Harry finished setting up sun guns on the roofs. He was glad none of them crashed

through to the floors below. The buildings had taken some hits when the xenos had

rolled through this part of the planet. He was surprised that it wasn’t overgrown with

plant life.

Did the xenos kill the flora along with the fauna?

That was for someone with a big brain to figure out. His job was to kill the enemy

of his people. And he was doing that slowly.

He set up a group of fabricators in the center of the street next to his outpost. If the

bees and wall held out, what he was leaving behind should give them some time. It

took about half of his current points to do it, but he still had enough for a truck and

cargo trailer.

“I don’t understand what you are doing,” said Nick.

“I’m trying to keep this area clear so we can come back here in the case of an

emergency,” said Harry. “If the gate doesn’t work, we’re going to need a place to run

to until John and Guy can figure out how to rescue us.”

“And this will do that?,” asked Nick.

“That, or it will kill us by mistake,” said Harry. He grinned.

“Don’t get killed,” said Nick. “I can’t win the bet if that happens, savvy?”

“You’ll get your filthy lucre, and your trophy, and your house by the ocean,” said

Harry. “Now settle down. I got stuff to do.”

He joined the other contractors as they watched the nearest wall. The sun guns

overhead gave the scene a strobe effect as they fired out into the mass of xenos trying

to get to the wall and punch their way in. The crackling of particles guns and missile

launches added its own layer of dissonance to the scene.

He had never been so glad to have an helmet that filtered that chaos into something

faint while he went about the rest of his business.

“Everybody ready?,” asked Harry.

“Do you have enough points for this?,” asked Howitz. He held his man-portable

gatling in his small hands.

“I guess,” said Harry. He went to a clear space he planned for the truck to land in

from the quartermaster catalogue. “All these automated weapons are filling the bar

up. I might be maxed out again if this keeps up.”

“All right,” said Yema. “Let’s get started.”

Harry flipped through his catalogues. He selected the same type features as his

beemobile left back on Earth except he put most of it in a large truck capable of

hauling trailers behind it. He added his signature particle guns to the front to clear the

way, and missiles for when the lightning couldn’t clear the way on its own.

Two boxes dropped out of thin air in front of the contractors. Harry touched them and

turned the contents on. A golden yellow mack truck on treads gleamed at him as that

box vanished. The other was a yellow and black striped, flat, sideless trailer with a

stepladder on the back.

“We can work with this,” said Detrac.

“I think we should head out as soon as you guys are ready,” said Harry. “I think our

break is almost over.”

Something large was charging the blue glowing walls. None of the weapons that shot

at it seemed effective. If it hit and cracked the walls, the contractors were as good as

crushed.

“It’s a titan, Harry,” said Har. “We’re ruined.”

“Not if I can help it,” said Harry. “Get in the back and start working on weapons. I’m

driving out of here.”

He climbed into the cockpit, bringing everything online. Their firebase was as good

as dead. He had thought that the weapons would keep the place clear for them to

return.

If his parting gift didn’t work, they were going to have bigger problems than he liked.

He wasn’t going to give up. He said he would do the job, and he would. The first

thing they needed to do was get clear and hope the weapons and bees would give

them enough cover to head into the mountains. He already foresaw a lot of them

being destroyed as collateral damage.

“We aboard,” said Yema. “Go.”

The wall in front of Harry vanished. He drove out, running over a xeno that had

escaped being shot by the angry bees. He told the forward weapons to unload to clear

out anything in front of them as the truck roared along the marked route.

He should have asked for a turret on top of the cab to give him coverage against the

airborne enemy.

He hoped the package he left behind would come online soon enough to save his

hives and bees. He should have built it first before the sun guns, but he thought he

had more time to delay.

All of the weapons concentrated fire on the kaiju rushing them. Individually, they

might not have done any damage but dozens of beams of energy and missiles striking

together made it pause.

Then Harry’s farewell guardian came online and opened like a jack in the box.

Weapons designed for ship to ship combat opened fire one after the other. That was

enough to stagger even something as massive as the kaiju taking up the skyline and

looming closer. Missiles blasted over the wall as the landbound battleship grew

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

to tower over the protective fence around its base.

“What is that?,” said Nick. “What is that, Harry?”

“It’s a damned Bolo,” said Harry. “I’m calling him Harry, Jr.”

“I thought my armor would help us,” said Howitz.

“Walls, Har,” said Yema. “We’re still in danger.”

Harry settled in his seat. The rest was out of his hands for the next few minutes. The

best he could do was keep killing the enemy in front while the rest did what they

could to protect themselves.

“I don’t know how you did that,” said Nick. “I don’t want to know. I’m just glad you

were able to get out of there with the other contractors still intact. I would hate to try

to explain why my contractor got everyone else killed.”

“Harry, Junior is about five to ten fabricators buried inside a ton of armor, computer

power, and so many guns I could have armed everybody on Earth with one,” said

Harry. “Anything that comes close enough to get shot will get shot. Naturally, I

would never build anything like Junior on Earth, but desperate times calls for bigger

guns.”

“Wozniak will be glad of your restraint,” said Nick. “And so will I, savvy?”

“Harry, your giant weapon has turned our deaths into a massacre for the enemy,” said

Yema. “The grunts are throwing themselves at it in a frenzy.”

“How are you guys doing back there?,” asked Harry.

“We’re earning a lot of enmity,” said Yema. “But we’re not quite ready for a second

trailer.”

“We’re about to hit the tracks,” said Harry. “This thing hauls. I’ll call up a second

trailer as soon as you need it.”

“Don’t worry about us,” said Yema. “I think you have shocked Har and Howitz.

