The Bolt Eaters are still stuck on a suspected Banthar colony planet. They’ve been captured by Manticore who was a former Mind Refurb and a Bolt Eater. He went crazy and was thought to have been killed, but he apparently was captured and has been brained-washed by the Banthar. Now he has the Bolt Eaters wrapped up, prepared for transportation back to where ever he intends interrogate them. Of course, it’s hard to keep the Bolt Eaters contained.
Eric and a couple other Bolt Eaters manage to extract themselves from their Devastator mechs and start climbing huge trees to stay out of sight while following one of the Bantha airships. This is just the start of their problems. They are constantly harassed by the Bantha troops even when they re-locate to a mountain range. There they find some other alien life forms similar to bats inside some huge caves, but these things focus on consuming metal just like the “termites” the Banthar have built and released.
So, the rest of the book involves an ever continuing struggle for the Bolt Eaters to stay free and alive. Some of their party does get re-captured and have to be rescued. And that rescue comes with a time limit since they have planted a nuclear bomb in the same location as they have to rescue their captured friends. Time is running out. The bomb is set to go off in ten hours, but they must be one-hundred kilometers from the detonation site or they could be dangerously affected.
And there’s still no obvious way for the Bolt Eaters to return home. The gateway through which they arrived does open periodically, but the Banthar are carefully guarding that area and could send their own troops back through that gateway. The Bolt Eaters don’t know if Earth will be prepared for such an invasion. Of course the Bolt Eaters want to go back home now. They are running short of spare parts and their power supply is getting dangerously low. If they continue to hide in the caves, they won’t be able to recharge using sunlight.
This story is pretty interesting due to the myriad of troubles the Bolt Eaters have to face. This planet has a lot of weird creatures that aren’t afraid of the mechanical giants as would most creatures. The Bolt Eaters continue to run from one bad situation to another. If they were human, they would have tired out a long, long time ago. Still, as long as their power holds out, the Bolt Eaters can continue to run, well, until they get caught again!
Yeah, the story isn’t over yet. The next book, “Redeemed”, is already out.