Credit: Jamie Tufrey
Holden turned around just as the bug settled to the surface less than fifty metres away.
"Why?"
Asa lifted his hands, palms up. It was a shrug, pressure suit style. "Luck of the draw."
"No, I mean why here?" He stepped toward the bug. "It's a big rock. It could have set down a kilometre away. Or on the other side. Why here?"
Asa grabbed Holden's arm, pulling gently. "The better to eat us. How the hell should I know? I just know we need to leave. According to the law, we should already be gone. If anyone finds out, we're toast."
"Do you see anyone else? Was there anything on radar?" He turned to face his partner. Their helmets were nearly touching. "Ace, if I leave now, it's my last trip. I lose the Aces. I lose my home. I'll end up shuffling through Mars dust and popping rivets for a living. Sheila and Jazz … "
"They love you, buddy. They'd love you even if you ate slime and crapped frogs."
"I can't lose this, Asa. I can't lose Jazz's future."
"Holden, you can't – oh, damn!"
He didn't have to ask. Asa's eyes and the tone of his voice said it all. This was a real 'damn.' Holden turned to find the bug standing just a few metres away.
He'd seen the images published by the science teams, but they were flat little representations that flashed on a datapad, no more threatening than an image of a lion or a supernova. Seeing nearly three metres of multi-jointed legs and squat metal body towering in front of him, he wondered if a lion or a supernova might not be preferable.
The bugs actually came in two pieces. One was the forty-metre drum that held the thing's thrusters and cargo hold. That part still rested in the distance. The other part, the part that had earned them their nickname, the part that had snuck up on Holden and Asa, had a dozen legs mounted around a thick, diamond-shaped torso. The legs had manipulator fingers on the ends and each carried a variety of cutting, boring, and grinding gadgets.
On the front of the torso was a ball on a short stalk. It was ringed with what seemed to be a random scattering of antennae, optics, and – things.
Holden realised the bug wasn't watching them at all. It was examining the scar on the surface where he'd cut out a couple of chunks of ore. One front leg extended to the hole and a grinding wheel rotated into place. Holden watched, fascinated, as the manipulator dug at the asteroid. It swept through the dust and lifted it up to the machine's head. It looked like it was tasting it. The taste must have been right, because the leg came back down and the bright flare of a plasma torch bit into the rock.
That was just too much for Holden. Not only was this thing going to take his rock, it was going to waste half of it by vaporising it with a torch! "Stop it!" He took two strides forward, dangerously close to the torch.
