The Lost Voyager: A Space Opera Novel by A. C. Hadfield

a wet squelching crunch.  
    Bones continued to shower down from the top of the pile, spinning and bouncing before crashing into puffs of dust as they struck the hard ground. Mach stepped back and then saw what had alarmed Sanchez.  
    There were thousands of them… perhaps millions. An army of bugs crawled out from beneath the bones, a tide of oil covering everything as it drew nearer. Mach fired his Stinger twice at the ocean of bugs, more in reaction than in any hope of stemming the tide.  
    “Time to leave,” Mach said as he turned his back and started to sprint back to the elevator car.  
    Sanchez pulled a grenade from his belt and threw it into the pile. A few seconds later a flash of fire shot up in a roiling column.  
    The damned bugs screamed, sending a high-pitched wail through Mach’s speakers. The chattering of their hardened legs against dry bones and rock soon drowned the sound out.  
    “What the hell’s happening down there?” Tulula said from the Intrepid .  
    “Ditto that,” Adira added.  
    “A tactical retreat,” Sanchez said. “Bugs, everywhere…”
    Mach and Sanchez continued to run for the open, waiting elevator. A couple of the bugs managed to get onto Sanchez’s back, probably blown there by the grenade that continued to burn. Mach was glad that he couldn’t smell the burning.  
    “Hold up a sec,” Mach said as he reached out for Sanchez’s back. “You’ve got some passengers trying to eat through your suit.”
    Sanchez halted and tried to reach behind him, but Mach was already there, scraping his gloved hand across his friend’s back to clear the insistent bugs. Their sharp teeth and venom had managed to make a number of holes through Sanchez’s suit.  
    “Okay, go,” Mach said, pushing his friend forward. He took a look over his shoulder and saw that the writhing mass of critters was just a few meters away now. Mach turned and ran, catching up with Sanchez, who seemed to be slowing.  
    Both men crashed into the elevator car. Mach managed to spin round and close the door just as the heaving mass of insects slammed against the glass, their pincers and yellow venom squirting all over the surface.  
    “Shit, they’re going to get through,” Sanchez said between heavy breaths as he reached out and slammed the button to send the car climbing up the elevator cable.  
    “Babcock, can you speed this motor up? We’ve got a problem on our hands.”
    “Working on it,” Babcock said.  
    “Be quick,” Sanchez added.  
    Small cracks appeared at the bottom left corner of the glass door. A horrible scratching, scraping noise came from the bugs’ singular desire to breach the barrier and get a meaty snack. Mach stood uselessly, watching as more of the cracks stretched their way up the yellow-stained surface. There must have been at least a hundred or so of the bugs clinging to the surface, their pincers scratching against the glass.  
    “Anyone would think these things hadn’t been fed,” Sanchez said. “Given the pile down there, you’d think they would have had enough food for a lifetime.”
    The elevator jolted and increased the speed at which it ascended out of the quarry. The velocity seemed to infuriate the bugs further as they attacked with a renewed vigor. The glass door creaked as yet more cracks appeared; they were longer this time, going from the bottom all the way to the top of the door.  
    “I don’t think it was these things that ate the meat off all those bones,” Mach said. “Which, of course, raises the question: what did? Oh, and while we’re stuck in here waiting to be attacked by these goddamned things, you want to tell me what’s going on with you?”
    “We’ve got other pressing matters, don’t you think?” Sanchez replied, bringing his rifle around to aim at the door. For a brief moment, Mach thought he was going to pull the trigger, which gave him an idea.  
    “When I say kick the door hinge, you kick it,” Mach said. They were