"Maybe," I said. "Lets go find out."

Groaning, he followed my advance. We paused only to touch the tappers of the dead and to lift their power-cells if they had more juice in them than ours did.

We only ran into the lizards one more time, and they didnt want to engage. They were falling back, performing a fighting retreat.

We didnt make it easy for them. Wed linked up with survivors from other squads and units. Graves himself had lived, altogether he led a force of fifteen-odd troopers, all that was left. We dogged the enemy all the way back to the smoke-filled central chambers.

The lizards were falling back, still in good order, but their lines were getting ragged with losses.

"Concentrate fire," Graves ordered. "Aim for the legs to bring a target down then go to the next. Dont pepper them all, theyre already retreating. We need to make them pay by taking down every enemy combatant we can."

Coldly, we did as he ordered. It was a slaughter, shooting down fleeing saurians. They threw back fire now and then, but it was only to keep us ducking.

We kept advancing relentlessly. It seemed to take an hour to reach the surface, where we halted for fear theyd hit us with some kind of bombardment. A breathless cheer went up among the survivors as we viewed the aftermath of the battle.

Thousands lay dead, and the enemy was in full retreat.

"That was close, sir," I said to Graves.

He looked at me. "Closer than you think. Most of our lines were broken. Your tunnel held, but it was a rare exception. Good job, McGill."

I frowned. "Sounds like they were winning, sir. Whyd they pull out right before they finished us?"

"I dont know. Maybe even an army of reptiles can have enough death to fill their bellies with fear."

That didnt sound like the saurian troops Id met. They tended to fight to the death unless ordered to retreat by their masters.

Daring to advance further, I walked out upon the slopes themselves. Graves stayed in the shadowy tunnels behind me.

"You can dream about your death wish if you want to, McGill," he called. "But youll do it on your own time. I forbid you to run out there into the open and lose a perfectly good suit of armor."

"Thanks for your concern, Centurion," I told him. "But you should really come up here and see this for yourself."

Finally, he advanced and hunkered down beside me. Above us, an overhang of cracked rock projected. From the shadows underneath, we could see the mountainside. It ran down about two kilometers to the roiling edge of the thick white mists that covered most of the planet. Just before the edge of the mist, a battle was in progress.

"What the-are those machines?" Graves asked.

"Yes sir, I think they are."

"Whatre they doing?"

"Eating saurians, sir. By the hundreds-or at least, theyre eating their weapons, armor and equipment. They must be hungry."

Graves looked at me, squinting. "Did you expect this?"

"Me sir? How could I know-?"

"The message you sent, using the young machine-creature. Natasha translated it. Didnt she tell you?"

"There hasnt been much time, sir," I said. "I was revived and thrown straight into the fight."

He nodded. "Natasha and Kivi worked on the translation for hours. They figured out it was pretty much a dinner bell, a summons to a feast. They thought it might be the message the squids used to get the machines to come here and chew on the mountain, exposing t.i.tanium veins."

I blinked at him. "I had no idea-but it makes sense. Carlos was eaten for a reason after all. He must have accidentally promised that baby machine a dinner, and the machine figured he must have meant to eat his suit."

Graves laughed then. It was a rare sound, an unpleasant chuckle. "Best thing Ortiz ever did. The baby machine took his message off to the nearest herd of native machines and-dinner time!"

Graves laughed some more. I grinned as well. We watched the chaos below for several more minutes before retreating. The saurians had been hit from behind by a hungry mob of machines. The only source of easy metal had been on the saurians themselves, who were new to this odd planet. Flanked by surprise, theyd called a retreat from our tunnels to deal with this new threat.

As far as I was concerned, it couldnt have happened to a nicer bunch of lizards.

-48-.

Getting slammed in the flank was too much for the saurian forces-or at least for their commanders. Theyd been losing too much strength against us all along, but theyd been buoyed up by the certain knowledge they were driving us back, winning through attrition.

