The cruise missile type craft swung over the still burning swamp, and hurtled at low altitude over the settlement before swinging around and streaking towards the ancient crater.

The nose cone was packed with sensitive equipment that recorded data, and transmitted it back to the home planet. As it flashed over that crater, signals were easily detected.

The monitor had received the puzzling report and decided to call in Councillor Grant. When the diminutive figure entered, he was scowling.

“What is it now?”

The monitor saluted and handed over the latest intelligence.

“It would appear sir that the planet is not uninhabited after all.”

The councillor gazed at the data in disbelief.

“There is an indigenous populace I see. As for the photos well, they seem to show that the settlers are doing very nicely.”

The monitor hesitated a moment.

“The probe picked up a signal sir.”

The councillor glanced at him.

“That is not possible. There is no advanced technology on that world. Previous flyovers confirmed it.”

The monitor pointed to the spike.

“This flyover detected that sir.”

The monitor gazed at the spike and thought things over.

“Have the probe concentrate upon that area. I will arrange a standby option.”

“Yes sir.”

He stopped a moment and asked, “Any sign of their great ship?”

The monitor shook his head.

“The probe picked up miniscule debris that is still in orbit.”

“So the ship was destroyed then. I wonder how many survived.”

As the councillor departed, upon that world Terrance was being rapidly choked.

“You will surrender,” the machine demanded in an electronic voice.

“Go to hell,” the leader croaked.

He tried to kick the metallic humanoid without much effect, and at last, it released him.

Gasping desperately, he ignored the marching monsters as they collected their laser rifles.

“I must check my men.”

“Do so.”

Terrance collected his breath at last and checked out John. After a gentle shake, he opened his eyes and groaned.

“My knuckles are bust.”

“At least you are alive mate.”

Terrance turned and saw Terry sitting up and holding his head.

“You okay mate?”

“Apart from a splitting headache yes.”

Terrance ran to Walker who was resting against the wall.

“Come on wake up,” Terrance muttered.

After a moment, the comrade came to and groaned.

“We are still alive then?”

“I should hope so. I need to see Larry though.”

As he stood, a machine entered the armoury carrying a limp body. As
this was dropped upon the metallic floor, Terrance winced. When he reached him, he saw the twisted neck quite clearly. He swung around and yelled, “You ruddy well killed him!”

“He was trying to resist,” the machine said.

Terrance strode up to it and hissed, “What the hell are you lot doing here anyway?”

“We are survivors of a great war. This planet was suitable for our purposes.”

“I saw images of that war. Who were you fighting?”

“We were created as warriors. When it was believed we were not
required they attempted to deactivate us.”

“So you turned on them.”

“They gave us no choice.”

A second machine entered and said, “The console is damaged but can be easily repaired.”

The three companions now hobbled up.

“How come you woke up then?” Walker asked.

“The system has a backup. When the power was cut, fifty of us were reactivated.”

Terrance glanced at the unhappy man.

“It’s not your fault mate. It was a pretty good idea.”

He paused for a moment.

“Now that you have woken up, what are your intentions?”

The metallic humanoid gazed at him with indifference.

“We will rise from here and spread out across this planet and the galaxy. Your presence needs explaining.”

Terrance thought quickly.

“We eh, crash landed here. Only we four survived the impact.”

“That is regrettable. Nonetheless it will have to do.”

“What do you mean by that?" Terry asked.

“You will join us.”

“No we won’t,” Terrance said sharply.

The machine looked at him.

“You have no choice. Debate is quite useless. Take them for conversion now.”

They were grabbed quite roughly and manhandled through the open arch, and into the conversion chamber.

“Why didn’t their weapons work?” John asked.

“Because we are flesh and blood,” Walker said quietly.

As they gazed upon the single humanoid space once more, John was frog marched into it. After being secured, a machine stood at the console and threw a number of switches.

“You cannot do this thing,” Terrance pleaded.

“We need more of our kind. The process is quite painless.”

“Go to hell!” Walker yelled.

They saw John’s eyes close as the wires lit up. After a few moments,
his lifeless body was carried out. Another machine entered and placed one of the empty suits within the space.

