Time-line Update and time progression: Sahara Desert, North Africa, Wednesday August 28

Chapter 10: Earth Movers

Andre grunted and flopped back down in his seat. He took a sip from his Emergency Water Ration which was basically just a can of hot, metallic tasting water. Likely it had been sitting under Terra's seats since she had first been sent here over a month ago. Currently he was staring at the small note pad in his hand. Since there wasn't much else to do while Terra drove he had decided to take inventory of everything inside the Humvee.

During the night Terra had stopped in the shadow of a hug sand dune, but as soon as the sun rose she had deployed the solar panels stored away under the thick roof armor. It only took about 15 minutes before she had the energy she needed. After retracting the panels they were off again.

"So... first off this water is the nastiest thing I have ever tasted in my life," Andre shuddered in disgust as he finished it off and put the can down by his feet. "Second of all we have one shoulder mounted grenade launcher, two shoulder mounted rocket launchers, ten hand thrown grenades, and four of the newly licensed semi-automatic rifles," he listed as Alex distributed the rifles to each team member. "We already had the rifles in here but the other weapons were just supposed to be transported to the city in the morning. I guess we should be grateful that we have them now," Andre twisted around in his seat to look through the back window. Through the desert haze the metallic glint of several vehicles flashed back at them. Looking back over his shoulder he glanced at Abigail who was busy fiddling with Terra's display screen. "Okay so I know we have a plan and all but... anyone mind telling us humans what that might be?" he asked slowly.

His question met with no response.

"Fine. Cool. Be like that. It's always the black man that dies first in every action movie anyway, isn't it?" Andre said as he sank back down in his seat.

Alex now had his face buried in an operations manual for Terra, but still added, "No it's Harry who goes first. The comedic relief has to go at some point so I say it's him. Then you, then me as the stuck up jerk, and then Abigail the Computer Whisperer will make it out safely with her metal steed," he said and Andre gasped and put a hand on his chest.

"Did you actually make a joke? Oh now I know I'm about to die!"

Abgail sighed and rolled her eyes at the guys before clearing her throat to catch their attention. Harry was sleeping so she punched him in the arm until he jerked awake.

"What? Are we under attack? I'm awake!" he said flailing around. Ignoring him, Abigail instead brought up a map on Terra's display screen.

"This area marked in red is where we're headed right now. Apparently that is where the Assassin who's going to help us is located. Those white dots behind us represent whatever bad guys are chasing us on land. Blue dots you see hovering at the edge of the screen and moving slightly are aerial back-up. Likely jets that were scrambled and are still making their way in our direction. Those dark green blobs are tanks. At least five of them moving to cut us off. We're heading in a straight line and haven't changed course so they should reach us just as we hit the edge of that red area," Abigail explained to them as Terra continued speeding across the desert sand. Andre stared at the screen and then looked at Abigail suspiciously.

"So what about the Assassin? Are we just supposed to drive around while tanks and jets use us for target practice?" he asked as the map zoomed out slowly. Now they could see the two blue dots quickly moving towards them. Those jets would definitely reach them before anything else did. Abigail pursed her lips.

"Ohhhhh heck no. You're serious? We just drive around and wait for... whatever it is to show up?" Andre demanded as Alex muttered something to himself and reached around behind him to grab a few grenades.

"No! Well... okay maybe. Look we're close enough to that big red area no. Technically speaking it should take no more than five or ten minutes for it to show up. That's what Terra said and that's all she knows so far," Abigail said as the little scorpion machine on her shoulder turned around and snapped its tiny claws at him. Holding his hands up in surrender Andre backed off.

"Okay, okay, just asking. No need to sic your robo pals on me," Andre assured as he settled back in his seat.

There wasn't time for anyone to say anything more, because Terra suddenly let out a loud alarm and swerved sharply to the left. A loud BOOM rattled the Humvee as sand flew up all around them. A loud roar sounded as a jet shot by overhead. Terra's alarm sounded again and this time she swerved to the right as another explosion spit sand everywhere. A second jet shot by overhead and began making a wide turn.

