Toy Wars (9 page)

Nurse Nan
8876 finally got back to me,
six hours later
.

“
Casualty report:
414 units destroyed
;
124 units incapacitated requiring remanufacture of critical components,
”
she said in her high
-
pitched voice.

“Ship out incapacitated units on first train.”

“Prognosis report:
Teddy 1499.” She honestly shocked me.

She continued,
“Replacement of right hand above the third wrist servo not possible. No replacement parts available.”

“Elaborate.”

“
Six
teddy units de
activated
during action at
relative grid 0
-
0
-
0 and environs. Five of these units have viable replacements. Eighteen teddy units require limb replacements either whole or partial.
Based on current assignment, Teddy 1499 is last in the priority queue for replacement.
”
I mulled over the shortage.
I could have ordered preferential treatment
for myself.
In the end
I didn’t need my right hand for wielding a weapon.
My real danger to the enemy lay within my head and the ideas that I turned to our benefit.
I was the strategist, not the implementer.

“Continue,” I ordered the
Nan
.

The
n
urse
replaced the emergency cap with a more permanent ceramic
cap over the end of my arm.
I could still use it for miscellaneous pushing and the like.
I just could not grasp anything.
It was, after all, a small limitation.
What was a hand to me?

“Teddy 1499, reporting to Six.”

Nurse
Nan
8876 sewed my fur to the plastic coating over the ceramic cap proclaiming over the parallel communication channel
SAN
that she completed her repair. I sent her along about her business.

“This is Six
:
report, Teddy 1499.”

“After a fierce battle, this sector is secure for the moment.
Replacements needed immediately.
Fighting strength down to
56
percent
,” I offered as I examined the white stump of my right arm.

“Acknowledged.
Replacements will be routed there as soon as completed.”
I could tell by the tone that my report pleased Six
.
It was another victory, although another costly one
—
this
time paid in my fluids as well as the deactivation of many of Six’s troopers
…my troopers
.
“Six out.”

I needed to assess the state of our current defenses.
Naturally I climbed, with some difficulty because of only one hand, up to the top of the tallest structure in the area, the carcass of the monster.
Standing on the back of its ridged head afforded a view like no other. I felt like a
flyer
. My last time aboard the beast didn’t allow for any sightseeing. I quickly picked out my sentries.
The defenses didn’t need any
significant
adjustment.
I considered having
the rex
dragged from the field by the combined efforts of the dozers but there seemed to be no point and every reason to keep it in place.

“Canary
S
ix, report for over-watch at my position.” Why waste a perfect spotter post? We already used it for cover.

I stomped my foot on the creature
’
s head.
The bulk of the thing constantly reminded me of what had faced us.
What could be done to stop it in the future?
Honesty prohibited me from thinking my plan would have succeeded if the
T.
rex had remained out of our range and shelled us into oblivion.
Its overconfidence caused it to give me the opportunity to destroy it.
Know thy enemy would be a good first step.

With even more difficulty than climbing, I pulled my bayonet from my backpack and sawed at the thick rubber skin.
While the blade met some resistance, it
parted the skin fairly easily.
Ballistics fabric lay impregnated at several depths within the skin and fake scales.
This explained much.

“Teddy squad
s
four
and five
, report.”
One
-
handed I couldn’t skin this beast.
“Using your knives, remove the skin of this fauna on the south side only.”
Twenty teddies swarmed over the corpse’s right side, peeling back the protective rubber armor to reveal its inner workings.

The design spoke to me immediately.
The creature was almost all ammunition storage for the two great weapons on its arms and the flame thrower it never used within its mouth.
Every cubic centimeter not used for locomotion and processing held belts of ammunition.

The legs, while modified, looked remarkably similar to my own.
The single hydraulic load cylinder in its thigh dwarfed mine. The raw power it produced I knew from experience was humbling. But here the similarities ended.
The legs, in a need to support the immense weight, could produce a
proportionally
powerful
downward force
because of a huge lever arm
;
however
,
the space limitations meant that
the lever arm
,
to produce lift
,
shrunk to the miniscule. Again, as I found out, that force could barely lift the leg itself.

This
gave me a number of ideas
,
which all came down to nearly the same thing
—
pull
or knock
it over and
stake it to the ground.
We would be the Lilliputians to the monster’s Gulliver.
Its skin, no longer a mystery, could be defeated with
slow,
edged weapons.