The machine flicked the switches and the wires hummed again.

“It must be some kind of advanced extraction process,” Terrance said. “The very consciousness of the victim is removed and placed inside that thing.”

The whirring stopped and the machine stepped from its place.

“John?” Terry asked. “Come on mate, you know us eh?”

The machine simply stared and said in that electronic voice, “I am John.”

They watched it march toward the armoury, as Terry was pushed inside the space.

“You are killing us!” Terrance screamed.

The emotionless machine replied, “You will gain true immortality.”

They watched helplessly as Terry was converted, before being carried off.

When his new metallic body stepped forth it said, “Together we shall conquer the galaxy.”

“Over my dead body mate!” Walker hissed.

He struggled violently, as he too was shoved into the machine and secured.

“I’ll give you anything,” Terrance pleaded. “Just spare him.”

“Your request has been noted and rejected. Continue.”

He struggled violently but to no avail. He was forced to watch as his friend ceased to be, and his body simply carried off like trash. As another empty shell was placed within that evil space, the wires whirred again.

“We will stop you lot,” Terrance said. “Just you wait!”

As the machine stepped out it strangely saluted.

“You have nothing to fear. Accept and obey.”

As it marched off, it was the turn of Terrance.

When he was secured, he closed his eyes and began to silently repeat a simple mantra.

“I am me, I am me, I am me.”

He heard the wires hum loudly and a very strange falling sensation before unconsciousness intervened. When he became aware, he found himself locked inside the humanoid machine.

He stepped out and heard himself say, “Our purpose is to defend and conquer.”

At that moment, a humanoid marched up to the leader and said, “We are being probed.”

As they left together, Terrance shuffled up to what had been Walker.

“Did you do what I did?”

The machine nodded.

“This conversion has its drawbacks. What about this probe?”

“I have no idea. We certainly didn’t launch it.”

“We should have a look.”

“Follow me,” Terrance said in that strange metallic tone.

They quickly reached the access tunnel, and joined their metallic comrades outside.

“There is Terry.” Terrance pointed out.

“I think he has gone sir. Look up there.”

He looked and saw the cruise missile flying in a circle quite close by.

“Obviously an alien device of some kind,” Terrance said.

“Probably wondering what all the fuss is about,” Walker said.

“Destroy it,” the leader commanded.

They watched as a laser rifle was raised, and an intense beam struck the craft’s wing. As it snapped off in the blast, it spiralled into the ground and exploded.

“I hope whoever sent it gets quite annoyed,” Terrance said.

The leader turned and noted the lack of weaponry.

“Return to the armoury and avail yourselves.”

They turned and marched off as the leader headed for the damaged
power console.

“Report.”

“Repairs are ongoing. Within the hour they will be complete.”

“We may have to activate our army. A new threat has emerged.”

The machine nodded its response as the two mechanical friends collected the weapons and mulled things over.

“I suppose these ruddy things will work now,” Walker said.

“Of course they will. We dare not use them yet though. That probe may have placed our people in extreme danger. We will get an opportunity later.”

They marched out fully armed as the repair got well ahead.
...
“Councillor, our probe was destroyed.”

“I am aboard the strike craft. Send me the data monitor.”

“Yes sir. Data transmission underway.”

The councillor read it upon the bridge with some alarm.

“It appears that droids exist on that planet. Those settlers could never deal with them.”

“Any orders sir?”

The councillor turned to the bridge crew.

“Set course for the next planet at once. Bring the defence teams to combat readiness.”

“Aye sir.”

As the great craft moved out of orbit, the councillor was a worried man.

“If I had known about this, their generation star ship would never have been damaged. They are now my responsibility.”
...
The hour had passed and the power console was now up and running. As the two former humans watched, the power levels were raised sharply as the full activation got under way.

“Seems as though they are going somewhere.”

“Yes Walker. With this army nothing can stand in their way.”

“What shall we do sir?”

“Act as they do until I give the signal.”

The leader entered moments later from the great chamber.

“Join your comrades outside. We are ready to march.”

The machines saluted and headed for the access tunnel. As they stepped outside, they noted no more than six metallic individuals waiting for them.

