Appearing in 1st story
Featured Characters:
- Concepción (Death)
- Lem Jukes
Supporting Characters:
- Mono (Death)
Antagonists:
- Formics
Other Characters:
- Esteben
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Unidentified reality
- Kuiper Belt
- Weigh Station Four
- Kuiper Belt
Items:
Vehicles:
- El Cavador
- Chinese Mining Vessel
- Corporate Mining Vessel
- Cargo Bay
- Formic mothership
Synopsis for 1st story
The crew from the mining ship El Cavador observes the ruins of Weigh Station Four. Concepción decides against trying to save the people from the ruins in favor of stopping the alien ship. She finds that only two other ships currently match the speed of El Cavador and hails them, starting with a Chinese Mining Vessel owned by Wu-Hu International. The captain agrees to intercept with the El Cavador in three days and Lem Jukes makes the same agreement.
Three days later, the captains of the three mining vessels meet and plan on setting charges on the alien ship's hull. The women and children from El Cavador evacuate onto the Wu-Hu drill ship although Mono manages to stay on board. Concepción and Lem's men fire cables at the alien ship. They climb down and set charges on the ship, but one charge goes off prematurely and aliens climb out the damaged hull. The aliens peel off the charges and sacrifice themselves to peel the men off the hull. A gun from the alien ship destroys El Cavador.