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Yes, my son. The creature killed them.

I know this is harsh, but there is nothing to be gained by hiding behind euphemisms. Two of my men were dead, two others badly injured. And the injured ones claimed it was a monster shii.

In any case, I soon learned the truth.

Either way, though—whether it was truly a monster shii or simply some other vicious animal—I knew we had to hunt this creature down. Commander Gomez said no to that, said to simply construct an electrified fence—which we did. But I knew that it would not be enough. I assumed that Commander Gomez, being only a woman, did not understand these things.

Today, Commander Gomez and I were discussing some aspect of the work when we heard a loud noise. We ran to the source of the noise, which was on the perimeter near the electric fence we had built.

The first thing we saw was that the fence itself had been damaged—broken by something that had ripped through it. There were pieces of the fence’s structure inside the encampment—meaning that whatever broke the fence, did so by coming in from the outside. Since no one was allowed outside the camp without permission (and they could not break this rule without electrocuting themselves, since only Commander Gomez and I held the keys to the fence) and since no one had asked for that permission, we knew that it was no member of the workforce who had done this—not that any of us could and live.

I told Commander Gomez that the monster had returned. She scoffed. At the time, I believed it was because she was only a woman and did not know better.

Then we saw it.

The monster shii is truly as the legends have said: it looks just like a shii, only bigger. It actually looks much like a man—smooth head and pointed chin, though its chin is natural rather than the result of a beard—only the top of the head is flatter. And, of course, it is made of crystal and walks on four legs. And those legs are remarkably similar in shape to the heads. The legs—and the chin—are razor-sharp.

The one we saw was also stained blue with the blood of a man.

We saw the man, too—or, at least, his body, which lay on the ground under the monster. After a moment, I saw his head—tucked in between the monster’s hind leg and rear shoulder. It was Kelrek. He was only three scars old, a mere youth.

As foreman, I had been issued a sonic pistol. I did not hesitate to use it, but even as I unholstered the weapon, the monster turned to run away. I fired, but missed—the sonic beam ripped through one of the tents, instead.

However, as the creature turned, I saw that it was bleeding—a silvery substance dripped from a gash in its side. I tried to fire again, but it seemed to move at warp speed.

Commander Gomez ran after it, as if that would do some good. Where I had unholstered my weapon, she had taken out her scanning device. She ran, continuing to look down at her scanner.

We reached the fence, at which point she stopped. The monster had gone through the same way it came, apparently unbothered by the electricity. We were not so fortunate—the charge from the fence was arcing all over, and we had to keep our distance.

Commander Gomez deactivated the fence, then turned to look at me.

She then said three words I never expected to hear her say to me: “You were right.”

“About what?”

“Forming a search party. There’s no way anyone could’ve provoked that thing in such a way that it would break through the fence and make a beeline for Kelrek like that. We’ve got to track it down.” She put her scanner away. “I was hoping to get some readings on the thing, but the tricorder’s useless with all this chimerium around.”

“We have a trail to follow,” I said, pointing at the creature’s blood trail.

She looked down at the silvery blood in surprise, then smiled. “Good catch. Okay, put a detail together—but one thing, Kejahna. I’m in charge of this party. We’ll issue weapons to everyone, but nobody fires without my direct order, understood?”

“Commander—”

“Understood?”

In