Gizzy sat in her throne room, watching the news as her lovely wife strutted by.

“Morning sweetie. How did you sleep?” Leena asked.

“I couldn’t sleep; I just hit the cryo chamber for an hour. Haven't you seen the news today?”

“No. Anything exciting?"

“There’s some kind of bug going around. 15 humans were hospitalized after a cargo ship they unloaded. 7 of them died, and the rest just seemed to recover. They’re on lockdown for scans, but the scans show no viruses or pathogens. They scanned the ship, the cargo, the loading docks. Nothing. Whatever they got exposed to must have just stayed with them till they got back and then became symptomatic.”

“Does that have anything to do with the weird scans they found the other day?”

“Totally different area. Nowhere near the loading docks. I had a crew check it out, and they said it was just power line chewed up. We’ve had a lot of power cables chewed up the last few days.”

“Lava snails again?” Leena asked.

“They take months to chew through rubber cable insulation, and usually just if they’re starving. Once they hit metal they’re fucked, they either get the hint and leave, or you find the dead ones that made contact. They’re self-healing cables, it takes a lot of chewing to get through it. We’ve been finding 4-foot sections of cable with no insulation, just stripped away. No bodies, no snail nests.”

“So, what’s chewing on them?” she asked.

“We have no idea.” She said as the news changed stories and they both took attention as it showed a bunch of humans on stretchers being wheeled to ambulances. Gizzy turned the volume up.

“This just in, as we’ve been saying for the last hour, 26 people were hospitalized after an accident at the reactor plant. That’s 4 confirmed dead and even one Delmarian in critical care. Reporters were not allowed on premise as it’s been locked down. The official story is that a human worker accidentally opened a venting tube, exposing them to dangerous levels of radiation.” said the news anchor.

“Honey, I have to go, watch Menace.”

“It’s your day off.” Leena reminded.

“Not anymore. We need a council meeting. There are no vent pipes a human could open up in those reactors. They’re covering the story up.” She said as her phone went off with the Empirical March ringtone.

“Shit.” Gizzy huffed. "It's the Council."

She rushed into the chambers as half the lenders were gathered, and the other half joining behind her over the next few minutes. A hologram went up in the center as a human scientist double-checked the screen to make sure there was no cat filter on before he started.

“Can everyone see me?” he asked. They agreed. “Okay. I’m Doctor Matheson, Xenobiologist. I’m sure you are all aware of some odd things happening around the town, medical incidents, damage to the power grid. We think it’s all related. 2 hours ago a mining crew send an emergency distress for medical drones and get this…military presence.”

“Are we under attack?” asked one of the elders.

“Not in the traditional sense that we know of. But 7 miners are dead, and out of the only 3 uninjured, he managed to catch something in one of the snail traps. Take a look at this.” He said revealing a glass jar with a large insect inside it, aggressively biting and scratching the container in a frantic manner.”

“What the fuck is that?” Gizzy asked.

“We don’t know. Nothing native. Probably snuck in on a cargo ship. It was feeding on the power cables, Not the insulation, the actual steel cables.”

“Hold up.” Gizzy noted, looking closer. “God I hate bugs. Did we recently make any cargo runs to Sryft?” she asked. One of the council members nodded and made a call.

“Never heard of it. You recognize these bugs.”

“No, but we recently discussed adding a small Sryft population of 20 to the integration program, and I served a crew once with one of them. I also got attacked by an 80-foot-long electric walrus that chewed a hole in my ship and put us adrift for a full season of repairs. It was a mess. Sryft is an electrified world. They’re energy feeders, and so is the wildlife on that world.” Gizzy said as a line opened, and another hologram popped up.

“Hello, I’m Aeaeen, Exobiologist from Sryft.” Said a small man in a lab coat, bright yellow luminous skin and white hair.

“We got something in our power grid that might be from your world. Take a look.” Gizzy said, as the holograms exchanged looks and the Sryft scientist grew concerned.

“Oh, that is a serious issue. Did you quarantine the ship and cargo?”

