open areas of the island, avoiding the heavy forest where it could. Eventually, it reached a point on the headland, above the spacers’ encampment. It stopped in line of sight of the camp, but not near. Having reached its objective, the collection of bones and bits settled lower to the ground. Its substance became denser, whirling with less energy. It called.
On the deck of Seacatcher, unlife stirred. An army, resting from its previous mission of slaughter, reassembled. It incorporated its previous victims’ bones, metal, plastic, anything handy. They varied in size, but six giants made from girders and scaffolding stood like field marshals in the midst of the resurrected force. The ghastly army, its mission renewed, began to disembark. Above it, as if in cooperation, the heavens joined the assault with a rumble of thunder and a deluge of rain.
*****
Fenaday’s people slept comfortably, under cover from the rain and the lightning. This time only the robots stood out in the storm, on watch. Their airborne sister, the scout robot so useful on Mars, sat in a shuttle, grounded by the wind and rain.
The HCR Magenta detected movement and sound beyond the perimeter. A draw ran from the valley, and by design or luck, the Shellycoat army had marched down it. It allowed them to close to within several hundred meters of the camp without detection. The defenders had not been blind to this danger, lacing the small canyon with mines. At its end, the draw left any attackers facing a hundred meters of open terrain, under every gun of the camp. In a millisecond, the robot checked its target profile and came up with ‘Unknown.’ Fortunately, its programs contained a new instruction. ‘Unknown,’ meant hostile.
Magenta signaled an alert to Mmok back in the camp. In the same instant, she commanded the mines to detonate. Her steel sisters joined her in a blur of flashing metal, leading the reserve of crab robots to the section of barrier wire facing the attack.
In the camp, Mmok leapt to his feet, yelling warnings.
Fenaday sat bolt upright from a deep sleep, grabbing his jacket. Moments later he and Shasti stood on the ramp door of the shuttle, looking for targets in the driving rain. Troops spilled out from shuttles and shelters, running for firing slits and foxholes. Fenaday popped onto the net, hitting his command override button, “All section commanders, this is Fenaday. Hold fire until we have a target. Mmok, your robots may fire at will.”
Telisan and Duna joined them on the ramp, both with sidearms. Shasti left his side racing around the encampment. He heard her calling for everyone to look to their front. Mmok’s robots opened up on the prepared killing ground at the draw’s exit. Anti-tank munitions flashed and boomed, giving hints of what lay beyond the barrier wire. Fenaday saw something that looked like a crane toppling into the dirt.
The Shellycoat army, its size more than quartered by the ambush, burst out the sides of the draw. A wave of creatures charged at the barrier wire, far faster than a man could run over such ground.
“Weapons free,” Fenaday yelled.
Shasti called for fire and everyone, including the top turrets of the shuttles, opened up at once. The Shellycoats seemed to have no sense of survival. They hit the barrier line and flashed into nothing.
“Floods,” Fenaday shouted over the net. The downpour made it impossible to see clearly. Actinic bursts of light from explosions and energy weapons didn’t help.
The floods clicked on, revealing a scene undreamed of even in Dante’s nightmares. Beyond the barrier wire the ground seethed, alive with thousands of horrific, man-like shapes of all sizes. They lurched forward, made from metal, plastic, wood and rock. The most terrifying had skulls and ribcages whirling in their interiors.
The weaponry of the spacers cut huge swaths through the oncoming mass. Shellycoats exploded into mere debris. Barrier wire began to short under the press of material, throwing brilliant sparks to add to the confusion.
Fenaday moved to the front, flanked by the others. He saw Shasti repositioning the ground troops. He didn’t interfere; she knew more of war on planets than he did. Troops ran, slipping and cursing the mud and rain. Mmok’s utility robots began to scramble out from the shuttle area in response to some silent call for ammunition.
Fenaday turned to Telisan. “Get the doctors and the techs to passing out ammunition.”
Telisan nodded and ran off. Duna accompanied him.
Fenaday hit the net. “Pilots, fire up your engines. We may have to withdraw.”