By David C. Daoust
Colin decided just to bite his tongue as the massive blue bot, which now housed the gabby little girl-bot, Margo, continued to slide the overturned Personnel Carrier around the lot. A lot which was once full of rubble and debris, though was now a flattened turf thanks to Margo’s futile attempts to get the massive tank back on its tracks.
The other two soldiers, that went uninjured in the previous assault, continued to try and coach the girl on what she was doing wrong. Colin had given up trying to explain to her the best way to get it righted, having spent so much time trying to explain how it ‘should’ work, he now doubted that even he knew what he was talking about. He wondered if this girl had somehow changed the laws of physics in just trying to attempt this.
Finally, a bit of luck struck as the tank caught on a solid lump of ground, which changed the bots push, into a lift, which was basically what they were all telling her again and again, “lift, don’t push!!”
Colin almost cheered aloud as the tank landed upright with a massive thud. He was sure Margo was pleased with herself despite the fact this current form had limited facial expression.
“There, see! I told you I could do it,” the little girls voice said from the oversized grim blue head, “Easy peasy!”
“I had total faith in you the entire time,” Colin lied, as he shared a glance with everyone else there.
The two soldiers were all over the vehicle within seconds, they pulled the commander from the top; he was banged up pretty bad, though it seemed everyone survived the incident. They got the APC running, and took it for a spin around the lot to make sure it was in working order, which it was.
Colin and Craiden put Mari back into the tank, with the other injured soldiers. Colin could tell the man was concerned as the woman had not yet regained consciousness.
Colin watched as Margo tried to unbend one of the cannons from its new ‘U’ position, though ended up ripping the entire cannon off the vehicle. All of which earned her some dire looks from the soldiers trying to finish their mission.
“Ooo sorry,” she said awkwardly as she instinctively held the cannon remains behind her back, “I just thought you may want to shoot some more drones…”
“That’s enough Margo,” Colin interrupted, “Want me to load you back into your… um Margo-body?”
“What? Heck no,” she answered unexpectedly, “I mean not now anyway, I can do way more damage like this…”
Before Colin could say anything more, Margo headed into the fray, fully intent on crushing as many drones as her new unrestricted body could get her hands on!
“Take care of my body, Colin,” She called back to him, “I’ll make sure we have a clear path back to the Barracks!”
The idea seemed sound to Colin, Smash these drones before they could smash them; sounded like a damn fine plan. He just hoped Margo had a clear idea of what was going to happen once they reached Dr. Sun and managed to finish off whatever she had planned. According to Mari’s guess, was an Electra-Magnetic blast, which would most definitely affect Margo no matter which body she was in.
Ultimately, Colin let her go without speaking his concerns, though as he hefted Margo’s empty stunt-bot form into the APC he heard Craiden mutter, “I should have left these damn drones in the desert, packed away in that abandoned ship…”
It took a minute for the words to sink into Colin’s head, and even then he had to turn to the man and ask, “Wait, what?”
