The one-eyed ninja raised his hand.

  The others moved. Four of them came at once, spreading out as they dropped from the air like black shapes against the violet fire burning up the ship behind them.

  Colt reached for Dead Eye. Nothing happened. He reached again, harder this time.

  ERROR: SYSTEM INACTIVE

  The words flickered and disappeared.

  “Shit.” Colt drew his revolver.

  SIDEARM EQUIPPED:

  Colt Single Action Army — .45

  6/6

  He fired.

  5/6

  The first ninja dodged left and the bullet sparked off the metal floor behind it. Colt tracked the second one and squeezed. Missed. The thing moved too fast, sliding through the air like smoke.

  4/6

  Third shot went wide.

  3/6

  Fourth. The ninja twisted at the last second and the round clipped its shoulder. Black cloth tore but the thing stumbled and kept coming.

  2/6

  Fifth shot went wide.

  “Fuck!”

  1/6

  Colt backed up until his boot hit something soft. Clay. The ninjas started closing in.

  Colt looked at the one-eyed bastard standing behind them with his arms crossed. Just watching. That single violet eye burning.

  He remembered the museum. The screaming, the bodies on the floor, that little boy. How that son of a bitch killed him.

  This thing had done that. Cut a child down like he was nothing, then sucked his Puha right out.

  Colt’s jaw locked and his hand shook on the grip.

  The ship groaned behind him. Metal twisted and something inside gave way with a shriek. Then it blew.

  The explosion threw heat across his back. A chunk of hull the size of a boulder spun through the air and slammed into two of the ninjas, pinning them under burning metal. The other two flinched back from the blast.

  Colt grabbed Clay under the arms and dragged him toward the mechs. His boots slipped on the floor but Clay didn’t feel as heavy as before. The wounded ninja recovered and started after him.

  Colt’s back ran into something hard. It was one of those big metal machines. Twenty feet of dark metal rising above him with a ladder running up the leg to a hatch in the chest.

  He let go of Clay and climbed. His hands found the rungs and his boots slipped twice but he pulled himself up fast without looking back. The hatch sat open like a dark hole in the metal.

  Colt threw himself inside.

  It was small inside with a single seat and glass in front of him showing the hangar. Handles sat on both sides next to buttons he didn’t understand.

  A thin line of green light swept across his face.

  PILOT DETECTED

  BIOMARKER MATCH: 99.7%

  INITIALIZING MECH….

  The mech shuddered and Colt grabbed the handles.

  He didn’t know why he grabbed them. Didn’t know what they did. But his hands went to them like they’d done it a thousand times before.

  Like his body knew even if his head didn’t.

  Lights flickered on across the console. Red mostly.

  WARNING: POWER CELL CRITICAL

  CHARGE: 5%

  “Five percent,” Colt breathed. “Shit.”

  The mech lurched forward and his stomach dropped as the whole thing tilted. He pulled on the right handle and the arm swung wide.

  Through the glass he saw a ninja climbing the ladder after him.

  Colt yanked both handles back and the mech’s arm came around, catching the ninja mid-climb. Metal fingers closed. The thing’s body crumpled like paper and violet light pulsed once and shot into the ceiling above.

  Colt’s breath came hard. His hands were slick on the handles.

  There was movement below. The other ninja was moving toward Clay.

  Colt pushed forward on the handles and the mech took a step. Then another. The floor shook under him and he could feel the weight of the thing.

  The ninja looked up.

  Colt brought the foot down.

  The impact jolted through him. When he lifted the foot there was nothing left but a dark smear on the floor.

  Two more pinned under the burning hull. Still moving.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Colt turned the mech toward them and the shoulder cannons hummed. He didn’t know how to fire them so he looked at the handles, at the buttons. A red trigger sat under his right thumb.

  He pressed it.

  The cannon roared and the sound filled the cockpit, rattling his teeth. A bolt of white light punched through the burning wreckage and the ninjas underneath it. When the light faded they weren’t there anymore.

