by Chris Hechtl
Lightning flashed and thunder rolled, and the bull froze. The Quillboar twitched but continued to lie still, chest moving in ragged gasps. The bull moved into clear view of the boar, and the boar suddenly began to struggle to get upright. The bull lunged forward, slashing its claws into the body of the boar, rolling it back onto its side and then over onto its back.
The boar squealed in fright and pain as the massive jaws of the predator bit down, cutting the squeal off in a fountain of blood as teeth slashed and crushed the exposed throat. The boar shuddered a second time and voided itself as it lay still in death.
The bull shook it to make sure, then reared back and roared its victory. Suddenly thunder rolled again, and it turned back in the direction it had come. There had been no flash of light beforehand, and his hind brain was confused and knew something was wrong. A second boom and the scream of creatures filled the air.
The bull wuffled in amusement; it wasn't any of his concern. He then turned to his dinner. Gently, it grasped a quill with a claw and tore it from the hide. One by one it tore them out, laying them to the side in a pile. When the quills were out it used a claw to slit open the belly and began to feed.
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The prey had caught the wounded organic and had terminated it. From its behavior subroutine programs determined it was feeding. A flag was attached to the target’s profile; it was not using tools to feed. Comparison to the Zerinoth determined this was irrelevant, and the flag was deleted. Termination of the target was determined a priority and combat protocols activated.
Weakness criteria programs attempted to find target point, as self-diagnostics ran a combat check. Threat analysis determined the target had no weapon so odds of victory increased to six point one two four to one in favor of the prey.
The tactical protocol determined a surprise attack from the rear would increase the odds in the hellcat favor. Slowly it began to stalk around the clearing, keeping the brush in between its prey’s vision and itself.
The weakness criteria program completed its initial analysis and determined that with its thick scales covering its spinal cord only a throat slash or attack to the underbelly or eyes would work to terminate the target. The tactical protocol and weakness criteria program both raised a flag and listed each pro and con.
The core program determined a modification of its attack tactic was in order, and it determined a flank option was necessary. It paused in the jungle and waited for lightning to heighten its vision.
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The bull tore large chunks of its prey and raised his head to bolt them down, and then turned. It sniffed the air, knowing the scent of his prey would soon attract unwelcome attention. Nostrils flared, but even over the stink of the offal, urine and weather the bull could smell the strange tang of metal.
Suddenly alert and wary, the bull attempted to locate the scent. It remembered the smell of metal. That was what it had scented just before it had been forced into slumber, and the hated collar had been attached around his neck.
The bull flared its headdress horns and shook itself, his best threat display. A low almost subsonic growl emitted from its throat as it determined where the smell was coming from. From the smell it was close, and approaching….It was attempting to circle around the bull. The bull stepped back and turned, stepping delicately over his fallen prey and turned to face the threat.
His growl became louder. A flash of lightning and crash of thunder…the bull's hind brain noted that the flashes were close, a dangerous situation. The air became still, and he lost the scent for a few seconds. A pitter patter on the leaves and rain began to fall. Drips fell on the bull, and his scales twitched at each drop until he realized it was rain.
He turned his head to the sky, looking up at the sky, feeling the first drops of rain hit his blood-soaked muzzle and sighed. It was already dark, and with the weather it would have to fight by sound and smell. It turned to his metallic stalker and growled in warning once more.
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The prey had turned to face the hellcat, and it determined it had erred. Pausing, it ran a program and determined the target had used its organic olfactory sensors to detect it. The flash of lightning allowed the hellcat to capture stills of the battlefield. Terrain features were noted, as was the target’s posture.
Tactical protocol determined it would make a frontal attack and attempt to take out the target’s throat. Threat analysis determined the odds as suboptimal; it noted the claws and teeth of the creature. It had no range of motion or speed for the target, so tactical protocols used the default speed it had observed. Odds shifted once more in balance. The hellcat determined it could expose itself and approach to leaping range.
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The rain had begun to fall steadily when the metal creature came out of the underbrush. The bull had first seen the glowing red eyes, and instinctive dread of the unnatural had made it shiver slightly. Rain quickly soaked the bloody ground around the bull and his kill, and the bull snuffled in annoyance. It would have dragged his prey under the trees by now if not for this metal interloper.
Lightning flashed and the eyes of the bull slit with the bright flash, then widened as it realized the creature was small and shiny. Odd, very odd. The creature stalked out of the bushes slowly, clearly in a slow attack pattern. The bull reared back and then bellowed a roar directly at the invader, warning it that this was his kill and he would defend it. The metal creature paused. Then continued its slow stalking approach.
The bull gnashed its teeth making sounds like a gunshot, and then made clawing motions with his claws, then bellowed in fury once more. Water dripped off the two opponents in steadily increasing streams. The bull felt water in his eyes and shook its head quickly in aggravation to get it out. His eyes closed briefly, and he heard the onrush of metal and mud.
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The prey had postured, lowering its target profile. Threat analysis quickly analyzed the speed of the slashes, and the speed and reaction time of the target was increased. Odds shifted out of favor again and the hellcat paused.
