Lewis dropped out of Lawrence's telemetry grid. "Amersy, what the hell's happening out there?"
"He's gone. I don't know what..."
Amersy's voice faded. His telemetry grid was breaking up. Then a warning Lawrence had never seen before flashed up. It took him a moment to recognize the symbols. His Prime was expanding into the Skin's neurotronic pearls, replacing the standard AS program.
"Amersy, Odel, listen to me. Your Skins are being infiltrated with a very powerful subversive software. Close down and reboot. Do not use the communications links again. They've been compromised. Repeat, don't use the communications links."
Odel's telemetry vanished.
"Oh, sweet Fate." He requested a status summary from Prime and read the indigo data as it scrolled. Prime had immediately blocked the attempt to infiltrate his own Skin. The ambushers had tried to use their own Prime to subvert his AS. In which case, he decided, the ambushers had to be from Arnoon Province. They must have bought their Prime when they were on Earth—not that it mattered now.
He could hear a carbine firing again. If they could intercept the Skin communications link, they'd have his position down to a millimeter. He snatched up the smart missile rack and plugged its data cable into a port on his Skin. Prime entered the missiles.
Lawrence stood up. Prime was displaying maps with tactical scenario overlays. Just as he turned to leave, Hal groaned again. Lawrence gritted his teeth.
Amersy did exactly as Lawrence ordered, shutting down his entire Skin immediately. For a wretched moment he was locked solid in airless dark. He hated how vulnerable he must be, a big figure standing motionless in the middle of the open street. Then the AS began its reboot. Sensors came back online.
This whole mission was going too wrong, too quickly. Whatever the Arnoon ambushers had, it was an easy match for Skin. Amersy knew Lawrence had seriously underestimated them. The remains of the platoon were never going to reach their pot of gold now; all those lazy dreams of coming down from the plateau with enough money to buy out were dead. Survival was all that mattered.
As soon as he got limb movement back he ran at the nearest house, shattering the door as he went straight through. When he was inside he ordered the Skin to open. He started instructing the AS as he wriggled out.
Denise was doing nearly a hundred kph when she charged past Dixon's outlying buildings.
"Amersy's stopped transmitting," Jacintha said. "Gangel, see if he's still active."
"I've got Odel's last position," Denise said. "I'll take him."
"Be careful," Jacintha said. "We know the Prime hadn't infiltrated his Skin. Damn, Newton's good."
"Don't we know it."
"Eren, help Denise out, please."
"I'm thirty seconds away," Eren assured them.
Denise slowed the Scarret and skirted the main square. Odel could be down any one of half a dozen side streets. Fortunately, a Skin was easy enough for her to spot: its heat signature left a trail in the sandy soil that was as strong as a neon sign. She sensed Eren walking down a street parallel to hers. Seventy meters ahead, hot footprints glowed on the ground. They led into one of the houses. Its front door swung loosely on its hinges.
"Got him," Denise said. She slowed the bike to walking pace and closed on the house.
Carbine fire echoed over the deserted town.
"Amersy is still with us," Jacintha said dryly. "Those were depleted-uranium rounds. Careful, everyone."
Denise halted ten meters from the house. Eren appeared from an intersection opposite. He gave her a small wave.
"Cover the other side," she told him. "A Skin can walk through these walls like they're paper."
"Right." Eren jogged away to the back of the house.
Denise took the electron cluster pistol from her bag. The little unit melded snugly into her palm, giving her an aim alignment that was pure instinct.
More carbine fire sounded as Jacintha and Gangel started a running firefight five streets away. Ragged holes were punched clean through a house twenty meters behind Denise. Jacintha and Gangel shot back with e-c barbs. Sheets of flame roared into the sky as composite walls ignited.
"Ready," Eren said.
Denise swung a leg over the bike and stood facing the front door as it swung about in the slight gusts. This is wrong, she thought, it's too easy. Odel is a properly trained soldier. He won't allow himself to be cornered like this. She looked up at the house's roof.
The solar collector panels were hot from the sun. Infrared was useless. Then she saw scuff marks in the patina of ocher dust.
Denise spun around, her e-c pistol coming up. She was firing as she turned. Tiny sparks of light spurted out of the nozzle, twinkling as they shot away into the sky. Then one of them struck the Skin lying prone on the roof. It punched the bulky suit a couple of meters across the smooth solar collectors, ripping off a segment of the carapace. Two more e-c pulses hit, tearing the Skin apart.
Eren came round the side of the building. "Denise? What happened?"
"He jumped to another house. It was an ambush."
"Hell. Well done."
Carbine fire sounded again. Depleted-uranium rounds tore into the house, shredding huge sections of the paneling. A foundation pier burst apart in a wicked shrapnel cloud of concrete chips. Denise and Eren hit the ground together.
"Crap, I hate those carbines," Eren shouted as he lifted his head.
Denise risked looking back to where Amersy had fired from. "They never used depleted-uranium down in Memu Bay."
Eren grunted. "I wonder why."
Another house ignited from a deluge of e-c barbs. Carbine fire crackled again; buildings shivered and rocked as the rounds chopped through.
"Gangel, he's on your left," Jacintha cried. "Denise, we could use some help."
"On our way."
Eren gave her a reluctant grimace and started running. Denise paced him as they closed on her sister's position.
"He's under a house," Gangel said. "Damn, moving again."
A stream of e-c barbs poured out of an intersection ahead of Denise. She flinched. Carbine fire answered. Denise hit the ground again. Twenty meters away, a solar collector roof ruptured; black, glittering fragments rained down on the street.
"What was he shooting at?" Jacintha asked.
"Who cares?" Gangel said. "He can't have much ammunition left, not at this rate."
More depleted-uranium hammered through five houses. The last one sagged and slowly collapsed inward as its piers disintegrated. Denise had been ready to run forward again. Instead she buried her head in the ground.
"Shit!" Jacintha exclaimed. "He's got us pinned down."
"This is seriously crap tactics," Eren said in alarm. "If Newton comes up behind us, we're dead."
"They can't communicate," Denise told him. She wished she had more confidence. The platoon had worked together for years, decades even. And they were trained soldiers. If anybody could manage without a direct link, it would be Newton and Amersy.