Chris Lowry [Lowry - DustOff

DUST OFF Invasion Earth series Book 6 By Chris Lowry Copyright 2018 Grand Ozarks Media All Rights Reserved The US gives a defense contract to a Tech giant to build an army of robot warriors. Its too expensive to train soldiers to control the robots, so the inventor Win Trafford creates a video game where players control the robot and the battles are a game.
DUST OFF "Fuck me," Lt squinted through the scorched camera monitor at the landscape beyond the lander. Smoke and dust drifted up in a fog that dissipated over the screen in twirling wisps that obscured the view. "Any landing you can walk away from," Warbucks groaned in the seat next to him. "That wasn't landing," she said. "That was falling." "Fall better next time," Lt unstrapped and stood next to her. "You all right?" "Legs are weak," she said as she tried to take a step and almost fell. "You all right?" "Legs are weak," she said as she tried to take a step and almost fell.

She caught herself before hitting the floor and stood shaking. "Space legs," Lt said. "You're fucking weak." "Give me a minute and I can still kick your ass," she said. "Those were my balls you kicked, not my ass," he reminded her. He went to the hatch and tried to force it open, but the doorway to the outside was stuck. "Licks tried to shoot us down." "Did we get hit?" The hatch cranked open an inch, then two. "Licks tried to shoot us down." "Did we get hit?" The hatch cranked open an inch, then two.

A small stream of dirt cascaded through the opening, a tiny patch of blue sky visible near the top. "Not directly," she said. "Indirectly?" "We spiraled out of control. I don't know how far off target we are." "Can't get out this way." He stepped back from the hatch and gave her a questioning look. You got any ideas locked in that noggin up there? he asked. Yes, she grimaced as she reached up and hooked her arm through the strap on the pilots seat, wrapping it twice.

Cover your ears. Annie reached out and punched a button on the console.
CHAPTER TWO He tried not to scream, especially when the laser beams started cutting across the sky trying to shoot them down for the second time that morning. Lt had been skydiving a couple of times and fucking hated it. He wasnt afraid of heights. That wasnt it.

He wasnt even afraid of falling. There was a difference between fear and just plain not enjoying something. Like being shot at while they dangled from an open cockpit suspended on a parachute floating three hundred feet over the ground. Not to mention Warbucks didnt tell him to strap in. He locked and loaded a litany of choice words and names to blast her with as soon as they landed. Right then, he wanted to concentrate on the ground that was coming up fast.

He braced for impact, and then remembered his training. Land loose and roll. He did just that and sent up a prayer that the armor absorbed almost all of the fall. He rolled up to his feet and shook mud and grime from the faceplate of his helmet. You worthless, spineless-, he sputtered to a stop. She had warned him to cover his ears, not grab on, and that was why he was pissed.

She was caught in the web of her straps, hanging upside down, and either dead or passed out. It didnt matter to him at the moment, which it was. She couldnt hear his cursing, so he decided to wait. He marched over to the upside down cockpit and searched for his fallen blaster. The Licks had been taking pot shots at them on the way down, and they had to see where they landed, or at least had a general idea of the vicinity. Licks were fucking stupid, but not dumb enough that they wouldnt come to investigate.

Lt moved to hide behind a tree and wait. Annie could stay where she was strapped, bait staked out to the crash, ready to draw the Licks in. He grinned inside his helmet. Time to get back to business. CHAPTER THREE Lt listened for the sound of the hovercraft floating above the trees. It was hard to hear at first.

Their landing had set a couple of trees on fire, caught in the backburn of the rear mounted plasma rockets that controlled their descent. Though control was a strong word for what actually happened. "Here they come," he whispered to himself. He was the only one around to hear it. The radios weren't working again. He'd tried it after they landed.

Crashed, he corrected and settled the blaster against the edge of the tree. Slivers of bark rained down on the hard-packed ground, peppering the green moss with gray flakes. The sound of the hovercraft grew slowly as it approached, like distant freeway noise picking up as daylight turned a commute into a free for all. He saw the glint of sunshine off the carbon alloy hull, dulled by the grime of smog as it drifted over the trees and dropped Lick soldiers into the clearing to explore the wreckage. Six of them. Taller than a man.

Covered in black or silver jumpsuits and carrying lasers. The only thing he knew that could harm his armor. He'd have to be careful. The color meant rank, but since he hadn't spied much on the alien invaders, he didn't know which was more important. But size seemed to matter to the Lizard looking men. The big guys were the ones they followed.

He lined up his sights on the largest one in silver and sent a blast through its head. It popped with a smoky hiss, a noise that made the others turn and stare. It only bought a second's hesitation, just a fraction of time. It was enough. He dropped two more before they pinpointed his position. He got another as they sent the first bolt into the bole next to his head.

Lt ducked back, hiding the bulk of his armor behind the trunk. The hovercraft whizzed out of the clearing and circled back on his position. He raised his blaster and sent three lancets of plasma blasts into the shape steering it. A seven-foot reptile body flopped over the side of the craft and smacked into the ground with a wet thud. The hovercraft spun upside down and slammed into one of the two Lick soldier's left, splatting him in a splurt of goo and gore that squirted across the clearing and covered the last Lick standing in black ichor. Lt rolled on his stomach from behind the tree, aimed and sent a blast into center mass.

It plopped backwards in a sprawl. Lt watched the leg twitch in a death throe, then roamed the perimeter. "Not bad," he said to himself as he got up and checked again. It would have been cleaner with a second or third gun. And the element of surprise helped. Maybe like a crash, any ambush you could walk away from should be considered a success, he thought.

Then he went to check on Warbucks. CHAPTER FOUR Doc ran a hand over his hair and pushed it back from his forehead. His eyes were tired to the point of feeling gritty, the ache between his nose like a thin chisel being pounded by a ham fisted lumberjack every time he blinked. He pushed back from the desk and sighed. The Suits were up and running, but his learning curve on how to maintain them was reaching a flat line. The men who ran this department at the secret government laboratory had done a stellar job on compartmentalization, and even though he had reams of knowledge theory in his brain, the practical application thereof was making his head hurt.

He stood up and stretched. The two civilian refuges conscripted to guard the entrance to the lab glanced over their shoulders at him. You okay Doc? Doc waved one hand at the man on the left, little more than a teenage boy with a dusting of freckles on his pale cheeks and nose. Youth may have been their advantage, but they were also loyal to their new positions as protectors of the lab. No one got in, no one was allowed to pass without Docs go ahead. Not even Burmage, the leader of the community, who skulked about the entrance with a sullen look on his face.