When the bull closed its eyes, the hellcat determined it was an optimal strike target and gathered itself and leapt. It wasn’t prepared for the response it received.
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When the creature sprung the bull spun, slashing his mighty tail in an arch to connect with the hellcat. Pain flared as metal claws scraped and cut scales. The bull snarled in pain and roared as his eyes opened. The enemy had taken the bait, but it had cost him.
A flash of light blinded him once more, but the satisfying crash as the metal creature slammed into the muddy ground far away led the bull to huff in amusement. If the creature left, it would leave it alone and feed, despite the wounds to its pride and tail. It could have his scraps when he was done with the boar. He turned to scan the area for additional threats.
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The lightning quick slash of the tail had thrown the hellcat some distance, and it crashed into the undergrowth before coming to a rest. Self-diagnostics flashed through its systems, and it detected damage to its right hindquarters and tail actuators. Self-repair programs determined the actuators were not repairable and attempted a reroute.
The hellcat determined it had sufficient mobility to continue and stood up. Mobility had been impaired by an additional 12.7 percent but it was still possible to take out the target biological. The tactical protocol and threat protocol both concurred future combat would be suboptimal but the primary protocol overruled. The organic was a target for termination and must be destroyed. Threat analysis determined the creature’s lack of attention could be exploited so the hellcat turned to attack once more.
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Rain continued to come down, accented by periodic flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder as the bull dragged his kill across the clearing away from the hellcat. He felt pain in his tail and dropped the kill to look. Rain kept washing away the blood, and carefully, he tried to reach and touch his injured tail. He reached the tail wi
th one delicate claw and bellowed in sudden agony as he felt a flash of broken bones in his grasp.
Anger and adrenaline surged through his primitive brain as he gently explored the wound. The tail would heal, but it would take time. The claw wounds had been superficial; the bones had been broken by the hit to metal. Not understanding this but knowing it was in pain, the bull growled and gently licked the claw marks one last time before letting go and turning once more to his kill.
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The hellcat’s threat weakness targeting profile determined that the rain would drop the targets senses down to suboptimal. A flash of lightning and it determined from its brief clear glimpse that the target was dragging its prey away from the hellcat and was inattentive.
The hellcat stepped through the undergrowth and then began to lope at half speed towards the target. It crossed the muddy clearing in quick neat strides and was within strike range when the target realized the robot's presence and dropped the suborganic. The target was beginning to move into some form of defensive stance when the hellcat struck.
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The metal squeaks and smell of strange fluids had alerted the bull. He dropped the carcass and turned to the threat, automatically moving into a defensive stance with his head down and arms up when he felt pain blossom on his hindquarters. The attack had been fast, attacking his right flank and wounding his right thigh.
He roared in pain and turned as the hellcat landed and spun. A tail slash was dodged, and he snarled in anger. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as defending his meal was forgotten and battle rage took over. Wounded and angry, he and the hellcat stalked in a circle.
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The hellcat determined the attack had dropped the target’s mobility down by 10 percent. It had easily dodged the tail attack, and now spun as it determined its next course. The use of the tail had made it drop the priority threat of the head and forward arms, and it determined a throat attack was the most efficient method of ending the combat in the robot's favor.
It stalked slowly, studying its opponent and waited for an opening. The bellow of the creature brought the tactical protocol to conclude to attack when it bellowed once more and exposed its throat.
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The bull bellowed in anger and studied his metal opponent. Like him, it favored its right hindquarter, but no blood leaked from it. Battle rage warred with cunning, and he went to bellow in rage once more.
Like a flash the creature lunged at his throat, and he turned his head desperately as it sunk its claws into his neck and head. He squealed in pain and rage, and his hands gripped the creature, mighty arms twisted and pulled, and claws ripped into it as its own forward and hind claws ripped into him. Gouges of pain on his arms and throat were quickly dulled by adrenalin, but he felt the blood leaking from his throat. Determination to destroy his opponent flared once more in defiance.
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The throat slash was a partial success, but damage was being inflicted in return. The hellcat attempted to turn to get away and felt claws grip its chest and rip at its underbelly. Attempting to break the grip, the robot used its hind claws to rip gouges in the arms of its enemy. One rear leg was grabbed and torn from its socket. A second slash and the remaining leg was grabbed, and the hellcat was spun and thrown smashing its back into a tree.
The trunk splinted and branches fell as it crashed to the ground. Self-diagnostics detected final core failure and determined it needed to send a final sitrep. The robot's communications foil on the back of the neck flared to life, and it squealed a report as it felt the organic pin it to the ground and then rip into the robot from behind. Feebly it attempted to fight it off, but two clawed fingers encircled its vulnerable spinal superconductive nerves and rendered them into shredded pieces cutting it off and dropping it into cybernetic death.
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The mortally wounded bull roared his victory to the skies as the thunder rolled down from above. A flash of light and he felt no more as flame consumed his entire world.
Up above, the human bomber pilots determined that they had finally destroyed the hellcat and returned to base.
