Messages

These days I spend most of my time playing Clockwork Empires. Only 75% done and a lot of the content is not in or optimised but it will be a hell of a game when done. Charming, fun and very good blog posts every week.

Tynan, you need a break and time to think about the game whilst not staring at its code all day and nearly every day. I would put off all this angst and go do stuff that has nothing to do with games and gamers. Then come back with a fresh mind.

I am pretty sure that near everyone on the forums wants the game to be as successful as it can be. I can see from reading through the posts on the topic that even die hard fans are not always reading the game's status the same way you are. This will multiply by many times once it gets to steam. Be very, very ready for the steam launch because there is a lot of insanity and ill informed comment there and if you go at it with your current 'burnt out' defensive attitude it could be ugly.

Go look at the way you were answering questions and concerns about the game in the early days - is there a difference? If so, why?

You have a very good game -a break and fresh perspective could make it great.

Also when you do take your break make it a long one and don't take your phone or a computer. Make it a real break. The game will still be here. The fan base will still be here and you are likely to come back with a brand new head on full of exciting thoughts and if your lucky and party very hard you might even have much of your initial energy and vision replenished.

T.V? Huh.. Wouldn't a computer be easier to manufacturer? - then pawns with high research could program a game called 'Grimworld' or something and have hot seat games.

The S.S. Lupe with Walter, Sissy and Cristobal in the pods as the ship part crashes!



And then....

Twenty Three.

As the weeks passed the S.S Lupe grew in size. After the three sleep pods were installed work progressed quickly. The computer brain of the ship was completed and the work on the engines and power delivery was progressing steadily. Work was then held up as the plas steel stocks ran out. Every trader that passed in near space was quizzed on getting more supplies of the precious ore to us. We had built up large stocks of goods to exchange. The stockpile was full and cluttered. It had been waiting for a suitable trader for so long that it was thick with grass and had jungle weeds growing through it. Tendrils of vines squeezed their way through a mountain of cloth cowboy hats and green moss covered the piled up chopped logs. Weapons were greased and boxed in boar fat ready for export and clothes were neatly stacked under fat smeared cloth covers to help keep out the rotting effect of the jungle.

There had been a great deal of argument and discussion on who was to take the first three births on the S.S Lupe. There had been suggestions of holding a blind lottery. A favoured lottery based on time in the colony or leaving in the order we arrived. We had considered age, disability, mental state and usefulness to the colony as being used in a points system. No system was a clear favourite and in the end our four empaths were charged with finding the most ethical solution. They locked themselves away after spending a week questioning everyone in the community about a whole host of views. After a few days of quiet discussion they had come to a decision. Our first three passengers would be decided by vote. Each member of the colony would vote for the three colonists that they thought deserved the ticket to get off world.  Each named member would get three votes and the top three scorers would be the chosen. The vote would take place immediately to prevent bribery, threats and politics from polluting the result. Three pebbles were given to everyone. On the surface of each pebble each colonist wrote a name and then the pebbles were put in a large wooden bowl. I found incredibly difficult to choose and ran all the people of home through my head. I finally decided on those that first arrived should be first to leave. I chose Cristobal, Sissy and Cisneros.

The empaths calculated and verified the result and declared to a hushed audience in the converted canteen that Cristobal, Sissy and I were to leave. I sat stunned unable to speak or hardly move. I could see Cristobal high fiving the other miners. Sissy was in floods of tears and saying sorry and apologizing to everyone in earshot. Some of the gathered were clapping and others were complaining a little too loudly. A few were trying to garner support for a re-run or explaining why they should get a birth. The voices drained away and I felt everything inside mentally shift as a new hope built within me. Was it possible? Would I have a new chance to find my Sarah and re-gain my old life? Would I really leave this hell hole? I walked through the crowd with some colonists clapping my back and others wanting to shake hands.  I even got a kiss from a couple of the younger female colonists. I made my way outside through the warren of tunnels and walked towards the ship. Its bulk gleamed in the starlight. A small hunched figure was sitting on a rock staring at the ship. It was Cisneros.

