"The Predator shot out from the open door atop a gray hovering surface that looked like a sled, the dead body of Colquhoun propped up beside it. With the Predator came light. An event horizon of light, radiating swiftly from the groove in the side of the spaceship. A circle of light golden and light green, mixing and hissing. Streaming out on all sides, traveling a few inches from the ground. It kept coming and coming, the Predator riding over it like a surfer. Gustat heard a cry that sounded like a woman's voice from above him, and another sound, above the hum of the deadly light that was trees and bushes splintering, vaporizing, crumbling, and then he was looking both at the edge of the light coming at him, like a phosphorescent sideways buzz saw, and in the horizontal surface of that light, striations like rings in redwood. Not a defensive weapon. An OFFENSIVE weapon." Pg.206

"Once again, Horia didn't know what he was looking at. The sound intensified and he could see a kind of lip or edge of gold-green light speeding towards them about 4 inches off the ground, like the surf at high tide. Trees fell before it, right and left, as if some huge invisible creature were running through the swamp. And the wave was coming *fast*. It didn't look like it at first because it was still at a distance, but as the roar got louder and the woodchipper snap of branches became as sharp and awful as the recoil of an elephant gun, he could begin to gauge the speed." Pg.209 Chpt.54

"Horia looked back and saw the golden light al.ost on top of them. Shoved Tau into the muddy water, tried to run, felt the nip of the light now at his heels a sensation he'd never forget. Halfway between between an electric shock and a kiss." Pg.209 Chpt.54

"The Predator sped North soundlessly until finally the wave of light faltered, then faded about a halfmile from the ship." Pg.211 Chpt.55

"Wearily, Gustat climbed put of the mud to a scene of utter devastation. The light radiating out from the spacecraft had singed, burned, or just pulverized anything 3 inches above the ground. Not a tree still stood. Although, some had formed pulled rafts of torqued and splintered branches. Dead turtles and some birds, barely recognizable, littered mud banks that had turned to either a mottled ash or a pure deep black. Gustat realized he underestimated the Predator." Pg.217 Chpt.58