‘We would live a little longer, and so would Artemis. I say we think about where we are. I say we follow the humans for the moment. Then, when we understand them better, that would be the time to attack!’
‘No! No longer. We attack now!
But once more the robots in the forge were undecided. The young General pressed home her advantage.
‘And there it is, Spoole. That is the sticking point. Is there really any robot here that we would trust to lead us in an attack on the humans? Is there any robot here capable of defeating them? I don’t think so.’
And a voice called out from the rear of the crowd.
‘There is one.’
They all turned to look in the direction of the robot that had spoken. It was a Scout, her silver body scratched and battered.
‘There is one,’ she repeated, and she turned towards the door. They all followed her gaze and saw the robot who stood there. An electrical thrill surged through the crowd.
Kavan had returned.
‘Fight until your coil is broken,’ said Kavan. ‘If we lose, our metal will be taken from this planet, never to be reclaimed. Shull will gradually be drained of all metal, and the diminishing number of robots who remain will be left to fight over ever decreasing resources.’
That was it. No more speeches.
The attack began at night, when the humans slept like children.
The guns that surrounded their compound suddenly lifted their heads and turned to look at the night. The railway lines began to sing, bright white flares rose into the sky, electricity began to hum, and the ground shook as thousands of feet stamped down in unison.
The human guns began to ripple, tearing apart the leading edge of the train that sped down the tracks towards them, bullet holes travelling its length, perforating the metal, peeling it away into the night. A fire glowed white at the heart of the locomotive, it caught and spread backwards, and the train flared into a metal comet streaking onward.
Explosion!
The first atomic bomb detonating at a speed of nearly two hundred miles an hour, the explosion bouncing forward, wiping out the human guns closest to Artemis City…
The rest of the guns were already refocusing on the second and third trains, racing up behind, the massed firepower much reduced by the first explosion, but the tracks were now ripped apart and there was no road through. The second train exploded further away from the compound, the third train further still.
Scouts running across the plain, their bodies shattering as the human guns saw them, more Scouts coming up behind, watching the paths of those ahead, seeking out the lines where the firepower was weaker or non-existent. Engineers poured from the city, laying new lines; they were followed by the wagons that rolled down the newly laid tracks, bringing more rails and sleepers. Infantryrobots walked the corridors picked out by the Scouts, Storm Troopers aiming heavy weapons into the night, firing bazookas in the direction of the guns, the shells picked off and detonated by the compound’s defences when they were still half a mile distant.
‘Concentrate your fire on one gun!’
‘Fire on one gun only!’
‘Aim for the nearest! Your shells will have less distance to travel!’
‘Less chance for their guns to get their aim.’
The sergeants called the orders, the troops obeyed, and then, there in the distance, there was a bright yellow flare as the first of the human guns was destroyed by Storm Trooper fire.
‘Good! And again! And again!’
More Scouts were running forward. The human defences had less of a field of fire now. The massing troops began to move forward. Scouts exploded in silver fragments, cutting into their sisters running up behind them. Some of them dragged themselves from the front, their legs cut away, heading back to find fresh bodies in order to resume the attack.
Now the human guns began to fire upon the infantryrobots. Their cheap grey bodies were shattered by just one bullet, and random patterns of disintegrating fragments jumped back and forth amongst the ranks as the human guns turned frantically back and forth, covering an ever-expanding front. And then another gun exploded, and another, picked off systematically by the Storm Trooper weapons.
‘It’s working!’ shouted Spoole, watching with the rest from a point just inside the marshalling yards. ‘It’s working!’
‘It’s only the first phase,’ observed Kavan. ‘The humans will have awoken by now. They’ll begin their counterattack soon. That’s when we’ll see the weapons they’ve been holding back.’
‘We should launch Ada’s devices now,’ suggested Sandale.
‘No,’ said Kavan. ‘Not yet.’
‘Then let’s not launch them at all,’ said Sandale. ‘It would be easier to let the humans go, if it comes to that.’
‘You’re not leading this attack,’ replied Kavan.
The infantryrobots continued to push forward, gaining ground on the enemy guns. The new railway lines grew, bringing the engineers within range of the enemy. They exploded in blue fragments, their peers working on around them. Behind them in the marshalling yard, the troop trains revved their engines.
The human compound was coming alive. Lights flicked on, dark shadows moved between them. Helicopters were rising into the air; they turned towards the attacking robots and yellow lines speared the night, connecting with a group of Storm Troopers that had just succeeded in destroying another of the guns. The helicopter fire shattered their bodies in an incandescent explosion. Grey infantry boiled forward and the human craft tilted their noses down and flew towards them, their drone filling the night, their firepower filling in the gaps in the field of fire where the human guns had been destroyed.
‘Sensible,’ said Kavan. ‘Just what I would have done.’
With the additional support of the helicopters, the guns were able to halt the advance. Now two of the craft peeled off and began to fly towards the city itself.
‘What now?’ asked Spoole.
As if in answer, the night lit up in brilliant white once more. More atomic weapons, these detonated beneath the helicopters as they crossed over into Artemisian lines. The two closest craft were destroyed immediately. In the distance, the others fought to remain in the sky.
‘Just as you said, Ada,’ said Kavan.
‘That will keep the others back for a while,’ observed Ada with satisfaction. ‘They won’t know where we’ll do that again!’
The area between Artemis City and the human compound was filling with craters, invisibly glowing with radiation, but still troops and engineers poured forward, running over the bodies of the fallen, turning their fire on the human guns. Everywhere there was movement, light, explosions, dark shapes running in lines this way and that.
And then, to the left, another explosion.
‘Ours or theirs?’ wondered Spoole.
‘Ours,’ said Ada. ‘There are more railway lines being laid over there, hidden by the darkness. They must have got another train close enough to the compound.’
‘They’re being attacked on two sides now!’ called Calor in delight, and she swiped the air with her claws.
‘What’s that?’ called Spoole.
Three lights flared in the human compound. Then three more, then three more. Something bright streaked towards the city.
‘Missiles!’
Three explosions to their right. So loud and bright. It filled the head with static, their vision blurred with white noise.