Mike and the rest of the pilots went through a battery of tests during the first week; surprising the
scientists and technicians with their progress. Even Tom stopped snickering…as much.
As Lieutenant Gupta observed while he regarded the smoldering remains of a target, “These
things rock.”
* * *
Mike’s squad deployed to a river valley near where the lizards were dug in – all 200 of them.
“What’s the plan, sir?”
“We march up the ridge where lasers will take point. They’ll cover the rest of us as we sneak up
to the next ridge. Once we’re in range, the snipers will take out any sentries and then the rest of
us rush their position.”
“We’ll make such a racket that they’ll hear us a mile off.”
“I’m hoping you’re wrong there, uh…private.”
Sergeant.
“I mean Constable.”
“I mean Sergeant.”
“Whatever, get moving.”
The squad climbed the hill. Thankfully, the suits made this easy work, instead of the exhausting
job this would have been without the exoskeletons. At the top, the two mechs with lasers took
up position.
“Let me know if either of you see anything.”
“I see something, sir.”
“And don’t play ‘I spy with my little eye’ with me!”
“No sir. I see one of the enemy.”
“What’s he doing?”
“It looks like he’s reading a magazine.”
“Really?”
“Well, actually, it looks like he’s just looking at a Playboy spread.”
“Why would he do that? I mean, it’s the wrong species!”
“No idea, sir. Should I shoot him?”
“No, look around for any others and wait for my signal.”
“Yes sir.”
“Or if it looks like he’s spotted us.”
“Gotcha.”
“Kissida?”
“Yeah.”
“No heroics – if you die I’ll kill you!”
“That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”
Mike was thinking that Alice would have said something rude…he missed her.
The rest of the squad spread out and made their way to the bottom of the ridge, where a small
river wound its way through the valley. Mike stopped there and checked in with the two snipers.
“Anything?”
“We found three other sentries. One of them appears to be sleeping, two are reading magazines,
and the last is doing his job. That last one hasn’t seen you yet, but I think he’s heard you. Every
now and then he looks through some binocular-like gizmo towards your position.”
Mike sighed. I guess we won’t be sneaking up on anyone while using these suits.
Nope.
“Take aim at the alert one and one of the readers. If it looks like we’ve been spotted, open fire.”
“Roger.”
“The rest of you get ready. When the sniper team opens fire, rush the hill and engage the enemy.
Snipers, get to the top of the other hill ASAP and engage. Any questions?”
There were none so the squad started moving up the hill. After they had gotten a third of the
way up, Mike’s mech stepped on a twig and the snipers opened fire. Of course it just seemed
like a “twig” and not a 6” diameter trunk that his mech crushed, but it seemed small and
innocuous from up there…
Mike bolted up the hill.
A horde of lizards erupted into his path.
A blue bolt of light struck the lead Raptor. The rest scattered as more light came from behind
Mike.
Mike raised his chain gun and fired.
More raptors fell as he swept the weapon back and forth.
He felt like a god of wrath as bolts of blue light rained down among the enemy.
But then the Raptors tried to return fire.
The ground exploded all around Mike as a lizard opened up with a ridiculously large Gatling
laser.
Mike’s weapon roared its defiance and the Raptor fell.
Things were strangely silent as Mike looked for more targets but all he could see were the tails of
the enemy as they ran over the hill.
With a cry of “C’mon you idiot!” Kissida’s mech raced past him and climbed up the hill. Mike
followed.
Of course, the main Raptor force was waiting for them.
Laser bolts and machine gun fire cut loose as soon as the two of them crested the hill. Mike got
the impression that they should fall back.
A funny thing happened.
He stayed put.
With a cry that started deep in his guts Mike fired his chain gun. Next to him Kissida launched
rocket after rocket with deadly precision.
Blasts from the enemy rained around him until one, then two found their mark. But the armor
held up.
Rather than stopping him, Mike fired with renewed fury.
Then the other two members of his squad joined him, taking out lizard after lizard with their
precise laser fire.
In what seemed like a few seconds, the remaining Raptors were in full retreat. Looking around
Mike realized that the whole ridge had been devastated.
The four members of his squad stood on the ridge like avenging angles, the area around them
torn up and devoid of life.
Mike noticed a Raptor with massive damage to him, from Mike’s own weapon it seemed, was
moving. Mike walked over to him, his chain gun at the ready.
The lizard managed to raise his head as Mike came closer. It seemed to focus on him. It raised a
forelimb towards Mike.
For no reason that he could explain, Mike reached out his mech’s hand to grasp the Raptors, but
instead the lizard gave him a high five.
“1eet!” it said, and died.
* * *
“y0r l3e7n3$$?” One of his aides was prodding the Truly Awesome Uber-General awake.
“Hmm…yes? Oh well done, good job.” The general decided to have another nap.
“umm...w3 L0$7 @ Comp@Ny, y0ur l3etne$$.” The aide shifted about nervously.
“Did we now, well, that was good thinking on the part of…WHAT?!” The general sat up
straighter and peered at the aid through a monocle.
“Ah…mumble, mumble, cough, cough…”
“Speak up man!” The aide stared at him curiously, “lizard,” the general amended.
“W3ll, We W3re, liKe, h@nGing ou7 When tHe5e 3@r7h dud3s juMP3d U$, @ND 7hey H@D
7he$3 5n@Ppy $UIt$.”
“Must you talk like that?!”
“lIKe Wh@7?”
“Never mind.” The general sighed. “Continue.”
“5o lIK3 tHe$3 5ui75 w3r3 pRe77y l337 anD they lIK3 g0t 7h3 jUMp on us @ND
w3...ah...lo$7.”
“So what you’re trying to tell me is that these Earthlings are going to be more of a challenge then
we thought?”