“I think now is the time,” Terrance suggested. “Are you ready?”

“Let’s just get on with it.”

They lowered their weapons and pulled the trigger. The laser rifles barked, and the six machines were rapidly reduced to mere scrap.

“Now the tunnel,” Terrance said as they swung around.

As their beams struck, the entrance exploded and heavy rubble crashed down from above.

“That should hold them for a while,” Walker said.

“I doubt that mate. We have only bought some time.”

“Back to the settlement then?”

“Where else? I just hope our people believe who we are.”

The marched off rapidly toward the desert region as the trapped machines began digging their way out.

The sand proved a little less troublesome than previously. Despite sinking up to their waists, their mechanical legs pushed them through quite nicely.

As they approached from the west, one of the sentries spotted them from one of the four towers.

“Now comes a real problem,” Walker said.

“A shot rang out from a well aimed sonic blaster but there was naturally no effect.”

“Just keep going,” Terrance said.

“What if they come after us with pickaxes?”

“We fire warning shots mate.”

A crowd suddenly appeared and the machines stopped. The old chief and his armed braves ran to back the settlers up.

“What do you want?” Dudley demanded.

Terrance stepped forward confidently.

“I hope you are looking after Connor for me mate.”

The stunned man could hardly believe his ears.

“I put you in charge remember? So take charge now. We have to work together before a ruddy army arrives.”

“Terrance?”

“Of course it is me. Sorry for the body change, but they were a little insistent.”

From the crowd a woman ran forward.

“Trudy don’t!” Dudley shouted.

She ignored him and embraced the machine.

“At least you are back I suppose. Who’s this though?”

“Walker of course.”

“A lot ruddy healthier too,” Walker added.

As Trudy smiled, she turned toward the crowd.

“It’s my husband all right.”

Dudley came forward at last.

“Sorry boss. Just took me by surprise.”

“Don’t worry mate. We need to report in.”

They marched into the compound and headed straight for the communal fire.

“What happened?” Dudley asked.

“We tried to cut their alarm clock but it failed. Now they are reviving a thousand machines.”

“We’ll have to move then,” Trudy said.

“We stay,” Terrance said. “They are temporarily stuck. We gave them
a little going away present.”

“You can’t mean for us to fight them mate,” Dudley protested. “Not if blasters won’t stop them.”

“If we do run,” Walker said. “It means losing everything you know.”

Terrance turned to the old chief. With hand signals his electronic voice asked, “You want to fight?”

“Hotep khan salani hey!”

“I think that was yes,” Trudy said.

Dudley shook his head.

“Then someone had better come up with a workable plan right now.”

Terrance turned to Walker.

“You used to work in engineering mate. We need your input.”

“I was just thinking. The empty pet pod has its own internal power
grid to keep the cats happy.”

“What about it?” Dudley asked.

“If we can strip the cables from the evac craft, we could connect them up and create one hell of an electro-magnetic field.”

“Sounds good to me,” Terrance said.

“We need the computers to teach our people,” Trudy reminded them.

“If we don’t do this,” Terrance said. “There will be no people. Just machines my dear.”

“There is one other problem sir. We need a machine to test it on.”

“You will use me then. I’m supposed to be the leader around here.”

“You could be killed,” Trudy protested.

Her partner pointed to his metallic body.

“Technically I’m already dead love. We do it.”

As one team removed the wiring looms from the now useless craft, Walker led the second to the huge pet pod that sat upon the grassy plain.

“This is the place,” he said removing the panel.

Behind the wall lay flashing lights and a link up point.

“We simply connect the wire to here and run a cable across the plain.”

“Will we have enough?” Dudley asked.

“From the evac craft? We’ll have plenty to spare man.”

Walker switched the power off and waited.

The wiring looms were soon removed, and the last of the computers died as the power ceased for good. After being carried to the pet pod the engineer hooked them together before linking them to the main power unit.

Then they were unrolled across the plain about fifty feet from the west wall of the stockade.

“Ready for a test?” Terrance asked.

“If you are?”

Terrance nodded, and stood as close to the cable as possible. When the power was restored, he felt a strange tingling but nothing else.

