THE LESSON has action

We left the safety of the ditch and ran a zigzag gauntlet through withering laser fire to the short skinny trees. Beyond them the bulk of the Marines mustered up for a briefing.

Michele, the slight tiny Librarian with the little girls voice climbed onto the bubble top of a Handicab and faced them.

“Marines I am First Class Librarian Michelle Post. It is my duty by the power of the Public Library Board in the present circumstances to declare a state of Limited War upon any hostile forces at Saturoid 2I2I also known as I Buacentaurri. Downloading to everyone the Rules Of Engagement now. WAR! I can promise Medals and Promotions to all Veterans of today! In the name of the Library …ATTACK!” A very loud adrenaline laden cheer went up from the ranks as fire teams and explosive support teams and assault squads ran with little Michele the Librarian at their head toward the rocky walls of the Vorax estate.

“Shoot them in the butts!” I called as they stormed forward. “The butts!” Johnny gave me a weird look. “If their brains are in their butts…” I tried to explain. He didn’t look convinced. Johnny and I followed them cautiously, carefully. After all he is about a hundred thirty years old.

“Come on Paul! Let’s go! You don’t want to miss it do you?!” It’s hard to run to war with a squirming terrier in your arms.

“We aren’t supposed to get that involved as Researchers ya know Johnny.”

He had picked up another brace of weapons from a fallen fighter.

“They need us man! They aren’t that many for a frontal assault. Defenders advantage old boy. Take this Laser pistol.”

“Don’t forget aim for their butts. Robot heads are empty.”

The thump of combat was growing louder as we reached the hunkered down Librarian and her command team. They were behind an overturned agri-vehicle. Tiny military aircraft zipped by overhead.

“We are taking heavy fire from the mansion. They want to wait for the artillery.”

“They might try a counter attack before we can bring up the heavy stuff Ms. Post.” The Marines are usually prudent.

“Tell your troopers to dig in.”

“Artillery! My team is in there!”

“Can you contact them?”

“Their suits are only taking messages. They are probably all dressed up fancy for dinner.” Johnny been spam calling them off a wrist lami.

“Who else is in there? Gustav Vorax, Carla Manhiem. Who else? Where’s the other Librarian?” I had to ask. I knew as soon as I asked it that it was one of those questions that even as I ask I regret the asking.

“Counterattack!”

The low dim false sky was lit by flares and at the head of the counterattacking force could be seen a huge giant of a man in shock armor leading the charge of the Philip Wilson’s. I could in the bright light of the flares make out his face. “It’s Ed Delaney!” Casualties fell at either side of him. The attackers rushed forward suicidal and overran our front line. Fighting rages. Blasts and corpses fell all around us. A body fell across our legs launched by the force of a chemical rocket impact.

“Look at him! It’s Wilson Phillips!”

“Who?” I realized that I’m the only one here who knew. It looked like the Wilson Phillips’s were being led by Philip Wilson’s led by a seven foot tall Ed Delaney.

“He’s not bleeding! He’s not human! He’s full of goo!” Smelling faintly of scorched lilac. Here’s an up close look at a partly disassembled quadra BCP bipedal combat platform robot as a now arm-less and legless Wilson Phillips. “He’s still moving!” Even without his bipeds this now limb-less Wilson Phillips unit combat version continued to attack at us until Johnny vaporized it’s lower half in a cloud of electron Plasma. All the ones I had met before this had not seemed that dedicated to their work.

“Another wave is coming from the mansion!” Johnny blasted one with a plasma burst aiming now carefully above the legs. In the bright white flare light to our left I could see the silhouette of the gigantic Ed Delaney kill and toss a Space Marine away like it was a doll. Then they were on us. The battle raged among us. Marines of Michelle’s bodyguard fell left and right. I through my ringing ears hear the Space Marine com line squawk…squeak “squeak Fall Back! Regroup! Point Gama!” And the flow of battle moved again behind us. The attacking wave carried them beyond our sight, Marines fought their way to the rear or held on in pockets. We were passed by and left amid the debris of battle. There were no living Marines in sight. Michelle and I dirty and covered in goo appeared to be unscathed.

“How ya doing Johnny?” He’d run out of plasma for his blaster and was trying to get the gear off a nearby corpse. Michele was talking on the com lines of the defeat that surrounded her.

“They’ll be back through to mop up in a minute or two we gotta hide or get outta here or something.” That’s when I noticed the smoking stump where Johnny Bongard’s lower left arm had been.

“Geez! You’ve been hurt! Here… No...” Even though it wasn’t bleeding much, apparently cauterized by the laser burn, I tried to tie a tourniquet on him from a weapon strap. He wouldn’t hold still. He clutched the weapon he had with his right hand.

“Leave me alone! I’m not hurt! That’s nothing! I’ll kill them all!” He was shouting. He had gone berserk. His shouting brought them toward us. They came fast shooting wounded Marines as they found them. “Come on you Bastards! I got something for you right here!” he jumped up from us and ran towards them firing and shouting. There was a crescendo of shots and explosions and then quiet. The battle had moved to a distant place. We could hear it but the explosions were beyond the curve of the Saturoid, we could see the flashes reflected on the inside of the shell above us.

“They’ll send an assault team for us soon as they regroup.” I think she means the Marines (?). “It’s not that bad. The Bush is landing reinforcements and another cruiser is on the way. They want to blast a hole in the shell and let the place decompress into space to stop the fighting but I don’t think that’ll work against robots.” Plus we’d die without EV suits.

“We can’t stay here…”

“No you can’t.” The voice made me almost jump out of my suit! Those words…they sounded so calm. All I had heard for the longest time has been shouting and shooting and explosions.

“You must come with us now.”