The acorn hit him in the temple, it had not been thrown hard, but the aim had been perfect. Nick's machete was out of its sheath and ready as he whirled towards the direction of the throw. A fey child sat ten paces away high on a stone cliff that rose from the forest floor like a natural rampart.

"Aw Nicky, what's the matter?" the long blond haired girl asked with a wink before she disappeared.

Warm arms wrapped around his chest from behind, soft lips nuzzled his neck, and the smell of the forest after a spring storm enveloped him. His knees grew weak and a shiver, part pleasure, part fear raced down his spine. "You used to like to play," a sweet as honey voice dripped into his ear.

Nick hit the water. Solenopsis invicta, the scientific name of fire ants - it was strange what you remembered. A few strokes took him to the center of the small river. As if being chased by dog sized ants was not bad enough, these looked disturbingly similar to the common fire ant. Vicious and vindictive, like their smaller cousins, the gigantic insects stalked him along the riverbank. He morbidly wondered if being eaten by the ants was enough to get the new Amazonian species named after him.

Nick descended into to the pub. Smoke hung in the air, a redolent mix of the hearth, grill, and pipe. Eyes shifted his direction and his hand reflexively went to his naked side - he had checked his blade at the door. Determined, the young man stalked towards the bar. Patrons fled their perches as he approached.

The bartender audibly growled. "I had enough! I don't want any more trouble from you!"

Marah let the camera fall to her chest and a shiver wracked her body. The hike had been enjoyable until she began the trek back to the lake house. Something had just felt wrong the closer she got to the chalet, so she had the idea to use the zoom on her camera to get a better look. Now she was almost sure something was wrong - it looked like all four tires on her SUV were flat.

The first stars fell, in ones and twos, heralds of the storm, each tracing a brilliant streak across the night sky. A constant stream of twinkling light soon filled heaven's vault. Nick stood, hands on his hips, staring up at the scene. "It's almost beautiful, if you don't think about it."

Tears rolled down Marah's dirt and blood grimed cheeks. "We have to find out who else made it before..." Her voice caught in her throat.

Enormous, putrid, scaly, and slimy, the three eyed and tentacled Cyrix glared down at Nick. It yelled at him in a tongue as offensive as the being itself. The young man sighed and silently wondered why all the horrors from deep space seemed to ooze, have tentacles, and reek, or more importantly, why they felt they owned all of reality and the rules did not apply to them.

Nick bleakly shook his head. "I'm sorry...sir. Please calm down. According to Code 716.3 you have to have a permit to transport X'reasit wine. To the Nomedoans of this system's sixth world it is a biologic weapon."

The ship's lights flickered and fell for just a moment. Marah eyed the rows of alien stasis pods that lined the long bay. The inhabitants were invisible behind hundreds of years of rime, if they were even still alive, but the soft and steady blue indicators on each pod led her to believe they were. Maybe they would help her, or alternatively, they could kill, eat, or do worse to her for waking them. Marah smirked, it was good to keep a sense of humor even at times like this. The point was mute of course, the computer system was completely foreign, she had no idea how to wake them.

A deep groan resounded though the ship. The lights flickered and died leaving Marah in the glow of the stasis pods. Then, one by one, their lights flashed from red to slowly blinking amber.