The Meeting

In the dimming light of the evening sunset, he watched the cluster of ships rocket skyward. The wind blew some of his grey hair into his eyes, so he brushed it away. He had been expecting this moment to come for years now – he just hadn't expected it to be so soon.

They are, to say the least, quite determined – he thought to himself as he continued watching the smoke trails disappear, blown away by the wind as darkness approached. That is, at least, one point to their advantage. Whether it is enough – that remains to be seen.

He reached into his overcoat, pulling a photograph from the pocket hidden on its left-hand side. He stared for a few moments at the image – a man with red-brown hair and a full beard standing beside him, hands on each others' shoulders. Between them stood a five-year-old girl with long red hair, sticking her tongue out at the photographer. He grinned as he recalled the effort it took both men to persuade the uncooperative child to stand still long enough for the image to be taken...

"But DADDY! Why can't I go and play?" she had pleaded, tears threatening to fall from her brilliant blue eyes.

"It will only be for a moment, my daughter – I promise. This is an important moment for us, and it needs to be remembered."

"But it's so BORING!" she continued to insist.

"It's only for a moment," her father still insisted, "just one photograph, and it will be all over with."

"Aaaaawwwwwwwwww!"

"Don't worry, my little beachcomber," he had said to her, kneeling down to look her in the eye. "We'll play together, once we take the picture." He reached into his pocket, and pulled out her favourite mango-flavoured candy. "You can help us with just one picture, can't you?"

She snatched the candy out of his hand and stuffed it into her mouth. "Mmkuy," she mumbled as she tried to answer with her mouth full of candy, "Unm puckure. Fen wm pway."

He laughed softly at her. "Yes," he said, "then we play..."

... and, despite her promise, she just HAD to make a face at the exact instant the photographer had taken the shot. He smiled at the memory, then put the photo back into his pocket.

As the shadows around him lengthened, he noticed the temperature beginning to fall. Soon, he knew, his body warmth would make him a target for both human and Cyberoid infrared scanners – and he was not in the mood for facing either... not just yet. But he knew which of the two he needed to face first – and they were nearby. He had put things off for long enough – the time to act was upon him.

"Now, the next step will be taken," he said aloud, despite being alone on the hilltop. "Now that I've found you, we can see what lies ahead."

Pulling up the collar of his coat, he turned and started walking down the hillside, back toward the ruins of the city that used to be Melbourne.

"Time to see if we can stop it..."

Kicking up dust and debris from the rotation of six large wheels, the tank sped through the broken streets. They moved quickly, because they knew that slowing would leave them out in the open for too long, possibly long enough to attract the attention of the large scout flyers that directed the Cyberoid ground forces. With no backup, they would be easy kills for the massive attack-force that would be sent their way.

They send hundreds of Cyberoids for each one of us – Bauer thought as he kept an eye on the overhead scanners – is that because they know we'll beat them if they send any less, or because they can rebuild their forces faster than we can? With automated factories scattered around the globe, the MME Cyberoids can be replaced within hours of being destroyed – but it takes at least sixteen years for a human to reach fighting age. We have to figure out how to ensure a quick victory – he realized – if they can turn this into a war of attrition, those damned machines will have the upper hand.

He shook his head, ridding himself of such depressing thoughts. "Is this the only way?" he demanded of the driver, "I don't like being so exposed."

His driver twisted his head to look at Bauer. "Sorry, sir," he said, "but this is the cleanest path we can take – everything else is blasted apart so badly that navigating at speed would be impossible."

Bauer sighed – he knew this already, but he was still impatient. "Just get us under cover as quickly as you can. I want to get us to our new base as soon as we... LOOK OUT!"

The driver turned his head back to the window – seeing a man in a jet-black overcoat standing directly in his path, arms outstretched. He slammed on the brakes, the tank grinding to a stop with less than ten centimetres between the massive machine and the nose of the man before them – who had not even flinched in the face of the oncoming behemoth. When he knew that the tank had stopped, and that he had not run over the man, the driver allowed himself to breathe again.

Opening the hatch, Bauer stuck his head out and glared at the man. "Are you CRAZY?" he screamed, "we could have KILLED you! Do you WANT to be run over?"

The man lowered his hands, looked up at Bauer, and said...

"Please take me to Sandy Newman."

The wind blew her hair around as she peered over the concrete rubble. Lifting her visor, she raised a pair of electronic binoculars to her eyes and scanned the area. Although the dust sometimes interfered with detection, she saw no activity within the range of her equipment. Satisfied, she dropped her head below the concrete and turned around to use it as a back-rest instead. She touched the right-hand side of her visor, just below the sole 'rabbit-ear' that held her communications equipment, and spoke clearly.

"Team David-Three reporting – no activity in Grid sector Alpha-One-Seven. Proceeding to sector Alpha-One-Eight."

Her earphone crackled with static for a moment before the response came. "Negative, David-Three – you are ordered back to base immediately. Team Echo-Four will continue your patrol. Acknowledge."

Surprised, she looked at her two companions. "They want us to go back to base," she told them, confusion apparent in her voice.

"What for?" the blonde to her right asked. "Did we miss a check or something?"

The large man to her left shrugged. "They wouldn't call us back, unless it was something important."

"I still say it smells funny, but okay," the blonde conceded.

She nodded at them both. "Acknowledged, base," she answered, "we're on our way."

Making their way back to the new base took them most of an hour. They knew the way, naturally – but since going straight there would lead the Cyberoids to it, they took many detours, delays, and reversals. Even the machines would be confused by the path they took – hopefully, it would be enough. She remembered what had happened to their last encampment, when Bodie and Melody were still part of the fight. All of her companions had been butchered mercilessly, because their camp had been discovered.

So they took their time, thinking that it was better to be late than to be found out.

When they reached the entrance, Bauer was waiting for them. He smiled at her, but despite her fondness for the tank-captain, she was in no mood for pleasantries. "What's going on?" she demanded. "What's so damned important that you pull my team off our patrol?"

Still smiling, Bauer shook his head. "It's not for me to say," he confessed. "The General wants to see you. He... has a surprise for you."

"A surprise?" the blonde asked. "Is it my birthday or something?" The big man simply rumbled.

With a sigh, she walked past Bauer towards the Command Centre, pausing only long enough to whisper "We'll talk about this later," at him.

As the trio entered the Command Centre, they saw General Nelson talking with a tall man in a black overcoat. They could not hear the conversation, but the man was pointing at something on the Tactical Display, with General Nelson pointing out other things on the board... or simply nodding.

They stopped ten feet away from the General, and she gave a salute while waiting to be recognized.

The General eventually turned his head to them, and nodded. "Ah, good, you're here," he said, returning her salute. "It's good to see you again."

"Thank you, sir," she said, lowering her salute. "But could you please tell me why we were pulled off our patrol, when we had just barely started it?"

"We have a special mission for you and your team," Nelson said. "By itself, that could have waited for your return... but this gentleman wanted to bring you to him. He was very insistent about it – even stood in front of a tank to get their attention."

"Insistent, or simply insane," the blonde suggested.

She glared at the blonde, who shrugged. Turning back to Nelson, she said, "all right, so who is it?"

Sensing his cue, the man turned to face her. His face softened as he took in her features. Stepping forward, he looked straight into her eyes. "Hello, Sandy," he said, "it's been a long time, hasn't it?"

She looked at the man, confused. "Do I know you?" she ventured.

The man sighed. "I thought you would have remembered," he said softly.

"My name is Kyle Newman, and I'm your uncle."