"Were those missiles?" Harry asked as the vehicles chasing them began to move closer as well. Alex shook his head at that question.

"No those were just standard bullets. You'd know if they were shooting missiles at us," Alex said grabbing his seat-belt as Terra pulled to the left and slammed on the brakes as a streak went shooting by them. "Now that was a shoulder mounted rocket. It looks like they finally caught up with us," he added as the pursuing vehicles started coming closer and closer in the mirror. On Terra's display screen a timer was counting down the distance to the red area. Abigail took a deep breath and checked the safety on her rifle as the window next to Alex rolled down.

"Well I say that we get things started off. Because I don't feel like sitting around and being used for target practice do you Terra?" Alex asked and Terra started slowing down. Immediately one of the Humvee's behind them leapt forward until it was only a few yards behind them. Alex grabbed a grenade and pulled the pin out of it before climbing halfway of the window. Before one of the other men could do the same he threw the grenade in a perfect arc. It would have landed right on the hood of the vehicle, but the other driver swerved sharply and the grenade exploded harmlessly in the sand.

"I'll keep throwing these to keep them at a distance, but we only have nine left. We do have the shoulder mounted grenade launcher, but it's empty so we'll have to use some of the remaining nine if we decide to put it to good use. There are the two rocket launchers but those are only good for one shot each since we don't have extra rockets. After that we'd better hope that Assassin comes quickly or we'll be seeing how well these new rifles perform," he shouted as Andre handed him another grenade to throw. He launched two more before the other Humvee's got close enough to start shooting bullets at him. Climbing back inside he looked around at the rest of the team.

"Well now what do we..." Alex trailed off as he leaned forward to look through the front wind shield. "A sandstorm? But it doesn't look... natural," he observed staring at the huge pillar of sand that was coming up from the ground a few miles in front of them. Within seconds the desert wind had started to whip it around and form it into the more alarming wall of dust and sand that they had grown accustomed to seeing. But steadily closing in from the sides ahead of them were tanks and their gun barrels had just started to rotate their way.

"Well people here we go," Alex said as he reached up and unlocked the hatch in Terra's roof. Climbing out of his seat, Harry stood up through the roof and reached down. Alex handed him one of the rocket launchers and Harry turned around and after aiming he launched it at one of the pursuing vehicles. A huge explosion of sand and smoke obscured their view at first, but after a few seconds it was clear he'd scored a direct hit.

"Hand me the other one! I'm going for one of the tanks! We can at least slow it down a little!" Harry shouted over the increasing wind and bullet fire. The remaining rocket launcher was quickly in his hand and with it he fired off a rocket at tank closest to them. This time he aimed for the tank treads which was in full view. A direct hit exploded against the side of the tank and damaged its treads but not enough to make it stop. The other's were also still coming and they weren't close enough to use the grenade launcher on. Ducking back inside Harry crawled back into his seat and let Alex seal the hatch again.

"Okay so much for that. We're almost... HOLY...!" Harry was cut off when the sand directly in front of Terra exploded upwards. A giant cylinder of twisting metal shot up and over top of Terra who quickly swerved to avoid the machine. "What was that? I've seen four-lane highways smaller than that thing!" he cried out as he whipped around in his seat to catch sight of whatever it was. It had already gone crashing down behind them causing the pursing vehicles to scatter frantically. Seconds later it reared up out of the sand giving them a better look at what it was. It's long but wide body was marked by huge grooves that were twisting in one continuous motion like the ridges on a drill.

Andre whistled at the sight and asked, "What is that? A snake?"

The metal contraption was a dull reddish-brown and it turned towards them to reveal a rather blunt head with no visible eyes. It didn't seem very imposing, but then its mouth opened. Inside rows upon rows upon rows of serrated metal teeth spun around like blades all the way back down its throat as far as they could see.

"Not a snake! Not a snake!" Andre squealed as Terra continued driving ever closer to the swirling sandstorm. Three of the tanks that had been moving to cut them off now turned and began shooting at the new machine. Unfortunately for them it wasn't about to just hang around and be shot at. It slid backwards back into the sand and vanished from sight. Everyone was thrown against their seats when Terra made a sharp turn to the left and started driving parallel to the wall of sand. More explosions rocked them as the jets that had passed by before once again shot by overhead. Abigail cursed as two of the four tanks that were otherwise unoccupied by the new machine began to fire at them as well.