By the time I reached the core of our stronghold, seeking repairs for my equipment and sustenance for my body, Leeson had been revived. He met with me and shook my gauntlet.

"Well done, McGill. You held the line."

"Thank you, Adjunct.

"Even better, theyre still retreating," Leeson said. "Have you seen the vids coming down from the buzzers?"

"No sir, I havent had-"

"By d.a.m.n, I still dont believe it! Those cowardly lizards are tucking their collective scaly tails and running for their lives!"

I echoed his excitement and relief, but I didnt think they were cowardly. Saurians were anything but. Id once watched one self-execute without a qualm, just because an irritated Nairb had told him to do so.

"I think their commanders are losing heart, not the troops," I said.

"What? Have you fallen in love with another alien race, McGill? How typical. Maybe you should run down this molehill after them and beg them to come back for tea."

"Hardly, sir. I was just pointing out that saurians are very brave as individuals."

"Why the h.e.l.l are they running, then?"

"To my way of thinking, theyve just realized this entire battle is becoming too costly. Theyve probably spent all their funding on renting ships and arms, not on revival machines. Those choices resulted in a much more powerful force, but a brittle one. They couldnt absorb endless losses. Theyre probably retreating now because theyve lost half their troops. I dont think they planned on that."

"Hmm," Leeson said. "You think their morale didnt break, but the bank did? Interesting. I have to admit, their princes are more money-conscious than they are humanitarians. Well, either way, were all as good as dead now."

This statement concerned me. Leeson still seemed happy, but I could see a hint of resignation there as well.

"Were dead?" I asked. "Whys that, sir?"

He looked at me in triumph, squinting his small eyes. "Ha! Dont tell me you didnt reason out their next move, Mr. Strategist?"

I frowned at him. Leeson had a naturally abrasive att.i.tude, but he wasnt dumb. I honestly wanted to know what he was thinking, despite his barbs.

"You tell me, Adjunct," I said.

Leeson showed me the units tactical display. He ran his finger down the slope toward the ma.s.sing saurian troops at the base of the mountain. Theyd managed to repel the hungry machines, but only after devastating losses. They hadnt been prepared for such an enemy and lacked the heavy weaponry to deal with them. To kill the big machines, groups of soldiers were rushing in close and essentially committing suicide to stop them. Id seen Centurion Belter employ similar tactics to good effect-but we could revive our losses-they couldnt.

"Think about it," Leeson said. "Theyre beating the machines but preparing to pull out anyway. Why leave the mountain entirely? They could just siege us from down there. But instead, theyre setting up to have transports come down and pick up their battered troops."

"Maybe they want to get out of this h.e.l.l-hole, sir. At least, thats what I think theyre doing."

"Nah. Theyll pull up stakes, all right, but they wont give up. Theyll unleash their big guns again. All of them, this time. Sure, that will destroy most of this mountain and the t.i.tanium mine. But the raw ore will survive. A hundred or so fusion sh.e.l.ls, thats what I expect will come falling our way once these lizards lift off. You see if they dont."

I was alarmed by his prediction. For one thing, it made sense. For another, there was no way anyone in legion Varus-cavalry or otherwise-could survive such a devastating attack.

"That means we cant let them get back into s.p.a.ce," I said. "Weve got to stop them."

Leeson shook his head and cracked his faceplate open long enough to spit. "You let me know when youve figured out how to do that, McGill," he laughed bitterly.

Turning away, I began to trot back down the tunnels into the mountain. My pace turned into a thundering run by the time I reached Drusus office. Id adjusted my suit to power my legs, so I didnt have to limp.

There were several techs in the tribunes chamber with him. They were rolling up computer scrolls, and they moved with an air of purpose. They werent panicked yet, but they were sure in a hurry.

"Tribune?" I asked.

He looked up at me, but didnt smile. In fact, his face scrunched up a bit like he smelled something unpleasant.

"What fresh disaster brings you here, Veteran?" he asked me.

