back the way he wanted me to.” She took a deep breath,
and said the next words before she could change her mind.
“It was never Pedro that I cared about.”
She had said it to him once before, but not in a language
he could understand.
Up went very quiet.
“Commander Up?” called the Ranger on watch.
“Message from Headquarters, sir.”
Up looked at her for a long moment before getting up,
putting out his cigarette with the toe of his boot, and
walking away.
Taz was alone again.
Their attempted assault on this robots’ hideaway had not
gone well. They’d been surprised just as they’d pulled the
pins on the grenades meant for the stash of weaponry – a
huge, winged robot, white and blue, had dropped from the
sky before them. Some of his Rangers had managed to
throw their grenades... some of them hadn’t. More deaths
on his watch. On his conscience.
The winged robot was faster, more maneuverable than
any Up had ever seen. The Rangers’ zapper fire rebounded
from its armour, sending them rolling out of the way. The
robot raised its own rifles and then became a white blur in
the sky. Up couldn’t get a mark on it.
A hoarse yell rang out as a stream of rifle fire found its
target in an ensign’s chest.
“Hey, you big hunk of scrap metal!” Up yelled, trying in
vain to draw its attention. No more, no more of them. It’s me
you want, big boy, it’s my team-
The robot dropped to the ground with an earth-shattering
thud and advanced toward him, raising a powerful rifle
toward his chest -
And then it looked down as a sharp metal rod emerged