'Two votes out, must have told a couple of jokes a few too many times I guess.' He sighed turning towards me.

'You will get on the next ship for sure and it's only a few deliveries of plas steel away. We have the electronics and steel for the next ship.' I offered, feeling pretty bad. I wanted to give him my place on the S.S. Lupe but only for a second or two and then I thought of my Sarah.

'Yeah maybe, it's a fresh vote though so if I work on a few more jokes make more people like me I'll get enough votes to get a pod.' He said eagerly.

'I would maybe go light on new jokes or jokes at all to be honest and maybe a few less songs.' I said patting his leg and winking at him.

'I wish you well Walter, you deserve to go. You were the first and you have been a de facto leader. They will miss you and envy you but they have learned from you. Just try and lighten up a little.' He grinned at me and offered his hand and we shook.

'I wish you well too Minstrel.'

The weeks passed with little work being done on the S.S. Lupe. We were still waiting for a trader with a good supply of the rare and almost magical plas steel. We had plenty of metal ore stored and so we started the skeleton of the S.S. Berro. This ship was named after a tribal who had been with us for a few months. He had died during a skirmish with the local tribes. A large group of tribesmen had gathered to the south of home near to a geo thermal plant and looked to be preparing for another suicidal frontal attack. Berro had been working in the cotton fields and ignoring all pleas from other colonists he had foolishly gone out to the tribe and attempted to mediate. They had replied to his compassionate offer of friendship with a volley of arrows and pila's whilst screaming curses at him. The tribesmen then threw themselves at our machine gun defences. Very soon they were dead, dying, unconscious or fleeing the area. We placed four tribe people into the cells and went to find Berro. His battered, pierced body was recovered from behind a rock outcrop and he was buried next to our other fallen comrades. A few hours after the burial we had notification that a near space trader was carrying plas steel and would soon be in transfer range. We took delivery of a very large amount of the curious metal. Our calculations showed that there was enough to complete the first space ship. As the plas steel was delivered a mortar shell exploding in the potato patch signalled the start of another large pirate raid.

The pirates had taken up a siege position about half a mile away to the south and were peppering us with a combination of incendiary and explosive mortar fire. Mortar parties were formed and soon a defensive barrage of shells was exploding on top of the raiders. We kept up a good rate of fire all day and all night using a shift system. This concentrated fire had a huge demoralising effect on the raiders. Within a day they had started to fight amongst themselves and we had heard a few fire fights breaking out. Yet again a group of visitors from Strengths plain decided to call and ended up in a vicious gun battle with the pirates. All the visitors were tragically soon killed. After a few more hours of artillery the pirates had had enough and they rushed the guns. There was a short, vicious massacre in front of the turrets, death was dealt at close range. We threw six injured pirates into the cells. The area of their encampment was littered with food packages and all sorts of weapons and armour. We recovered several power suits and R-4 rifles along with piles of lesser spoils.

The plas steel we had bought was incorporated into the ship over the course of a few days and nights of constant work. After a week of tests the ship was declared ready to leave. I spent my last few days saying my goodbyes and counting down the hours. I went to Lupe's old quarters and found his folder of drawings. I decided that if I did reach civilization I would try and get something done with them. He was maybe going to be a legendary Artist yet.

The day of the launch was bright and clear. A few clouds scudded across the sky. The whole colony was gathered as we made our way to the pods. A few people shouted out farewells and a few shouted humorous obscenities. The atmosphere was light and jovial. I shook hands and hugged. Tears were fought. We were strapped into the pods. As the lid started to close I heard a thunderous clap, the pod swayed violently and I felt a huge psychic wave of horror flow over my mind. A few yards from the S.S. Lupe a huge piece of ancient ship had suddenly crashed landed from the heavens. In the smoke and flames I could just see the outlines of dozens of centipedes and Scythers as they exploded from the crashed fuselage. The pod lid snapped shut to the sound of screaming and gunfire.