“That was 3 days ago. We’ve had a lot of injuries and deaths we believe are associated with these things" Gizzy said.

“Then you have a very bad situation. That is a Fuvit Thrane. Largest species of Thrane on our world. I assume your power systems are underground?” he said.

“Everything is underground, it’s a mining moon.”

"Oh, by the lights of old, I’m sending you a bio scan pattern, you need to contain this immediately. Thrane are hive insects that live in deep caves, they are the reason we keep our power stations elevated and lit with gas systems. They can sense the electrical fields and can chew thorough most insulation. Fortunately it’s very bright on Sryft and these insects don’t like the light. They can’t close their eyes and bright light hurts them, but in the caves they are a serious problem. We don’t go down there without specialized gear and flamethrowers.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Fuck me running. Of course, they thrive in caves.” Gizzy rolled her eyes.

“You need to run full scans and shut down all power lines immediately, get everyone to the surface and let the bugs starve out. Should take about 2 weeks with no available power. They can survive on organic flesh, but they can’t breed without massive amounts of electrical power. How is your surface power, are there enough external plants to keep basic needs running, or do you need assistance?”

“I don’t think you understand this moon.” Gizzy said, looking worried. “There’s nothing on the surface. No air, no water, no cities, just a few structures sticking out. The moon is a dead volcanic moon used for mining Blackstone and iron. We have 12 populated cities down here. EVERYTHING is under the surface, including the power grid that we need for air circulation and temperature control.”

“You may need to consider full lunar evacuation.”

“We cannot evacuate a moon.” Scoffed the white elder. “We have over half a million citizens. We have no surface colonies or ships large enough to evacuate that.”

“Sir, with all due respect, you need to lock down that city and get every single living being out of it with the highest security. One bug can lay a hundred eggs every week as long as it has enough energy. In another week they mature and can lay eggs of their own. If one bug has found a power line and laid a nest, that entire connected city is at risk. They will overtake a mining colony in months. If that cargo ship has been there 3 days, even one lone bug may have spread out of control by now. If they get into the other cities, you could lose the moon in a year.” He informed.

“Seal the city, lock down all public transport and foam the maintenance lines out.” Gizzy ordered.

“That is a bit extreme, it will cause panic and questions you don’t need to answer.” said the red elder.

“It’s my city, and that was an order, make shit happen. Do you want this spreading to one of your cities too, or just mine?” she asked. “Because I could use the help sealing the lines at both ends. Every city is connected via tunnel, and every tunnel has 2 power cables running through maintenance lines big enough to drive a fork lift through. Foam the tunnels on your end, or don’t, I’m sealing mine. How small of a gap can these things get into?”

“Roughly the size of a fist.”

“Can they swim?”

“No, but they can climb well.”

“What can they chew through, metal, brick, plastic?” Gizzy asked.

“Maybe softer rubbery plastic, given enough time, if they can get their mouth around it. They can burrow through loose dirt or sand, but even a thin sheet of industrial plywood can hold them back. They’re hardly built for digging.”

“So the average home could likely be safe and impossible to get into?”

“Depends on the construction and windows, but just seal them in with something similar to your fiberglass in very thin sheets" the scientist shrugged.

“I want everyone quarantined to their homes, shut down all non-essential power.”

“You’ll cause a panic.” The white reminded.

“Fine, then leave your electrical lines wide open and when we shut down the power, they’ll follow the lines to your city and be your problem. We’ll see how you handle it when they get into your population.”

“This is a bit early to panic, you should know that.”

“Motherfluffer please. I lost my home world to fucking spacebugs, The Osirian Empire spread to 17 planets and thousands of years later, we lost 3 worlds to fucking spacebugs. I warned them, nobody listened, they spread and attacked. This is a war people, you take it seriously. And the whole reason I moved here was because my last moon that I paid good money for got damaged beyond saving by an alien attack.”

“Spacebugs?” asked the red.

“No, technologically advanced squids, they dropped a kinetic impactor the size of the Burj Khalifa on my house and trashed the oxygen dome. But still. I take alien threats very seriously. I’m not losing a city to more fucking spacebugs. How do we kill these things?”

