"Damn! Jordan-"

"Hell, yeah. Here they come."

Road Bugs.

If anything stopped on the Road, it was just a matter of time-usually minutes-before the Road Bugs showed up. Like much of the Road, no one had any idea what they were, but their function, that was simple, obvious.

Any debris on the Road that didn't keep moving-no matter the size or contents-would be engulfed by Road Bugs and seemingly consumed.

In minutes Destroyed. As if it had never existed.

Annie leaned closer to the screen, seeing the bugs scrambling-apparently-from the underside of the Road.

They came in a variety of sizes and shapes, and they had gotten the name "Road Bugs" because of their weird superstructures and configurations that suggested-to the imaginative, anyway-Earthlike insects.

When these insects were through, even a vehicle as large as a World Council troop ship would disappear. Every atom. Where all the mass and energy went was anyone's guess.

And now, from both sides of the Road, the Road Bugs started swinging up and over the glowing edge of the Road, scuttling toward the stranded vehicle, IMT-9.

And the stranded pilot of the vehicle?

It didn't look like he had a chance.

9.

GAGE.

Gage.

Ivan Delgato kept repeating the name in his mind even as the SRV and its captain came closer.

Gage Mitchell.

A mantra to remind him of who he was now.

Got to make sure I respond to that name naturally. And convince her that I'm ... what?

Some digital supervisor doing his first on-site inspection? A manager for a mining operation, checking on output?

Good luck pulling any of that off, he told himself. Just keep your mouth shut, and you might be fine.

And what about his SRV's breakdown?

The trip just begun-and then the damned induction core failed.

Sabotage?

Could be. There were plenty of people who would love to see his mission fail and for him to disappear ... forever.

Better-and more permanent-than Cyrus Penal Colony.

Now, he watched the Road Bugs ... ten, eleven of them begin ripping at his ship, pulling it to pieces, cutting, slicing, and then the piece was gone.

Not much damned time.

He saw the approaching SVR on his screen, pulses already erupting from its main gun.

Bugs began flying off the road, exploding in a flash of light, then vanishing.

Whoever's manning the turret gun is good ...

But the Road Bugs kept swarming toward him from both sides of the Road. Even with the gunner picking them off almost as fast as they appeared, it was only a matter of time until they made their way into the innards of the ship, to him.

Every blazing flash of his own pulse cannon ignited the Road Bugs, who then exploded in rippling lines of color, leaving behind twisted scraps of metal that other Road Bugs quickly stopped to ingest.

Now, though, he could hear them working in the back. Soon the SRV's big guns would be useless.

No good that close.

Then they'll come straight for me.

His breathing seemed loud inside the EVA helmet. The faceplate fogged around the edges, the compressed air inside not warmed up yet. The fringes of his vision took on the colors of a prism.

He kept his eyes on the gunner whose pin-point accurate pulses were keeping the Road Bugs in check.

Still too many, though.

Adrenaline surged through his system. All he could do was pick off any bug that came into his limited range. That, and wait, sitting there like bait in a trap, waiting to be eaten.

A vibrating shudder ran through his vehicle, shaking him side to side.

"You feel that?" The SRV's captain voice in his ear, crystal clear inside his helmet.

"Yeah-trouble docking?"

"That wasn't us."

The Road Bugs. Must be a bunch in the rear now.

"How long?" Ivan asked.

"Docking in ... thirty seconds."

He took a breath, waiting.

"On my mark in three ... two ... one ... mark!"

Another sickening rattle.

That might not be soon enough.

In the strange quantum void of the Star Road, he didn't hear the sound, but something-the Bugs?-was shaking his entire ship. He flipped on his external rearview.

And saw a Road Bug-bigger than any he'd ever seen-flanked by several others. He watched it take a huge bite out of the rear of his IMT.

The thing. A monster.

Responding to the others getting blown away?

Then: Hurry.

What little air was left inside the vehicle rushed out ...

He watched the giant Road Bug's jaws close down from top, bottom, and both sides. The metal of his vehicle simply ... vanishing.

I'm next.

Ivan turned and looked into the back of the cabin.

He raised his pulse rifle, but held his fire for a moment and stared into the gullet of the machine- Even if it is a machine -eating through his SRV.

The thing seemingly made of metal and who knew what other substances. But then, on the shimmering surface, the way it rippled ... looking organic ... biological ...

No time to study it now, he thought, and fired.

The stream of light caught the Road Bug full on, blowing it back and away from the ship. Another blast, then another, and it turned into a glowing mass of fragments that flared for a moment and then disappeared when they landed on the Road.

"You here yet?" Ivan said into his commlink.

Longest damn thirty seconds he had ever experienced.

He tried to remain calm.

More bugs, maybe even bigger ones, would come.

"We're gonna have to do this on the fly," the SRV's captain said. "If I slow and stop, the bugs will be on me, too."

"Right. Got it."

The odds ... turning worse.

Now a side section of his IMT disappeared, ripped away.

A smaller hole. But metal-if that's metal-jaws started digesting the skin of his vehicle, chewing from the side, right next to him.

"Go to your airlock and get ready to evacuate."

"Gotcha," Ivan said as he stood up from the helm.

A rattling from above.

Another Road Bug, this one landing on the top. The impact threw Ivan off balance, and he fell to his knees. His EVA helmet rang like a metal gong when it struck the cockpit wall.

No way, he thought.

He stood up fast, grabbing at anything for support. The suit-so damned heavy.

He wasn't sure if the spiraling pinpoints of light were outside on the Road or inside his head.

The support beams of the vehicle's ceiling started sagging inward from the crushing weight. And then a section of the roof three meters wide on each side simply flew away and disappeared inside the Road Bug's maw.

Shaking his head to clear it and keeping one hand on the wall to keep himself oriented, he crossed over to the airlock in three long steps.

"Ready whenever you are," he said.

Through the portal on the airlock, he could now see the metal flank of the SRV beside him, moving forward, then back, not daring to actually stop.

Amazing pilot, that's for sure.

Before the SRV captain said anything, he slapped the door control.

But the door didn't open.

A Road Bug must have taken out the electronics.

Ivan took a breath. Then he grabbed the manual override bar and pulled it. Nothing. Then another pull, and it finally moved. The outer airlock door slid open.

And then, there it was.

To his left, moving slowly past him-four meters away-the huge flank of the SRV. Leaning out over the Road and looking down the length of the vehicle, he made out the small, dark square of the open airlock hatch.

A black rectangle in the side of the much larger vehicle.

"Can you get closer?" he said.

Road Bugs might get him before he hit the airlock.

The SRV still sliding past him-slowing down but not stopping.

Then it started moving back.