Powell shook his head. “It beats me. All I know is, I’ve never heard of anything like ’em before.”
* * *
The side of the tower facing the field had been raked by cannon fire. In what was left of the day room on the ground floor, Hudro groped his way through the smoke and dust, lifting aside a steel locker that had been thrown at an angle against the wall. A body that had been pinned behind it slid down into a heap. Somebody was groaning and calling for aid in the direction of the stairs. A corpsman in a helmet bearing a red cross appeared from outside and went on through. Hudro came to the daylight but kept back within the frame of the doorway while he took in the situation. Sergeant Davis, his face bloody and covered in dust, stumbled up beside him.
Flocks of what looked like gliding, stubby-winged birds were spiraling down to settle all over the airfield. A plane that seemed to have escaped serious damage lurched its way out from behind a transport that was starting to burn and turned toward the main runway. A swarm of maybe a dozen small shapes, some rising from the surrounding ground, others not yet landed, converged upon it like dogs around a bear, each exploding on contact to leave the aircraft crippled and immobile. Two more homed on a staff car racing along the nearby verge, causing it to swerve and overturn. One came down off a hangar roof to explode among a group of figures running toward the fire shed. Another rose up from the sand to pursue a soldier who jumped up from a foxhole, getting close enough before detonating to blow off his upper body.
“What in the name of Christ are they?” Davis asked fearfully.
Hudro scanned the surrounding. Similar things were happening in every direction as panic took over. The sounds of intensifying battle were coming distantly but insistently from the east. “Smart drones,” he replied. “Is way to deny use of base but not destroy. Means they plan to take over soon. Next attack will be with fragmentation—like rain of razors.”
Davis gulped. “You mean we’re supposed to just sit here, waiting to get blended?”
“Terrans don’t have defenses.”
“So what are we supposed to do?”
“Must first stop fear and movement. Need radio.” Hudro led the way back inside, where they picked up a dazed tower crew operator in a blood-streaked shirt. “Find working radio,” Hudro told him. “Local channels, all commanders you can talk with outside. Tell nobody to move. Stay still, is okay. Tell them pass message on.”
A Marine private who had come down from the upper level overheard. “There was a Hummer out back. Its radio should be okay. It may have a loud hailer too.” He thought about it. “Would that be safe?”
“Is good,” Hudro said. “Drones don’t use sound sensor. We go see.”
While the tower officer started checking the equipment, Hudro, Davis, and the Marine made their way through to the rear of the building and looked out. A Hummer command car was parked along with several other vehicles, all looking unscathed. Hudro raised a warning hand as they were about to emerge. “Now must move very slow. Good chances. You see.” They approached the Hummer like slow-motion mimes. Hudro indicated the driver’s seat to Davis. “I never learn to drive Terran machines. Is yours.”
Davis looked nervous. “With those things everywhere?”
“Must drive very careful. Move no more than one foot in two seconds. Can do, yes?”
They climbed in. Davis started the motor, and with his knuckles white on the wheel, negotiated the Hummer foot by foot around the building until they could see out over the field again, then stopped. The Marine located the loud hailer and began addressing the general area. “HEAR THIS. HEAR THIS. GENERAL ALERT. BE AWARE OF MOTION DETECTION. MAKE NO RAPID MOVEMENT. REPEAT, DO NOT MAKE RAPID MOVEMENTS. . . .”
Hudro, meanwhile, toyed with the vehicle’s radio and raised the operator they had left inside the tower. “We’ve managed to contact some of the units out there,” the operator reported. “Still trying more.” Sure enough, the panic seemed to be abating, giving way to a strained, nervous paralysis spreading across the field.