“A lot of things kill them. Fire, water, you can technically just stomp one really hard and break their necks if they don’t bite you first, but they’re fast. Starving them out is the best option. Anything electrical draws them, the hungrier they get, the less energy it takes to notice. Right now they’re probably in the power plants and the power lines, but in a total blackout they can even sense a cell phone at close range.”

“Can they sense it through solid rock?” she asked.

“Yea, several meters if there are any EMP fields.

“Fuck!” Gizzy yelled loudly. “Osirians are biomech. We run off a nuclear power cell.” She sighed.

“Wow you really did just construct the worst environment to have these things.”

“No shit.” She said, “And since the cities are domed, they could drop out of the frigging ceiling on anyone at any time. And of course our light source is an arc star on a track so when the power goes out, so do all the lights, 24/7, dark cave full of integrated population. SHIT...SALAD."

Jack burst through the doorway in a hurry as Dee and Vicki looked worried.

“Get everyone in here immediately.”

“Jack, what’s going on? Is there some kind of emergency? The news is talking about some viral outbreak and a lot of construction crews are being called in to repair some electrical line thing.”

“Get everyone in this house, immediately, I don’t care if they’re at work, or at the store or on the shitter, get them in this house in 15 minutes flat.” He said rushing back out.

“Vicki. What is happening?” asked Dee.

“Dee make calls, tell them it’s a Gizzy level emergency and not to argue, yell at them if you have to.” Vicki said, chasing after Jack and dialing the phone.

“Jack, talk to me.”

“Gizzy sent a supply shipment to Vinn’s house. I got Silverback headed here with one of the work loaders and maintenance gear. Gizzy said there is some kind of alien threat loose in the colony and to get everyone indoors and read for a power outage in 24 hours. We need everyone inside now. Get Evee and Hyde too. If you want any groceries, order them the moment you get people headed here, and order them 1-hour delivery to Vinn’s house."

“Hey Jack, what’s ha-” Vinn said as he rushed into the house in a huff, carrying a bunch of gear with him. “Bro, what’s going on?”

“Is Nicole here?”

“Yea, in her inside-out Nicole room.”

“Good, tell her not to leave the house under any circumstances. We have an emergency, follow me to the downstairs.” He said as they took the elevator down.

“Communication skills, man. What are we doing?” Vinn asked.

“I’ll explain the problem later, right now we need to talk about the solution. You have shutoff lines for the water on each floor?”

“Yea.”

“Shut off the water to the basement bathroom. The new one.” He said bringing up the blueprints for the house. “How accurate are your plans?”

“Within 2 centimeters, confidently.” Vinn nodded.

Good, cover your eyes.” He said, stepping back and charging up a cutting laser, aiming it at the wall behind the elevator.”

“Whoa, Jack, why are you shooting my walls?”

“Opening up a hole to the tunnel systems.”

“WH- The what now? We sealed that off for a reason. Kind of a good reason.”

“We’re opening it up for a way better reason. Hand me the flame thrower.”

“You’re making this way scarier than it started.” Vinn huffed, starting to panic.

“Do you know how to use one of these?”

“Yea, it’s a military grade Delmarian shotgun. What are we about to walk into, Jack?"

“Probably nothing, but in case I’m wrong, shoot anything smaller than a human that isn’t walking upright.”

“The hell kinda answer is that? Bro, you gotta break it down better than this cryptic crap.”

“Alien bugs are taking over the moon, Gizzy is handling it, shit is about to get real weird, cover the hole, nothing gets through unless it’s me.”

“You’re not joking. You said bugs, and we’re going in with flamethrowers and a shotgun. How big are these bugs?”

“Gizzy said small dog or cat.”

“SHIT.” Vinn barked.

"Venomous, fast, aggressive, breeding rapidly, I’m going in.”

“Jack, you can’t just…I can’t fit through that hole.”

“I said GUARD the hole, not follow. I’ll be back in a minute.” He said crawling in and vanishing into the dark, giving the flamethrower a few quick puffs and moving further.

“Oh, I hate this.”