BEM

Abbreviation for "bug-eyed monster": Dairine's way of referring to the aliens who chase her through the Crossings.

The term has a long history in the science fiction field, harking back to the days of the genre, when aliens were routinely seen and depicted as ugly weird creatures usually bent on world domination, and often (to judge by early "pulp" covers featuring distressed human heroines) on cross-species dating. Dairine is almost certainly using the term in this more perjorative sense: since the aliens in question are shooting at her at the time, and it was her first time out on the "High Road", this is possibly understandable. (HW)