Artifice

by S. H. Jucha

  “I would have explained that later, Homsaff, after Hessan had gained some confidence in his skill,” Simlan said. His eyes briefly held Homsaff’s.

  “That would have been wiser,” Homsaff allowed.

  A warrior returned the projectile. This time, Simlan accepted it. “Let’s practice our methods,” he said. “Prepare your sling.” When Hessan took up the handles and held the sling at his side, Simlan knelt. “I’m ready to load the minelette,” he announced firmly.

  “Ready,” Hessan acknowledged. He concentrated on his target, while the weight settled in the sling.

  “Ready to activate,” Simlan said next.

  “Activate,” Hessan replied.

  “It’s live,” Simlan answered, backing away.

  Hessan swung the projectile hard. He felt his shoulder strain, but he held on. The sling thrummed loudly with the heavier weight. When the projectile was released, it struck a meter above the treads.

  “Well thrown,” Homsaff said.

  Hessan was still rubbing his shoulder, when a warrior returned the projectile to Simlan. Hessan readied his sling, but Simlan said, “No more practice. You’ll need your arm for the minelettes.” He gestured to the two warriors who handled medical care and pointed at Hessan’s shoulder.

  The warriors were wide awake, and Homsaff insisted they eat, drink, and relieve themselves before she explained her plan. When the warriors were ready, they sat on the grav pallets to hear their leader.

  “This is an all-or-nothing gambit, as Dassata would say,” Homsaff began. Her words produced a round of subtle chortling. The warriors enjoyed the mention of Alex’s Dischnya name. The nests considered him a harbinger of good fortune, and Homsaff knew it.

  “Before the dim light of day appears, we’ll strike,” Homsaff continued. “We can’t defeat the bots that remain. There are too many of them, but we can still accomplish what we were sent to do … what Dassata asked us to do. If we open a lane to the towers, with the minelettes, we can take them down with the minelettes or our rifles, before the bots overwhelm us.”

  What Homsaff was saying penetrated the warriors’ minds. She didn’t expect them to survive, but she did expect them to finish what they had started.

  Hessan was the first to utter a warning growl. Then the others followed. When Simlan added his voice, he tilted his muzzle to the night sky, bright with stars, and howled. He was joined by every warrior.

  Queens did not participate in the warriors’ challenge, but Homsaff’s higher-pitched voice was heard above the chorus. The thought occurred to her that she finally understood the difference between a queen and a commander. The one rules from a distance; the other shares the fate of her troops.

  Simlan had the duty of telling the two wounded warriors that they would remain with the pallets. “Defend the pallets,” he said. “If we’re successful taking down the towers, we’ll try to fall back to this position.”

  Simlan and Hessan searched the top of the barrier for the right launch location. They needed a stable platform from which Hessan could launch the minelettes. Nearby, there needed to be a secure place to take cover. They found one. A flatbed transport had its drive mechanisms destroyed as it crested the barrier. It presented the perfect platform, and the squad leaders could drop off its bed into a mass of metal for protection.

  Homsaff directed the warriors to station themselves near Hessan’s platform. They would be required to rush together, as a unified force, to take down the towers.

  Simlan and Hessan gauged the distance to the primary tower and discussed how best to use the six minelettes. It was determined that only two would be worthwhile to toss from the present position. Homsaff, Simlan, Hessan, and a warrior would each carry one of the remaining minelettes.

  “You and I stay close to Hessan,” Homsaff advised the fourth individual. “We protect him at all costs. Is that understood?”

  The warrior yipped in assent.

  The warriors took cover and readied their weapons. They carried only one backup energy pack, but that was burden enough, considering the run they would have to make to the towers.

  Hessan carried no weapons, which left him feeling naked, but the rifle and power pack would throw off his tosses. Homsaff, Simlan, and the accompanying warrior would carry only a single power pack in addition to their rifles. The minelette weighed too much to attempt to carry anything more.

  “Simlan, Hessan, are you ready?” Homsaff called out.