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

"No time. Were pulling out. Most of the troops wont make it-Ill have your people go down deep in the mines. To the very bottom, if necessary. Maybe a few will survive."

I watched for a moment as he stuffed a computer scroll into a capsule, then another.

Tribune Drusus spoke to the techs he was working with. I noted with surprise that one of them was Natasha.

"Send out one of these with every flying drone weve got," he ordered. "Send them in every direction."

"Already programmed, sir," Natasha said.

"Good. Fly those birds."

Natasha rushed out with a capsule under her arm and a worried look on her face. Everyone looked like they were about to die-probably because they were.

"Natasha," I said, catching up to her. "Whats the plan?"

"Plan?" she asked. "Thats a big word for this desperate attempt to survive. Were sending out drones in every direction. Theyll fly until they run out of fuel then crash into the snow and wait. If they hear a friendly signal later on, theyll start chirping, hoping to be found."

"Okay...whats in the capsules?"

"Data. Lists of the soon to be dead. Your name, your DNA, and mental backups. Mine too. If someone comes looking and finds them, well, maybe theyll revive us out of the goodness of their hearts."

"But Drusus said that he was sending the troops deep into the mines."

"It wont matter. Nothing will survive a steady bombardment by the broadsides. Theyve got seven capital ships up there, James. Grow up. Were all as good as permed, whether we get buried in the tunnels or vaporized out on the surface."

She moved as if to push past me, but I held onto her arm, and she looked up at me, reluctantly.

"Look," I said. "We cant let the lizards fire their cannons."

"How are we going to stop them?"

"Youve got to help me," I said. "Youve got to get me in touch with Claver."

"Oh no, forget that," she said, shaking her head.

She headed up the tunnels, and I followed. We reached the upper chambers and then the exposed, smoldering galleries. The mess outside was dramatic, and most of it was obscured by fog and smoke.

She set up and released her drone loaded with data scrolls. It looked like a messenger pigeon, but it buzzed rather than flapped. We watched as it darted into the smoke then appeared again. Suddenly, a beam lanced out from downslope and took the drone out. It fell in burning pieces which steamed in the snow.

Natasha made a sound of anguish. "Its hopeless."

"Come on girl, give my plan a shot," I said.

She looked at me for a second then shook her head. "I dont even know what your plan is, and dont want to know. Im following my orders this time, James. Im sending out these drones. Its our best hope."

She knelt and began working on another drone. This time, she programmed it to climb up high, hoping to get out of the range of the enemy automated turrets. I didnt think it would work, but she wasnt going to stop trying.

"Look, Ill do that," I said, taking the hand-held terminal from her. "Just get your com equipment out and set it up."

Heaving a sigh, she did as I asked. "You never give up on anything, do you?" she asked.

"No, I guess not."

She got out her tech-specialist computer and put it down in the snow. A small dish extended from the core brick-but then she stopped.

"No," she said. "Im not going to do this. Im going to follow my orders, and thats all. Why die violating my tribunes final wishes? Youve always gotten me into trouble, James. I see that now. Ill never understand why I listen to you."

This little speech of hers made me angry and desperate at the same time. My mind raced, trying to come up with something I could use to influence her.

I had the answer in less than a second, but I didnt want to use it. Only the fact that the legion was facing a wipe, possibly a permanent one, caused me to say what I said next.

"Natasha," I said. "You havent always followed the rules, you know. Youve come up with some violations all your own. Remember back on Dust World? When you committed a stack of high crimes?"

"What? I did no such thing-not without your urging. It was you who shot a neutral air ship and started this war with the squids. Thats what I remember."

"Yeah, but before that. You didnt want to die on Corvus, remember?"

She looked at me with sudden concern. "You said you wouldnt talk about that."

"Im just trying to make a point. You reached a situation that made you desperate, and you took your chances. In fact, you and your fellow mutineers took over Corvus and escaped into orbit around the local star."