"Irathients and humans, they don't have the best relations in this area." "Fire!" "I see you made some new friends." "I figured they hate the Volge more than they hate humans." "All right." " Look out!" " No!" "When you're done trading, meet back here." "Thanks." "Enjoy that." "Cheers." "Mmm." "Ah, ah, ah, ah." "You touch it, you buy it." "I don't wanna poison my customers." "I lost a brother to that plague you people brought." "Next one finds an eye." "Did the Little Wolf think we were in danger?" "No." "He was." "Right about that." "Cute badge, Little Wolf." "I wear it for Nolan." "Nolan is soft." "He's blind to this town." "These people." "My offer still stands, Little Wolf." "You should spend time with your own kind." "What?" "Grab Tommy and meet me at Bissel Pass." "We got a dead body." "Trackers said they heard a scream, but they didn't see anything." "The torso's chewed up pretty bad." "Can't tell if it's male or female." "Male." "Behind the tree." "The bones are all cracked." "Marrow's been sucked clean." " You okay?" " I'm fine." "I know these shoes." "Guy's name is Dalton Taggart." "He traded with scavengers for things like this." "What else you know about him?" "He ran a bakery, kept to himself..." "And he liked to run." "He should've run faster." "Isn't this interesting?" "Indogene." "Castithan." "Liberata." "Sensoth." "Gulanee." "Even Volge." "All the Votan races represented." "Almost." "If you'd like to contribute an Irathient item..." "I would not." "We've had some complaints since the Spirit Riders started coming into town on a regular basis." "Do they say we are stealing their children and fornicating with their livestock?" "I need you to stop provoking people." "Our mere presence is a provocation." "Your Spirit Riders helped us fight the Volge." "As long as I'm mayor, you're welcome here." "That may not be for long." "I hear you're up for re-election soon." "Does everyone have to tell me that?" "There are good people here." "If you try to assimilate, they will meet you halfway." "Most of them, anyway." "Let's put the past behind us." "The past is never behind us." "Irzu's path flows through it and forward." "But I will do as you ask." "My people will assimilate." "We will smile as we eat your food and buy your goods." "That is, of course, until your people turn on us again." "But by then we'll be ready." "We'll know where you keep your food stores, your weapons." "Perhaps then I'll bring you a handful of dirt for this clean glass case, a reminder that the soil of Defiance is soaked with Irathient blood." "Yeah!" "Feed me." " Yeah?" " That's it." "Bring it close." "Hmm." "You like my cooking, don't you?" "Just shut up and feed me, bitch." "Hey." "That is the wrong answer." "Ooh." "Ah." "Ooh." "Do you know our safe word?" " Yeah." " Yeah?" " Calamari." " Very good." " That's good, that's good." " That's very good." " Yeah, now give it to me." " Give it to you." "Ah!" " That's it." "I want it." " I want you to say that you want it." " I want it!" " Mmm." " Oh, I can't hear you." " I want it!" " I can't hear you." " Yeah." " Yeah!" " Yeah." "Yeah, yeah." "Oh, my God!" "Ooh." " Calamari!" "Calamari!" " Ah!" "Calamari!" "Calamari!" "Their saliva contains Votoformic acid." "Nasty stuff." "Lets them chew through anything." "That's right, kids." "We're dealing with Scylla Formicidae." "Hellbugs?" "Well, that explains the weird bite marks." "They eat marrow." "Line their nests with flesh." "How do we get rid of them?" "Kill the matron." "The rest of them turn docile, stop hunting and killing." "Eventually..." "Irisa?" "It's all the blood." "You expect me to believe you got woozy over a little blood?" "This was one of your episodes, wasn't it?" "I thought you told me they'd stopped." "I just stopped talking about them." "They've been getting stronger since we came here." " You know they're not real." " I know." " They're posttraumatic stress." " I know." " And given your history..." " I said I know!" "Found something weird around back." "What is it?" "It's an empty hellbug egg purse." "You don't find them outside the nest." "Unless someone planted it." "Guess what I found on your girlfriend's bed sheets, besides the usual?" "An organic compound, also present on Bowen's clothes and Taggart's red shoes." " Attack pheromones?" " Ding, ding, ding." "What exactly are attack pheromones?" "Chemical markers that the bugs spray to guide the hive." "You think someone's directing these attacks?" "It's the only theory that makes sense." "We've got a killer out there, and his weapon of choice is hellbug." "That smells wonderful, Christie." "I just hope I didn't overcook it." "Nonsense." "It's perfect." "Mmm." "Isn't it, Datak?" "Votan river otter is a very difficult dish to master." "As I, unfortunately, can attest." "You lay a beautiful table, Christie." "The least I can do for letting me