Geh!kin moved from room to room, checking on people, desperately looking for things he could do to help, trying to get a rough count of survivors, and hoping that he didn't stumble on more invaders. Things had been quiet for a while, though.

I wish Petra would talk to us. She's with Nick, safely out of the combat zone, but Ktheg!lik made the decision to turn off the displays. Why hasn't she turned them back on?

Geh!kin pushed the question aside, fearful that he knew the answer.

He forced himself to continue searching on Level 5, looking for survivors amid the carnage. He found two people still alive before he was done.

Then he heard a chorus of faint sirens, far below. What now? Geh!kin hollered down the stairs. "Zaa!nu, ask Gif!uak what's happening down there!" The reply was slow in coming, but eventually it was relayed up.

"He says several of the security automata have flashing lights on and they are blocking the stairway down to Level 11. He says they are slowly advancing."

"Are they hurting anyone?"

"He didn't say so. Are they hurting anyone?" Zaa!nu yelled downward. It was a zeg before the answer came back.

"He says they have their blades out and seem to be herding people towards the stairs up."

Geh!kin wracked his brain, trying to remember all the different things they had planned and improvised in the last kozeg. There were so many. What am I forgetting? What's down...?

Kazz!

The heavy metal engine. That was the explosion we heard down below. Petra said something about invisible death coming from it. I thought the plan was to seal it in with Olk!ana and the invaders, though? Something must have gone wrong.

Kazz. I don't know how far or fast that invisible death moves. Kazz!

"EVACUATE!" he yelled as loudly as he could manage. "EVACUATE THE LOWER LEVELS! EVERYBODY MOVE UP!"

"How far up?" Zaa!nu wanted to know.

"Until the automata stop herding us higher! Petra is trying to save us from some invisible death! Tell them to hurry!"

Abruptly, every speaking automata buzzed to life. Petra's voice immediately called out everywhere. "Danger! Air bad. All go outside or die. Danger! All go outside or die!"

Kazz! Petra, it's going to be sunrise soon!

A moment later, the hoonan's voice cut in. "Hello. This is Nick." Geh!kin smiled sadly. Those were the first words the hoonan had ever said to them. Are you coming to save us again, Nik!eh?

"I killed one guard on ship. I stopped one guard on ship. One more guard. I need help. Guard is trapped. I am trapped. Please help. I wait."

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What? Geh!kin's ears spread wide. While we were fighting in here, Nik!eh was attacking the ship!

"Nik!eh! Petra, call Nik!eh!" There was no response. Terrible sun, what stupid state did the golem get a gear stuck in?

People started arriving from the lower levels. Some of them headed to the workroom, but reported that Petra had sealed the tunnel to the carriage house, apparently crushing a couple of the invaders. They also reported sounds of at least one invader coming from what was left of the tunnel, and one pair of feet walking away. Killing invaders was a worthy cause, but it meant that they had no exit except on Level 1. They would have to carry the wounded all the way up there, and there was at least one invader out there to worry about besides the ones on the ship with Nik!eh.

And then what? Geh!kin shook his head and flicked his ears. That's the next problem. We need to get people away from the invisible death first. He concentrated on teaming up people to bring the wounded. Two arrived from the lower levels carrying Ala!fak, who was unconscious, but had bits of the green fog flickering in his chest wound.

That's right! Maybe Petra can save some of the badly wounded, perhaps even bring them back to life, or freeze them in time like she did Nik!eh. The golem does seem to supply us with miracles on the regular.

People were starting to gather on Level 4, which was the last one with space for a significant number of people. Geh!kin wanted to go down to Level 6, but apparently Gif!uak had just arrived there from Level 7, reporting that everyone appeared to be out of the lower levels, and the automata were still advancing.

It took a while to get everyone out of Level 6, because it had the unharmed but traumatized people who had chosen to hide rather than fight. Zaa!nu and Gif!uak had their hands full, in two cases literally dragging stubborn survivors out of their rooms and past the bodies of Fana!o and four of the invaders. Once on the stairs, though, they were eager to flee the menacing security automata.

"I think that's everyone," Zaa!nu finally called. "We're coming up. I'm tempted to bring Fana!o's body—he died a hero."

Geh!kin's ears flared. "Wait! I know something he'd like even better. Can you get the armor off of those bodies?"

"We can try, but...You know what, come down here and help me carry one of these bastards up, Geh!kin!"

There was a sudden flicker, and the displays and lights came back on. Immediately, Geh!kin switched the closest one to scan for the enemy, and saw one blue dot marching slowly up and around the hill towards the alien ship and the entrance to Level 1. One blue dot was blinking in the carriage house—trapped, perhaps. Two blue dots and one pink one were in the image of the ship outside. Meanwhile, the message from Nik!eh was repeating. Apparently, he had finally figured out why he wasn't getting a response from anyone.

He called up the stairs, "Make more of those exploding balls! Hurry! And a gun that can shoot through their armor, if you can!"

"Already asked, it'll take twenty zegs!" the answer came back.

Geh!kin told the display, "Petra, call Nik!eh!"

Nik!eh face appeared in extreme closeup, for some reason, and the light on him was strange.

"We heard you both times, Nik!eh. Can you hear me?"

"Jenkins?" Then the human looked guilty or sick for just a moment. "Uh...Geh kin? Apology. Yes, I hear you." Strange time to worry about your pronunciation, hoonan.

"Good. We have two problems," Geh!kin began. Then, he immediately decided to save the invisible death crisis for after the shooting was done. "You have one of the guards, we have another guard coming. Petra is making a gun for penetrating the guards' armor, but a twenty zeg wait is too long. We can throw exploding balls at the guard coming here, but some of us might get killed that way. Do you have any better ideas?"

The hoonan's eyes darted back and forth as he thought quickly. Then he smiled. "I have an idea. Wait a zeg."

"Hurry," Geh!kin pleaded, then handed off the display to someone else.

He rushed down to help carry one of the invaders' suits of armor upstairs, while the invader itself was literally dead weight. The three of them wrestled the body up the stairs to Level 5, then Level 4, gasping, and set it down, unable to carry it farther. Zaa!nu took off the helmet she had worn in order to carry it, and dropped it on the floor.

"Let's get this armor open, but it needs to be intact!"

If Nik!eh is going to help us with our incoming guard, the least we can do is help him with his.

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