  “Yes,” they echoed.

  “We follow your lead,” Homsaff replied.

  Simlan regarded his young friend. They had been the first Dischnya to converse with humans, who had been Pussiro’s captives. Their progress with the humans and the developing interspecies relationships changed the face of Sawa Messa to become Omnia. Through the years, the two warriors had grown close.

  “You can do this, Hessan,” Simlan encouraged.

  Hessan blew out a deep breath, sucked in another, and readied his sling.

  “This one has to be close,” Simlan advised. “You don’t need too much speed, but you need a late release.” He gestured with his hand in an up, out, and down curve.

  Hessan nodded and picked out a target. A crane bot was just the right distance, and the young squad leader concentrated on it. His mind buzzed with white noise. As if in a dream, he heard Simlan talk through his actions, and he heard his own voice reply.

  When Hessan heard Simlan say the minelette was active, the noise in his head died. He could see the arc he needed to reach the bot. He swung his projectile in a smooth circle without punishing his shoulder and let the minelette sail up into the night sky.

  Simlan’s voice broke through Hessan’s reverie, and he heard, “Jump.” Belatedly, he turned and leapt off the flatbed to join Simlan. The two of them ducked, as a roar shattered the night. A blast of wind rattled the barrier, and the massive pile of decimated bots shook violently. A moment later, a storm of ice and bot debris assaulted their position.

  “They didn’t look so powerful, when you saw them on a monitor,” Hessan said in awe to Simlan.

  “Back up,” Simlan ordered, giving Hessan a push.

  Even Simlan was taken aback, when Hessan and he surveyed the damage.

  “I can’t throw a minelette far enough to do any good,” Hessan observed.

  “Launch the attack,” Simlan yelled.

  “We need to grab the minelettes below,” Hessan said excitedly.

  “We don’t need them. Look at the destruction. The others have what we need,” Simlan replied.

  The warriors streamed past the squad leaders, and they were joined by Homsaff and the warrior who carried a minelette.

  Homsaff briefly surveyed the damage and then led the foursome off the flatbed. When their last jump landed them on the surface, they slid. Their great clawed feet were ensconced in environment suits, and they struggled to maintain their balance. The blast had scoured the area clean. Under the slush, which had been churned by the bots, was a smooth layer of ice.

  “So much for our speed,” Simlan said in disgust, as he started sliding his feet forward rather than attempting to run.

  A single minelette had cleared a third of the pathway to the towers, which was as impressive as it was opportune. But the Dischnya, who expected to sprint across the cleared area, had covered merely half the distance before bots came at then from the direction of the towers.

  The warriors aimed their rifles, but Homsaff ordered them to hold fire. Most of the bots that had crossed onto the slick surface were the smaller ones — the Dischnya had penetrated that far into Artifice’s protective ring. The bots’ appendages and drive mechanisms struggled to gain purchase on the ice. Their approach to the invaders was slower than the progress the Dischnya had made. It would have been comical, if the situation hadn’t been so fraught with danger.

  “Simlan, Hessan, find your next launch platform,” Homsaff ordered.

  The pair of squad leaders scanned the area. A massive trenching bot had been slammed a
gainst two other construction bots, the tangled wreckage made an excellent hiding place against the blast. One of the trenching jaws offered Hessan a high place from which to heave his projectile.

  Simlan pointed out the location, and the Dischnya slipped and slid their way across the slick surface until their environment boots could find purchase. Then they scrambled onto the huge pile of metal debris. They had no desire to spend any time on the slush, where the small tech bots hid.

  Homsaff handed off her minelette, and Simlan and Hessan climbed. Below them, the warriors formed a protective semicircle. Bots slowly approached the Dischnya positions across the ice from the direction of the barrier. There was no need for the warriors to waste their power packs with heavy fire. Only a few of the larger bots made any progress, and the warriors picked off the lead units.

  Hessan found that only he could fit in the bot’s trenching bucket. He hung on to a metal strut with one hand, while he leaned over the side to allow Simlan to load the minelette in his sling. They repeated their firing ritual, and Simlan scrambled down, yelling to the others to take cover.