  Colt turned the mech back toward the one-eyed ninja.

  He stood on the wreckage. Staring at Colt through the glass with his one violet eye.

  The mech’s cannons hummed, ready. Colt’s finger found the trigger.

  The ninja tilted its head like it was curious. Like this was interesting to it.

  “You killed that boy,” Colt said. His voice came out rough.

  The ninja couldn’t hear him. Colt knew that. But he said it anyway.

  “I’m gonna kill you for that.”

  The ninja turned its head toward the hole in the ceiling, then back to Colt. It raised one hand with the palm out, a small ball of violet energy started to form.

  It spread over its body. Then it jumped straight up through the hole and was gone.

  Colt’s hand stayed on the trigger while his chest heaved. The hatred burned in him like a raging fire.

  But the thing was gone.

  WARNING: POWER CELL CRITICAL

  CHARGE: 4%

  “Damn it.”

  Colt turned the mech toward Clay and knelt the thing down slow with the joints grinding. The metal hand came down and he tried to be gentle, tried to curl the fingers around Clay’s body without crushing him.

  The hand closed. Clay fit in the hand of the mech, Clay looked like a child in its grasp.

  Colt stood the mech up and turned toward the elevator. The doors were shut. Sealed tight.

  He walked the mech forward, raised the arm, and made a fist.

  The first punch dented the metal. The second tore a hole through it. He grabbed the edges and pulled until the doors screamed as they came apart.

  The elevator platform sat at the bottom, right in front of him.

  Colt stepped onto it. The platform groaned under the mech’s weight, metal screeched.

  He looked around the small space. The mech’s shoulders nearly touched both walls. He had maybe six inches on each side.

  A panel sat next to the door with a single button glowing green.

  Colt reached out with the mech’s free hand. The metal finger was too big. He tried again, pressing gentle as he could.

  The button clicked.

  The platform lurched and started rising.

  It moved slow. Too slow.

  WARNING: POWER CELL CRITICAL

  CHARGE: 3%

  “Come on,” Colt muttered.

  The platform shuddered. Cables groaned somewhere above him. Walls slid past where the door used to be.

  WARNING: POWER CELL CRITICAL

  CHARGE: 2%

  The ascent felt like it took forever. Every second the lights on the console dimmed a little more. The platform swayed and scraped against the shaft walls.

  Colt looked down at Clay in the mech’s hand. Still out. Still bleeding.

  “Hurry up,” Colt said through his teeth.

  The platform shook harder. A grinding sound echoed up from below.

  WARNING: POWER CELL CRITICAL

  CHARGE: 1%

  The lights flickered. The platform slowed.

  “No. Don’t you dare.”

  It jerked once, then kept rising.

  Finally the top came into view. The platform slid up and stopped with a heavy clunk. Doors ahead, sealed shut.

  Colt balled his metal fist and threw it forward.

  They buckled. He punched again and a hole opened up. Light poured through.

  He tore the doors apart and stepped through into the corridor. White walls. That same polished floor. The way back to the cave. Colt ran.

  The mech’s footsteps shook the ground and the walls blurred past. Warning lights flashed red across the console.

  WARNING: POWER CELL CRITICAL

  CHARGE: 1%

  The one percent started started to flash.

  The metal doors at the end of the corridor sat open, the ones with the claw marks gouged into them. Colt burst through and into the cave.

  The burned-out torch still lay on the ground. Darkness swallowed everything beyond the mech’s dim running lights and he could see maybe ten feet ahead.

  He kept running.

  The cave walls pressed in and the ceiling dropped. The mech’s head scraped stone.

  Then he saw it. The entrance. Gray light ahead with the opening in the rock.

  But something filled it.

  Colt’s mech stumbled to a halt.

  The bear stood in the cave mouth. Twice as tall as a horse with brown fur matted with old blood. Small eyes that caught the dim light.

  The short-faced bear.

  It opened its mouth and roared. The sound filled the cave and bounced off the walls. Colt could feel it rumble through the stone.

