Jeffcott opened the door a crack to let in some light. After the dimness of the interior, the brightly lit Arizona desert was almost blinding. He squinted until his eyes had had time to adapt and looked around.

  The two Rhinos of their platoon were close behind, still tethered to the MCV by chains. The drivers looked nervous as they stared around into the desert. Jeffcott followed their gaze and saw nothing but dusty sand and sentry plants, looking back at him. He looked down and saw that several of the plants had been crushed by the vehicles driving over them. Eyes turned upwards to look at him but they were already beginning to sag as the heat baked the sap out of them. The sight gave him a savage satisfaction.

  Then Captain Daniels squeezed past him to exit the vehicle, followed by Archie and Bird carrying toolkits. The engineers went around to the side of the vehicle where they immediately began undoing nuts and bolts. The Captain, meanwhile, went to the other MCV that had stopped close beside theirs. He rapped on the door, it opened and he went in.

  "Close the door," Brooks told him."

  "I need to see," Jeffcott replied. "I need light."

  Brooks, meanwhile, was reaching into a bag by his feet and pulling out a glowstick. He snapped it and it began to emit a greenish light. When Jeffcott closed the door, it was just enough to see by.

  He heard the sounds of Archie and Bird coming in from outside, along with the voices of the two drivers. "Where are they?" one of then was asking.

  "Probably right out there," the other replied. "There could be hundreds, camouflaged the colour of the desert, and we haven't got the IR goggles any more. They'll come at us when they discover our guns don't work any more."

  "You'll get your guns," Brooks promised him, though. "We must he close enough to the other MCV to be within its magnetic shield. With any luck..."

  To Jeffcott's delight a glow of light began to come from his computer screens as he put it through its startup routine. "See if the engine'll start," he told the drivers.

  There was a pause, and then the engine roared back to life. Jeffcott grinned with relief as the lights and viewscreens came back on and the nitrogen pumps began humming again. Voices from the other vehicles began coming from the speakers.

  "Stryker one and Rhino two are still dead," someone was saying. "They must be too far away from MCV two."

  "MCV one will be back in action soon enough," someone else said. "The Frog'll soon have it fixed."

  "He's not the Frog any more," the unmistakable voice of Bird replied. "He's the Limey now. Turns out his mum's a Brit."

  "No way!" the first unknown voice replied. "Hey, Limey. We saved your asses in World War 2."

  "Well we saved your asses in World War 3," Archie replied cheerfully.

  "Guy's a Simpsons fan," laughed someone. "Eat my shorts, Limey."

  "Smell ya later Goldberg," Archie replied. "Okay, that's got the panel loose. Lower it gently, Bird."

  "It's heavy," the other engineer replied.

  "It should," Archie replied. "That's two full inches of L32. Composite steel and ceramic. Even back in the 80's they knew how to protect an APV."

  "Hey, guys," said another voice from the speaker and Jeffcott was suddenly alert. The voice sounded worried. "Something's happening."

  "Enemy attack?" said the voice of Captain Daniels.

  "Don't know. The ground's moving, like it's... It's a sheet covering a massive hole in the ground! They dug a pit trap, right ahead of us. We woulda gone right into it if we hadn't stopped."

  Jeffcott stared into the screen showing the feed from a camera mounted on the M113. The sheet covering the hole was alive! It was made of thousands of anomaly creature fish eggs, he saw, covered over with a thin layer of desert sand. As he watched in astonishment he saw the sheet tearing apart in the centre and pulling away to the sides where it was re-organising itself to form hundreds of anomaly creatures. Six-eyed flower heads turned in their direction and then the creatures charged.

  "Light 'em up!" shouted the Captain and the air was filled with the thunder of machine guns. Anomaly creatures were torn apart as bullets ripped into them but the creatures were veering to the right, towards Stryker one which was still dead. Too far away from MCV two to be covered by its magnetic shield. They chambered onto the vehicle and hammered away at it with their claws.

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  "Everyone remain in your vehicle," the Captain ordered. "They can't do any harm to the vehicles. Claws can't touch steel. Rhinos 2 and 3, keep Starling and Archambault covered."

  "Only us in the cab can see 'em," someone replied. A Rhino driver, Jeffcott guessed. "We can open a door and lean out..."

  "No," Daniels ordered. "Starling, how you doing?"

  "Turning the valve," Bird replied. "Panel Five is now isolated. The shield should be up again very soon."

  "Putting the armour back in place," Archie added. "We'll be done soon."

  "The creatures are going under the vehicles," a voice said. "We're losing them."

  "Okay," said the Captain. "Five men each from Rhinos two and three, exit your vehicles and cover the engineers. Don't let anything near them."

  ☆☆☆

  Bird swore as he cut his finger on a sharp edge of metal as he stretched his hand to reach the hole the bolt would have to go through. "I can't reach it," he gasped as blood dripped onto the bolt, making it sticky.

  "You're almost there," said Archie, shouting to be heard above the thunder of the machine guns. "Just a half inch more."

