“Commander,” came Mahz’s voice again.
“Rahm here. “
“Intruders in the Network, Southeast.”
“Identify. “
“Leapers. Twenty of them.”
“Movement?”
“Holding position at seventy-five meters.”
“Attack Alert,” I called to the team. “Leapers massing. Seventy-five meters, Southeast.”
I turned back to Kor.
“Continue your report.”
“We made our escape attempt…Vahr began to act erratically…running back and forth…falling on floor…Finally ran to eggs and began smashing them with his feet.”
“Three guards moved to subdue him… He fought… They seemed unwilling to hurt him… Killed one…Tzu and I made no move to escape…two of the remaining guards moved to assist…only one guard left on entrance…”
“There were several rocks in chamber…same size as my steel balls… Used one to kill entrance guard… We ran… Vahr broke loose and took position at entrance to slow pursuit…”
“Running blind in dark…Hit walls…Tunnels not patrolled…Ran into an Ant from behind…killed it… Ran into one head-on…caught me by arm… Tzu continued alone…Killed the Ant but lost the arm…kept running.”
“Message beamed from Tzu…Encountered large number of Ants…blocking tunnel to surface… She ran down another tunnel…led them off…”
“I got to the surface without encountering another Ant…headed for fortification… Several Ants emerged and started after me, then turned back…”
“Commander!” came Mahz’s voice, “More Leapers north, accompanied by several Ants!”
“Confirmed,” I beamed.
“That concludes my report.” Kor’s voice was suddenly coherent again. “Special commendation recommended for Tzu. She died like a-“