Harry dropped long guns as he asked the bee to circle back to his home. He didn’t like his friends in danger, but he did like they had decided to join him. He wished they had stayed on Earth, but at least John had passed out the old gear so Guy and Cat were armed and ready for almost anything.
“So far, I haven’t seen anything but xenos,” said Harry. “I don’t know who lived
here before the xenos took it, but the only traces I have seen are the old buildings we’re flying to now.”
“Bubba says that the people here, the Wallens, were wiped out over time,” said Box. “Once the monsters were able to get their titans here, it was all she wrote.”
“No space travel?,” asked Guy.
“No,” said Box. “And the Bernies couldn’t fight through the system to help out.
They don’t really have a standing army. I think this war with the monsters is the first they have fought in for centuries.”
“It explains why they need contractors,” said John.
“The place is a mess,” said Harry. “I just got started on fixing it up. If you’re here, Box, who’s watching for gates back home.”
“A couple of locals,” said Box. “The next gate is supposed to be in Africa
somewhere.”
“I wish I had some food to offer you,” said Harry. “All I have are fabricated health bars.”
“We brought food,” said Cat. “We didn’t know what you would need, so we brought some things from home.”
“We didn’t think you would be flying around in your own helijet,” said Guy. “This thing looks cool from the outside.”
“I needed it for transport at the time,” said Harry. “Now it’s a weapon dropper. I’m hoping to figure out how to shut the gates to this world off so I can get rid of all the xenos and destroy their fleet.”
“That sounds like a tall order,” said John. “Do you have any idea on how to get started?”
“Not really,” said Harry. He shrugged. “I have no idea why these grunts are so stupid. I have been massacring them in every encounter. Sitting back like I do, the xenos aren’t a threat unless they get too close somehow.”
“So you’re okay?,” asked Cat.
“I’m all right,” said Harry. “The food will be a big help. There’s nothing here as far as I can tell. It’s just a desert for miles and miles.”
“The Wallens were desert people,” said Box. “The records say they liked to wander instead of settling down in one place.”
“I guess that makes sense,” said Harry. “I almost got enough points for a bigger spaceship. I have been thinking about that as a next step type of thing.”
“A spaceship?,” asked John. “What kind of spaceship?”
“Nothing too fancy,” said Harry. “Something small like the Death Star.”
“I would like to see you build something like that,” said John.
“I don’t see why I can’t,” said Harry.
“The obvious reason is because it was the size of a moon and you can’t build
something like that on a planet,” said Guy. “You might be able to do it if it was the size of a small asteroid.”
“And any fabricating would take years depending on what you wanted to do with it,” said Box. “Something the size of the Death Star would be out of the question.”
“You guys are so wrong,” said Harry. “My bees could make a Death Star in a matter of days as long as I made the right material requests.”
“How useful would that be?,” asked Cat.
“I have no idea,” said Harry. “A lot?”
“You know better than that,” said John.
“All I know is my so-called friends are crushing my hopes and dreams,” said Harry. “I thought I knew you better than that.”
“You were wrong,” said Guy.
The bee started descending. It touched down smoothly and dropped the forward stairs. Harry let his friends disembark before he did. He looked at all the fabricators working and the wall around his domain. He found a spot where he could put down a hut for them to talk. One small expenditure gave them protection from the elements.
“What is this place?,” asked Cat. She looked at the ripped architecture as the artillery sent the xenos their love messages.
“This is where the xenos were coming from to get at Wu U,” said Harry. “Over there is my homing beacon.”
“All the rest of this?,” asked John. He looked at the long gun tracking something close to the horizon.
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“I put in some more bees, and some mobile artillery,” said Harry. “I put the wall in to give the artillery some protection from xenos trying to rip them up.”
“And the giant cannons you have been putting down in the desert?,” asked Box.
“Some people don’t take a hint,” said Harry. “So I started hinting a little bit harder.”
“How are you on points?,” asked Box. “The PDO wanted a connection out here but I was only able to buy half.”
“I’m maxed out,” said Harry.
A bee fighter took off on the other side of the hut to start its patrol. If they pushed out like the cannons were supposed to do, the range of their orbit would be as big as New York City by now.
“You’re kidding me,” said Box.
“My bees and I have killed two more star whales, two giant firebreathing snakes, and a host of smaller xenos,” said Harry. “The only reason you don’t hear the buzzing of weapons and the sound of missiles is because they’ve cleared every grunt within earshot.”
“I definitely need to move here and start farming,” said Box. “I could max out my personal gear in no time flat.”
“This is the first time in a while my guys haven’t been in a fight,” said Harry.
“If you move here, you would be under constant assault until you make the
xenos scared of you.”
“How would three days look?,” asked Box. “If you don’t have any problem with that?”
“Those giant animals aren’t a joke,” warned Harry. “You could easily get killed if you don’t have anything to punch through their bodies. I got lucky and dropped an explosive charge inside of a couple and killed them. The others, the bees did most of the work.”
“I would still like to try,” said Box. “I have been killing xenos for a while. I don’t
want to wait for them any more.”
