SPECTRUM: Boxnix Invasion

Arcs of brilliant red spread through the sky as the Tomotan sun set on the horizon. Captain James Rakker and Pilot Cash Wayne leaned back in rickety wooden chairs that had been placed just outside a frontier saloon.

“Do you see that?” Wayne pointed to a black speck high in the sky. He stood to get a better look. “What do you suppose that is?”

The speck was becoming larger and larger. After a few moments the speck looked like a dark square. A few moments later and two sides glinted in the Tomatan sunset.

“I think it's a cube,” Wayne mused.

Rakker stood up and his eyes went wide. “They found me. How!? How did they find me? They finally found me!”

Wayne looked concerned. “You recognize the ship?”

“Wayne, I never told you this, but when I was a kid I was a slave of an alien race called the Boxnix. I escaped but I've known for my entire life that one day they would find me and take me back to their hellish world.” Rakker shook his head.

“Oh gods! What can we do, Captain?”

“Nothing.” Rakker clutched at his heart. “There's nothing we can do now. We are facing nothing short of terror itself.”

The distant object had become a giant brown cube and was now landing at the edge of the outpost.

“The Boxnix don't have any kind of weakness we could exploit?”

“None whatsover.” The Captain paused as a column of box-like forms streamed out of the ship. “Well, except rain.”

“Rain?” Wayne asked with disbelief.

“Yes, they are weak to rain. Their skin is kind of like cardboard. If it gets wet that's pretty much it. But there's no water here. It's a perfect place for a Boxnix invasion. They have a cunning intellect surpassed by none.”

“Now that they are a bit closer, they do kind of look like cardboard boxes.. each with a broom poking out of one side?”

Rakker shook his head. “That is the dreaded pain stalk - whatever it brushes is paralyzed with pain.”

Wayne seemed less concerned. “Are they rolling on tiny little wheels? That doesn't seem very practical.”

“Stairs are a bit of a problem for them,” Rakker admitted. “But that's more than made up for by their relentless war-like nature.”

By now the Boxnix had become quite close. The men stepped back through the open door of the saloon.

A Boxnix screamed, “ANNIHILATE! ANNIHILATE!” and rolled toward Rakker and Cash. But as it followed them into the saloon it seemed to get stuck in the door.

“Huh,” Wayne breathed. “Just to recap, Boxnix weaknesses include: water, stairs, doors, and anything that's slightly out of reach.”

The Boxnix squeeled, “ANNIHILATE!” and swept it's broom futilely in the air.

“They really were a lot scarier when I was a kid,” Rakker replied.