“All units pause and observe ...” Toni heard over the comm.
He halted his progression again, the remainder of LOGIS doing the same. Toni suspected the ASC units ahead were also pausing to listen, and to release micro-UAVs into their surroundings for a quick look-see. He had already lost count of the number of times the order had been given, although by now the procedure was gaining a familiar feel, like pausing beside the living room door to judge whether his father was inside before crossing its threshold.
Every once in a while he’d receive an update on his display or a verbal order from Dunn; he no longer had access to Lieutenant Templeton’s communications. The only other sources of input he still possessed were his own sensors and the annoying comrade who was presently whispering into his ear.
“Do you think they saw something? Toni?” Hirum breathed fearfully over the comm, causing Toni’s tense jaw to tighten a little more.
“Lay off the comm, Fourteen ...” he replied, trying hard to keep the irritation from his voice.
Hirum had been getting on his nerves since the imminent contact progression had begun more than an hour ago, his comrade having taken to speculating on everything that might be happening up ahead. At first the noise over the comm had been merely annoying, but Hirum’s constant thought verbalization was beginning to cross the boundary from annoying into deadly distraction.
As he willed his jaw to unclench again, Toni noticed diffuse smoke at a spot forty paces ahead. He switched his spectrum sensitivity to infrared and picking up a small, flickering heat source in the distance, partially obscured by the plantation trees. He kept his eyes on the light and wondered at what it was.
“Hey. Hey! There’s something out there, man!” Hirum suddenly cried, causing Toni’s body to tense up instinctively.
He scanned his surroundings, seeing nothing outside or on his display worthy of attention. Gritting his teeth, he willed himself to calm down again, reminding himself that it was Hirum who’d given the alarm.
“You talking about the smoke up ahead or what?” Toni asked, keeping communications strictly to their private line.
“Huh? Yeah, that’s it – Wait, you think it’s where they wasted the Unmils?”
“Uh. Yeah, that’s probably it. I guess we’ve advanced five clicks, so that’ll put us right where the shit happened. Listen mate, check your panic over the comm, alright? I nearly went into labor here ...”
He mentally kicked himself for not having thought of it first. Of course that was where the smoke was coming from. He searched the ground ahead and noticed how badly it had been disturbed by the maneuvering Hammerheads, and how a tree seemed to have been violently shouldered into; it’s trunk was bent at an angle, a splintered limb resting on the ground beside it.
“You think something’s gonna happen soon, Toni?”
“You do realize it’s the third time you’ve asked me that, don’t you?!” Toni finally burst out. There was merciful silence for a moment before an apologetic Hirum answered.
“Sorry, mate ... It’s just that – how long do we have to keep on doing this? We can’t keep up the pace. This doesn’t make any sense ...”
“We’ll keep going like this for as long as we want to do the job and get home safe ... or maybe you’d prefer for us to walk into an am–”
“Here LOGIS Prime, from now on there will be no chatter over the comms. All orders will be given and received over your displays.”
As the lieutenant cut off, Toni quickly checked his communications panel to find that his ability to verbalize over the comm had been deactivated. A sudden thought stabbed at him, one that suggested that the lieutenant had been monitoring their conversation. A moment later he received a flash memo from the lieutenant.
» SORRY ABOUT THAT, ANY MORE FRICTION AND YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN TEMPTED TO FRAG THE KID. NOT CONVENIENT.
The memo confirmed his suspicion. He tried to send one in return but found he was blocked from doing so, resigning himself instead to trying to remember whether he’d said anything potentially compromising over the last hour. Eventually deciding he was safe from court-martial, he basked instead in the joy of having been unplugged from his partner, although at the expense of not being able to communicate with Dunn without activating the emergency mode.
He barely had time to think about what would justify Em-mode activation before another memo appeared on his display.
» RAISE CAT PRESSURE TO FULL AND PREP FOR LOCOMOTION.
Toni activated his APU, feeling his body shake in its HINT as the turbine resting below his Interface Cavity roared noisily into life. That was the other reason why they were halting their advance every few minutes.
Progressing with activated APUs was a little like hiding in a forest with a solar flare siren strapped to one’s back. It was worse for the Hammerheads than for the Mocas; the combat units had more efficient PAMs and greater interior tank capacity, but their armor and chassis was on the bulky side, and the gas it took to make them move forced the drivers to top up more frequently. Putting it simply, his Moca could move on air pressure alone for a full ten minutes at maximum consumption, while a Hammerhead could hardly manage more than six.
The combat unit’s upside was an attractive one though: they carried more than five times the armor and three times the operational payload of the Moca.
The APU ceased to operate after only a couple of minutes, leaving him to wait patiently while their big brothers half a kilometer ahead continued to pressurize. He soon received another memo ordering renewed progression.
Toni was fortunate; his trajectory took him towards the source of the smoke. What he saw there, however, disappointed him greatly.
What was left of an open-box mining vehicle, not so different from something he’d expect to see on a farm, smoldered inside a deep crater, its front so heavily damaged any possible seat would have been crushed beyond recognition. It still carried part of its load of plantation seeds, the remainder of its cargo having been wastefully strewn over the ground. Pushing on, he came upon a second object thirty meters down, apparently the remains of a robotic arm, gouges on the ground nearby suggesting that it had been flung there from the wreck. Moments later he came upon another mining vehicle even more badly damaged than the first, its chassis having been mercilessly riddled by cannon fire.
There wasn’t the slightest suggestion of armament on or around the wrecks. Had they even belonged to the Unmils, or had the ASC patrol simply obliterated the first vehicles they came upon that didn’t wave a white flag on it? He heard a metallic sound behind him, turning quickly to find the lieutenant’s Suit holding the robotic arm in its gauntlet, inspecting it carefully. A text appeared on his display.