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"No, sir," the specialist replied. "I can't."
"Well, looks like we're about to find out," he commented as the stream of Posleen, with four Lampreys and a C-Dec hovering overhead, turned in the direction of the bridge. Off in the distance he could see other landers turning towards the west. "I think they're dividing their forces," he mused.
"Well, that's not very smart," the specialist said. "At least if it's not a feint."
"Possibly," Ryan said, turning to look at the specialist again. "Another manual?"
"Sort of," Kittekut answered. "How many troops do you think they can push through the pass in an hour?"
"I du
"So they're going to push those in two different directions," Kittekut said. "That reduces the forces necessary to stop them on both paths."
"Hmm," Ryan said. "On the other hand, each of the routes will have its own problems; I don't know, for example, if they could push as many on the whole route to Asheville as they can through the gap. Also, by breaking up they're making the task of cutting them off more complex; each individual defense point may last longer and be more effective with the lower numbers, but you'll need more routes covered. All in all I think it's a net positive for them, a negative for us."
"Possibly, sir," Kittekut said. "It depends, I suppose, on whether there are defenders on the other routes."
"I think you just made my point for me," Ryan said with a smile. "And we are now going to find out how effective we are going to be," he continued as the MP platoon on the bridge hurriedly boarded their Humvees and retreated, drawing fire from the lead oolt as they did so. Fortunately for Ryan's stomach, there were no stragglers between the MPs and the Posleen; he'd blown up bridges with stragglers on them before and it wasn't his favorite pastime by any stretch of the imagination.
"Are you going to wait until they're on the bridge?" Kittekut asked.
"No," Ryan answered. "And if I did, Sergeant Campbell would blow it up instead. The SOP is . . ."
"Five hundred meters," Kittekut interjected. "Just checking."
"Clerk typist?" he muttered.
"Four years, sir. Right here. Well, down there," she said, gesturing towards the Gap. "I type nearly eighty words a minute."
"If I need any forms filled out, I'll let you know," Ryan said, throwing a hand switch as the first Posleen passed by a street sign he had measured off as just under five hundred meters.
The explosion was the antithesis of spectacular. There were a few puffs of smoke and the concrete and steel bridges dropped into the stream.
"That's it?" Kittekut asked.
"That's it," Ryan answered, packing up the detonation circuit.
"I just expected lots of smoke and fire and the bridge going sky high," she said with a sigh. "We did a hell of a lot of work for a few puffs of smoke."
"I am a master," he said haughtily. "The essence of mastery in blowing things up is minimal force and I have blown up a lot of bridges in the last few years. Since we also have minimal explosives, I consider it to be a good idea all around."
"Sure, sir." The specialist laughed. "What next, O Great Master?"
"Next we are going to blow up a road," he answered. "Right after we see what these Posleen are going to do about the bridge."
The first wave of Posleen milled around aimlessly as the lead God Kings lifted up on their saucers and flew over the river. They quickly came back, though, and as new forces joined them the units were spread along the riverbank and the individual oolt'os spaced out.
"Jesus Christ," Ryan said, shaking his head.
"What?"
"They're spreading them out to reduce the damage from artillery. It would be better to start digging in, but I guess they haven't quite gotten that far."
"That's bad," Kittekut said. "Right?"
"Oh, yeah," the major mused as the first Lamprey crossed the river and disgorged its troops. It quickly lifted off and took on a new contingent, begi
"And now they're establishing a perimeter," Ryan said. "Why are they establishing a perimeter around the bridge? The former bridge."
"They're going to hold a cookout on the remains?" the specialist asked. "Uh, Major, it's getting dark and those Posleen that aren't establishing a bridgehead are headed up the road. Towards us."
"But the landers aren't moving," Ryan said as if he hadn't heard. One of the other Lampreys had joined the first in shuttling troops, but the other two Lampreys and the C-Dec were on the ground, spread out, as if waiting for something. "What are they doing?"
"Sir, maybe we should wonder someplace else?"
"Ah," the major answered with a grunt. "There's some movement."
The Posleen forces had been backing up into the valley, spreading out in a disciplined ma
"Tell me those aren't what they look like," he muttered.
"I du
He handed them over and shook his head. "Where in the hell did they get them?"
"Sir," Kittekut said with a gasp. "Are those . . . ?"
"Indowy."
* * *
Orostan folded his arms and lowered his crest, the better to keep from frightening the little green one. Tulo'stenaloor had already had one Kessentai killed who had permitted the death of one of the "engineers"; the little creatures had been purchased and transported at great expense and they were a very finite resource. But dealing with them was very difficult.
He pointed to where the bridge had been. "There was a bridge," he said in a hash of Posleen and Galactic. "There must be a new one. If there is a new one, everything will be well. If there is not, your clan will be reduced."
The Indowy sidled around him and went over to the demolished bridge. The supports of both spans had been blown down and the metal girders had been blown in several places. What was left was a tangled mass of pulverized concrete and steel. He examined it for a moment then looked around at the materials in view. Last, he sidled back over to the Posleen commander.
"I will need hands, more hands than we have," the Indowy said diffidently. "Fortunately, there is a source of materials right here. We will not try to reconstruct the bridge, but will make new ones nearer the water level. This will be quicker. It still will take until morning. We ca
"You will have all the oolt'os you need," Orostan said. He gestured to forestall the question. "They will be controlled by their Kessentai, I will pick the ones to work with you. You may order them in these tasks as you will; there will be no damage to you."
"It will take time," the Indowy pointed out.
"It must go as swiftly as possible," Orostan warned. "No delay."
"We shall start immediately."
* * *
"Son of a bitch," Ryan said, getting out his notebook computer.
"What, sir?" Kittekut asked. "They're . . . doing something."
"They're replacing the bridge," Ryan said. "This is going to get interesting."
"So what are we doing?" she asked. "And there are Posleen moving around down in Brendleston."
"Brendletown," he corrected pedantically. "We're getting the hell out of here; I've seen everything I need to see."