Chapter 340 (1/2)

Palget moved down the tunnel with the the Terran known as Sergeant Purohit, dragging the heavy flexible pipe behind him. Two green mantids and a pair of black mantid scurried along next to him, all four of them were dressed in combat armor and hurrying to keep up with Sergeant Purohit's long strides.

”We'll use the matter reclamation system to pull the debris out, see if the tunnel collapsed because of the sheer weight of our visitor or if there was some part of it that extrudes further out from the hull that was driven into the ground by the crash,” the Sergeant was saying.

Palget just nodded, triggering his assent tab with his chin, panting and sweating as he pulled the hose behind him. The Sergeant was carrying a heavy pack with a heavier looking gun-like apparatus.

He kind of understood what the system would do. The beam would tear apart the matter, using opposing charges, pull the vaporized matter up the beam, into the magnetic 'funnel', which would pour the matter into the hose. The hose would then suck it back the massive matter tanks back in the parking garage.

Palget and the two black mantids were to be on overwatch while the big Terran and the two green mantids were running the system.

He had to admit, he had been frightened when a quick check had shown that all of the tunnels leading from the parking garage had collapsed. He had envisioned having to clear the tunnels by hand to get out, but the Terrans had simply approached it from a different angle.

The rubble was up ahead. Huge chunks of ferrocrete, twisted piping and hot wires, chunks of random metal, and gravel.

Palget dropped the hose with a gasp, leaning against the wall. He watched as one of the greenies went up to the cables and tapped them with a bladearm. After a moment it climbed down putting up icons of a thumb pointing down.

”All right, let's get this done. On the clock, guys,” the Terran said. He connected the hose to the pack on his back, then hefted the gun-like apparatus. ”Here. We. Go.”

On the last word he triggered it. It let out a loud whining noise, but Palget could see the beam was rapidly digging into the debris even as the thick gray fog swirled into the funnel. The hose started thumping as the gaseous matter was pulled down the hose.

”Neat, huh?” one of the black mantids said, putting a cigarette in their mandibles.

”Huh?” Palgret said, jerking his attention to the mantid.

The mantid lit his cigarette, which had red bands on it, then exhaled a cloud of smoke. He held up the cigarette. ”Anti-radiation. Looks weird, but it gets it into your lungs and straight into your bloodstream to counteract any rad exposure,” the Mantid said. He waved a bladearm at the human. ”Kind of cool, huh? Just disintegrate the rubble, suck it back to the matter tanks, use it to make guns.”

”Weird,” Palgret admitted.

The Mantid chuckled. ”Yeah, humans are kind of weird.”

”I can hear you,” the human said, shifting his aim.

One of the green mantids made a sharp motion and the beam cut off. There was silence for a moment as the green mantid slowly moved up and into the hole the beam had made. After a minute he came back, icons flashing above his head too fast for Palgret to understand.

”Battlesteel, huh? Ours, the Lanks, or the clankers?” Sergeant Purohit asked. More icons flashing. ”Are you sure?” more flashing. ”All right, all right, I believe you, Technical Sergeant. I'm going to get asked the same question.”

A few more flashing icons.

”All right, back to clearing it,” the human said.

”Hey,” Palgret said, motioning at the mantid smoking the cigarette to get his attention.

”Sup?” the Mantid asked.

”Doesn't the Precursor Autonomous War Machines of this class have like fifty foot thick armor?” he asked.

”So?” The Mantid asked.

”Well, it's battlesteel. How are we going to get through it? Or are we going under it?” Palgret asked.

”We go under it, when we exit, we're going to be right in front of its waistline guns. We stay here, we're going to get killed when it takes an orbital shot, if we fight our way into it and blow the strategic thinking array, that's one more clanker out of the fight,” the Mantid said.

”But, it's fifty foot thick armor,” Palgret said.

The Mantid waved at the human. ”So? We've got a half dozen humans. Worse comes to worse, I don't know, they can chew through it or something. Maybe draw a dick on it, that always helps.”

”Har dee har har,” the human said.

Palgret was quiet while the human kept working, the beam whining and humming and the hose pulsing as it moved the matter away.

”Oops,” the human said, suddenly snapping off the beam.

”Oops? What do you mean, oops?” the Mantid asked.