or twenty. I think our success was what the Humans would call a bloodbath. Granted , we had no blood in our bodies, but most of us housed a minimum of 6 liters of miscellaneous fluids — hydraulic, cleansing, lubricating. I saw that the animals were in truth the same. The red landscape was darkened with oil and liquid seeping from smoldering corpses of this first grouping.
But then my job wasn’t to deal with what already worked. I noticed that the fauna on the other side of our wall of fire finally organized enough to do something productive. A light mortar fire began to rain over our position and a ragged collection of support ing animals began to move around our left flank. The units on fire had long since stopped moving, either from catastrophic heat failure, their own ammunition exploding , or even accidentally straying into someone’s fire zone. To flank us the animals needed to come around this inferno.
“All flyer s, concentrate on mortar units. I want one in every three tanks to redirect threat axis to 5 degrees west of north. Fire as you bear. Rabbits, keep the wall of flame active.”
In succession, the units turned the corner of the firewall only to be killed by concentrated fire. The bodies of the poor hapless creatures impeded the units further back. This gave my troops time to either shoot them behind the growing line of bodies or to pick them off as they broached this ever growing wall of death.
Confidence in victory overflowed my processor until a large yellow bulldozer crashed into the bodies , tearing a hole 3 meters wide . My processor voltage shot up as animals poured through the gap. I nearly panicked.
“Flyer S quad T hree. Priority bombing mission.” I relayed the coordinates and an image of the earthmover. I looked over the zone between the horseshoes and nothing moved except smoke, flame , and hydraulic fluid flowing out to spend itself on the ground .
“All units refocus fire between 8 and 10 degrees west of north. ” Tracers redoubled in the area of the outbreak and more animals died than could force their way through. Soon too this avenue of attack filled too high with bodies to be an effective route of attack.
The battle’s end trailed off over several dozen minutes, unlike its crisp starting point. My troop hunted down the remaining animals and executed them. It wasn’t a fight. One by one our flyer s identified a target , which followed shortly by a crash of firepower on the enemy. Usually the overwhelming firepower scattered the body so widely that just a scorch mark remained on the ground.
“Damage report,” I called out , wanting to know immediately the cost of this victory.
“Negative.”
“Negative.”
“Tank 15003 main gun damaged.”
“Negative.”
“Rabbit units 143 and 5332 deactivated.”
The rest of the rol l call impressed me equally. In all we lost seven total units with thirteen damaged to one degree or another. I looked over the battlefield. In less than an hour we killed 5,412 of the local fauna . We had only lost seven , and Six’s memories contain ed no record of a battle so one - sided.
I looked o ver the smoldering and broken bodies on the field. I had another victory.
Hero
I didn’t get time to enjoy my victory . I didn’t even have time to report it to Six . M y flying brethren beamed pictures of additional encroaching enemies following the troops we just annihilated. Worse , the ir reinforcements centered on something that chilled my hydraulic fluid — something new. In the center of a pack of fifteen dozen miscellaneous units lumbered 12 me ters of plastic-skinned trouble , genus T yrannosaurus rex . The monster was immense!
I panicked, ordering all units back to active status. Almost as quickly as I sent the command I rescinded it as t he flyer s sent down the speed of approach. Putting my units back into alert would only wear them out for no reason. At the lumbering speed of the T. rex I would have
But then my job wasn’t to deal with what already worked. I noticed that the fauna on the other side of our wall of fire finally organized enough to do something productive. A light mortar fire began to rain over our position and a ragged collection of support ing animals began to move around our left flank. The units on fire had long since stopped moving, either from catastrophic heat failure, their own ammunition exploding , or even accidentally straying into someone’s fire zone. To flank us the animals needed to come around this inferno.
“All flyer s, concentrate on mortar units. I want one in every three tanks to redirect threat axis to 5 degrees west of north. Fire as you bear. Rabbits, keep the wall of flame active.”
In succession, the units turned the corner of the firewall only to be killed by concentrated fire. The bodies of the poor hapless creatures impeded the units further back. This gave my troops time to either shoot them behind the growing line of bodies or to pick them off as they broached this ever growing wall of death.
Confidence in victory overflowed my processor until a large yellow bulldozer crashed into the bodies , tearing a hole 3 meters wide . My processor voltage shot up as animals poured through the gap. I nearly panicked.
“Flyer S quad T hree. Priority bombing mission.” I relayed the coordinates and an image of the earthmover. I looked over the zone between the horseshoes and nothing moved except smoke, flame , and hydraulic fluid flowing out to spend itself on the ground .
“All units refocus fire between 8 and 10 degrees west of north. ” Tracers redoubled in the area of the outbreak and more animals died than could force their way through. Soon too this avenue of attack filled too high with bodies to be an effective route of attack.
The battle’s end trailed off over several dozen minutes, unlike its crisp starting point. My troop hunted down the remaining animals and executed them. It wasn’t a fight. One by one our flyer s identified a target , which followed shortly by a crash of firepower on the enemy. Usually the overwhelming firepower scattered the body so widely that just a scorch mark remained on the ground.
“Damage report,” I called out , wanting to know immediately the cost of this victory.
“Negative.”
“Negative.”
“Tank 15003 main gun damaged.”
“Negative.”
“Rabbit units 143 and 5332 deactivated.”
The rest of the rol l call impressed me equally. In all we lost seven total units with thirteen damaged to one degree or another. I looked over the battlefield. In less than an hour we killed 5,412 of the local fauna . We had only lost seven , and Six’s memories contain ed no record of a battle so one - sided.
I looked o ver the smoldering and broken bodies on the field. I had another victory.
Hero
I didn’t get time to enjoy my victory . I didn’t even have time to report it to Six . M y flying brethren beamed pictures of additional encroaching enemies following the troops we just annihilated. Worse , the ir reinforcements centered on something that chilled my hydraulic fluid — something new. In the center of a pack of fifteen dozen miscellaneous units lumbered 12 me ters of plastic-skinned trouble , genus T yrannosaurus rex . The monster was immense!
I panicked, ordering all units back to active status. Almost as quickly as I sent the command I rescinded it as t he flyer s sent down the speed of approach. Putting my units back into alert would only wear them out for no reason. At the lumbering speed of the T. rex I would have
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