A beep came from Terra as a message flashed up on-screen.

That giant machine behind us is the Assassin known as Atlas. It's trying to give us time to get into the storm. Unfortunately our pursuers don't want us going in there. The jets won't be able to follow us in there and if the storm is big enough then we could easily lose them. Their visibility will be reduced to almost zero. My equipment and sensors will allow me to see through the sand perfectly. Even if they aren't aware of that they still are not about to take any chances, Terra informed as she tried again to move closer to the wall of the storm only to be turned away by more fire.

A loud groan followed by the screeching of metal rang throughout the air. Everyone turned to see one of the enemy Humvee's sink down into the sand and disappear. Seconds later Atlas burst out of the sand and they watched as the back end of the Humvee vanished into its mouth followed by more screeching metal. It swooped down towards the sand and swung its body around like a giant whip taking out at least three more Humvee's before grabbing them with its huge mouth and swallowing them down just as it had the first one. When that was done it sank back into the sand. Vanishing without a trace. There were still six Humvee's left and three peeled off to go after Atlas while the other three gave the giant machine as wide a berth as possible.

The Humvee's surrounded Atlas as it came up out of the ground again. They started firing rockets and grenades and explosions flashed up and down its metal body but didn't seem to be doing much damage.

Alex hummed suddenly and snapped his fingers before saying, "It's a sandworm. Like from that movie Dune." When everyone just stared him he grunted in disgust and waved his hand. He looked like he wanted to ask something else but another message popped up before he could finish talking.

I'd hang on if I were you. It's about to get really, really, hot in here, Terra said cryptically as she swung away from the sandstorm and began to drive back in Atlas general direction in a wide circle.

"What's it doing?" Andre asked as Atlas' mouth opened. As they circled around fully they saw its mouth open wide which allowed them to see a fiery glow coming from inside its throat. Atlas looked like it was aiming straight for one of the Humvee's surrounding it. Moment's later a blinding flash nearly blinded all of them and the temperature in the Humvee shot up so fast it took their breath away despite the fact that they were at least half a mile away. When the flash of light cleared they could see a brilliant red and orange beam coming from Atlas' mouth.

Rearing back the machine whipped its head around in a circle sending the beam shooting past over top of them and scorching the surrounding sand. It turned the enemy Humvee's into molten slag. Blazing streaks curled around Atlas where the beam hit. Steam belched forth out of Atlas mouth and out of countless side vents before the machine slid backwards and disappeared back into the sand.

Harry whistled appreciatively. "What was that? Some type of heat ray? A laser? Just on a bigger scale?" he asked as Terra completed her turn and hit the gas. Once again they were driving straight towards the sandstorm which was close enough now that it took up most of the horizon and all of the sky. Harry pulled at his shirt as sweat poured down his face. Thankfully Terra had air conditioning and she turned it up full blast as her vents worked to pump the hot air out of the cabin.

The roar of engines said that the jets were coming back around and Atlas apparently wasn't done. Once again it rose up out of the sand this time closer to the edge of the sandstorm. Despite the machine's size it was surprisingly fast and in a few seconds Atlas had set up for another attack. The jets flew closer and closer and they could see rockets launch from the jets but they were far too late. Atlas jerked backwards as a red beam shot straight out of its mouth and enveloped both of the jets. Two explosions could be seen and the melting bodies of the jets dropped down and crashed into the sand. With that taken care of Atlas plunged forward and slid back into the sand.

The other three Humvee's were nowhere in sight. Had they already entered the sandstorm? The remaining tanks had not only stopped, but had quickly started to back up upon seeing Atlas attack.

A beep announced another message and everyone crowded in to see what it said.

Message from Atlas: "See you inside the storm. Try not to get eaten little humans. I'd hate to lose you so soon after saving your tiny lives. Hahaha! THAT WAS NOT A JOKE."

