Twenty-Eight

Campar, Ghati, and Vaudai breach the enemy ship's reinforced command chamber and discover numerous dead bodies—both human and alien—along with evidence of an unknown five-limbed species. They encounter a reactivated "deathless" enemy soldier and must flee through the ship's corridors while a battle rages outside, eventually sacrificing Campar's samples and Campar himself to give his companions a chance to escape.

The three breach the reinforced door through hours of careful cutting. Inside the chamber, they find corpses of human crew members and five-armed alien soldiers, along with one mysteriously blackened creature whose flesh resists cutting. Campar collects tissue samples despite the grim surroundings. Vaudai discovers command protocols and confirms the ship cannot be detonated remotely. When the enemy fleet arrives, the ship's lights activate and alarms blare. Vaudai recognizes a "deathless enemy"—a reactivated five-limbed soldier missing two of its tentacles—is aboard with them. The group flees through corridors bathed in deadly energy fields, moving between hardened shelters. In the final shelter, realizing they cannot outrun or overpower the creature, Campar devises a plan: he will draw the enemy through unshielded corridors while it loops back, hoping the rising energy weapons will kill both of them and give Ghati and Vaudai time to reach the escape skiff. He leads the creature on a chase through the ship, is caught as the aurora intensifies, and loses consciousness. Ghati and Vaudai retrieve him and throw the sample case into the energy field as a final sacrifice of their gathered data. Campar is severely burned but rescued and brought back to the expedition ship. The battle ends in Carryx victory, and the survivors are told they are being sent home.