"That's it?" Kittekut asked.
"That's it," Ryan answered, packing up the detonation circuit.
"I just expected lots of smoke and fire and the bridge going sky high," she said with a sigh. "We did a hell of a lot of work for a few puffs of smoke."
"I am a master," he said haughtily. "The essence of mastery in blowing things up is minimal force and I have blown up a lot of bridges in the last few years. Since we also have minimal explosives, I consider it to be a good idea all around."
"Sure, sir." The specialist laughed. "What next, O Great Master?"
"Next we are going to blow up a road," he answered. "Right after we see what these Posleen are going to do about the bridge."
The first wave of Posleen milled around aimlessly as the lead God Kings lifted up on their saucers and flew over the river. They quickly came back, though, and as new forces joined them the units were spread along the riverbank and the individual oolt'os spaced out.
"Jesus Christ," Ryan said, shaking his head.
"What?"
"They're spreading them out to reduce the damage from artillery. It would be better to start digging in, but I guess they haven't quite gotten that far."
"That's bad," Kittekut said. "Right?"
"Oh, yeah," the major mused as the first Lamprey crossed the river and disgorged its troops. It quickly lifted off and took on a new contingent, beginning a continuous shuttle back and forth. Once on the far side most of the units took up the chase after the fleeing humans, but a few spread out as on the near side, in this case fanning out widely and ensuring that there were no humans in the immediate vicinity.
"And now they're establishing a perimeter," Ryan said. "Why are they establishing a perimeter around the bridge? The former bridge."
"They're going to hold a cookout on the remains?" the specialist asked. "Uh, Major, it's getting dark and those Posleen that aren't establishing a bridgehead are headed up the road. Towards us."
"But the landers aren't moving," Ryan said as if he hadn't heard. One of the other Lampreys had joined the first in shuttling troops, but the other two Lampreys and the C-Dec were on the ground, spread out, as if waiting for something. "What are they doing?"
"Sir, maybe we should wonder someplace else?"
"Ah," the major answered with a grunt. "There's some movement."
The Posleen forces had been backing up into the valley, spreading out in a disciplined manner that Ryan still found disturbing, and now the centauroids were moving off the road to let another group through to the front. He focused the binoculars on the formation in the last light and shook his head.
"Tell me those aren't what they look like," he muttered.
"I dunno," Kittekut grumped. "You're the one with the binoculars."
He handed them over and shook his head. "Where in the hell did they get them?"
"Sir," Kittekut said with a gasp. "Are those . . . ?"
"Indowy."
* * *
Orostan folded his arms and lowered his crest, the better to keep from frightening the little green one. Tulo'stenaloor had already had one Kessentai killed who had permitted the death of one of the "engineers"; the little creatures had been purchased and transported at great expense and they were a very finite resource. But dealing with them was very difficult.
He pointed to where the bridge had been. "There was a bridge," he said in a hash of Posleen and Galactic. "There must be a new one. If there is a new one, everything will be well. If there is not, your clan will be reduced."
The Indowy sidled around him and went over to the demolished bridge. The supports of both spans had been blown down and the metal girders had been blown in several places. What was left was a tangled mass of pulverized concrete and steel. He examined it for a moment then looked around at the materials in view. Last, he sidled back over to the Posleen commander.
"I will need hands, more hands than we have," the Indowy said diffidently. "Fortunately, there is a source of materials right here. We will not try to reconstruct the bridge, but will make new ones nearer the water level. This will be quicker. It still will take until morning. We cannot work miracles."
"You will have all the oolt'os you need," Orostan said. He gestured to forestall the question. "They will be controlled by their Kessentai, I will pick the ones to work with you. You may order them in these tasks as you will; there will be no damage to you."
"It will take time," the Indowy pointed out.
"It must go as swiftly as possible," Orostan warned. "No delay."
"We shall start immediately."
* * *
"Son of a bitch," Ryan said, getting out his notebook computer.
"What, sir?" Kittekut asked. "They're . . . doing something."
"They're replacing the bridge," Ryan said. "This is going to get interesting."
"So what are we doing?" she asked. "And there are Posleen moving around down in Brendleston."
"Brendletown," he corrected pedantically. "We're getting the hell out of here; I've seen everything I need to see."
"Where to?" she asked.
"I was going to blast the face by Rocky Top," he said, examining the map. "But that would be easy for them to clear. So I think we'll find something a little tougher. Unfortunately, we're a bit cut off."
"What!?" Kittekut yelled.
"Oh, nothing we can't handle," the major replied. "But the drive out of here is going to be . . . interesting. On the other hand, it will give us time to think of new ways to amuse our visitors."
* * *
"Is it bad?" Shari asked as Wendy came through the door.
"Yep," Wendy answered. "Load the kids up. You have the emergency packs?"
Shari just shook her head and went to the back, calling for the children to get in line. She pulled out backpacks that were new to the children and passed them out. Each child got one and she put a warm jacket in it along with small packs of food. She admonished them not to go diving in, that the food might have to last a long time. She checked their shoes and in one case changed them out for some better footwear, then had them all line up to go to the bathroom.
Wendy, in the meantime, filled larger daypacks with food and water. She left room for some ammunition, but she hoped that Elgars would be able to bring combat harnesses; they had integral ammunition bags. She considered changing clothes, but the pair of leather pants she had picked up had sort of stretched out to fit and would probably wear as well as anything she had.
By the time she was finished Shari had lined up the kids and thrown Amber into a papoose on her back. Without another word they headed for the door. Looking both ways, Wendy led them out with the kids following in line and Shari at the rear.
* * *
Elgars palmed open her door and then strode across to her wall locker, peeling off her clothes as she went. The door popped open as if it had been waiting for her and she started putting on the gear. First was the uniform and boots, then body armor, helmet and combat harness. She considered all the weapons in the locker and frowned. She wanted the Barrett like a junkie wants a fix, but she finally decided that it was the wrong weapon for the situation. Finally she pulled out two pistols, the Steyr that Wendy had picked up, the MP-5 and the AIW. She grabbed three combat harnesses and loaded them down with magazines then pulled the sheet off her bed and filled it with ammunition for all five weapons. Fortunately the Steyr and the AIW both used the same type of bullets and the MP-5 used the same as one of the pistols.
Finally she felt that she was set. She was as loaded down as a camel, but once she joined up with the other women the stuff would get distributed.