,” Bor put in, “it may be that their flight has several possible causes.”

“Meaning what?” wondered Ryo.

Bor brought the crawler to a halt and joined them in gazing through the wall of trees. “Either they have accomplished whatever evil they planned for our poor hive or else,” and he pointed skyward with a truhand, “one of the warships that occasionally but regularly visits our system had received word of this attack and has drawn near.”