I don’t think they really expected you to be so dangerous.”

“As soon as we’re out of the city, your workload is just going to increase,” said Harry.

“Don’t worry about us,” said Yema. “We have some ideas based on what we saw.

We’ll be able to keep the travel lane clear until we have to switch over to something

else.”

“No problem,” said Harry. Something streaked through the sky overhead. He looked

at the screen. Five friendlies had just flown to the west of them. The identifying

markers marked three being knocked out of the sky before they could head back

to orbit. “John’s first bomber flight just flew over.”

Streaks of fire appeared in that direction. Harry nodded. They had dropped weapons

to keep the xenos busy while trying to get at the temples. He decided against going

over and helping the sun guns out. That would just delay his real mission.

“Nick?,” said Harry. He needed to give them a chance to clear the lane for him.

His crew were the only support people other than Anderson’s Planetary Defense

Organization that actually went into the field with contractors. And he wasn’t sure

if the PDO did that.

“Yes, Harry,” said Nick.

“Call Junior and have him support the bomber flights,” said Harry. “See if you can

get all the mobile platforms to try to clear the air in front of them.”

“Will do,” said Nick. “You are almost maximum again. Are you planning to build

more Juniors?”

“Not right now,” said Harry. “That had been the perfect place with the perfect timing.

If he can hang on until his ground troops build up, he can clear the planet by himself.

You won’t even need another contractor here.”

“I doubt that,” said Nick. “Many cultures don’t trust automation. A Junior wouldn’t

be trusted by other species. There will always be a need for someone living to

make sure nothing goes haywire.”

“No one wants a Skynet,” said Harry.

“Exactly,” said Nick. “Everything looks good from up here, Harry. More corvettes

and bombers are on the way. Everyone knows the safest route to target, and Junior

says he will try to clear the air with his guns so they can take a clear shot.”

“Can he hit one of the temples from where he’s at?,” asked Harry. That would be

great if he could.

“The curve of the planet doesn’t give him a clear shot,” said Nick. “If they were a

mile or so closer, or if we had a spotter for him, maybe he could drop one with the

armament you gave him.”

“I knew it would be too easy if he could hit the shot,” said Harry. “It was worth it to

make sure.”

“We have aerial pursuit,” said Yema. “It looks big.”

“Probably something close to what took out our first corvette,” said Nick.

“Can you guys handle it?,” asked Harry.

“Maybe,” said Yema. “It’s soaking up a lot of fire from us.”

“I would like to try the mech,” said Howitz. “I think I can take it with a big enough

weapon.”

“How much time do you need to call it?,” asked Harry.

“A couple of seconds at least,” said Howitz. “Maybe as much as a minute.”

“Go ahead,” said Harry. “We’ll try to buy you some time. Everyone, if we get

stopped, do your best to escape and try to build something else you can ride up the

tracks.”

“Don’t worry about us, Harry,” said Detrac. “We all have points enough to buy a gate

to the Jordan now. Working with you has lifted us up higher than we have been in

years.”

“I have never had so many points,” said Howitz. “I have always dreamed of being

able to do this, but I have never been able to before now.”

Harry watched the back and let the truck drive itself. The trailer had various weapons

pointed out the back. Beams, bullets, missiles, and exotic munitions were being used

with abandon. Half the city he could see was on fire from the damage his crew was

doing.

Howitz jumped into the air and glided away from the trailer. Armor wrapped around

him. It was man-sized at first. Then the armor began to grow into something with

hovering eyes and arms made of guns and blades. Cannons unfurled from the back.

The xenos didn’t pause. Something living was inside all of that machine. It had to

be pried out and turned into fuel.

Howitz began earning his points back with the application of bullets and energy

beams. He glided away from the enemy as he cut through the rising tide.

“This is magnificent,” said the little guy as he cut and blasted with abandon.

“Howitz, get on the roof of the truck,” said Harry. “Clear the way for us.”

“You are totally right,” said the moth man. “I should have thought of that myself.”

Harry slowed the truck so the other contractor could glide down the side and try to

get on the roof. The metal shell dented a little under the mech’s weight.

“I can’t ride on top, Harry,” said Howitz. “My dream machine is too heavy for it.”

“I got a solution,” said Harry. He opened the gull door and leaned out. He handed

Howitz a box. “Put that down under your feet, and lock in place.”

The mech opened the box while gliding in front of the truck. It bent down and put a

platform capable of holding it on the tracks. The oblong platform glued itself to the

front of tractor while holding the mech in place.

Howitz directed fire at anything trying to challenge him for the right of the way. His

hoot of celebration filled the radio. The others smiled at the small point of

happiness before getting back to work.

“The thing is still chasing us,” said Har. “I think Howitz wounded it with his

machine.”

“We’re coming up to the curb,” said Harry. “Once beyond here, we only have few

miles before we have to think of some way to get up the mountain. We’re going to

need to get rid of that thing before then.”

“We’re going to miss our chance at shooting at the grunt pool,” said Detrac. “We’re

coming to the first point of fire.”

“Everybody,” said Harry. “Get off the truck. We’re breaking early. Howitz, take lead

and take us up toward the mountains.”

“Do you have a plan?,” asked Har.

“We’re going to give a distraction for the Jordan’s fighters,” said Harry. “They can

finish the temples for us.”

“We’re jumping from the back and taking cover,” said Yema. “We will wait for you

to join us.”

Howitz glided off his board to let the truck pass.

“Don’t wait,” said Harry. “Go like crazy.”

He made sure they were clear before he turned the truck and headed down toward the

nearest temple.