  "I can't see what I'm doing. Who the hell designed this thing?"

  "You need to go down a bit. Then a bit to the right."

  Bird heard boots hitting the dusty ground, and then there were people around him, crouching down to see under the vehicle. "Here they come," a man beside him said, lying flat on the ground and aiming his machine gun ahead of him. "Open fire!"

  Bird took a moment to look up from what he was doing and saw anomaly creatures swarming under the MCV towards him. They exploded as bullets hit them but more were following close behind. The man beside him paused to reload and the creatures took the opportunity to scurry yowards him. The man beside him mowed them down with his weapon. Bird watched in fascination as gore splattered the underside of the vehicle.

  "Bird!" shouted Archie. "Where's that bolt?"

  Bird snapped back to the task at hand and made an effort to reach his hand further. Then he felt the bolt slipping into its hole. It vibrated as Archie used a pneumatic spanner to tighten the nut onto it. "Done," he said. "Next."

  "Nitrogen temperature minus 288 and dropping," said Brooks over the radio link. "It's working."

  Bird reached for the next bolt, taking a moment to wipe his bloody finger on his trousers. More blood immediately welled up from the cut to replace it. He ignored it and reached in with his hand to try to find the next hole. This one was much easier to find and Archie quickly put the nut on it. With two bolts now in place the plate of armour held itself in position and the two engineers could let go of it with their other hands.

  Someone swore, followed by a cry of pain. Another burst of machine gun fire followed. "They got Carter!" someone shouted. "Can't see the damned things!"

  Their camouflage, thought Bird. The creatures were all but invisible.

  "Just fire ahead of you," said someone. "Even if you don't see anything, fire anyway."

  "We'll waste ammo..."

  "We've got plenty of ammo. It's engineers that are in short supply."

  Aw shucks, thought Bird in almost hysterical humour. He cares about me.

  Together, he and Archie put one bolf after another through the sheet of armour while the machine guns made an almost constant clamour around them. Now and again a man would cry out as a creature inflicted an injury on him but nothing got close to either of the two engineers. Bird reached for the last bolt and reached under the vehicle for the hole it went into.

  This was the most awkward, though, which was why he'd left it until last. The vehicle was supposed to be raised up on a lift when this was done. Apparently it had never occurred to the designers that someone might have to replace a sheet or armour in the field. Either that or there was a knack to it that was known only to the vehicle's regular maintenance crew, who had all retired twenty years ago, taking their specialist knowledge with them.

  Bird lat flat on the dusty ground and squirmed under the vehicle to a position where he could reach up to there the bolt went. Beside him was the crushed and broken remains of a sentry plant. It was almost dead, he saw out of the corner of his eye, but one of the eye stalks had just enough life left in it to turn and look at him. Bird tried to ignore it and return his attention to the task at hand.

  "Can't quite reach it," he gasped as he reached up, blood trickling down his greasy, dusty hand. "Just out of reach."

  "Okay, forget it," said Archie. "We got seven bolts in. That'll hold it."

  "No, wait," said Bird, though. "Maybe if I..." He edged himself a little to the side, closer to the crushed sentry plant.

  There was a blur of motion and something sharp pricked his face. "Son of a..." Bird gasped. He jerked away to a safe distance and turned his head to see that the plant had produced a sharp spike to prick him with. "Bloody thing jabbed me!" he cried out.

  "The creatures are pulling back," said the Stryker driver over the radio. "Looks like they've figured out they can't hurt us."

  "Nitrogen temperature minus 297," said Brooks. "We're getting our shield back."

  Bird squirmed out from under the vehicle, touching his face with his not-bloody hand. "Bloody thing jabbed me," he said, feeling his cheek carefully. "Thing was almost dead. Too weak to do me any real damage."

  "Are you done?" demanded the Captain.

  "All done," Archie replied.

  "Then get back inside. Everyone back in their vehicles."

  "We have casualties," someone replied. "Cuts. Some serious."

  "Get them to the M113's" the Captain said. "Rhino crews, cover them. Then get back to your vehicles."

  "You first," said one of the soldiers, still lying down and staring under the vehicle. "We'll cover you."

  "Right," said Archie. "Come on, Bird."

  The other engineer was hesitating, though, his hand still to his face. "Feel funny," he said.

  "Feel funny back in the MCV," said Archie, pushing him towards the door. "Quick."

  Bird wobbled on his feet, though, and put out his hands to steady himself against the vehicle. There was a coldness spreading through his body that terrified him. "I think it poisoned me," he said. "It jabbed me with poison."

  He saw Archie staring at his face and saw his eyes widen with alarm. "You there," he said to the nearest soldier. "Help me get him to the M113."

  "We'll take him," said another man as he and the first man took an arm each. "You get back inside."

  Bird saw Archie staring at him anxiously as if torn with indecision, but then he nodded and climbed back inside the MCV. Then the two soldiers carried Bird to the makeshift hospital.