“Rial, we may have a problem.”

Mead’s voice pierced the quiet of the woods where they were crouched, staring out at the walls of Manorest from under the branches, causing Tala and Rial to jolt back in surprise.

“What the khaf?”[1] hissed Rial, forcing his voice into a whisper. “Quiet, Mead! I told you never to take a chance in revealing your presence!”

“I assure you there is no one in this area, and the news I have could be of far greater import than the surveillance of an abandoned village.”

“Abandoned?” said Tala, stretching up from her crouch to take a closer look.

Indeed, it did feel… empty.

“What? What is it, Mead? Quickly,” Rial said.

“Another unit had been activated.”

For some time the sound of the birds in the trees was all that could be heard.

It was Tala who broke the silence.

“Does he… uh, it… mean…”

“Khaf,” said Rial, aloud.[2]

“Mead, you said Manorest is deserted?” asked Tala when Rial seemed disinclined to do anything more. He was staring into space as if stunned.

“Correct. The closest human life signs are those of the city from which we left.”

That makes no sense, thought Tala.

Even if there were no one left in Manorest, if some final catastrophe had taken the town, that wouldn’t be an unheard of event, but there were a number of villages scattered throughout the area much closer than the city.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Rial. “That’s not important right now. I need time to think.”

Rial stood up as he spoke and pushed his way through the undergrowth, all stealth forgotten now. Tala followed him as he walked around the walls until he reached the main gate, hanging wide open. They walked down the eerily quiet main street until, seemingly at random, Rial turned and walked into one of the small wooden houses.

The house had been stripped, only heavy furniture remaining. Even these had been stripped of their covers, the fabric taken along with anything else of value.

Of value and portability, Tala realised. Anything that could be carried was gone. Anything that could not be remained.

Rial fell into a wooden chair and slumped over the table next to it, Mead sliding from his hands into its centre.

“Tell me,” said Rial.

“The unit activated shortly before I first alerted you. I waited several seconds before informing you to run diagnostics on both my hardware and software, however system checks reveal I continue to operate at 78% efficiency, within standard lifetime degradation projections. There is another of my kind, and it is likely fully charged.”

Tala remained standing, watching the scene as it unfolded.

“Is there any way it didn’t detect you?” asked Rial.

“Impossible. Weapons such as myself are not designed for stealth. We are designed to be spotted, easily and from afar, as a deterrence factor. It knows exactly where we are.”

“How can it have been hiding from you?” interrupted Tala, not sure if she was talking to Rial or Mead.

Rial looked up from where he had slumped.

“Not hiding. Inactive. As long as these things are powered off they are basically lumps of pretty metal. We knew it was a possibility that another one still existed, but as Mead was the only one to be found in a thousand suns it seemed…”

“The probability was tiny,” said Mead as Rial trailed off. “The probability that another manifold energy weapon has been discovered coincidentally remains insignificant. It is far more likely that recent events have cascaded to this outcome.”

“You mean something changed that caused this to happen? What?” asked Tala, looking from one to the other.

“I did,” said Rial. “I must have made a mistake.”

She sat down across from him and waited.

“I told you before that there are several others waiting for us at the shelter,” he continued, gathering up Mead as he spoke. “Well, it looks like they’ve been found.”

[1] Tala stifled a laugh; she wondered why he kept trying to use a word he quite obviously didn’t understand.

[2] Better, thought Tala.