Alex immediately scowled at the words. "Oh perfect another comedian. As if Terra wasn't bad enough," he grumbled as they approached the wall of sand and plunged into the swirling sand.

Once inside visibility shot down to less than 20 feet ahead of them. The front windshield flashed and shifted as Terra worked her magic. Seconds later visibility was back up but it was still only about a 50 feet in any direction. Semi transparent screens flashed up on the windshield marking the location of the remaining tanks and Humvees.

"Wait... she could do this all along?" Andre demanded as Terra began to slow down. Immediately he glared at Abigail. "Why didn't you tell us!" he demanded.

"You never asked."

You never asked.

Abigail said it at the same time Terra's message popped up in one corner of the windshield. Andre sighed heavily and just sat back in his seat.

Get the grenade launcher. We're going after one of the tanks, Terra added and Alex turned around to grab it and he handed over to Harry who was reaching back for it.

"But what good will that do? I mean I'm never going to be able to get a good shot with this sand blowing around," Harry pointed out even as he made sure it was loaded.

It wouldn't do a lot of good against those tanks anyway. You don't need to be accurate. You just need to get their attention and make them follow us. The Assassin will take care of the rest, Terra explained as she sped up and headed straight towards one of the tanks marked on her radar. Within a few seconds the large figure of the tank appeared in front of them.

Alex opened the roof hatch and shouted for Harry to go. Harry quickly popped up through the hatch and fired off a haphazard shot in the tanks direction. It must have found them on its radar or other sensor because it had already started to turn towards them. The grenade exploded in the sand just in front of the tank.

Dropping back down inside Harry grimaced and stared at the faint redness on his arms. Sand howled over head and drifted down through the open roof hatch.

"Man it is brutal out there! I hope Atlas comes through for us!" Harry shouted as Terra made as tight a turn as she could and started driving deeper towards the center of the sandstorm. Just as she said the tank started to follow them. The gun barrel shifted slightly as the tank lined them up for a shot, but suddenly jerked backwards. A moment later it started to sink and slide backwards into the sand.

"Yes! Atlas got it!" Harry shouted triumphantly. "Hey there's another tank! Alex hand me another grenade!" he ordered and after the launcher was loaded up again he pushed open the roof hatch and fired another shot in the tanks direction. The grenade fell several yards short, but the resulting explosion a few seconds later was enough to catch their attention. Immediately the tank swung around and started coming towards them. It got within about 30 feet of the other tank before it too started to sink.

Harry's whoop of triumph could just barely be heard over the wind. The sand behind the tanks was sinking in rapidly as if a giant hole had opened up somewhere underneath it. Heavy as they were the tanks were still moving backwards and the sand was plunging down in an ever growing circle. Harry was so thrilled by their apparent victory that it took him a second to realize there was a very, very big problem.

Terra had started to sink too. Even now she was being pulled forward as the circle of sinking sand moved past her and continued to widen.

"Whoa! What's going on? This is way too big to be from Atlas!" Harry crouched down inside the cabin briefly so he didn't have to shout as loudly. "Terra you said the Assassin would take care of the rest! Not eat the rest right along with us too!" he complained as a familiar sound of groaning and grinding metal started to get louder and louder. A loud THUNK sounded and Harry whipped around to see a large cable now attached to the back of Terra. The way his military tags were sliding around his neck towards it suggested that it was magnetized. Following the cable back to the source he saw it disappear into a gaping mouth of spinning teeth.

"Atlas?" Harry squeaked as the Assassin started to reel them in and pull them out of the sand's clutches. Turning back he saw the tanks had sank down almost to the top of their treads now. "But if Atlas is back there... then who is...?" he stopped and screamed as Terra dropped a good 15 feet straight down. The sand exploded down and the tanks in front of them fell out of sight. Harry slammed against the edge of the roof hatch and found himself staring straight down into the same type of nightmarish pit that was Atlas' mouth. Only this one was over twice the size of Atlas and its thousands of teeth were currently tearing the tanks to shreds. The sound was so deafening he threw his hands over his ears, but it didn't do him any good. Terra's frame shuddered violently from the vibrations this machine was giving off. An ominous red glow was pulsing deep down the new machine's throat.