  Hessan picked his target, wound his sling, and let the minelette fly. His shoulder jerked in pain at the release. A thrill of excitement shot through him. His throw was sending the minelette far out toward the towers.

  Galvanized by the threat of the forthcoming detonation, Hessan climbed out of his bucket, leapt to a flat space farther down the pile, and jumped into a pile of churned ice to take shelter with the others.

  The blast rocked their mammoth pile of metal and threatened to topple the trenching bot down on them. They huddled together, awaiting the vicious wind that followed. Through the smear of ice and bot debris, they saw the onrushing bots swept away.

  When the noise and wind quieted, they crept out, with rifles at the ready. A lane was open from their position to the towers.

  Homsaff disconnected her environment boots, stuffed them in her pack, and tore off across the smooth surface. Her great clawed feet threw up chunks of ice as she sprinted toward the towers.

  There was only a brief hesitation on the part of the warriors before they imitated their leader. They howled as they ran on their toes, digging their claws into the icy surface.

  Simlan ensured the warrior with the last minelette had remained with them. Then Hessan, the warrior, and Simlan joined the mad rush toward the towers.

  Homsaff’s sprint was truncated, when small tech bots closed in on her. She knelt to lower her aim, shifted the plasma rifle to a spread, and vaporized bots by the tens. The warriors slid into her position on their knees, firing as they arrived.

  The bots continued to swarm. Hot, metal debris built up around the Dischnya, and Homsaff uttered a few Omnian expletives, which sent the warriors chortling and chuffing.

  The possibility of forward progress died with every wave of bots that were burned, and Homsaff howled her rage, as her rifle blazed. They’d been so close, but the bots numbered in the tens of thousands. She checked her power gauge. It was more than half depleted, and she carried no backup power pack.

  Hessan was tucked behind Homsaff. He’d seen Homsaff check her rifle’s reserves. They were being thwarted, and the badly needed, fresh, power packs waited for them inside the barrier. He scanned the area and spotted a half-built tower.

  Tapping his guard on the shoulder, he shouted, “Come with me.” Then he took off running. Over his shoulder, he yelled, “Seek shelter.”

  Simlan was torn between following Hessan and staying to defend Homsaff. The decision was easily made. The young males were sprinting for all they were worth, and Simlan had no chance of catching them.

  The semi-built array tower was forward of the Dischnya’s defensive position. Hessan slowed to let the guard precede him, as the bots attacked. The ones climbing up from the slush were too slow to catch them.

  Hessan’s guard didn’t try to take out the bots to their sides. He fired repeatedly to their front, clearing a path and never stopping.

  At the base of the tower, Hessan jumped to grab the nearest strut. The warrior with him paused to hand up his minelette to Hessan, and it was his undoing. The sharp cutters of a bot that had emerged from the pile of slush stabbed into his calves. Another hacked at the back of his knees. As the warrior went down, he fired in anger at the bots. The plasma blast eliminated the bots and the warrior, and it nearly did the same for Hessan. He’d managed to reach a platform, and the heat from the blast warmed the metal under his bare feet.

  While Hessan made for his perch, Homsaff and Simlan gazed in the opposite direction for a hiding place.

  “There,” Simlan said urgently, pointing to a flatbed on its side. It was the closest and largest protective spot.

  “Follow me,” Homsaff ordered. “Save your rifles’ energy,” she added to her command, as she ran across the slick surface.

  Near the base of the flatbed, Simlan stopped the warriors’ rush, while he burned the slush with his rifle. Several bots, hiding beneath the surface, were destroyed.

  “Boots,” Homsaff ordered, as she pulled hers from the pack, and slipped them on. She shivered as the suit’s heat warmed her feet.

  The flatbed had plowed up a dense pile of ice as it slid along the surface from one of Hessan’s minelettes. The warriors dug into the pile to get them farther away from the forthcoming blast.