“Damn it!”

He was about to march off, when he discovered that he could not move.

“We did it. I’m immobile.”

“Now we only have to wait,” Trudy said happily, as the power was cut.

As night started to approach, the settlers waited for the inevitable battle.

“We should send the women to safety you know,” Dudley suggested.

“Some of them are in no fit state to move,” Trudy warned. “We can’t risk miscarriages.”

“I agree,” Terrance said. “They have to stay with us.”

A sudden shout from the west towers brought them running.

“What do you see?” Dudley shouted.

“A whole landscape of machines.”

“Everyone to their posts,” Terrance ordered. “Get a runner to activate the cable.”

As Sammy dashed off, the defenders manned the walls. Terrance and Walker levelled their laser rifles and waited.

“I hope he pulls the right switch,” Walker said. “Otherwise we have had it.”

“He’ll be okay,” Terrance replied.

As the mechanical army came on, Terrance aimed and fired. A couple of machines exploded and fell as Walker joined in.

“That should stop and make them think,” Walker said.

He could not have been more wrong though.

A sudden volley of concentrated fire tore the entire west wall
apart. As machines and bodies fell, the tower smashed to the ground.

The army marched on as Walker and Terrance scrambled to their feet undamaged.

“That’s torn it,” Walker said.

“Just fire would you.”

As the settlers joined them, the machines opened up taking many of the army down. As they closed in Terrance said, “Everyone to the gate wall.”

The people ran as the machines reached the critical line. Walker saw the front row suddenly stop.

“They are damn well immobilised.”

“Now we get them mate. Come on now.”

The settlers and their warrior allies rampaged as one body, and spent a happy time smashing the machines into useless hunks of metal. As it was coming to an end, a strange craft swung into view.

“Now we got real problems,” Trudy said pointing.

The strike craft landed a hundred yards from the Indian encampment and the settlers watched as heavily armed troops dashed out.
As Terrance moved forward, Dudley stopped him.

“Let me handle this.”

“Be my guest.”

As he dashed to meet them, a small figure walked over.

“Councillor Grant at your service.”

Dudley shook his hand.

“We are here to help in any way we can. Our probe detected the droids.”

Dudley smiled.

“Rather too late mate. We dealt with them quite well on our own.”

“What about their base?” the councillor asked.

Dudley thought it over.

“If you could destroy it for us we would be terribly grateful.”

“Consider it done. I will issue the orders, and then perhaps we can talk about interplanetary trade?”

Two small craft rose from the main ship soon after and as they approached the ancient crater, unleashed a series of deadly energy bolts. The crater wall exploded and the floor erupted in a shower of gravel and twisted metal.

The machines were at last no more.

The sun had set at last, and the welcomed visitors had finally headed home to their own planet. Sitting within their home, Terrance watched his newborn son.

“I hope that Connor accepts me like this.”

Trudy smiled.

“Of course he will. After all, you are still the same man underneath all that metal.”

“It’s strange though not being able to smile or shout my dear.”
“Think on the positive side. No need for food, and no loo to worry about. You and Walker really will live forever.”

“Since you put it that way...”

“How did Dudley do?”

Terrance thought for a moment.

“The trade deal was signed. In exchange for our crystals and clothes and jewellery from the warriors, they will give us modern farming implements.”

“Oh I see.”

“Why say it like that?”

“I remember when you said that we are only custodians.”

“So we are.”

When she fell silent, the penny dropped.

“Don’t worry my darling. We will never trash this planet. I’ll put that in the constitution.”

Trudy raised her eyebrows.

“We haven’t got one.”

Terrance took her hand gently.

“We start writing it as soon as the west wall and tower are repaired.”

“How many men did we lose today? She asked.

“Another twenty but it could have been far worse,” he reminded her. “At the end of the day, we have more kids on the way and if the old chief has his way, many more after that.”

“What are you driving at?” she asked.

“Our future is at last secured my darling. After nine months of ruddy hard work, our people have guaranteed future generations. The human race has indeed survived.”

From his small bed, baby Connor gurgled with delight.

“I’m glad that you agree son,” Terrance said.

We call this home.

The End...