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be sure to make the most of the new information and use it to obliterate that blocky ship commanded by those delusional lunatics.
    “Plot the first set of coordinates. Get ready for war.”

Retreat
     
    Battle stations, everyone,” the captain ordered. “It looks like seven ships are headed this way and you can bet your ass they’re Gray ships.”
    Number Four said, “I have a lock on one of the Grays inside the closest ship. Should I risk bringing it over? We could jump out of here then.”
    “You know it’s a trap. That Gray you have a lock on will probably come with a biological or chemical weapon. You know this. You saw the damage it did to the hull the last time we tried to capture one of them that way.”
    The first m ate turned to face the captain. “You know we stand no chance against seven Gray ships. We need to run.”
    The captain paused, deep in thought. “You’re right. Get us out of here.”
    A second later, the view on the monitor changed. They were staring at an orange planet twirling beneath them.

Chase
     
    The Gray Admiral Chaybo said to his second in command, “The tech they possess is off the charts. It’s no wonder we never succeed. Their ship looks like a flying brick, yet we can’t outmaneuver it.”
    His second in command turned his oversized gray head towards him and said, “The escapee says that they are no longer flesh and bone. He says they have integrated their minds into large mechanized bodies for the purposes of their mission.”
    “I heard as much. How od d. If we didn’t have to kill every last one of them, I’d almost feel sorry for their plight.”
    His second in command said incredulously, “I feel nothing but hatred towards them. They deserve nothing better than instant extermination.”
    “Well, that is the plan. Has the escapee plotted all of the destination points he discovered from their ship’s computers?”
    “He has. We’re powering up to jump to the next one.” The second in command paused for a beat. “Did anyone tell you where their final destination is?”
    “Not yet, but I have a feeling you’re about to.”
    “Their final plot point is Outpost World Eight.”
    Admiral Chaybo shook his head in confusion. “We abandoned that dust-ball almost half a million years ago. It’s worthless. The air is poison, the radiation deadly.”
    “Maybe they terraformed it. Or maybe that’s why they don’t use their own bodies anymore.”
    Chaybo paused, pondering the possibilities. Then he shrugged and said, “Who cares about the details? We need to stop them before they get there. That’s where their experiment will take place and we need to stop it before it does.”
    “We could just jump to the outpost planet and attack it before they even arrive.”
    “We both know it’ll be too heavily defended for that to succeed. No, our best shot is to give chase.”
    “A small Gray at a console said, “We’re ready to jump , Admiral Chaybo.”
    “Do it. Let’s destroy them this time.”

Bump and Run
     
    The captain said, “Send the message to the creatures down below. If they don’t answer, bring one of them up and then let’s get out of here before the Grays figure out where we are.”
    Chris could only assume that the ship was programmed to jump to each planet in succession to abduct a specimen. That could be the only reason the captain was so worried the Grays were going to find them — because they couldn’t deviate from the mission or their preset flight path even if they wanted to. What if the ship could only do what it was programmed to do? That meant he’d never get home.
    The first m ate muttered, “Shit, they found us.”
    The view changed on the monitor , showing seven sleek white cigar-shaped ships traveling towards them.
    No line of communication was opened before the attack commenced.
    Now Chris knew that the escapee had probably checked out the ship’s scheduled arrival coordinates. There was no other way he could explain how they’d