the same.

Hendricks turned and raced back, away from the bunker, back toward the
rise.

At the top of the rise Tasso and Klaus were firing down. The small
claws were already streaking up toward them, shining metal spheres
going fast, racing frantically through the ash. But he had no time to
think about that. He knelt down, aiming at the bunker entrance, gun
against his cheek. The Davids were coming out in groups, clutching
their teddy bears, their thin knobby legs pumping as they ran up the
steps to the surface. Hendricks fired into the main body of them. They
burst apart, wheels and springs flying in all directions. He fired
again through the mist of particles.

A giant lumbering figure rose up in the bunker entrance, tall and
swaying. Hendricks paused, amazed. A man, a soldier. With one leg,
supporting himself with a crutch.

"Major!" Tasso's voice came. More firing. The huge figure moved
forward, Davids swarming around it. Hendricks broke out of his freeze.
The First Variety. The Wounded Soldier.

He aimed and fired. The soldier burst into bits, parts and relays
flying. Now many Davids were out on the flat ground, away from the
bunker. He fired again and again, moving slowly back, half-crouching
and aiming.

From the rise, Klaus fired down. The side of the rise was alive with
claws making their way up. Hendricks retreated toward the rise,
running and crouching. Tasso had left Klaus and was circling slowly to
the right, moving away from the rise.

A David slipped up toward him, its small white face expressionless,
brown hair hanging down in its eyes. It bent over suddenly, opening
its arms. Its teddy bear hurtled down and leaped across the ground,
bounding toward him. Hendricks fired. The bear and the David both
dissolved. He grinned, blinking. It was like a dream.

"Up here!" Tasso's voice. Hendricks made his way toward her. She was
over by some columns of concrete, walls of a ruined building. She was
firing past him, with the hand pistol Klaus had given her.

"Thanks." He joined her, grasping for breath. She pulled him back,
behind the concrete, fumbling at her belt.

"Close your eyes!" She unfastened a globe from her waist. Rapidly, she
unscrewed the cap, locking it into place. "Close your eyes and get
down."

* * * * *

She threw the bomb. It sailed in an arc, an expert, rolling and
bouncing to the entrance of the bunker. Two Wounded Soldiers stood
uncertainly by t