“pr377y much.”
“Excellent,” the general said, dropping his monocle. When he saw the aide’s expression he
hastily rephrased, “I mean…too bad.”
The general dismissed the aide and rubbed his hands together: at last, a challenge.
* * *
Mike had thought Sterling would be in a better mood.
The Colonel was reading a report at his desk when Mike came in. He didn’t so much as look up.
After a few minutes, still without glancing up, he yelled “And get Mike Smith in here!”
“I’m right here.”
Sterling glanced up. “Oh, good.” He went back to reading the report. Mike sat down.
“Sit down.”
I’d say he’s distracted.
Thanks for the hot tip.
“Haven’t the new mechs shown up?” Mike ventured.
Sterling sighed and put down his report.
“Oh, they showed up, alright. Training is coming along well too.”
“So what’s the problem?”
Sterling hit a button. A monitor turned on behind his desk, showing a bleached blonde and some
guy. Both were naked.
Mike’s eyes widened.
Sterling hastily changed the channel to something showing a horde of Raptors descending on a
base somewhere.
“They’ve redoubled their attack.”
Mike surveyed the carnage for a time in silence. “Are the new suits coming in fast enough?”
“Not fast enough to stem the tide. At this rate we may have six months.”
Mike rubbed his face. “So what can I do for you?”
“The Puppeteers…”
Hey, he didn’t call them ‘Your buddies!’
“…say they have another advance that could help us. I want you to meet with the Big Blob…”
I knew it was too good to last…
“…and see what you think.”
A short shuttle ride later, Mike was aboard the Puppeteer asteroid. Gideon met him at the
airlock.
“Mike! Nice to see you…”
“Cut the chatter, I need to get back to my squad. Take me to the Elder!”
The Elder was much as Mike remembered him: what looked like a 30 foot sphere of mercury.
“What did you need to see me in person for?” Mike asked as he barged in.
“Nice to see you too.”
“And what’s that?” Mike asked pointing at a bunch of blackish bean shaped objects, each about
a foot long.
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“So what are they?”
“They’re seeds.”
“You brought me up here to talk about gardening?!”
The Elder writhed about. “They grow into factories that turn out battle suits!”
“Well, why didn’t you say so?” Mike frowned “still, they won’t help unless they grow really
fast.”
“It takes about 2 months for one to mature into a factory.”
“How do you grow them?”
“That’s why I asked to see you! Honestly, Gideon, have you ever met a more impatient ape?”
“Hey!” Mike and Gideon said simultaneously.
“Sorry. The idea is that I can give you all the information you need directly. That’s why I asked
to see you. There, happy now?”
“Well, that explains…”
“You sure?”
“I guess.” Mike said sullenly. “How exactly to you propose to exchange information.”
“Pull my tentacle.” The Elder formed a pseudopod and reached towards Mike.
Mike sighed.
Just the specs for the factory, OK?
Alright.
And don’t dawdle around!
You never let me have any fun.
Mike’s Puppeteer oozed around to cover his arm. Mike reached out and touched the Elder.
As with the last time Mike had touched the Elder, he felt as if a universe of knowledge were his
to command. He felt like there was a bit of rooting around and then in a flash the information
was there. Abruptly, the connection ended.
“There you go! Now I expect you want to get back to your squad!”
Mike looked at the Elder curiously. The last time it had tried to extend the contact; it was almost
as if it were…
I think he’s hiding something.
What makes you think it’s a ‘he?’
Well, the alternative is using the plural and it just sounds strange to say ‘I think they’re hiding
something.’
Alright, alright. What do you think it could be?
I suppose I could say ‘she’ but it just doesn’t strike me as female.
About what he’s hiding!
But as he had been communicating with his Puppeteer, Gideon had gathered up the seeds into a
bag. He passed it to Mike and started hustling him out of the Elder’s chamber.
“Hey, wait a minute!”
“No, no, you were in such a hurry before. Off you go!”
The Elder even formed a pseudopod that waved goodbye.
“Do you like Trivial Pursuit?” Gideon asked inexplicably.
“What?”
“The Elder is just no good at it…”
Unable to resist Mike asked “You play Trivial Pursuit with it?”
“Hey, it gets pretty boring up here.”
“But there’s no gravity in the Elder’s room, how do you roll the dice?”
“Ah, we have to use computer generated numbers for that…I think he cheats.”
See? Even Gideon uses the masculine pronoun!
Shut up!
But just then they arrived at the airlock.
“Keep in touch! Here’s an autographed photo.”
Gideon handed Mike a picture of the Elder waving at the camera. It was signed “To my good
friend Ralph.”
“Hey, I’m not Ralph!”
But the airlock door was closing.
When Mike got back to base he was hustled into Sterling’s office.
“What’s that?” Sterling asked immediately.
“These are seeds that the Elder says…”
Sterling had come out from behind his desk and was examining the photo.
“You’re not Ralph.”
“…seeds that can grow into battle suit factories.”
“Is your middle name Ralph or something?”
“Grow into factories in two months!”
“What, from this picture?”
“No! From these!” Mike said, showing Sterling the seeds.
“Oh, great. Magic beans.”
Mommeeeee!
“Look, I’m really tired, and I was hoping to…”
“But let me guess, we need a Guided to grow the things.”
Mike stopped short. “I had not thought of that.”
Sterling stalked back behind his desk.
“Great! First you get this picture to Ralph somebody…”
“I have no clue who Ralph is!”
“…and then we have to create five more blobs…”
“Three.”
Sterling eyed the bag suspiciously.
“…three more blobs to tend some magic beans!” Sterling sulked for a bit then asked abruptly
“How long did you say it would take those things to grow?”
“Two months.”
“Assuming we can hold out that long.”
Chapter 1, Chapter 3
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