“Incoming!!” A man’s shout drowned out any background noise. An immediate crash roared, silencing anything before it.

“Status report!” A different, raspy voice bellowed.

“Starboard side was pierced all the way through. It missed our ammunition by a cabin. T-Minus 80 seconds until landing!” As the man answered an ear-piercing alarm rang.

“Turn to port side, forward steady, kick the engine into overdrive-

“The engineers are-”

“I don’t give a damn what they think, they are burning the thrusters or we’re swimming with the fish!” The captain snapped back.

“Yes sir!”

“Have the guns armed and ready to fire as soon as we are in range-”

“Artillery incoming - 53 seconds left!”

“Expand the shield to cover the fleet and have the engineers throw themselves into the engine if it gets us moving faster!”

“S-sir?” There was a note of hesitation in the man’s voice.

“Am I clear?”

“Crystal!”

“Sir, several channels are being requested for clearance. Its our own.” A third voice spoke up.

“Open them.”

“Roger! What the hell are you doing!?” A new voice came through the channel, interrupted by a different one, “the top brass will have your head for this! Fall back in line!”

An eerie silence came from the recording. Mere seconds have passed but it seemed like eternity until...

“I am doing what is required of me for this mission to succeed.”

“T-minus 25 seconds!”

“There is no way in hell your ship can take that! You mu-” Yet another voice joined in through the communication, explosions echoed in the background.

“Our estimates were off. The infiltration team must have failed if the artillery responded. If nothing is done, half of our forces will fall.” The voice was no longer commandeering. “Extend the shields to their maximum, tell the others to disable their electronics.”

“Sir... yes, sir.” The previous energy no longer remained in the captain’s right hand man. Not after the realisation hit him.

“I hope that you will be successful, for this war must end, no matter what.”

“T-Minus ten, nine, eight, seven-” A synthetic voice began a countdown.

“You have all of our respect Roger, thank you. I will let everyone know to position themselves behind you.”

“-six-”

“All communication channels have closed!”

“-five, four-”

“Everyone, today we dine…”

“-three, two-”

“IN HELL!” Countless other voices mirrored their commander's resounding shout.

“-one-”

An enormous explosion followed the cries. The groan of metal, glass shattering and a final lull.

A recording of Roger’s final conversation before his sacrifice in the Doomsday of Ousthur.

A statue in his honour was erected in the city he died for.

********

Peck peck peck.

A fervent, repetitive disturbance roused me from my sleep. As I struggled to find the strength to open my eyes, the events from before came flooding back. The monsters, the anxiety, the panic, the blood, the bodies, the dead companions, the robots, the trees, the forest, the night, the battle, the-

The confusion...

A searing light filled my vision, ‘Shit, ow!’

‘Night vision off!’

At once, the brightness dropped to a reasonable level. A neutral, grey message appeared in the centre of my vision.

[Calibration Completed]

‘Calibration? What calibration? Did I give that command… I don't think so? I remember just managing to scrape myself together and find a tree to sleep…’

Making use of my regained sight, I scanned the surroundings to find... nothing. The background chirping and rustle of the forest was the only resemblance of ‘normal’. I struggled to my feet, having somewhat of an operational arm to lean on.

‘Now, where did I come from? I must have left some kind of trail…’ I took only a minute of shuffling around to find snapped twigs, bushes and a few prints.

[Those who survived, return to where we left.]

‘That voice, was it the same as before?’

I couldn’t remember, instead, I focused on returning to the resting place of others. Without control over the other arm, walking became a taxing process as I had to keep adjusting my posture. ‘I’m a robot right? Then fixing my arm, and the rest of my body should be possible. I hope those two will do that, it's the least they could do after that nightmare of a night.’

That was the only thought that kept me going. If they did not help us, me, then what hope did we have? It took a few minutes of zombie-shuffling to find the clearing once more. I stopped at the edge to take in the destruction.

‘That could have been me.’ The bodies from before still laid on the ground, the crabs were gone. ‘All it would have taken is for me to stay back in the open, or not thinking to check for something akin to automated defence.’

I suppose I’m just lucky to be alive. ‘But how far will luck get me?’

‘Wait a minute, I swear those furred things’ corpses should be somewhere around here…’ They weren’t, not even a trail of blood remained after the life-or-death clash that transpired the night before.

As I brought my attention forward, I spotted what remained of our original group of one-hundred.

‘Just over a dozen, that gives me a what? - 15% initial chance of survival?’

‘Why do they need to do this, could they not handle our original number?

Or do they just enjoy our suffering?’

Despite their actions, I did not doubt my chances of survival would be about zero should I leave and go on my own. I made my way towards the others who survived. The identical bodies prevented me from telling them apart. Several of them looked at me for a second before breaking eye contact, but most just ignored me; looking lost amidst the rubble.

[Speak what you wish to say in your mind and end it with ‘send’. Define the distance you wish before broadcasting your message.]

The deep, hoarse voice that I heard earlier resounded in my mind once more.

[Hello?]

[Is this working?]

[Oh my god it’s actually working!]

Countless voices clamoured over one another creating an indistinguishable mess.

[You have twenty minutes before we depart. Take all that you need.]

It didn’t matter that a dozen other voices were clashing against one another, all of them were silenced when ‘he’ spoke up.

‘Take what we need…? He's not suggesting that we should…’

I looked at the littered remains, dazed. Sure my arm was broken, and my other one is need of repairs... but there has to be a better way, one that is more... respectable?