“His personal growth has stalled due to the lack of targets on Earth,” said Nick. “Bubba says he has been wanting to leave the planet for a while.”
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea but I will help set up your own base so you can try to earn more points,” said Harry. “You’ll be on your own at the forward base. Are you sure you want to do that?”
“I can take it,” said Box. “Where should I set up??
“I have this beacon and the second beacon locked down,” said Harry. “I just dealt with the third. The bees and beetles will be shooting at anything that moves and protecting the long guns on either end of the valley. If I knew where the fourth gate was supposed to open, you could have that.”
“Really?,” said Box.
“Yeah,” said Harry. “It will be a long fight if they show up in numbers to try to
overrun you and get to the gate.”
“I can handle it,” said Box. “Also that’s why I needed to know how many points you have. The PDO authorized a teleport pad back to Earth. We just need someone to pay the points and have the catalogue to pull it from.”
“So contractors can come here at will?,” said Harry.
“You don’t have to stay unless you want,” said Cat. “What do you think about that?”
“I was thinking this would be my whole life,” said Harry. “I’m dazed.”
“I told you,” said Guy.
“Yeah, yeah,” said John. “Here’s your filthy lucre.”
He handed his friend a fifty with a disgruntled face.
“The points just have to be paid,” said Box. “Then the pad has to be set up
somewhere.”
“I got it,” said Harry. “We’ll put it in one of the abandoned buildings and give any new guys some cover.”
“So we’re bowling tomorrow?,” asked Guy.
“I can’t do that right now,” said Harry. “Maybe poker. Let me set up this pad, and I’ll send you out somewhere to look around, Box. If you need help, I’ll fly out there as fast as I can.”
“If we need help, I don’t think there’s anything you can do,” said Box. “Besides I can invest in drones too.”
“All right,” said Harry. “Let me get this pad set up and I’ll send you out on my bee plane. Do you want a hive to throw down for cover?”
“I got it,” said Box. “You have to be the luckiest contractor I have ever met.”
“I still lost my toes,” said Harry. “Don’t forget that.”
He walked out of the hut, looking around. He saw the remnants of a bath house on one side of the plaza. He walked in there. Nick gave him the reading for the pad after a talk with Bubba. He paid the points for the catalogue and the pad and set it up so that six people could come in at a time.
He didn’t know how many could land on the other side. He doubted Box had enough points for anything beyond basic.
The PDO could get someone in to improve it when they wanted.
Harry walked back to the hut. He asked Nick to run the calculations for the fourth gate. Box could keep that clear if he wanted to. He grimaced at the thought he was being asked to trust a stranger with the fate of the planet. Maybe he should go along as a backup.
One of the long guns set something on fire in the distance. It didn’t rear up out of the ground like a giant snake so he decided to wait until his bee fighters intercepted whatever it was and lit it up.
“Okay,” said Harry. “Nick is running the coordinates to let you have the next gate if you want it.”
“Thanks,” said Box. “Nobody has ever maxed the scale before. If I can do it, I’ll be the number two man. I’ll go down in history.”
“Don’t worry about that,” said Harry. “Worry about anything over ten meters long. Lasers and other energy weapons won’t do the job. Munitions is not that great either. The only successful attack I have been able to do is from the inside. So if you can buy a nuke equivalent, you have to get it inside the xeno before it blows up, or the xeno kills you.”
“I got you,” said Box. “Do you have film we can watch?”
“Yeah,” said Harry. “Let me put up a table and a projector.”
“We can eat while we watch this,” said Cat.
“It’s pretty gory,” said Harry.
“It’s all good,” said Guy. “I think we have all seen bad things happen.”
“All right,” said Harry. He summoned the items needed and some chairs. He sat down in one and rubbed his eyes with both hands.
The group watched the fighting while eating the sandwiches Cat had packed. Cans of soda were handed out. Harry kept his thoughts to himself as the giants fell one by one. The others went over the footage to see everything that had happened as clearly as possible.
“I have never seen anything like that,” said Box. “The ones on Earth don’t even match this at all.”
“We’re going to give you a shot,” said Harry. “As soon as you’re ready, I’ll lend you my bee so you can fly out to the fourth gate and get ready for the xenos to try to come at you. I’ll give you some bees if you want so you will have some cover fire if you need it.”
“I’m good,” said Box. “I would like to borrow the flying car so I don’t wear myself out just getting to the gate area.”
“All right,” said Harry. “If you need help, tell Bubba to call Nick, and I will come out there as soon as possible.”
“Thanks, Harry,” said Box. “Let me go. The faster I can set up, the easier this will be.”
“All right,” said Harry. He let Nick hand over the controls to his flying machine as the other contractor boarded. The giant bee hovered for a moment off the ground before taking off.
“Something wrong, Harry?,” asked Cat.
“I should have made him his own car instead of letting him take mine,” said Harry. “I love that thing.”
“You’re not going to get it back,” said Guy. “He’ll have wrecked it just getting to where he’s going.”
“I know,” said Harry.