Chapter Two: Hunters in Darkness

It was midnight, and it was good hunting.

Urrzech chuffed as he narrowed in on his target: one of the cave-dwellers, young and wandering away from home. It would be a good night's hunt, if perhaps too short, and he'd at last be able to report back to the chieftain with a victory. The prey had gotten thin here, with the humans hiding in the abandoned base and the cave-dwellers keeping to their hills; nonetheless, they would take what heads they could, in hopes of being called home. Urrzech was barely holding onto his rank as stood, and a dead cave-dweller would be an edge over his castemates.

He stalked across the snowfields, louder than he had to be, waiting for the cave-dweller to take notice of him. When it did at last, it made one of its wonderful noises and began to run. Urrzech kept pace for now, not wanting this to end too soon. He could already sense the creature's fear, its confusion -

And then the ground hum started, long and low, and the creature wasn't the only one confused. Urrzech whirled towards the source of the noise, which had been joined by heavy footsteps in the snow. The thing standing before him was a Starman, or had been; between the dead psychic frequency, the cracks in its mask, and that low hum, he was certain it wasn't a Starman any longer. And then, in one terrible moment, he knew what it was.

Before he could run, the ex-Starman's arms split open, shooting metallic tentacles towards him to catch his arms. Those were Octobot tentacles! This had to be the Buzzing One, that cannibal, that traitor - but he couldn't think, not now that the thing was grappling him. Urrzech fired a beam, managing a solid blow on the Buzzing One's chest even as it pulled him in, but the beast didn't even respond; its strength was beastly, and Urrzech was helpless to slow its progress.

The Buzzing One pulled him in close, bringing one of its knees up to strike him hard in the gut. Urrzech wheezed, trying to force himself to concentrate now. If he could just get one minute to think... But then the Buzzing One squeezed him again, harder, and he made a sad whine out of sheer reflex. Then, incredibly, the pressure released, and the Buzzing One took a step back from him. A chance! Urrzech summoned all his will even as the Buzzing One began to lift its leg up -

Urrzech called his PSI Flash, and the snowfield erupted in blinding light. The Buzzing One stumbled back, stunned, and Urrzech ran for the treeline. He used all the speed he hadn't used chasing the cave-dweller, his steps lurching and far too loud. The hunt was back on, and if he couldn't get away, he'd be the Buzzing One's trophy tonight.

He threw himself into a hollow between two trees, letting the snow cover him as he lay still. The hum of the Buzzing One grew closer, footsteps crunching in the snow and breaking twigs underfoot, but then it slowly began to grow dimmer; had it given up? Oh, how Urrzech hoped it had given up! The cave-dweller was long gone now, and his night was ruined, but he was far beyond caring. All he wanted was to return to base camp, tell his story to the chieftain with the many apologies he'd no doubt need to avoid demotion, and sleep somewhere safe.

Urrzech trembled, listening to the diminishing hum and waiting for silence.

It was the silence of triumph.

Buzz Buzz watched as the tiny shape of the Woolly Shambler withdrew into the woods, its footsteps near-silent now. That stealth meant it was running for its life, content just to escape, and not planning on another pass; the Shamblers preferred noise on the hunt, keeping their target off-balance. It was as good as gone.

The Cave Boy it had pursued was gone too, and Buzz Buzz permitted himself a moment of self-satisfaction. Yes, it was a minor victory, but it was still a victory at that, and the thrill of saving someone never got old. Even on the nights of no Giygan activity, just being out to make sure of it was reward enough. He tried to keep his emotions in check about it, but just being the hero, night to night, meant everything.

For a moment, and only a moment, Buzz Buzz allowed himself doubt. In the years he'd been on patrol, they'd eroded and broken what was left of the Giygans. Would there come a day his services wouldn't be needed any longer? He didn't want to think of a future without Buzz Buzz, but every victory brought him closer to it.

No. No, he wasn't going to go that way. This wasn't the time; it had been a good night, and he wasn't going to let any stray thoughts get him down. He had to stay excited! Stay motivated! Buzz Buzz began the long trek back towards base, beginning the nightly cool-down ritual that prepared him mentally to return to himself. Soon he'd be home, and then he could celebrate another night well spent.

"Yes! Brilliant!"

