Foreman was still grinning at me. He. shared his grin with the room. "Now," he said. "Now, we're at anger."

There were fourteen domes, two rows of seven out of shelterfoam, and enclosed by the familiar chain link fence. The gate was locked. A sign on the gate said

UNITED STATES ARMY

EMERGENCY SUPPLY DEPOT #CA-145

WARNING: NO TRESPASSING PATROLLED BY ROBOTS

Jason looked at the sign with interest. "What are the robots armed with, Jim?"

"If they're standard, then they'll have modified 280's. They might also have rockets and grenades. If they have a working service bay, they're getting regular maintenance. They could be trouble. "

Jason nodded. He looked to George, "What do you say, George?"

George rumbled, "Jim speaks true."

"All right," Jason made a decision. "Have everybody move back. We'll blow the fence and see who comes running. Let's have Falstaff and Orson be the welcoming committee."

George said, "If the robots have grenades or torches, we could lose them. Or if they've been programmed to aim for the soft spot at the base of the eyestalks."

Jason nodded. He looked at George. "Do you have a better idea?"

"No. I just want you to be aware of the possible consequences."

"Thanks," Jason sounded annoyed. He nodded to Marcie. "Blow up the gate."

She nodded back and began unpacking her explosives.

Jason walked over to the truck with Falstaff and Orson in it. He chirruped, and they poured out of the truck and meatloafed up in front of him. Orrie flowed over too.

"All right, boys," Jason said. He began to talk to them. He used English sentences, interspersed with chirps and signs and gestures. The Chtorrans bobbled their eyes.

Marcie had six gobbets of plastic explosive. She stuck them to the hinges of the gate and its base. She stuck a tiny radio-detonator into each glob. "All right," she waved. "Everybody move back."

George came up carrying two rocket launchers. He handed one to me. "When the robots come, try to take them out before they can do anything to the worms."

"No problem."

George moved off a bit and began setting up. I did likewise. Marcie stepped toward us with a cheery smile. "Everybody ready? Jason?" she called.

Jason nodded, put his hands in his pockets and waited expectantly.

Marcie pulled the detonator out of her pocket and unlocked it. She punched in a code number, then looked around one last time. "You might want to hold your ears," she warned. "Three . . . two . . . one." She pressed the last button.

The gate exploded inward, toppling flat on the ground. Almost immediately, an alarm went off and six flat rolling tanks came bursting out of two nearby domes. Their laser beams whirled and pointed. They focused on Marcie, on George, on me, on the Chtorrans-but they didn't fire. They wouldn't fire unless we entered the fence. We had maybe thirty minutes before the choppers arrived. If that.

We'd picked this base because there was an empty warehouse nearby. We'd be gone in twenty minutes and hidden in the warehouse by the time the choppers were overhead.

If necessary, we could take the choppers out. We had twelve ground-to-air missiles, but we didn't want to use them. It was too dangerous to call that much attention to ourselves.

I targeted on the first robot's treads and launched. The explosion toppled the beast and it was helpless. We could finish that one with the torch.

George launched a grenade at the second robot. The explosion rocked the machine, but it remained upright, its turret swiveled and targeted. It began firing back. Immediately, the four remaining robots also began firing at George. He dove into the ditch, gobbets of earth exploding all around him.

The robot turrets swiveled to focus on me. I didn't wait to see if they would fire or not, I dove after George. I was smart. The ground exploded behind me. Apparently, they'd programmed these monsters to be more aggressive in the past few months. The bastards. We were only trying to liberate some supplies. It wasn't like we wanted to kill someone.

Falstaff and Orson flowed into the camp then. The robots twirled their turrets and opened fire on them. Orson shuddered as the laser beam touched the base of his eyestalks, but he raised up in a challenge and took the burst of machine gun fire in the belly. He came down hard on the robot and toppled it. He rolled away, bleeding profusely. I wasn't worried. He came up charging the next robot. Yay, Orson.

Falstaff went banging headfirst into the same robot. I saw the torch nozzle coming out of its side and screamed. We were going to lose both of our attack-trained worms. Orson hit the robot sideways and the flame missed Falstaff by a hair, scorching across his back. Falstaff leapt and pushed on the robot and it toppled like a fat chess piece. Its turret swiveled back and forth, sending a spume of flame arcing across the compound.

The last two robots were trying to shoot at everything in sight, but they were confused by the flames of their fallen comrade. Apparently, they had infrared detectors. I rose up from the ditch and hurled a grenade. George came up beside me and hurled one as well. We threw ourselves flat-

The blast went over our heads, spattering us with clods and rocks, and when we looked up one of the robots was twirling in a circle, its target beam waving drunkenly. The other one was smoking and still. Falstaff came up and toppled it. He had lost half his tail in the blast. He waved his arms and screamed his rage over the fallen robot.

Marcie screamed. "Orson!"

Orson was aflame. He'd been torched. He writhed across the ground, enveloped in fire. He screamed and shrieked in agony. "Falstaff! Watch out!"

The robot that was still upright was laboriously trying to target on him now. Apparently, its gyros had been damaged by the blast but its weaponry was still working. Given enough time, it would lock onto him. It wheeled in his direction jerkily.

Someone was firing at it-Marcie! George hurled a grenade. I threw myself flat. There was another blast.

And then it was over. The robot was still.

Falstaff chirped at it, plowed over and toppled it. Then he whirled around and raced toward Orson, still writhing-skidding to a halt halfway there. The heat of the flames held him back. He hesitated, tried to reach Orson again, then backed away. And then he screamed. He raised up and wailed. It was the most incredible sound of anguish I had ever heard from any living creature. I had never known before this that a worm could mourn a companion. Falstaff came down on the ground and beat himself on it. He raged. He raced back and forth from one robot to the next, charging at them, beating on them, rolling them across the compound like toys.

"Don't go in there-" George grabbed my arm. Marcie was standing now. So was Jason.

Jason stepped forward. "We may have to kill him."

"No . . ." I put my hands to my mouth.

"Orrie!" Jason pointed.

Orrie started for Falstaff, then hesitated. He looked back toward Jason questioningly. Jason pointed again. Orrie didn't look happy. He moved toward Falstaff.

Falstaff saw him and raised up in a challenge. "Chtorrrrr!" he screamed. "CHTORRRRRRRRR!"