  WARNING: POWER CELL DEPLETED

  CHARGE: 0%

  SHUTDOWN IMMINENT

  A ten second countdown appeared in front of him.

  0:10

  “No.” Colt slammed the handles forward. “Not yet.”

  The mech lurched. One more step. Two.

  The bear charged.

  0:07

  Colt dropped his shoulder.

  Metal hit flesh and the impact threw him forward in the seat. The bear’s roar cut off into a grunt as the mech’s shoulder caught it square in the chest.

  The thing flew back and hit the cave wall hard enough to crack stone. It slumped down in a pile of fur.

  0:04

  The mech kept going. Out of the cave. Into open air.

  The cliff edge rushed up fast.

  0:01

  The timer reached zero and flashed out.

  The mech’s legs locked. The arms went stiff. But the momentum carried it forward.

  Over the edge.

  Colt’s stomach dropped. The sky spun. He saw trees below, the green blur of the forest stretching out.

  Clay. He was holding Clay.

  Colt yanked the handles. Nothing happened. He tried to curl the mech’s body around the hand that held his brother. The controls were dead. The mech fell like a stone.

  The fall lasted forever and no time at all.

  Branches exploded around them. The mech crashed through the canopy and wood splintered. Limbs thick as a man’s waist snapped like kindling. The impacts jarred Colt in the seat, one after another, each one slowing them down.

  A massive branch caught the mech’s shoulder and they spun. Another hit the back and the whole thing flipped.

  Colt’s head cracked against something hard. His vision went white.

  More branches. More breaking wood. The mech tumbled through the canopy, smashing through layer after layer.

  Then they hit the ground.

  The impact slammed Colt forward against the harness. Metal shrieked. The console stayed dark.

  Everything went quiet.

  For a second there was nothing. Then sound came back. Birds scattered from the trees above. Wind through broken branches. His own breathing, fast and shallow.

  Colt opened his eyes.

  The mech lay on its side in the dirt. Broken branches and leaves covered the glass. Smoke curled up from somewhere in the chest.

  He looked at the hand. Still closed. Still holding Clay.

  Colt fumbled with the harness until his fingers found the release and the straps fell away. He pushed at the hatch but it wouldn’t open. It was jammed.

  He kicked it once, twice, and the third time it popped free and swung wide. Colt climbed out and dropped to the ground. His legs nearly buckled.

  The mech’s hand had opened. Clay lay in the dirt beside it, curled on his side.

  His eyes were open.

  “Colt?” Clay’s voice came out cracked. Blood still ran from the gash on his forehead. “What the hell…”

  Colt dropped to his knees beside him. “You alright?”

  Clay looked at the mech. At the smoke rising from it. At the cliff wall towering above them.

  “What happened?”

  Colt didn’t answer. He was looking up.

  At the top of the cliff, silhouetted against the gray sky, a figure stood. One eye glowing violet.

  The ninja looked down at them.

  Colt’s hand went to his belt. His revolver was still there. One round left.

  The ninja didn’t move.

  Colt’s mind raced. When they found the module at the museum they attacked, right after he detected the compass. Now here. Same thing. Found the module and ninjas came.

  They knew.

  Both times Colt detected a module they knew. Like they could track it. Like it was a beacon.

  The ninja turned and walked away from the edge. He was gone.

  Colt stayed on his knees, breathing hard. Clay pushed himself up to sitting.

  “Colt.” Clay grabbed his arm. “What the hell is goin’ on?”

  Colt looked at the cliff. At the empty space where the ninja had been.

  “They knew we were here,” he said. “Same as the museum. We found the module and they came.”

  “How?”

  Colt reached into his satchel. His fingers closed around the sphere. The Displacement Drive. Still there. Still warm.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “But they can track these things. Every time we find one, they know.”

  Clay stared at him. “So what do we do?”

  Colt looked at the dead mech beside them. At the cliff behind them. At the forest stretching out toward the river.

  “We get the hell outta here,” he said. “Before more of ’em come.”