» NO SHIT. I COULD HEAR YOUR TEETH GRINDING OVER THE COMMS. KEEP YOUR COOL AND CARRY ON.
They pressed onwards, their progress occasionally punctuated by pauses for pressurization and observation. Toni’s eventually found himself moving through flat plantation land, finding only green, unripe seeds still hanging from their trees. Every couple of kilometers they came upon uncultivated islands of forest where floral species unknown to him abounded, dark and dense and sinister, and packed with troops of tail-less macaques, their red rumps contrasting starkly with their storm-grey coats. The islands exploded with avian confetti every time they set their turbines running, dismaying him as the flocks rose high enough to be visible for kilometers around.
It was morning, chronologically speaking, when LOGIS finally hit hilly terrain, the islands and plantations fast asleep except for the three kilometer wide swath of alarmed fauna in Main Force’s wake. Soon they would be sound asleep as the giants that had woken them disappeared into the forest.
He envied them for that.
“Execute order: Upper Limbs Autostride. Execute order: Deactivate Right Ocular,” Toni ordered his OS.
His right eye plunged into darkness and he lifted the flip-up display that covered it, stretching his arm out to feel his way along the interface cavity’s wall for the light switch. Finding an inset switch, he turned it, remembering too late that it opened the hatch. The cavity’s interior was suddenly flooded with light as the hatch popped open, paralyzing the Suit’s right appendage as musky air poured in from the gaping hole. Cursing to himself, Toni used the daylight to find the light switch to his left, turning it on before he tried to shut the hatch again.
It failed to close.
Cursing again, he turned the hatch switch repeatedly, finding to his frustration that it wouldn’t budge more than an inch before returning to its open position. Too late his left eye saw a low-lying branch and the Suit collided against it, the deafening clang making him bite his own tongue as he struggled for balance. Still Looking through his left eye, he realized he’d fallen behind and picked up his pace, finding it much harder to maneuver without binocular vision. With his right eye he searched the interface cavity’s interior, finding to his surprise and satisfaction that the collision had sealed the troublesome hatch. Hastily he removed a small pill from the pouch on his HINT and slipped it into his mouth, swallowing it dry. He regained stereoscopic vision to find a memo floating before his eyes.
» HOW MANY PILLS HAVE YOU TAKEN TODAY?
» FIRST ONE NOW, SIR. DID YOU NOTICE?
» EVERYONE DID. NEXT TIME KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE TREES. STILL GRINDING YOUR TEETH?
» NO SIR, NO TEETH GRINDING.
» GOOD. DONT FORGET TO KEEP AN EYE ON FOURTEEN TOO. DOESNT MATTER IF YOU HAVE TO GRIND YOUR TEETH TO DUST, ONCE WE RETURN ILL GET YOU NEW ONES. GET THE JOB DONE.
» YESSIR.
» YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT THE ASC LEFT FLANK HAS FOUND THE MISSING MINERS. THEYRE JUST BONES ON A FIELD NOW AND THEIR EQUIPMENTS MOSTLY ABSENT. DONT TELL HIRUM IF YOU WANT TO MAKE YOUR JOB EASIER. DID YOU KNOW ROSA WAS ACQUAINTED WITH SOME OF THE MINERS?
» NO SIR.
» HES NOT REACTING TOO WELL TO THE NEWS. IF NECESSARY I WILL PULL YOU FROM HIRUM AND HOOK YOU UP WITH HIM. ARE YOU GAME?
» MOST DEFINITELY, SIR.
Toni had to wonder about the lieutenant. Was he texting the other units as well, or only his? Not that he disliked the attention, but somehow it made him feel pressured. The thought was interrupted by a flash update on his display.
» FORWARD UNITS REPORT AVIAN UPHEAVAL ONE CLICK EAST IN PROXIMITY OF FRIENDLY FORCES CENTER. UNMIL ACTIVITY SUSPECTED. STANDBY FOR ORDERS.
And there it was, the ever more familiar ripple up his spine. It wasn’t as bad as the first time he’d received a similar warning over an hour ago. That time it had been the Hammerheads’ turbines that had startled the wildlife. But the timid animal in the corner of his mind reminded him that the Suits were currently running on pressurized gas alone. He felt a second ripple up his spine and began to gear himself up for action.
» HERE BROTHER ONE. FROM NOW ON AND UNTIL CONTACT WE WILL USE HAND-SIGNS ONLY. ALL EYEBALLS ON MY UNIT.
Toni turned to his section leader to find Unit Fifteen with its gauntlet held high above its head, its index finger on display. They hurried to comply, forming a single column behind his unit with Grimm bringing up the rear. A quick look to his flanks made Toni feel a little anxious; they were now clear of friendlies, the remaining sections well on their way to set up a possible axis of retreat in the company of combat engineers.
Section One’s mission was clear. Upon imminent contact they were to rendezvous with the two resupply sections of the ASC platoons two hundred meters behind the skirmish line, and then assist in ammunition resupply of combat units on demand. In the previous hour’s false alarm they had gotten as far as where they were now, pausing in single column as Dunn awaited a signal from Main Force.
The delay proved to be a short one.
Dunn gave the signal to advance and stomped ahead at high speed, leaving the remainder of his section to try to keep up. Toni momentarily felt his footpads leave the ground, and he realized that he was actually running in his armored Suit for the first time. He deeply disliked the shuddering noises and pendulous movements his inner ears were picking up, the timid part of his spirit hoping that something wouldn’t be able to take the stress and break down.
Shortly after, the column slowed and took a more winding path among the trees, as if their section leader was looking for something and failing to find it. They came to a full stop beside a clump of trees with no resupply Suits yet in sight.
Following their sec-leader’s signals, the section formed a loose line facing east and advanced carefully for about a hundred meters before pausing again and putting a knee to the ground. Toni chose a particularly broad tree to shelter behind, although he was still afforded a good look of the front line.
The Hammerheads were strewn out about a hundred meters ahead, with perhaps fifty meters of spacing between each hulking unit. Some had deployed Remote Mortar Assemblies further back, the systems still under the control of the drivers via a thirty meter armored cable. The units stood immobile, the dark grey camouflage that covered their chassis working well enough to make it difficult for Toni to count their exact number. The seconds passed by as he watched, and no resupply sections deigned to make an appearance and link up.
Toni saw the detonations before he felt them; wherever he had counted a Hammerhead, and in some places where he had not, brilliant flashes blinked in and out of existence as a cascade of sparks erupted from the units. Then the very air around the Suits erupted violently, enveloping the surrounding trees in unnatural ruby-red flames. The shock-waves from the detonations arrived first, coming across as a particularly stiff cannonade that rattled the bones in his body as well as the structure of his Suit. The combined wave-front from the secondary explosions arrived a moment later, lifting Unit Seven clear off its footpads and into the air.