  Homsaff peeked around their defensive position, while her warriors picked off the bots coming their way across ice or over the tangled mass of bot wreckage. She saw a plasma blast lick up the tower and light the base under Hessan. The squad leader was undeterred, and he continued climbing to reach the next level.

  -33-

  The Towers

  Isolated and with no one able to hear him, Hessan exercised his prerogative to vehemently utter every dark phrase he’d ever heard the Omnians use, and he directed every single one of them at Artifice. His anger was so great, that he’d gladly tear Artifice’s case and circuitry apart with his bare claws and teeth. The thought made him chortle.

  A plasma blast would be more efficient, Hessan thought. True, he continued, but much less satisfying.

  On the second platform, Hessan spared a moment to scan for his comrades. They weren’t in sight. Then he heard a whistle and spotted Homsaff waving an arm. He raised a fist in recognition and salute.

  There wasn’t another platform above Hessan. He knelt where he was and unpacked the minelette. He loaded it in the sling, but before he hefted it, he examined the towers. There were three working towers, and they were arranged in a triangle. Two were small. They were the farthest away. The larger one was closer, and it appeared to be the older one. More than likely, it was the original tower.

  While Hessan studied the towers, he donned his boots, appreciating the heat that warmed his feet. The question that plagued his mind was where to throw the one minelette he carried. Where would it do the most good, he wondered. Two thoughts occurred to him. He could try to take out the dominant tower. He was sure that his throw could reach that one. The other option was to try to land the minelette in the center of the triangle and try to take out all three towers.

  Hessan wished for a brief conversation with a SADE. He would ask about a minelette’s power to blow down a tower made of metal struts. How close would the minelette have to be to the base?

  It seemed strategically safer to Hessan’s mind to attempt to take down the tall tower. If nothing else, the detonation would open a lane for his comrades. Then Homsaff and the warriors could slag the other two towers and the tall one, if necessary, with their plasma rifles.

  A quick examination of the icy surface revealed that there was no place for Hessan to shelter. Worse, he was ten or eleven meters up. The jump was fraught with difficulties. He could break a leg. He could land near tech bots, which would flay him alive.

  With a quick wish to his mate and soon-to-be-born pups, Hessan loaded his minelette into the sling, placed it on his boot, activated it, and wound it up. The tallest tower was pushing the maximum
distance he thought he could throw, and he felt the heavy ball tear at his shoulder, as he released it. He watched for a moment, as the minelette sailed up and toward the tower. There was just enough light for him to realize it was a good toss. Then he turned and jumped.

  Hessan struck the surface with a thud and rolled to his side. He’d felt something snap in one leg and in the opposite foot. There was only a brief moment to worry about his injuries. Then the minelette’s blast swept through the half-constructed tower. Its two platforms acted like sails. They caught the powerful wind and brought the tower crashing down on Hessan.

  After the wave of ice and debris passed, Homsaff hurried from her hiding place to examine the result. The large tower lay on its side and a pathway was open. She was jubilant. She glanced toward Hessan’s location, and her blood chilled to see Hessan’s last perch toppled.

  “Now! Follow me!” Homsaff yelled to her warriors.

  Their race to the towers went faster this time. Thousands of destroyed small and medium bots littered the ice field, and the warriors used the bodies and parts to gain purchase for their feet. They looked as if they were crossing a stream by hopping from rock to rock.

  Homsaff spotted a heavy cable that extruded from a connector in the ground and ran up the middle of the damaged tower. Remembering the needs of the Chistorlans, she dialed her rifle to a fine beam. Then she aimed about two meters off the ground and swung it across the cable, severing it.

  Warriors raced past Homsaff, running toward the other two towers. In short order, they cut the cables that led to the tower, and for good measure, they toppled the towers.

  “Regroup!” Simlan yelled to the warriors. He’d seen the advance of more bots.

  “They’ve received no new orders, Simlan,” Homsaff said, with disgust, as she eyed the advancing horde. “They’re still out to eliminate us.”