Siege Mentality ( short story ) Siege Mentality was the second story in the Bernice Summerfield anthology " Something Changed " . It was written by James Swallow . Summary . Benny is shocked by the devastation caused by the history machine . Damage has expanded far beyond the Collection , destroying some of the orbiting ships . Benny and Jason help to repair a broken water pipe . Benny finds her pupil , Parasiel , and they discuss food rations . He informs her that Café Vosta is donating some food . Bev Tarrant angrily approaches Benny and drags her to Adrian ' s bed in the makeshift infirmary . His face is wrapped in nano - bandages , and it is likely that he will die . Bev blames Benny for not properly overseeing Doggles ' experiment . Benny tries to convince Doggles to assist in the relief efforts , but he is too absorbed with worrying about how he will be blamed for the incident . Benny walks in on Hass and Braxiatel discussing the Martian negotiations . Hass is trying to warn Brax that his brother , Sset , will take offence to Braxiatel ' s failure to communicate . After Hass leaves , Benny tries to inform Brax of the chaos outside , but Brax seems uninterested . Benny gets upset at Brax ' s nonchalance towards the whole incident . Hass suspects that the history machine is the cause of Brax ' s odd behaviour . Transport ships begin to land , delivering supplies . Doggles runs to the ships , trying to bribe the crew to let him on , however , as he approaches , the ship opens up and drops hundreds of snake like creatures . The creatures begin to make their way across the Collection , seemingly looking for something . Benny tells Brax about the panic on the Collection , but she finds him working in a laboratory on some kind of bomb . He remarks that what is going on outside is of no importance . Jason , Parasiel , and Doggles are almost killed by the snake creatures , but Hass uses his hoe to cut the creatures in half . Hass informs them that these creatures are clades , a type of autonomous battlefield weapon . Hass suspects that they were sent by his brother to recover the lost artefacts . Benny and Jason decide it would be best if everyone went to the Mansionhouse , as it is presumably the safest place on the planetoid . First , however , Benny and Bev have to pick up the children from the school . On the way there , they continue to quarrel . Meanwhile , Brax reluctantly lets people into his Mansionhouse . The interior of the Mansionhouse changed and expanded to fit everyone in . Doggles took some of the Martian artefacts and decided to give them to the clades as a way to save the collection and redeem himself . By opening the doors to the outside , however , he allowed the clades to begin pouring in the only safe haven on the planetoid , and he is consumed by the clades in the process . Brax decides it ' s time to detonate the bomb he was working on , a reality bomb . Benny refuses , and knocks Brax out before destroying the bomb . Hass gives the artefacts to the clades , as this is the only way to keep people alive . The clades finally retreat . Hass gets contacted by his brother and Hass expresses his disapproval over Sset ' s actions . Because Jason ' s leg was wounded in the chaos , Hass takes Peter to his mother , and as they sit outside by the ornamental fountain , they worry about the fact that the aid ships were destroyed and food is running low .