‘I can’t pillage their corpses just because they’re dead.’

Without even thinking about it, I found myself before one of the more intact bodies. Its arms and legs were fine, but it was lying in two different spots. There was a clean cut running across his stomach. Its white, emotionless face staring straight into my eyes. Not a trace of life or motion remained.

As if it was judging me for what action I will take.

[Hey wait! Hold on for a sec!]

Someone nearby shouted. His voice was an identical, monotone pitch that everyone else shouted with before. I turned around, glad to no longer stare at the corpse.

‘Me?’ I replied to the two robots that approached while they looked at me in silence.

‘Oh shit, the command.’

‘Me?’ 'Send two metres.’

It seemed like they heard me this time and shook their heads. Except, they seemed hesitant, one of them tilted their head by the slightest amount. He also had several nicks running up his arms but otherwise seemed fine.

[Woah, how did you do that? How did you change your voice?]

‘Change my voice? I never changed my voice... ‘I’m not sure what you mean, I didn’t change anything, just used the command they told us about.’ 'Send two metres.’

As my transmission went out, the one who tilted his head now shook it and placed his hand on the other’s shoulder who had a rather large gash on one of his thighs.

[It’s fine if you don’t want to tell us. We just came by to ask if we could take anything from that robot there?]

‘What robo-oh.

Do I need anything? The arms perhaps, but if not from remains, then where else would I get another spare?’

‘You’re going to just strip him of whatever you need?’ ‘Send two metres.’

The one with a gash reached out and took my defective arm. The sudden motion sent a jolt into my head. Acting on pure instinct I took a step back and yanked my arm free, this earned my another shock.

[What’s wrong? Your arm’s pretty banged up, I just wanted to look at it.]

‘What the hell was that?!’ I looked down at my arm, I never felt anything before, not even while attacked by those things, but why was there pain suddenly?

The dead robot was still there, looking at me. I could feel its gaze through the back of head. I can’t stoop so low. Not while I can still keep going without it.

‘No, go ahead. I’m fine.’ ‘send message, two metres.’

The two looked at each other and shrugged.

[Thank you. We thought you would at least take its arms, most have some damage on their own and this one was one of the few that had two that are intact.]

Once the message came through, the two walked around me and crouched over the robot. I could only watch as they ripped the various joints and links apart, all to separate the various limbs.

[So, how did your night go? If looks are anything to judge by, you seemed to have luck second only to this guy.]

‘Are they kidding me? How can they go about this so nonchalantly? Do they not feel anything for something so similar to yourself?’

‘More importantly, do I tell them the truth? No, it would be safer to let them underestimate me’

‘Sorry um... I never quite got your name.' ‘send one metre.’

[Name? I’m called Gash and my friend, well more like saviour, is Nicks.]

‘Saviour? What did he save you from?’ ‘Send one metre.’ I sat down in a cross-legged position while talking to save energy.

[Well, I went into the trees with the other group but when it went gloom and doom style, found myself alone from the others. That’s when I heard this growling,] Gash brought his arms up and did a gesture akin to big flappy ears [I just had enough time to take a step back when one of those things lunged at me and yanked a piece outta me.] As his voice finished echoing across my mind he pointed at the gouge running along his thigh.

After which he resumed stripping the robot apart. [That’s when Nicks comes out of nowhere and kills it! Scared the living shit out of me let me tell you. First I thought he was just a bigger shit out to get me. But it worked out fine, he told me about nightvision and we looked after each other.]

As Gash went about their side of the story, Nicks remained silent; focusing solely on the task at hand.

[But that’s enough about us, your turn!]

‘Now what do I tell them? There were three? No two that were after me. By the time I finished one the other got me? Sounds good.’

‘I was in the same position as you, went into the forest with the others and got lost. Was on my own when two of the fur-balls attacked me. By the time I ripped one of them of off my body and killed it, the other had a field day with me. After that no others approached, much to my relief.’ ‘Send one metre.’

[Sounds like you had a shittier night than us, but not as bad as this one guy we saw running through the forest. Dude was chased not by three or four of those things but SIX! And oh man did he run, it was a sight to behold, how he managed to avoid the trees at that speed is beyond me. It’s a good thing he zoomed past us, there’s no way we could take on that many of them. Speedy buggers.]

‘That sounds like what happened to me... they don’t recognise me, do they?’

‘I definitely did not see anything like that, but it sounds like he drew away a few that would have went after us. We should be thankful for his sacrifice.’ ‘Send one metre.’

‘If this works, they would assume he died and not think it was me. Or at least they shouldn't.’

[Sacrifice, huh? Well, we’re done here, if you're not getting anything why not join us?]

‘What.’

‘Join in what sense?’ ‘Send one metre.’

[Oh you know, stick with us and we will watch each other’s back. Who knows what they will make us do next, having a team to fall back on. That kind of stuff.] Gash said and gave a thumbs-up.

‘It wouldn’t hurt, well, I’ll join for now.’

‘Sure, is there any special command for that?’ ‘Send one metre.’

The two of them got up and looked at me. Both of them had an arm and a leg hoisted over each shoulder. They dismembered a corpse but weren’t phased by it in the slightest…

[Nah, welcome aboard... oh, you never told us your name.]

‘My name is Jef-’

Markon Wole

What the heck?’ Two words just rang across my head. Was that my true name? Should I use it instead? Not like it matters anyway.

‘Markon Wole’ ‘send message, one metre.’