I hadn't realised I'd stopped to stare at it, until Molly moved in close beside me, and waved a hand in front of my mask.
"We really don't have time for sightseeing, Eddie."
"I know! I know, but… look at it. I've never seen anything like that. Ugly as sin and twice as old. When we're finished with Area 52, and assuming we and the world are still around, we have got to come back here. Get the family archaeologists on the job."
"I wouldn't," said Molly. "You might wake what's in there."
I looked at Molly, and then back at the frozen city. "Ah… You mean that's… Hmm. I think I'll ask the Armourer if he's got any of those thermonukes left."
Maybe half an hour later, I walked right into an invisible force shield, bounced off, and fell backwards onto my arse in the snow. Molly laughed so hard she hurt herself, and ended up curled into a ball, turning slowly in midair. I got to my feet with as much dignity as I could muster, and prodded the air with a golden fingertip. I could feel the shield but not see it, even with my Sight. And it didn't take me long to figure out that the field extended a long way in every direction, presumably surrounding Area 52 completely. The shield was entirely scientific in nature, as far as I could tell. My Sight wasn't showing me any magics, and when Molly finally got her giggles under control, she confirmed it. She did blast the shield a few times, with various nasty spells, just to please me, but everything she threw at the shield just slid off. Magic and science really don't get on. Most of the time they just pretend the other doesn't exist.
So, when in doubt, hit it. I retracted my snowshoes, planted my golden feet firmly in the heavy snow, reared back and hit the invisible force shield with all my strength. I gave it everything I had, everything the armour had, and the force shield didn't react in the least. I hit it again and again, summoning up all the strength in my armour and delivering it through one heavy golden fist, and the shield began to resonate, like a struck gong. Great ripples spread out across the snow, digging themselves deeper and deeper with every blow, until finally… I just stopped. I wasn't tired, and my hand didn't hurt, but it was clear I wasn't getting anywhere. I growled and shook my head, and took a moment to get my breath back.
"Very therapeutic, I'm sure," Molly said kindly. "But that was never going to work. Also, I feel I have to point out that such a blatant attack on the shield is almost certainly going to tell everyone in Area 52 that we're here."
"They know we're here," I said. "Methuselah will have told them by now. But if my armour can't break this shield, and your magics can't even touch it, how the hell are we going to get through?"
"We could tunnel under it," Molly said brightly. "Or rather you could; I don't do manual labour."
"You don't even do dusting," I said. I looked thoughtfully at where the field should be. "Has to be a way in… We didn't come all this way just to be stopped by a stupid force shield."
"Right," said Molly. "So do something, Eddie!"
"I'm thinking!"
I pulled out the Merlin Glass. It nestled comfortably into my armoured hand, still showing a snowy scene very different from the one before me, and still subtly urging me on. I weighed the Glass in my hand, and then stepped forward and slapped it hard against the force shield. The Glass hung in midair, shaking and shuddering, and then it grew suddenly in size to a doorway, breaking through the shield by making itself part of the shield. I took Molly by the hand and led her through, and then the doorway slammed shut behind us and the Merlin Glass shot back into my hand, like an obedient dog. I put it away, and set off again, with Molly just a few steps behind me.
"You're so sharp you'll cut yourself one of these days," she said finally.
"I'm sure you'd have thought of it," I said generously. "Eventually."
We headed on across the great plateau of snow and ice, stopping occasionally so I could take out the Merlin Glass and use it like a compass, to make sure were still heading in the right direction. Still no sign of Area 52, or anything like an entrance. We'd been walking for almost an hour now, though I had to check my armour's internal clock to be sure. With so few real landmarks, it was hard to be sure of space or time. I was growing dangerously tired. I'd done so much today, and there was still so much more to do. And then I stopped suddenly, and looked sharply about me. Molly hovered beside me, her eyes bright and alert.
"You feel it too," she said. "We're not alone. I can't See anything, but I can feel it, in my bones and in my water. Something else is here with us, and it knows we're here. It's watching us."
"Guard dog," I said flatly. "Has to be. If you had a secret base set up here, you'd invest in a guard dog or two, wouldn't you? But what kind of creature could survive on its own, in this environment? Without my armour and your protections, we'd have been dead within minutes of arriving. So whatever it is… would have to be seriously tough and nasty, able to survive where nothing else could. Feel free to disagree with me, Molly, because I am starting to depress myself…"
"Wendigo?" said Molly, looking quickly about her. "Giant polar bears? Didn't Superman have some of those guarding his secret fortress in one of those films? Or did I just dream that?"
"I did once send a Russian werewolf here," I said thoughtfully.
"You've lived, haven't you, Eddie?"
And that was when the robot guard dog erupted from under the snow right in front of me, a huge steel shape with glowing red eyes, snapping steel teeth and flailing steel claws. It hit me hard in the chest, throwing me backwards, and I had to struggle to keep my feet under me. It was bigger than me, and heavier, a huge steel hound with moving parts showing clearly through its latticeworked steel hide. It clung to me, scrabbling at my shoulders with its fore-paws, whilst its lower paws came up to claw at my belly, trying to disembowel me. Steel claws scrabbled uselessly against my golden armour, while steel teeth shattered and broke on my golden throat. I grabbed the guard dog by the forearms, and forced the snapping steel jaws away from my face.
Molly darted back and forth around me, trying for a clear shot, and yelling what she thought was helpful advice. I concentrated on forcing the killer robot dog away from me, until finally it hung helplessly in my grasp, the lower legs still scrabbling for something to attack. And then I tore the dog apart, first limb from limb, and then piece by piece, until there wasn't enough left of it to function. It lay scattered across the snow, just so many intricate steel parts and glimmering tech, still moving and twitching as the last of its energy ran out. The red glowing eyes took a long time to fade away. I knelt down and studied the mess thoughtfully, while Molly floated at my side.
"This wasn't just some stupid robot," I said finally. "There was definitely intelligence at work. Primitive AI. I should have tried to communicate with it."
"Like what?" said Molly. "Down boy? Stop trying to kill me? Good dog?"
"How long was it lying here, under the snow?" I said. "Waiting patiently in the dark, for months or maybe even years… For something, anything, to come along? And when someone does turn up, all its programming will allow it to do, is attack. Was it lonely, do you think? Poor thing. Poor doggie."
"Poor doggie?" said Molly. "It would have quite happily ripped us apart, and probably pissed machine oil on our bits and pieces afterwards. Honestly, Eddie, you can get sentimental about the strangest things."
I stood up. "I'm surprised there aren't more of the things. Who bets all their money on a single guard dog?"