Any force that could topple the beast would lend itself most likely to
the monster’s
deactivation. Pits, huge trip wires, bombs landed near the feet rather than on its head were just a couple
of techniques
that came
quickly
to mind.
If we ever saw another
T.Rex
, it would die quicker than had the first one, and without the huge danger factor.
Oh, it would never be easy
,
but it could be beaten.

After
reporting the facts to Six for dissemination to all units,
I noted the pile of dead animals being stacked up next to the bulk of the behemoth
for transportation back to Six to be used as raw materials
.
Hopping down 80 centimeters from the exposed tendon, I moved over next to a teddy version of fauna.

I stared at
it for several minutes.
It looked identical
to our teddies
and
had an intact hand, even if its chest was nothing more than a
still warm,
blackened hole.
The hand, in almost the purest of white
almost taunted me. If the construction of the monster bore similarities
,
I couldn’t help but wonder how much
the fauna teddies compared.

“Priority tasking,” I ordered.
“
Nurse Nan
s to my position.
Query
:
wrist linkages of
t
eddy units.”

“No
t
ed
dy wrists or hands available
—
”
claimed one of the two
N
ans that arrived.

“I know that!
Information query regarding specifications and construction.
Compare construction of similar animal linkages.”

“Processing.”
Both
Nurse Nan
s stood there in thrall for a minute.
“No such data available.
Search parameters not found in either local or master files.”
I put the question on the
WAN
, for Six or any
Nurse Nan
to respond.
The multiple echoes were identical to what these two units just shared with me.
It all boiled down to what the Humans would say: “Are you kidding?”
Null program.

I guessed it was time to blaze new trails.
With my one good arm, I dragged
the
nearly intact
t
eddy animal from the growing stack of bodies
out into the clear.

“This is not an animal.
It is a
t
eddy.
Repair it.”
I made this a verbal order directed at the pair of
Nurse Nan
s.

“Null program.
No CCT functional feedback,” they responded in unison.

“Medical information query: CCT,” I probed.
I directed only one to speak as the stereo responses were just a bit too much.

“Command
/c
ontrol
t
ransceiver: This device allows communication between individual units and the network.
It also allows automatic
IFF
(identify friend and foe) for combat purposes.
Triple backup in all units.”
Looks like a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, I thought.

“All four CCTs damaged.
Repair unit.”
The two
n
urses took a moment to consult before they picked up the body and began field stripping it.
They began with the chest, removing its hairy and armored outer shell with the blackened edges around the hole.
Their examination revealed fluid pumps and micro-circuitry
almost identical to my own
.
“Verbal dialogue,” I ordered.

“Abnormal fluid distribution.
Main hydraulic pump destroyed by projectile.
Main processor irreplaceable due to trauma.
Unit is beyond current capability to revive.
Begin scavenge
procedure on potentially useful parts.
Entire arm unit, right and left.”

“Teddy 1044 report for arm replacement,” I heard over the
LAN
.

“Countermand order.
Teddy 1044 remain with current assignment.
”

“Revise priority of Teddy 1499 hand replacement to critical.”

O
ne of the
n
urses stood up from its labors and walked up to me.
“We have a wrist hand unit for your use.
Sit here.
Deactivate power, fluid
,
and command distribution nodes thirteen through seventy.”

I wouldn’t let any of my other troops be a guinea pig. I’d put myself to the hazard first.
The decision was clear
,
but
being a lab rat to my own experiment left me a little uneasy.
According to the actions of the
Nurse Nan
, it would work.
They couldn’t have stripped a unit that they didn’t know.
They also would not install a defective device
so it must be within specifications
.

I watched intently as the cap was removed from my wrist.
No fluid leaked as I had
cut
hydraulics
as ordered
.
I couldn’t move anything from my right shoulder down until
reengaging
that pump.
The white wrist and hand
lay
ready beside me, the metallic connections gleaming in the red sun almost like new.
It took thirty processor-grinding minutes and dozens of tests before my salvaged hand and wrist
once again began to move at my mental command.
I looked at the white palm, and while in my head the thought of it having been from an animal felt strange, I knew it was me now.

One by one I took the dead animals out of the pile and declar
ed
them Six’s units and ordered their repair. The limb and part
s’
shortage evaporated.

At the end
I looked down at the torn apart creature
s
that
had just supplied me a new limb and realized I was now a ghoul and a Frankenstein monster, all rolled into one; it made me happy in a grim and ironic sort of way.
Short of being about two liters low on fluid, I was now at a nominal 100
percent
.
Time for another mission.