Tony whooped, and Maxwell sighed inwardly as he began undoing the straps on the pilot's chair. He wasn't confident that this level of enthusiasm about the project was actually healthy, particularly not for someone like Tony. Admittedly, it was probably the least self-destructive outlet for him there was, and it kept him sharp for the more theoretical sections of research, but that still didn't reassure him. Nonetheless, Tony was in full triumph mode now, and Maxwell decided to humor him.

His arms now free, Tony slipped his helmet off, and Maxwell wasn't surprised to see him grinning like a fool underneath it. "There we go! That's another Cave Boy safe, and that's another Shambler sent back home to cry about it. One more victory for Project Buzz Buzz!"

Maxwell had to admit that some of that bravado was on-target. Since they'd built the Buzz Buzz drone and started piloting it remotely to patrol the area around the Stonehenge base, the attacks from roving Shamblers and robots had dropped off. They were sending their targets home alive, which meant the survivors were telling stories, and presumably that meant the lingering Giygans were aware that the human and Cave Boy survivors weren't soft targets anymore. Maxwell couldn't exactly be sure that the dropoffs were the product of the Buzz Buzz patrols and the attached rumors - after all, the attacks had been decreasing steadily for years - but it was impossible to deny that their pet project was doing something besides just keeping Tony busy.

"It's just great," Tony continued, starting to hit the excited stride he usually took after a successful patrol. "Just great to see those damned things afraid for once. After all we've gone through, we're finally striking back! Makes you feel alive, doesn't it, Maxwell? ... Maxwell?"

Shit. He'd gotten caught thinking again. "Yeah, yeah," he said, trying to make it sound plausible, and Tony's face softened again. "Sorry, was just daydreaming. Not to change the subject, but I was thinking earlier that it might be a good idea to go back to sorting through Dr. Andonuts's old notes and see what else we could find. Buzz Buzz is working great, but we've got to keep moving."

"Keep moving? Onto what?"

iOnto finding ways to survive in this Hellhole,/i thought Maxwell, and then he thought better of it. "Well, I want to do some tinkering with the hydroponic setup. We're starting to see reduced yield, and I want to turn that around." As usual, it was a careful dance of euphemism, especially making it sound unexpected; for the love of God, they'd been feeding the complex for ten years off of a system designed to last three, and it was a miracle they'd even lasted this long. It was month-to-month now, sometimes week-to-week, and if they didn't pull the mother of all rabbits out of their hats, all the Buzz Buzz project would do would be to ensure they'd have a little peace and quiet while they starved to death.

"Right," said Tony. "We'll have a look at that, and at that other filing cabinet, right? The one with more notes? There's something there about a psychic amplifier that I think we could retrofit into Buzz Buzz. It'll allow for better shows of force, and I think we need that. Ramp up the legend a bit, get them even more scared, you know? If we do it right, we can probably convince the Cave Boys we're worth coming out of hiding to meet, and I bet they'll share enough to help with the food problem, too."

Of course - because, obviously, the Cave Boys weren't just another set of starving, huddled wretches. It was like the old buddy system for bathroom trips, back when he'd gone to summer camp; one boy walking to the latrines would be easy prey for bears or psycho killers, but clearly two boys would just be too much for 'em, right? Still, right now Tony had a hammer, and it was no wonder that every problem facing the complex looked like a nail. Besides, a tiny part of Maxwell suggested, maybe he had a point. If Buzz Buzz could be elevated, somehow, beyond just being an RC toy, maybe there might be something there really meaningful. Maxwell was fairly sure that it wouldn't, that Buzz Buzz would never be much more than Tony's pet revenge project, but he was willing to be proven wrong.

For now, though, he needed sleep; Tony was wired to the gills, but he wasn't, and he'd need to be conscious if they were to make any progress tomorrow. "C'mon," said Maxwell. "Let's get back to quarters. Do you think you'll be able to sleep?"

"I'll read until I crash," replied Tony. "Let's go."

Maxwell nodded and set off down the corridor, Tony close behind. Their steps echoed strangely in the silent metal corridors of the Stonehenge Base labs; all around them, the structure twisted through architecture never designed for humans. They'd never been meant to live here, and with signs of that all around him, it was hard for him to share Tony's optimism. They'd bought ten years of time, and maybe they could still buy more, but this couldn't go on forever.

Oh, well. For now, at least, there was always tomorrow.