The End
Ambush
M’P’Roth took a quick peek above his wings scanning the vacant rock-filled canyon before he brought his head down back under cover. He let out a slow waffling sigh and continued to use his tongue to worry at the piece of abath rodent stuck between his teeth. He had been on this scouting assignment for three-eighths of days, and his rations had run out at the first-eighth of days. Abandoning his camouflage to expose his position to enemy eyes in space or the sky wasn’t an option, so he had been forced to subsist on dew and what prey wandered too close to him.
He stretched slowly, allowing long stiffened muscles time to uncramp. With his cybernetics turned off or set to passive levels, the stiffened muscles were both an annoyance and concern. Could he react quickly if an enemy came within range? He wasn’t sure. His time sense warned that another eighth of time had passed and he peeked. Still nothing. Giving off a subsonic rumbling grunt of irritation, he tucked his head down under his wing and continued to worry at the annoying piece of abath.
Sometime later he detected a slight seismic clicking. Passive sensors in his cybernetics came alive and began to record and decode the clicks. A map appeared in his vision with an estimated source position and approaching speed. He flexed his arms as much as he could, quivering with sudden tension. Hunger, fatigue and boredom were long forgotten as the tainted smell of the machines came to him. Slowly he pulled his head up to peek, lower than before, tilting his head and moving his wings infinitely slowly to allow his eye to look.
Mechanical hellcats were swarming up the canyon trail. He shut his eye and concentrated on dropping his heat signature as low as he could. Ichor flowed slowly to most of his body, making them feel numb. Dropping his temperature was a two-edged sword. It made it harder for the infrared detectors in the machines to detect him, but it would make his response when he unmasked slow and uncoordinated for the first vital seconds of battle. It was unusual to see them in daylight he thought; the machines preferred infrared detections and low light-level sensors.
He tried to remember what he had seen, silently counting the number of hellcats and their paths. Two would approach his position in three planetary minutes. He felt the tremble in the ground and realized the hellcats weren’t alone. Slowly, he opened his eye to a slit to spy the hulking quadruped Scorpion and Octobots as they came up over the ridge. No, the trembles began to increase, so they weren’t the cause.
Most likely a spider mech, possibly two he thought. He analyzed their projected path and began to worry. They would arrive at the base just after dusk, allowing their sensors to be at their peak. The odds were bad. Twenty-four hellcats, six scorpions and four Octobots were a heavy burden for the small base to repulse, but the two spider mecha made the task even more dangerous.
Silently, he watched as the first spider’s legs moved into view as it reached the top of the rise. A hellcat froze and turned to look in his direction, and he froze and closed his eye. Tension pulsed through him and he fought for control. His cybernetics warned him of the approaching hellcat pair entering final detection range, and he mentally keyed the full cyber activation sequence. In less than a second, his cybernetics came online, and the status reports raced across his eyes. His weapons came online just as he heard the mechanical growls of the cats as they detected something.
The lip skin over his teeth bore back in a predatory grin as he suddenly abandoned his cloak and reared up; his wings unfurled and his arms flashed out lighting fast to slash at the exposed spines of the mechanical creatures. Two enhanced hands with massive armor covered talons ripped into the exposed cybernetics, severing their vulnerable superconductor spinal cords, smashing them for good measure.
Not wasting any time gloating over his kills he pulsed a command to his cybernetics to enhance his circular system. He felt the answering surge of adrenalin rush through
his system. He tensed his thighs and pushed off violently, sweeping his wings to fly backwards in a massive leap.
He shifted in the air to land on all fours, claws crunching into the gravel at the exact spot he had planned to land ahead of time. The other hellcats were coming into range, and he felt the tingle of radio and microwave transmissions as they reported his position to the follow-up heavy mecha. He spun and tucked his wings in and began to run on all fours, much like a hellhound. When he felt the first targeting laser with his cybernetics, he began to randomly dodge and weave, trying to keep them from getting a lock. The hellcats were bounding behind him; he could hear the metallic scrambling and squealing of their mechanical legs.
An explosion in front of him made him change direction; he felt the slapping of hot gravel spray as he twisted his long neck away. He made it to the rise and leapt, feeling the hellcats on his heels. His grin reappeared as he unfurled his wings and kicked on his antigravity gear. His wings swept out and pulsed downward. But he quickly checked it to keep himself low. Too high and he would expose himself to the ranks of Scorpions and Spider mecha behind the ranks of hellcats; too low and he exposed himself to the running hellcats as they chased him.
His grin turned into a grimace of pain as he felt a laser pierce his right calf. His cybernetics quickly cut off circulation to the wound and began making repairs. A long growl of laughter, they couldn’t get him now! He pulled up a map and squirted a report off to the base, feeling his radio pulse outward. He turned slightly to the left as he crested over a hill into a small rising canyon with three exits. Now unseen by the hellcats he dropped to the ground and went into rapid shutdown. He had chosen this position for his first backup because it allowed him to ambush his followers…if he had timed it right.