stay here." "I was hoping my dad would join us, but I guess he was busy at the mines." "I'm sure he was." "I'd be busy, too, if I had to choke on this otter." "Datak." "It's a Castithan saying." "It means..." "Excuse me." "She's been learning to speak Castithan, too." "Thanks, Dad." "Well, that was unfortunate." "Well, her presence is intolerable." "She insists on bathing alone." "Who does that, I ask you?" " Humans." " Well, it's not right for a proper Castithan household, for a proper Castithan wife." "Alak must show that he can control her." "And he will." "But first we need to secure his marriage, which means healing the rift between Christie and her father." "Hey." "My dad can be a GI-cho." "At least he's here for you." " God..." " Get her out, now!" "Move!" "Go!" "What in God's name?" "Well, what are you waiting for, HANG-ot-so?" "Where is he?" "No, we have to go back." " No, we have to go back!" " Alak, wait!" "Perhaps we should dine out." "Oh, Datak." "Christie." " What is it?" " Dad!" "And dear, brave Alak, he risked his life to rescue Christie." "A moving testament to true love." "Thank you." "Thank you for protecting my..." "My baby girl." "I'd give my life for her, sir." "Christie, you should stay here with your father for a while." "It would be good for both of you." "Is that all right?" "Why, of course." "Bertie, we need to speak to Rafe right away." "I missed you." "We've got company." " Doc..." " Hold still, everyone." "What's this about, Nolan?" "Christie, you need to get yourself in the shower and scrub yourself raw, and somebody burn those clothes." " Why?" " Someone's been using hellbug pheromones to paint targets on intended victims." "Your clothes are drenched in them." "But I just washed them." "I left them out hanging to dry." "That's probably when they did it." "I've heard enough." "All of you, upstairs, now." "Move!" "Why Christie?" "Why my daughter?" "Maybe because she is your daughter." "What can you tell me about Boyd Bowen and Dalton Taggart?" "What the hell do they have to do with this?" "I'd ask them, but they're dead." "So I'm asking you." " Nothing that leaps out." " No?" "Nothing?" "Well, let's wait till they go after your son." "Maybe that'll jog your memory." "He's at the mines." "Have a deputy bring him here." " I need you to..." " Bowen, Taggart." "All right, I knew 'em..." "I guess." "They were wildcatters." "They sold me some land that they bought up, but that was nearly a dozen years ago." "No dealing since?" "They went their way, and I went mine." "This property deal, you got any documentation?" "Bertie, we're gonna need a lot of coffee." "No disrespect, Mr McCawley, but this is one hell of a filing system you've got here." "Well, you try running a major mining enterprise for a dozen years without a computer, let alone a decent database programme." "Ha!" "I shot these when Defiance was still a tent city." "Wildcatters all looking for that big strike." "There they are." "Bowen and Taggart." "Scruffy-looking bastards." "Where's this?" "That's, uh, west valley, near the lake." " Where are you going?" " I need some air." "Hang on, I think I just found the deeds." "Let me see that." "Go keep an eye on her." " Help yourself." " Got it." "Irisa!" "Hold up!" "Okay." "So this deed matches that photo, right?" "Yeah, they bought it from some Irathient homesteader named Guzukus or something." "Julluh Grisu." " Yeah?" " Yeah." "What?" "Don't imagine a dozen years ago there were too many Irathient homesteaders who signed their names in English." "It was a clean buy." "They all were." "What'd you do to verify it?" "I hired a bunch of powerful Wall Street lawyers, and we all surfed the Internet together, looking for a chain of title." "What do you think I did?" "Where's Irisa?" "She threw me off the roller." "You look after yours." "I'll look after mine." "Hide!" "Irisa?" "Hide." "Hide!" "Hey!" "Hey, hey, hey, hey" "Whoa." "Hey." "Come here, talk to me." "Come on." "Come on." "You're okay." "Shh." "It's over." "Hey!" "Come on, kiddo." "We should go see the doctor." "You see her." " You just had a seizure." " I know what I'm doing." "Please?" "Okay." "Another, please." "Where's the girl?" "She's behind the hellbug attacks." "What girl?" "The Rider with the facial scar." "Rynn." "I couldn't tell you." "Is that why you're still here?" "You're waiting for her, helping her with these killings?" "I don't know anything about any killings." "What about the ones in the past?" "You took her in when she was scared." "After Julluh and Ket were killed, you gave her a new name to keep her safe." "What do you know of the past?" "I saw it." "By Irzu's shadow." "I need you to tell me where she is." "You've been touched." "I knew Rynn's parents had been killed." "She said she didn't see who did it." "But sometimes when you are younger, you make yourself forget things." "If Rynn