AMP Colossus by Stephen Arseneault Page B

grenade. I flipped out the pin and threw it towards the shaft floor. The grenade exploded more than a hundred meters up before reaching its destination. The Colossun continued to fire.
    In a second attempt to stop the lethal bursts of gravity pulses, I swung my AK around and into my hands. I pulled back on the charge handle, released, aimed downward, and fired.
    Ak!
    The 7.62 mm round impacted the floor beside the Colossun. I fired four more rounds.
    Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak!
    The fourth round struck the target, entering the right shoulder of the android. Internal damage had been done, as its right arm lowered towards the ground. The android was quick to change its weapon to its other hand. The pulses continued.
    Again I fired a burst of four.
    Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak!
    Two rounds struck the floor in front of the Colossun, and two behind. Ion bolts from above then began to strike the floor after sizzling past my position. With each impact, the android’s systems were destabilized, if for only a moment. The pulses began to impact the walls of the shaft. The Colossun’s aim had lost much of its resolution.
    I screamed into my helmet, "Get us up, guys! Come on!"
    With less than a hundred meters to go, the pulley motor screeched to a halt. It had locked up due to overheating. As I hung in the air, still in full view of the Colossun, four more soldiers entered the shaft with cords tethered to their chest connectors. The pulses came in a furious barrage.
    I emptied my clip.
    Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak! Ak!
    One of the Colossuns stopped firing.
    An instant later, I felt a hard pull as the rope yanked us upwards. Ten Marines had taken ahold and were pulling us up manually. We moved as fast as they could run. When I reached the top, I was slung up and over the pulley and out onto the floor. Derpa stopped just short and was quickly pulled to safety by the others. The Colossuns below ceased firing.

Chapter 8

    For two weeks, we sat and watched as the Grell repaired the elevator tracks below. Many ideas of what we could do to stop the progress had been brought up for discussion. None of those ideas had potential outcomes that would make them worth doing.
    I spoke. "Colonel, we are going to hit the point of not having supplies. If we can’t feed or hydrate ourselves, we won’t be long for this world. Should we consider taking that elevator down to just above the repairs? We could easily rappel from that height."
    Colonel Calder replied, "Yes, we could, but where are we going to go from there? If there is a garrison of Colossuns just outside that shaft, we would have to fight our way through them. We don’t have the weapons required to be successful, and I won’t subject my men to a suicide run."
    I continued, "What if we drop in with the jammer going? I’m sure they aren’t all tethered to a comm link like the few in the shaft. If we catch them in that state of seeking a link, we could possibly take them out by hand."
    The Colonel replied, "You are scaring me, Grange! You are sounding like a gung-ho Marine, while I am trying to be the voice of reason. How did we switch roles?"
    I chuckled and replied, "I don’t know, Colonel. All I do know is that we need to take action of some sort."
    The Colonel pointed her finger in thought before speaking. "Bring up a surface map on your arm pad… OK, show me where you first landed the harvester… we are only about eight kilometers from that point."
    I replied, "What are you thinking, Colonel?"
    The Colonel replied, "I’m thinking we take a force, make the trek across those dunes out there, and see if that hole you drilled can be descended into. If so, we may be able to drop a company or two in that tunnel you fell into before."
    I thought for a moment before I replied, "I like where this is going, Colonel. If we can get in there and take control of one of those air locks, we might be able to seal off one of those mines. It would at least give us some