“I thought that might be it,” Ben nodded. “But subjugating billions of people may prove tougher than they think.”
“Their intention is to reduce our population so it can be easily handled. And I can assure you that these women are perfectly capable of slaughtering as many people as they think necessary. They have both the means and the contempt for human life that such an undertaking requires.”
Ben hazarded a guess. “This project is part of their preparation?”
“The final part. Since the surface of Teris has a temperature of absolute zero it can only be reached from here through a series of locks. What they are building now are new locks big enough to handle their largest ships. As soon as that’s done they plan to attack.”
“Any idea when that will be?”
“About a week, Earth time.” Murchison’s shoulders sagged with despair. “We’ve been wracking our brains for a way to stop them, but it’s no use. They’re as clever as they are evil. They’ve even sent doubles of each of us men to Earth to pave the way for the attack. I suppose you’ve seen your double.”
“No.”
“Then they haven’t made one. You have to be awake while it’s being done. I suppose they didn’t think it necessary now that there’s so little time left.”
“Less time than I thought,” Ben grunted. “I’d better get moving.” He tilted his head back and shouted to the woman above.