“The Gerns will come to kill us,” little Marie Chiara said, her dark eyes large and earnest. “They’ll come to kill us and to make slaves out of the ones they don’t kill, like they did with the others a long time ago. They’re awful mean and awful smart and we have to be smarter than they are.”

Howard looked again at the Athena constellation, thinking, I hope they come just as soon as I’m old enough to fight them, or even tonight.⁠ ⁠…

“Teacher,” he asked, “how would a Gern cruiser look if it came tonight? Would it come from the Athena arrowhead?”

“It probably would,” West answered. “You would see its rocket blast, like a bright trail of fire⁠—”

A bright trail of fire burst suddenly into being, coming from the constellation of Athena and lighting up the woods and hills and their startled faces as it arced down toward them.