Learning to Dance

“They’re working with Cybertron now?” Taz said,
grabbing the binoculars from him. “Dios muerto! There are
thousands of sentinels here, Up!”
The Autobots loomed high above their smaller robot
counterparts, swarming the valley below them like a hoard
of flesh-eating ants. A chill went through her that had
nothing to do with the wind.
“The plan is the same,” Up said. “Get in, blow it up – get
out.”
If we can.
Up gestured for the Rangers to follow him, and they
crept as close as they could to the caves without drawing
the robots’ attention. “This is where we part ways.”
The ensigns’ faces were drawn as they saluted and made
their way to the far side of the plain with their explosives,
their only defence against all those enemies.
It was just the two of them now.
Their sensors found them an entrance to the cave that
was unguarded, an animal’s hole, likely, barely wide
enough for Up’s shoulders. Taz helped tug him through, and
then they were standing in near darkness, a damp smell
filling their nostrils. She felt a brief moment of panic.
Would she ever see the sky again?
Up was still wearing his soldier’s mask, but she felt his
hand on her shoulder, and relaxed. She was a Starship
Ranger, after all. This was what she had enlisted for.
A distant boom, a few loose pieces of shale tumbling
from the ceiling. That was the diversion.
“Let’s go, Lieutenant,” Up said.
The cave was murky, the tunnel twisted. They followed
the dim light of Up’s sensor until they reached a large, open
area and stopped short.
A huge, hulking metal carapace stood before them, a
tank on two legs. Behind it, a mound of shiny red mineral,