|
than brute force had proved effective against them,
and their close proximity to the ejaculoids and their overwhelming numbers
made extermination impossible. Once a team had used heat wands to burn their
way through the gaurds into the ship without damaging it, but nothing useful
had been found. The Prophylactans had merely swarmed into the ship, burying
the explorers, and had their power packs been exhausted before burning
through the layers of living entombment the brave souls would likely have
been lost.
So, the humans had turned back to their daily work, and found new
entertainment in the systems which the original colonists and their
descendants had long had little use for. How could everyone pretend that
nothing was wrong, that life inside the compounds was enough?
Wendy remembered when Naoko Akiyama had been nearing the end of primary training. Naoko Akiyama
had been relieved that performance evaluations were over, and decided to go
out into the natural sectors for a while. Naoko Akiyama was nearly an adult, and Naoko's
mother had been eager to let Naoko's experience the natural beauty of the world
away from human engineering and technology. Naoko Akiyama and two friends had taken a
minimal amount of survival gear and had walked straight away from the
compound in a randomly chosen direc
|
