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Outside, several troop transports took off from the landing zone and flew in the gathering dusk toward the cliff city, manoeuvring to pick up the evacuees. One cocky pilot hovered his ship directly against the high cliff opening and slid aside his access door. Soldiers and a few civilians jumped across the gap. For those who had seen the Klikiss, the risk of falling seemed far preferable to the risk of being left behind.

Lanyan grabbed a spare pulse rifle from a departing soldier, looked around the control chamber, and picked a dozen men who looked the least shaken. Although the General didn't ask for any other volunteers, several more soldiers chose to stay. Lanyan gave them all a grim nod. 'When those bugs get here, we need to be ready for them. We have to hold this chamber to buy time. Set demolitions around the transportal wall. Bring it down so we can cut them off.' Chairman Wenceslas would be livid if Lanyan cut off the main transportal hub, but the Chairman wasn't here. Nor had he seen the horrifying bugs. 'Blast the whole thing into dust.'

While most of the soldiers took up defensive positions, two of the men knelt to remove polymer explosives from their packs. After slapping the wads against the trapezoidal stone wall, tight-lipped, their foreheads covered with beads of sweat, the two began setting their detonators. Before they could finish, though, the transportal wall shimmered, and shadows appeared behind the opaque surface. Lanyan backed away to the line of soldiers and raised his largest gun. 'Stand ready!'

'It's a trap, General,' said one of the men.

'It's a trap for the Klikiss. The moment they show up, open fire.'

Two Klikiss warriors lunged through, their segmented arms already sweeping from side to side, knocking one of the demolitions men to the floor. The second soldier threw himself at the rigged explosives, trying to trigger them at the last instant before any other bugs could get through. But the spiny warrior skewered him with a long forelimb and tossed him against the stone wall. More bugs charged through, carrying strange weapons in their jagged claws. Before the bugs could take two steps forward or their compound eyes could adjust to the sudden dimness of the cave, Lanyan's defenders opened fire.

Four more came immediately behind them, each carrying a bell-mouthed weapon, like a high-tech musket. Lanyan knew this was just the beginning of the wave, and they would never blow up the transportal in time. He had seen how many bugs they had left behind on Pym. 'Like shooting fish in a barrel! We have to give the transports time to pick everybody up.'

As the next Klikiss warriors materialized, more gunfire knocked them back. Insect bodies piled up on top of others. Soon the armoured corpses themselves would form a barricade that blocked the trapezoidal wall.

At the cave mouth, transport after transport flew off, laden with evacuees. Within the stifling chamber, Lanyan and his men continued firing, but the Klikiss pushed through by sheer weight of numbers, faster than the men could shoot.

'Fall back!' Lanyan said. 'I think we bought enough time.'

His soldiers retreated, running through the tunnels as a new batch of Klikiss clambered over the mounded carcasses. Lanyan's men ran to the opening in the high cliff. As twilight darkened, a cool breeze blew in their faces, invigorating after the burned air of the transportal chamber.

One of the overloaded lift platforms had jammed in its tracks halfway down the cliffside, but a personnel transport had already retrieved the stranded people. Standing on the cliff edge, the exhausted defenders waved frantically for one of the last ships.

The General slapped the comm microphone at his collar. 'Get the rest of the transports back up to orbit and call down the Juggernaut. I want the Jupiter here with weapons ready to go. This hasn't turned out the way we expected.'

One of his blood-streaked men turned wide eyes at him. 'That's an understatement, sir.'

Stranded