Benson winked away as soon as his army of machines showed up. Paul couldn’t blame him. What good would one human do when you had the kind of technological might Reginald Chu had at his disposal? The metallic machines—some boxy, some round—littered the flattened fields in front of Paul, and each one of them looked ready to kill. The only ones he recognized were the Metaspides, spherical, with long legs and nasty weapons. They had attacked him twice before; they weren’t very nice.
The other machines out there were new to Paul, but just as vicious-looking. A big, boxy robot on wheels with two arms that resembled bulldozers but had fists of steel with nasty spikes on the end. Hovering, disk-shaped metal plates that were several feet across and came to a razor-thin edge along the outer circle.
In the long pause that seemed to float through the air like an air-bound virus between when Benson winked away and when the inevitable battle would begin, Paul could see labels on the closest machines. All of Chu’s inventions were marked, starting way back with the Gnat Rats.
The bulldozer-robot was called a Denter. And the flying saucer weapons were Ranters. The phrase “Manufactured by Chu Industries” was printed on every machine.
Beautiful, Paul thought. Just beautiful. Like fighting a massive storm called the Void of Mist and Thunder from the Fourth Dimension wasn’t going to be a big enough challenge for the Realitants.
The moment felt like an eternity but couldn’t have been longer than twenty seconds.
Sofia finally broke the silence. “How did it all come to this? The smallest army ever caught between two impossible enemies.”
Paul had never heard such sadness in her voice. That’s what hit him with a rush of fear—the realization that they were probably about to die. Not seeing all the machines in front of him. Not hearing all of the terrible sounds of the Void behind him. If Sofia was feeling hopeless, they must be in bad shape.
Paul shot a glance back at the Fifth Army. They seemed confused, milling about as if deciding which front to fight first. There was a commotion on the far side, but it was hard to see over the tall bodies of the soldiers. It all added up to equal one major downer.
“We just have to fight,” he finally said. “That’s all we can do. Fight until we either win or die. Until Tick does whatever he’s going to do. Maybe Rutger will find us some more people. But all we can do—me and you—is fight.”
Sofia looked at him with something like awe, which swelled his chest up with pride. She even had the beginnings of a tear in one of her eyes.
“One of these days, I’m going to realize just how much I like you,” she said. “Maybe once you’re old enough to quit making fart jokes.”
He smiled, a ridiculous thing to do when you were about to die. But he did it anyway. “That’s a deal right there. I’m gonna hold you to it.”
She smiled back.
The machines of Chu Industries started whirring and chirping and revving, a chorus of awful sounds. Then they all moved at once.
Chapter 67
A Glimpse of Rutger
Sato barely had time to assess the situation. On one side of his army, a horde of machines were about to attack with technology far beyond a few Shurrics and the other meager weapons the Fifth had at the ready. And on the other—on his side—at least a hundred gray soldiers were marching toward him, their mouths already beginning to open up. The abyss inside matched the fiery sockets of their eyes. Pure flame and heat.
They had no time to wallow in despair or wish for better days. It was fight or die.
“Attack!” he yelled, as loud as he possibly could. “Slam them with Shurrics before they can fight back!”
A series of thumping concussions rocked the world as every one of his nearby soldiers started firing. Sato felt a quick burst of pride at seeing a dozen or so of the Void creatures obliterated into wispy trails of mist. But more came.
And beams of brilliant fire shot out of their mouths, like a volley of arrows, streaming up toward the sky then back down toward the Fifth Army.
“Take cover!” Sato shouted, but the screams had already begun.
Master George was in the middle of the fray, wondering desperately why in the name of all that was good and green on the earth he’d decided to pretend to be a soldier. He could barely hold the Shurric in his arms, and he didn’t know what to do. He stood there, looking to Mothball and Sally for direction. He’d do whatever they did.
The sky was suddenly lit up with streams of fire, coming from the direction of the Void. The sounds of revved up machinery came from the other side, where that nasty ogre Chu had sent some of his inventions. But for what purpose, George had no idea. What in the dickens was going on?