is behind these killings, we need to find her before anybody else gets hurt." "I don't know where Rynn is." "But she may." "If she opens her heart, I can show her the way." "What do you say, Little Wolf?" "Gods of our fathers, help this one find the eye that does not blink." "Set her feet on the path to see what others cannot." "Help this one find the eye that does not blink." "Gods of our fathers, help this one find the eye that does not blink." "Set her feet on the path to see what others cannot." "Where are you?" "At the farm." "Julluh's farm." "What do you see?" "Rynn's mother." "She's telling her to call her father to dinner." "Her father traps insects, studies them." "He's a scientist." "Or was." "Someone's coming." " It's them." " Who?" "Taggart." "And Bowen." "I told you, we're not selling." "Well, we're not buying." "They're killing them." "I wanna help, but I can't move." "The past cannot be changed." "Yours is only to witness." "Calm yourself." "Calm yourself." "Ah!" "She's running away." "You see young Rynn." "Now see the woman." "I know where she is." "That one right there." "Yeah, that one." "I owe you an apology." "Look, I can't explain what you did back there, okay?" "Now, these visions of yours, if they are somehow connected to..." "If?" "They are real!" "It was never posttraumatic stress anything." "I'm not like you." "I'm an alien." "And you made me afraid of that!" "You're right." "I'm sorry." "Look, when this is over, let's sit down." "We'll get to the bottom of this gift or this curse or whatever the hell this is." " You're too late." " Kiddo." "I don't wanna talk about it." "Let's go get Rynn before she kills somebody else." "Okay." "If we find Rynn, we find the hellbugs." "The plan is we set those thermobaric charges and we get the hell out of Dodge before they blow." "I helped you find Rynn because it's what the gods seem to want, but I will not see her harmed." "Then you better make her stand down." "One does not make an Irathient child do anything." "A fit father would understand." "infrared's going nuts." "They must be down at the bottom." "Turn it off." "Do hellbugs have ears?" "No, but Rynn does." "This is the bottom?" "I don't think so." "What is it, attack pheromones?" "Shit." "Hellbug shtako." "Ugh." "They see by smell." "This'll mask our odour." "Come on, get some of this." "Okay." "These things must still be below us, otherwise we'd be seeing a hell of a lot more of them." "Come on." "Tommy, try that controller again." "Well, that doesn't look..." "Whoa!" "Oh!" "Everyone okay?" " Tommy?" " I didn't touch it, I swear." "Easy." "Okay, it's working." "If she can't smell us, she can't see us." "Nobody move." "Looks like we fell into Hellbug Central." "That elevator's our only way out." "The controller must've short-circuited." " Tommy, get it working." " On it." "Irisa, let's get those charges set." "We have to find Rynn first." "Yeah?" "You got five minutes." "Tommy!" "Circuit's fried, but I think I could rewire it." "Don't!" "I toss these pheromones, you all die." "Drop your weapons!" "Now!" "Rynn, that nest gets any bigger, it's gonna kill everybody in town." "Is that what you really want?" "You said we were one spirit." "We are." "Then why did you lead them here?" "The Little Wolf led us." "The gods have given her the sight." "Her?" "I don't believe it." "You and your useless gods." "See if they protect you from hellbug pheromones." "No!" "Your vengeance is fulfilled, sister." "Your parents' killers are dead." "And soon the rest of these humans will join them." "I was there." "At your farm." "I saw what happened." "I saw them." "Your father." "Your mother." "How they looked at you." "The love in their eyes." "Is this how you honour them?" "Yes!" "Grenade!" "Nolan, what are you doing?" "Getting the babies to attack mama!" "Rynn, let's go." "Come on!" " Tommy." " Got it." "All right." "Irisa, get it inside." "All right." " Kill it!" " Got it." "Get it going, Tommy." "I'll blow up manually." "We'll be clear in a second." "Hold on." "The land in the west valley will become the legal property of the original Irathient settlers or their descendants." "They in turn have agreed to lease the land back to McCawley mines." "But most importantly, with these two bold signatures," "Defiance takes its first steps towards righting an old wrong and honouring the values which we've come to stand for." "I'm proud of you." "You shot me." "You survived." "I thought I taught you to shoot better than that." "Your parents can dance with their ancestors." "They'd dance more freely if you hadn't let them stop me." "The Little..." "Yes." "The Little Wolf has the sight." "So what?" "So the gods touched her, and she in turn showed me what needs to happen next." "I'm going to prison!" "How can that be the correct path?" "I don't know, precious daughter." "Sadly, I lack the sight."