More cables shot out from the sides of its mouth and started pulling backwards not soon after. The remaining Humvee's and the last two tanks were being dragged to their death. Literally. The men on board fired off rockets, bullets, grenades and anything else they had, but nothing could stop the metal cables relentless pull. Everyone could only watch in horror as the cables detached from the vehicles and vanished back to whatever recesses they had sprung from. The rest of the vehicles dropped down into the grinding pit. One plunged straight down, but the others slammed against the sides. Abigail shuddered and turned away, but Harry stared in horrified fascination as the vehicles were torn apart as if by a giant chainsaw. Their pieces flew out everywhere before dropping down deeper into the machine's glowing depths.

It's like staring into the depths of hell, Harry thought as he scrambled back. He dropped back down into the cabin and sank into his seat as Alex reached up and closed the roof hatch. He was shaking so badly that Andre had to pry the grenade launcher out of his hands. He didn't even realize he still had it. He must have grabbed it before climbing back inside.

This Assassin works in pairs apparently. Atlas is the one you saw before. His much larger counterpart is Titan. I only received this information update a few minutes ago from Atlas, Terra informed as Atlas continued to pull them back out of harms way. They all watched as four giant panels slowly rose up out of the sand and began to close over Titan's mouth. When they were a few hundred feet away from the edge Harry realized that Terra's frame was still shaking.

Abigail glanced at him and nodded slowly.

"It looks like we're not the only ones frightened by that... that machine," her voice cracked as she said it.

When Terra's wheels were back on solid ground the cable Atlas had been towing them with detached.

Message from Atlas: "I thought I told you that wasn't a joke? Titan may be big and slow, but she doesn't exactly need a second opportunity. Once she grabs you it's over and all your little pieces get shredded and melted down. Just be glad she didn't use her heat ray like I did. Terra may be able to survive it, but you humans never would have made it through the kind of heat that Titan gives off. Next time pay more attention to my warnings will you? Later!"

A smiley face popped up at the end of the message before Atlas sank back down in the ground disappearing along with Titan as if they had never been there. Even the giant circles of sand that marked their presence were being blown away by the now dying sandstorm.

Silence hung in the air. No one seemed sure of what to say. All of the exposed skin on Harry's face, neck, and arms was now an angry red from the brutal sandstorm. Abigail was tightly clutching on to the little scorpion machine that had been on her shoulder until now. All around them the sandstorm started to blow out and the blue sky started to appear once again. Groaning Harry threw open the passenger side door and stumbled away a few feet where he promptly started throwing up. Andre reached around to grab a can of the emergency water and got out of Terra's cabin to go help his fellow soldier.

Finally Alex cleared his throat and spoke up.

"So I'm guessing Atlas is male and Titan is female. That is one lady I really, really would not want to piss off."

Abigail burst into nervous giggles while Terra gave one final shudder. Once Harry was feeling well enough to get back in with Andre she waited until everyone was settled. Satisfied Terra revved the engine as one final puff of sand blew by.

Well we're alive and Titan has given me new coordinates. It looks like we're finally leaving this place, Terra said as a small map appeared on the windshield marking their destination. After a few system checks they were on their way once again.

AN: First off this chapter is obviously all about what's going on with Terra and her team. Atlas and Titan are Assassins that represent Gorre, which is why there are two of them. I hope you enjoyed the fight scene as well as seeing some of what Titan and Atlas can do! There is so much more that I wanted to put into this chapter but that was going to take forever so I had to shorten it.

I was going to add another section with Aihane but that was getting to be four extra pages so instead I'm saving that for the next chapter. So you all will just have to wait a bit longer to find out what Aihane is really up to. However almost four pages of the next chapter are already done!

Speaking of Aihane things are about to change in a large way as far as he is concerned. I mean you didn't really think he was alone did you?

...okay so technically speaking he is working alone at the moment, but like I said A CHANGE IS GONNA COME. Next chapter is going to be one you really, really want to pay attention to. Believe me it's going to get very interesting very soon.

On to the next chapter!