Extinction

of diameter and length. I nodded my head.

“I’d been wondering, the whole time I was down in the Worm mound, what Worm had made those big tunnels. Now we know.”

“We’ve got about eighteen minutes at its current approach velocity,” said Captain Sarin. She sounded as drained and defeated as Sandra had when I’d found her.

“Let me guess where it came from, and where it’s headed,” I said, doing the math. The tail of it pointed toward the mountain. The head of it pointed directly at us.

“What can we do, sir?” Captain Sarin asked.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “We’ll beat it.”

“You really think we can kill something that big, sir?”

“No. But maybe we can outrun it.”

One would not think a loading process could be sped up dramatically, but we did it. In such situations, it’s all a matter of priorities. I threw every moving marine I had under the weight of bricks, straining and heaving to help the loaders. We took the essentials first: our air purifiers, water units, generators and the factories. A lot of the sleeping units would have to be left behind, which made up half the bricks we had. I had a lot fewer marines to put into them now, anyway.

I didn’t bother reconfiguring the last five drill-tanks I had. We just put them into service, opening them up into clam-shells and put a brick on the back. Then we set a lot of men to shoving until the revving drill-tanks slid, scraped and bumped their way up the ramp. The bricks were unloaded into the Macro hold by unceremoniously dumping them out. We didn’t even bother to stack them, we just turned on the clamps and went for the next brick.

By the time the giant Worm was about a minute from arrival, and had begun to dig upward toward the bottom of our base, we’d managed to get over a third of our bricks into the hold. I decided it was high time to contact the Macros and tell them to lift off.

“Macro Command, this is Kyle Riggs. Respond.”

“Unnecessary communications are wasteful of system resources.”

“Right you are, and this is not a waste of time. Close the transport doors and lift off.”

“All ground forces are not aboard.”

“You are incorrect, Macro Command.”

“All ground forces are not aboard.”

“Sir,” said Captain Sarin at my side. “I think they mean the bricks and equipment we left behind.”

“Macro Command, we are abandoning a portion of our equipment to escape the incoming mega-biotic enemy,” I said, realizing I’d coined a new word: mega-biotic. I hoped it wasn’t going to be one I would be using often.

There was a hesitation. That was all the time our Worm friend needed, however. It broke through our thin shielding of nanite-woven materials, lifting it up like a sheet of paper. Bricks heaved and were tossed twirling like matchboxes. A gout of dirt, rocks and debris flew into the hold itself. Men scrambled for cover.

The Worm itself was tremendous. I’d spent too much of my youth watching movies about giant creatures destroying cities. Here was one worthy of the task. Its maw flipped open, tossing out gouts of brown liquid. The orifice was big enough to swallow one of our bricks whole, without chewing.

The creature did not roar, but the ground at its base did. Everyone was showered with clods and wet clumps of unidentified matter. A tossed brick, falling end over end, crashed down upon the Macro ramp with an ear-splitting crash.

The sky lit up with a hundred beams of energy, darkening my goggles. Major Robinson had set up a number of automated mini-turrets using the heavy beam packs my troops had given up in favor of their lighter kits. He’d added a brainbox to control them, and fastened them atop the outer ring of bricks that formed our base wall. These turrets fired now, cutting dark lines in the endless mass of flesh that towered a hundred feet up in the middle of our wrecked base. More small turrets were manned by marines. These needed only a tripod, a beam unit and a generator. Too heavy to be carried on this world, they could still be operated by a marine as a stationary gun emplacement. Robinson himself set one of these up as I watched on top of a brick in the hold. He and a dozen others fired at the giant Worm that shaded us from the red sun with its bulk.

The Worm shuddered in reaction. I could tell it had never felt the burning sensation of our weapons before. Unfortunately, the output of our weapons was nowhere near enough to kill it. Enraged, the Worm began to thrash and struck down with its flashing feet, each the size of a man. Bricks tumbled and crashed. The beams kept flashing, cooking Wormskin and the wet meat beneath.

“Abandonment of equipment without cause weakens the value of the ground forces,” said the Macro Command voice calmly.

“You’ve got to get us out of here, sir!” said Captain Sarin, screaming to be heard.

I thought hard, my eyes wide. “Marines, you may fire at will!” I commanded.

More beams leapt up, stinging the monster. We only managed to anger it further. Mad with pain, it writhed and snapped with greater energy. I realized, as it destroyed my encampment, it was only a matter of time until the Worm turned toward the Macro ship. With the hold doors open and with us inside, it would no doubt come in here for a snack. I knew from experience the big ones didn’t die easily. And this one looked to be about ten times the size of any I’d seen before.

I decided to give Macro Command one more chance to see reason. “We have no need for the abandoned equipment,” I said, shouting into my link to be heard over the crash and roar of the great Worm. “Fighting this biotic would cost us more in terms of effectiveness than leaving the equipment will cost us.”

Another hesitation. It seemed to be a very long one, but perhaps that was only because the Worm was twisting about, looking for fresh prey. Then the head turned, and lunged directly into the Macro hold.

“Abandonment of equipment without cause weakens the value of the ground forces.”

“Sir!” buzzed Major Robinson in my ear. “I think we can take it down, sir. You brought two hovertanks back from the mountain. If we concentrate their fire at the head-”

“No,” I said. “Man your post.”

“Why not, Colonel?” Robinson demanded in exasperation.

“Because the Worm has already destroyed our last hovertanks. Only a few drill-tanks are left, and they haven’t got the range.”

The great head dipped down into the Macro ship twice more. Each time a beam turret, along with a marine and the brick he stood upon was removed.

“Macro Command, my forces are being erased. It is imperative that we take off right now.”

“Abandonment of equipment without cause weakens the value of the ground forces.”

“I assure you, we will still be an effective fighting force!” I shouted into my microphone. My words were relayed up to Macro Command.

More marines were devoured-their beamers and bricks all sucked into the monster’s maw without a trace.

“Assurance accepted. Lift-off imminent.”

I didn’t have time to ponder exactly why the Macros changed their mind. I figured I would worry about that later.

“Everybody back away from the doors!” I roared. My men retreated deeper into the dark hold, firing as they went.

— 57-

The Macros didn’t bother to close the doors. It would have taken too long. They simply lifted the ship’s nose-the cargo entrance-and applied thrust. The bricks didn’t go flying, fortunately. Our magnetic clamps saw to that. Many of my men were not so lucky. As the floor heaved up under their feet, they stumbled at first, then flew