Dragon leaned over and made the sign of the Legion before Ironman's faceplate. "He was a warrior," Dragon said. It was the highest praise Dragon could give.
"He was advancing and firing when he was hit," Psycho said. "I saw the whole thing. He was walking right into the O. Nobody could have died better than that."
Ironman, Ironman, Ironman! I could not see, my eyes were full of tears. He was our child, our innocent, our only link with a lost world. With Ironman at our side, we knew we were fighting for something worthwhile. Now he was gone.
"Count off! Count off, damn you all! I said count off!" Coolhand was losing patience.
"Six," somebody said. But it was not Warhound's voice. "Six is…he's here—with me."
"Beta Seven," Dragon said, "mission accomplished. Eight—present."
"Nine." A haunted whisper. My heart leaped.
"Gamma One—she's gone! Gamma Two—present!" It was Valkyrie's cold, lost voice, a cry in the wilderness.
"Gamma Five is wounded. Gamma Seven here."
"Systies! Let's hear it!"
"May God have mercy on your soul. My friend, my friend…how can you leave us?" It was Merlin, talking to himself. I got to my feet, in a trance, and followed the tacmap to locate him. He was squatting in the dirt, his fieldfaxer on the ground beside him. Warhound lay before him, his A-suit glowing cherry-red. I stopped, stunned. Warhound's atlauncher was at his side. His faceplate was burnt black.
"Don't look in," Merlin warned. "Don't. It was a sphere. It came in behind him. He had just flamed a snake that had started to wrap itself around one of the Systies. I fired biodee, but it was too late. Too late."
Not Warhound, I thought. Not Warhound. Warhound never asked anything of anyone. He just wanted a home, that's all, and we were his home. He was faithful and dependable. A good soldier, I thought—a good soldier. There was a roaring in my ears and the world was spinning around. A burning pain enveloped my chest. It felt as if I was on fire. I reached out my good hand for Warhound, my friend, and fell into the dark.
###
"He's conscious," Priestess whispered in my ears, and the pain was gone. "Can you get up, Thinker?" I tried. I got up. Flames rolled in the sky. Agonizing pain. I could not move my left arm.
"We're set, Thinker. The aircar's here. I've got to help the others." A dark aircar hovered before us in a whirling cyclone of smoke and dirt. Priestess was gone. I checked my E—still there.
"Board! Bring our dead—we all come back! Board, board! And bring that O!" Coolhand was not going to leave anyone behind. We were all going back together, and we were even bringing the O. It would be an incredible prize for the Legion. The lab rats would be ecstatic, and the ultimate result would be more dead O's.
Coolhand and Merlin hauled Snow Leopard toward the aircar on a camfax cloak and Priestess was with them, leaning over to check on him. It was an unreal picture on my faceplate, glowing green A-suits moving through the smoking dark. It started to rain. And three Legion A-suits were lying side by side nearby, light rain dancing off the twisted metal. A strange holy glow hovered all around them. A shadowy group of figures dragged what was left of the O out of the burning ruins in which it had died. The O was charred, just as Merlin had promised, and as Psycho and Dragon pulled, its limbs broke apart in a shower of ash and sparks.
"Its squad leader has done it, number Two—one of its units saved our life!" The Systie soldier was just as shaken as we were.
"He lost his life doing it, Systie," Coolhand replied. "His number was Beta Six. Remember it!"
The aircar hovered, haloed by rain. The assault door popped open. A Systie in an A-suit stood in the door with an SG. He fired, and I watched in horror as the xmax exploded white-hot right on Coolhand's chestplate, glittering streaks of phospho shrapnel ricocheting off his armor, more xmax, full auto, multiple explosions. Priestess was blown aside like a rag doll, flames spitting off her A-suit, and Coolhand fell, his arms outstretched, and the Systie was out the door jumping to the ground, still firing. Another Systie stood in the door, his SG at his shoulder, the barrel coming down. It was happening in microfracs but I could see every speck of dirt on the Systie's A-suit and it was unrolling in extreme slow motion like a horrible nightmare. My E was up and my finger tightened on the trigger. A Systie A-suit to my left—it was Millina, the Mocain. She reached down, it seemed to take forever, to seize Coolhand's E, her armored fingers wrapping around the stock. I pulled my E around to blast her, traitorous bitch! She had the E now and in the far corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a Legion A-suit, Valkyrie, bringing her E up to her shoulder, aiming right at the Systie bitch. My E was on xmax and just as the laser confirmed the target, Millina fired and the first Systie staggered, his faceplate exploding as Millina walked the xmax down his chest. I didn't even try to understand it, but I snapped my E back to the aircar's assault door and fired.
###
Someone screamed right into my ears, shrieking in agony. Then the deceptors drowned it all out and a spattering buzz filled my helmet. Lightning, close overhead.
I crawled in the mud, burrowing like a worm, and lasers snapped mils above my head. The earth shook again and the air crackled—Psycho's chainlink, a magnificent symphony of death, full auto, a flickering in the sky and then a rolling flash, lightning, and the world split open as the tacstars hit. Debris spattered all around me. A dark aircar slowly passed overhead, right over me, and it was burning, spitting sparks, and as I watched, horrified, a barrage of tacstars erupted on the car, one two three four five six, flash flash flash flash flash flash, perfect shooting. The aircar erupted, six micronukes, a multiple crack, the end of the world, white-hot streaks lighting up the sky, and an A-suited figure fell in fantastic slow motion down from the car, flaming like a meteor. The aircar tumbled wildly, falling apart, flaming chunks of metal raining down to the ground. Then a stunning explosion and the sky lit up and the earth shook.
"…least twelve." It was all I could hear—the sky was full of deceptors. I could not move my left arm but my right was still good and I had my E.
Sweety was relaying data to me, and her I could hear. "Target ahead, one Systie, on the ground. Fading in and out, keep crawling, Thinker!"
I was shaking with horror and hatred. My world was ending, the only world I had ever loved, and the Systies had done it, and a Systie squad was all around me, and they were all going to die. If Beta was finished, I did not want to live. There was one Systie right up ahead, and I was going to kill him.
Auto x rattled all around me. I had glimpses of the Systie in the tacsit, a faint green glow, drowned in static. Laser, flickering in the dark—he was firing laser. I paused behind a chunk of masonry, my head roaring, pain overwhelming me. "Sweety…xmax. Give me the target."
I balanced the E against the rubble and pressed my faceplate against the sights. Smoke drifted past. Someone screamed. Priestess was out there somewhere, lying in the mud, fate unknown. Deceptors crackled close overhead and a deafening explosion split the sky to my left, showering me with shrapnel, hits pinging off my A-suit. The scope was full of glittering junk. More lasers, up ahead—there! I fired, and xmax erupted up ahead, white-hot flashes, phospho streamers.
"Hit," Sweety informed me. "Good hit, Thinker." I rolled away from the site and began crawling into flame and smoke. A building collapsed just to my right, a rising cloud of smoke and ash.
"I'm hit! Oh God, God, I'm hit! Medic! Medic!" A horrible, bloodcurdling scream followed. I thought it was Sassin, but I was not sure. I only knew that there was no medic, any more.
"Soldiers of the Legion!" The message crackled in my ears. "You are doomed! Surrender immediately and we will assist your wounded and grant you official PW status. We repeat, surrender immediately and save yourselves and your comrades! You are completely surrounded and further resistance is pointless!"