I left the ad, and the ad space, to get my newest employee’s roost built, and get away from Clippy. The instructions for the roost were simple, I just needed to hand them to Axle and get them added to our construction bill, since mud-crete was an acceptable substance to the strange bat-like creature that would soon be living in the air above us. I made a mental note to warn the ravens. The last thing I needed was two of my aerial contractors in a fight.

The barn was peaceful, cool, and dark, so I sat for a long moment and wondered if I was ever going to get used to Clippy. Each interaction was so jarring, but he always cut straight to the core of the problem and helped solve it. He was much faster than before too, helping the remnants of humanity interact with BuyMort’s advertising system must have been good experience.

Axle was right where I left him, fretting over his new library. A single gobb worker was assigned to the project and was slowly building a mud-crete shack with no door, as my Knowle operations manager was nitpicking every inch of it.

The goblin happily took a break and sucked on his bottle of d’jhz while I spoke to Axle. The Knowle blinked at the description of the new building and cocked his head to the side more than once but agreed that the natural radar our new associate would bring to our affiliate was an excellent choice, given our limited options.

With that accomplished, I found myself with the strange sensation of being without an immediate task. I stood in the desert and watched Axle torment his goblin, building the strange little shack of a library, but soon grew restless.

I was worried about Molls, and anytime I thought of her I glanced at the affiliate page to see if we still had church protection. It didn’t seem worth much, but at least they hadn’t directly hit our base because of it. The people under my care were vulnerable here, and I was glad to see Axle taking his mate’s more tactical advice when choosing our constructed upgrades. I felt like we needed the added protection.

Included in the gobbs updated construction list was another boost to our walls, an extended lip, and six foot deep, mud-crete reinforced trench around the entire camp instead of just Mr. Sada’s old lot. Jada was assembling her gobb crew to go dig the trench as I passed through, idly walking the camp.

Rayna was nowhere to be seen, but Tollya was still managing the weapons stash. A section in the new storage barn was going to be used as a small armory, but until it was complete Tollya distributed the firearms throughout the camp for safe-keeping.

At each section of the wall that changed direction, a modest guard tower had been built from mud-crete, with heavy locking doors. They now served as temporary armories, under hobb guard. Tollya had several crates of weapons and ammunition stored at the main gate as well, and she kept a watchful eye on those herself.

The hobbs paid closer attention to the gobbs than usual, and with how many were running around, I couldn’t blame them. Our new weapon caches had to have been appealing targets.

In the distance, the space elevator rumbled as a massive, donut shaped ship ascended on it. A smaller glint of light caught my attention, as it flashed over the Prescott national forest.

The shape of a flying craft became evident as I focused, and with a shock, I realized it was on a bearing for our camp.

“Tollya!” I shouted.

The hobb snapped alert, her eyes narrowing as she looked where I was looking and saw what I was seeing.

“Raid!” She shouted. “Everyone cover now!”

The campground exploded into motion. Hobbs ran, barking at gobbs and humans alike, getting everyone under some kind of mud-crete cover. People screamed, and the broad winged vessel streaked by overhead. It dropped a bright green ball the size of a compact car, and the thing bounced when it hit.

It splashed thick jelly, and rubbery foam tore loose as it bounced across the parking lot into the residential area, coming to a violent stop against one of the units under construction.

I grabbed my highwater blaster and primed one of my final MIRV shells as I ran toward Tollya.

“Dearth bombed us!” I yelled. I ran up to the strange object and skidded in the residual glop in the street. It was rubbery green foam, coated with thick, viscous jelly.

“No! Not bomb! Something else!” She yelled.

I stopped, arms pinwheeling as I fought to stay upright in the slick, uneven stuff. Tollya saw my struggle and moved to avoid the puddle of glop, walking carefully around its edges. A small crowd of goblins and humans started to form around us, as more people became aware that it wasn’t a bomb after all.

“It’s a pod!” Tollya shouted. The hobb woman tore foam and rubber away, exposing a thin metal carapace. I carefully walked through the street to the other side, where an open door was evident.

A woman limped down the residential block away from the pod, and Tollya pointed at her. “Hobbs! Surround!” she shouted.

The woman was in rags, and through the rips and tears in her meager clothing, a heavy vest woven with bright orange blocks of something was visible. She increased her pace, limping into one of the nearly complete structures, and shoving a goblin worker out of her way.

I made my way out of the crash landing slick onto solid ground, and we chased after her. A few hobbs converged on our position, having heard Tollya’s shout. Ordo was among them, rifle tucked into his shoulder.

“Boss,” he said, nodding at me. Ordo turned to the other hobbs and nodded at them the same, falling into our formation.

“A woman in rags. I think she has a bomb vest, be careful,” I said, as we pushed into the building behind her. People and goblins were huddled into the far corners of the structure, and one man was pointing toward the door.

A light trail of blood led us through the structure to the new central hallway that joined all of the individual housing units. Tollya went first, I followed immediately after her, and Ordo brought up the rear of our formation.

Blood droplets on the mud-crete led us across the hall to another unfinished unit, where the woman was swiping at the air frantically, while ignoring the shrapnel wound in her leg. Through her BuyMort screens, she saw us enter and shrieked.

She turned and limped out of the construction site, ignoring a jabbering gobb that streaked past. With a pained cry, her leg gave out and she tumbled to the dirt.

More people gathered, at a safer distance this time. A group of hobbs spread out among them, ready to perform crowd control if needed, but merely part of the crowd for the moment.

Ordo circled around the woman, rifle aimed at her. His eyes flicked between me and the woman as I approached, and the rest of the hobbs formed up around us. The few humans and gobbs in the area fled at the sight of us, joining the distant semi-circle of onlookers.

The woman stared up into my cracked helmet, tears streaking her filthy face. She was older than I had expected, in her early fifties at least. Grey hair and wrinkles peeked from the tattered shawl covering her head. Her clothing was little more than rags, aside from a new pair of black boots. They looked like the boots Dearth’s mercenaries had been wearing when they attacked us.

“Please!” She whimpered. “You have to get away! There’s not supposed to be so many people here!”

“Just calm down,” I said, raising my hands. “It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.”

She shook her head, more tears rushing forward. “I’m so sorry. Send your people away, hurry! You’ll all die!”

I frowned but pushed my hands at the hobbs in the crowd behind us. “Get them clear,” I ordered. They formed up and began gently guiding the people in the crowd further back, pushing them out in the open patch of desert between residential and the wall.

Tollya looked at me, a question in her eyes. I nodded. “You all as well, go. Get back, get clear. I’ll stay.”

The woman cried out in fright and pushed herself across the desert to the base of the d’jhz tower. I turned to see what had scared her so badly, following her gaze over our walls. Several BuyMort pods were zipping across the compound toward us, and she took a deep, shaking breath while watching them.

“It’s okay, you can’t hurt me,” I said, arms raised. “Let me help you.”

“Get away, please!” The woman raised a shaking hand to me, as if asking for my help. “I’m so sor-”

Then the first of the pods arrived, and she detonated.