Back in the Brush

[Ethan Neufeld 0]

Sal lifted his head above the brush and turned back toward the building long enough to see what was going on. The drones that were in and about the building were emitting laser beams in random directions. The red heat filled the area and trees and small bushes were chopped up radically and set afire. The building had sustained minor damage, but what was infinitely more interesting was the vessel rising slowly above the Port City. Sal stared at it probably too long as he tried to analyze its design.

 

It wasn't of known technologies he thought but couldn't be certain. They were still a distance away from the city and it looked like it was only about 30 to 50 meters in length. Propulsion was also a mystery. The vessel seemed to hover quite stable. Sal couldn't see much detail without visual aide but he could see that it had at least one lower gun turret or something protruding below its main deck.

 

There was a sharp pain in his shoulder probably due to his impact with the wall moments ago. He wasn't immobile but he wouldn't be doing calisthenics in the morning. He was tired and what he wouldn't do for a good old cup of java right now was on his mind.

 

Sal stopped running and crouched down in the bushes watching the action. He noted that the drones didn't really seem interested in them. They were fighting each other. He thought about this for a long time and rationalized that this was unusual and illogical. Why would there be factions? And if there were factions 600 years ago then why would there still be fighting. The dominate faction would have destroyed the others long ago. This was something new. There was something that he had not been told about the previous expeditions.

 

Looking toward the creek, Sal saw that the others had gathered near its edge and had also stopped running. He walked over to join them and see what their next move would be.

 

"Stay low and don't huddle too close," Pher said as Sal approached, looking to the others as well, not just Sal. "If they get lucky, I want only one casualty! Stay behind some sort of rise. These things like energy weapons. If you can't see the city armaments, they haven't got line of sight on you!"

 

"This smells like a war, guys. One side wants to kill anything living? The other doesn't? Don't know about you guys, but I think I'm with the no genocide faction. That would be the side that tried to kidnap Ethan. They seem to be providing distraction and cover fire to cover our retreat. If they are doing it on purpose, we owe them, maybe, sorta. I'm guessing the genocide faction won the war, which was suspended when they ran out of people to kill. Both sides using similar technology, built by the same people. No genocide faction has better sensors. Genocide faction has more guns, definitely more big guns."

 

Bringing up the rear, Ethan went prone against the reverse slope of the creek's bank for cover and briefly glanced at Pher further downstream. Save for her sound tactical advice, much of what she had said slipped beyond his concentration on the battlefield. With a battle this close, there were only a few things he bothered absorbing at that moment.

 

This was nothing like a battle between sentient beings. Sentient beings had to cope with uncertainty, fear and moral conscience on the battlefield. But it was an intense, soulless battle going on out there. Some of the drones’ reaction times were a fraction slower; noticeably behind the others and inaccurate as a result. They were probably being directed or controlled by the modified drones somehow. Yet every drone was scoring a 100% firing rate; not one drone hesitated to absolutely aim or fire at other drones. Posture, submit, flight or fight - the only response the drones seemed to recognize here was fight and fight to completely destroy. Tossing a strobe to distract the drones while the team escaped the building had been pointless. The drones were so intent on 'killing' each other that they hadn't noticed the team's movement and the team could use that to their advantage. Enemy of my enemy.

 

It also meant the drones had no compunctions or reasons to stop until the entire problem was erased from the battlefield. It meant they were likely to use whatever means necessary to win. There was an artillery platform out there; an entirely new problem. There was no way of confirming the platform’s full range of armaments at this distance. Not every species used only energy-based weapons, despite apparent preference. Not every weapon was limited to line of sight and, if they had the means, it wouldn’t stop the defenses from estimating the team’s position. It wouldn’t stop them from sending in ground troops to recon by fire or drive them out into the open. Nor was there any sure way of telling who actually had control of the platform before they used it. All things they didn’t want to risk finding out the hard way.

 

Ethan didn't want to stay long enough to discuss the drones or their intent. The danger was high that they might get swept up by the battle or become the next target if the modified drones won. That they were built by the same people, won some war years ago or were providing cover fire was surplus information for the moment. If the modified drones won the current fight, Ethan had no doubt they'd be on the team like white on rice in a snow storm. Targeting him again, if there was any consistency to their actions. They might also retaliate for shooting one of them earlier; maybe to lethal ends.

 

The team wasn't prepared to hold out or even properly react to an engagement with force. That an aggressor would get off the first shot was a given; Ethan had come to accept that fact a long time ago. But with cold weapons, it was guaranteed that the drones would get in more than one shot if not score hits before the team could respond. If the team was going to escape notice and attempt to make it back to their shuttle, now was the time to do it, while drones were too busy fighting drones.

 

Quickly, he moved back toward Pher and went prone again on the rise of the creek bed beside her. "We need to keep moving while we can," he advised; eyes out and speaking as low as possible. Maybe they could follow the creek and use its steep banks for cover before cutting a hard ninety toward the shuttle.

 

Chris had been running along but not to close to the others trying to keep some distance between them all. As he topped the hillside to the creek bed he turned for a moment to see if anything was after them. For a change it wasn't. At least not at this time. He took a sigh of relief wondering what the hell was going on. Drones fighting drones. Maybe some of them were trying to help? Who knew. He then heard Pher give her command and dropped below the side of the creek bed and acknowledged the other two officers comments about getting back to the shuttle. He was in agreement with that, even though it meant the swim again

 

Sal turned to listen to Ethan coming up from behind. He was in agreement with getting off this battle ground and wasn't ready to start communicating with any drones regardless of its affiliation. He knew, however, that once he was back on the shuttle and preferably back on QoB that he'd be able to decipher this language. They could return with a brand new weapon in their stores....LANGUAGE.

 

"Pher, what do you think? Follow the creek bed? It's noisy but keeps us low. They don't seem to be very interested in us at the moment anyway. We could make a run for the shuttle!"

 

He wasn't sure that this would work. His shoulder was killing him but he kept the pace trying not to let the pain get the better of him.

 

"Sounds right, Sal." Pher half stood, looked about, and spoke. "Downstream, I think. Follow me!"