“Don’t you think if s strange?”
“Strange?” Daniel laughed. Everything here was strange. “No... that we’ve never seen this kind of thing before. If s different this time. Can’t you feel it?”
Daniel looked about him, taking in the vista, then shrugged. It was different. He could feel the difference. But he wasn’t going to admit it openly for the watching bugs.
“Here’s Ju Dun,” he said, nodding towards the path through the bracken. Ju Dun was running at a squat, weaving from side to side and keeping himself very low, as if at any moment he would throw himself flat Behind him, pursuing him, scuttled two large metallic machines - bombardier beetles. “Guests,” Aidan said, turning towards Ju Dun and lifting his gun. But even as he went to fire there were two sharp detonations and both mechanoids fell, large holes shot clean through their carapaces.
Johann smiled and lowered his gun, even as Ju Dun clambered up alongside them. “There’s no way through,” Ju Dun said breathlessly. ‘There’s a formation of defensive machines - mortar-flies and bombardiers - three, maybe four hundred of them blocking the pass.”
Aidan nodded, then turned, his eyes scanning the ravine to his left There was still no sign of Leon.
“I’ll give him two more minutes then we’ll press on.” Daniel smiled inwardly, knowing Aidan would as soon leave one of his team as shoot off his own balls. But Aidan was impatient and, faced with something he hadn’t encountered before, a little edgy.
“Here he is now,” Slaven said, his voice pained. “Looks like he’s got company too.”
Leon was now in sight, some two or three hundred metres away, running at full tilt, two large hoverflies - their wingspan two metres or more - idly shadowing him. Even as they watched, one of them swooped and dropped something that looked like a tiny duster of eggs. Leon, sensing the creature’s proximity, turned and loosed off a round that ripped the hoverfly’s wing and brought it down, yet even as it toppled to the earth, the cluster of tiny explosives went off, throwing Leon off his feet “Get down there, nowl” Aidan said, gesturing to Johann and Christian, then, taking sight, he took a shot at the second hoverfly. The shell went off some three or four metres from the swooping machine, even as it went in for the kill, fragments of the exploding casing peppering its wing. It juddered in the air, distracted by the explosion, but it was not seriously damaged. It lifted, gaining a little altitude, preparing for a second swoop. Leon was still down, stunned. Daniel saw him turn onto his back and look up as the shadow of the creature fell on him.
And then the thing exploded like a firework going off.
“Nice shooting, Daniel.”
Daniel lowered his rifle. “I was lucky,” he said. But he knew he wasn’t As Leon rejoined them, Aidan quickly questioned him, then gestured straight ahead. They would have to go through it seemed. The ravine, like the pass, was heavily defended.
“Just don’t touch anything,” he said. “And move slowly. And keep moving. Right?”
“Righfi”
Dublanc watched as the team slowly walked down through the waist-length grass of the slope and stepped out into the field.
Briefly the watching eye focused on Daniel.
“He can shoot, that one!” one of the operators said. There was a murmur of agreement.
“Yes,” Dublanc said, acknowledging the comment. It had been impressive. Two hundred and eighteen metres, and Daniel had shot the swooping hoverfly straight through its compound eye. Another few seconds and the boy who was down would have been a steaming rack of bones.
“Let them get in deep,” he said. “Let them almost think they’re through.” Yes. Because it was time to put the pressure on. Time to start pruning them back. Because - reason or no reason - that was why they were here. To be pruned. To see just who among them was good enough - or lucky enough - to survive.
The pod was roughly fifty centimetres tall and curved at the edges, like a fat, fleshy cylinder that had been rounded top and bottom. It was blueish-white in colour, and across its mouth was stretched a tight, milkily-opaque membrane, beneath which something small and dark moved from time to time. Daniel knew what it was. An egg. They were walking through a field of eggs. The eggs of insectoid machines.
The boys were spread out across the field in a straggling line, about five metres apart, Leon on the far left, Johann on the right Slaven was with Aidan. Aidan had wanted to carry him across the field, but Slaven had refused.
Nonetheless, Aidan kept close, knowing how close to exhaustion Slaven now was. Daniel glanced across, knowing they would have to make a decision, and soon. But right now, getting across the field was paramount They were more than halfway across. Another two minutes and they would be clear of it But that wasn’t how things worked here.
Daniel scanned the sky. It was still clear. Nothing had come near them for the best part of six minutes.
He looked along the line. Leon was walking circles, turning slowly as he walked to make sure nothing crept up on him. Beside him, Ju Dun plodded forward slowly, his gun lowered, the barrel covering each pod as he passed it Benoit, nearest to him on his left, was doing the same, occasionally glancing up to check the sky. Daniel stopped dead, listening. There had been a noise. A hiss, like air escaping, and a glopping sound.
A hiss. Another hiss.
All about him the pods were opening. From two or three of them tiny black feelers now extended.
He looked to Aidan.
“Move!” Aidan said, trying not to panic them. “Come on!” All eight of them began to run, dodging between the pods. There was gunfire now as one or other of the boys let loose a round or two at the emerging “chicks”: dark cockroach-like things, with short, transparent wings and long heads tapering into needle-fine beaks of steel.
There was a shout. A cry of fear.
Daniel turned. Slaven was down. He had slipped and fallen between two of the pods. But even as he began to pull himself up, something hopped from the top of a pod and settled on his back Daniel tried to shout a warning, but it was too late. He saw the sharp silver stiletto of the creature’s beak flash in the sunlight as it rose then fell.
Slaven screamed
“Run!” Aidan called again, jerking Daniel back into life. Yet even as he turned he found himself facing one of the needle-faced chicks. It eyed him with a pure machine malice, then launched itself at him.
His gun came up in time to knock the thing away. But it was quick. It leaped again.
Daniel slammed it into the ground then turned, opening up with his gun, hitting anything that moved.
After a moment he sensed rather than heard Aidan come alongside him, his gun chattering as it picked off anything Daniel missed. Slowly they backed away, Ju Dun and Christian covering their backs. A minute, two minutes passed, then silence fell.
Daniel looked about him at the tall grass in which he now stood. The field was below them. Beyond it was a small barrier of rocks. He turned, counting. Seven of them. So Slaven was gone.
He blinked.
“Who’s hurt?” Aidan said, clipping the red-hot gun to his side and taking another from his back There was a groan.
“Leon?” Aidan walked across and examined the rip at the shoulder of Leon’s suit.
“What happened?”
“If s okay,” Leon said, “if s superficial. Just a scratch.” There was the chatter of Christian’s automatic as it picked off two of the chicks that had tried to follow them. In the silence that followed, Aidan put his fingers into the rip and peered inside. He frowned, then pushed Leon away gently.
“Okay,” he said quietly. “We’ll find shelter, then you can bandage that and repair your suit, right?”
“Right,” Leon said, relief in his voice.
Aidan winked at him then turned, looking to Daniel. Eggs, he mouthed, a sour look on his face.