“They came at night. Silent as ghosts and inevitable as fate. They slaughtered the sentries and broke into the sleeping colony. They brought a scarlet sacrifice to an indifferent old woman with a steel scythe. The barracks and pens were filled with screams and the smell of burning flesh. The laser rifles worked continuously, destroying everything in their path. I sat on the bed, pressing my back against the wall. She whined like a stray cub. I was five. Or less?.. Memory is merciful, not like those in black masks...”