Predator Eyes Of The Demon 26

"No..." he breathed. "Jesus... no." He turned andgrabbed Vasilievici's arm. "This is a setup," he growled. "I think we're being played."

"What are you?"

A scream cut through his words. It came from the command channel and filled all of their helmets with pain and terror and horror. It was Wilson's voice. He screamed and screamed and screamed. And then the channel went dead. By then Fix was running. Vasilievici and Ginge were right behind him. The sergeant bellowed for everyone to follow, and the whole platoon bolted from the hatch out onto the surface of the asteroid. They ran to the closest sentry outpost, but even from a dozen paces away Fix could tell they were too late. Bagger and Boyd lay sprawled.

Torn. Ruined. Their bodies were torn to pieces, but each separate piece was fused, cauterized.

"What the fuck?" cried Ginge.

"The rover," snapped Fix. "We need to get back to the ship."

They ran. In the diminished gravity they took huge bounding steps. They reached the place where the rover had been parked at the top of the promontory.
The rover was gone. Only faint tracks in the mingled silica and metal dust that covered everything. They stood there, staring toward the eastern stretch of the huge floating rock. Ginge took a single step in that direction, but she stopped. Her knees buckled and she slowly dropped to the ground. Over the farthest crest of rock, a shape moved upward. Vast, sleek, and as black as its name. They all stood and watched the Onyx lift off and pass overhead. Fix felt his mouth go totally dry as the ship cruised above them in a dreadful silence. They watched it fly out of sight. That did not take long. The ship was top of the line. Very fast. Just the thing for stranded survivors of a crash.-pg.159-160 chpt.6