I slept.


The End.

Twenty Two.

We formed a core group of eight who were to be the builders of the S.S. Lupe. We had two scientists translating Lupieri's plans into modules that we could manufacture. Two haulers were designated to bring needed materials to the site and take away the cut trees and rock debris from the proposed launch area. Four constructors were to actually make the ship and put it together. We calculated that we would need to procure a great deal of plas steel and other metals from space traders or try to find it in the hills surrounding the base. A proposal for an all out effort to gather tradable goods was proposed and acted on. We scoured the various battlefields for items that could be sold for good profit. All spare weapons and clothes were gathered and readied for sale. We cut many, many trees and kept on cutting them. We mined for more metal and luckily found a good deposit of silver worth several thousands. Our food supply was stable now and we even had a small surplus to sell.

On March the fourth Trobo the tribal shaman was finally recruited by the empath Greene. Boy, those guys could convince you of anything. They tended to get very emotional when anyone was hurt and were popular with the colonists as they were good listeners to those needing a shoulder to cry on. All empaths are excellent mediators and ours easily sorted out the petty squabbles that broke out from time to time amongst the colonists. It was during one of the more heated discussions that we had another small pirate raid that dropped in pods. They dropped again straight on the stockpile and all were quickly wiped out or made prisoner with no casualties to ourselves. We didn't even notice them until the turrets started up.  By the time that the attack was over no one could remember the cause of the argument. It was definitely evident that we were becoming a little stir crazy. On May the first the main structural beam for the S.S. Lupe was finished. We celebrated with a Roast Boar feast. May the twelfth saw another tribal convert in the shape of Berro who was convinced to join by Jen. We now number twenty- three colonists.

The summer was quiet and we were able to get on with our mission to get off planet. We had built another geo thermal plant and planted a wider range of crops in order to make exotic clothing to sell to traders. We were also able to strengthen our defences with more turrets and mortars. Our walls looked to be a weak point so we also increased the depth of rocks that we had used to create our perimeter wall. It was as we built a section of this wall that we suffered our heaviest attack yet. It started with the familiar whoosh of overhead pods as they swooped down. The pods cracked open on top of our stockpile and disgorged four centipedes and three scythers. As before our faithful turrets put up a murderous hail of lead and within seconds two of the scythers were down. The third one also quickly disappeared in a wall of flame and spitting sparks but not before shooting Greene with a lance. One of the centipedes was firing molten lumps of flame and had set fire to several turrets and solar panels before it too exploded in gouts of smoke and flame. The remaining centipedes now were firing blindly in all directions and chaos reigned. The concentrated fire from those of us who were able to get a good shot combined with the deadly wall of fire from the turrets soon disabled the remaining monsters. We were lucky to survive the battle with no more injuries to ourselves. Greene was taken to sick bay and treated for burns and a bad arm wound. It was likely that we would need to amputate.

The clear up of the battle took several days and we had needed to rebuild nine turrets, four solar panels and many yards of wiring. Luckily the battle was well away from the space ship project and no harm had come to it. We had recovered a good deal of metals and a mini gun from the invaders. Cristobal snatched up the mini gun. He looked ridiculous with it. He could only just lift it. When he first tried to fire it from the hip he span round like a top spraying bullets in all directions. He was told in no uncertain terms to go play with it out in the bush. It took him a week to be able to fire short burst with anything like accuracy. I hoped to be nowhere near him if he decided to use it in action. I decided I would try to talk him out of using it.

'That thing is a danger to everyone except what you are firing at.' I shouted to him from behind a large rock.

'It's a great feeling Walt. The power of this thing is awesome. It's something else.'

'Yeah true but if we get in the normal close encounter your likely to kill one of us with it.' I pointed out.

'I'll keep practising; think I nearly have the hang of it. I'm going to go hunt some boar.' He grinned at me as he threw the huge gun over his shoulder and walked off into the jungle.

The shipbuilding went on and soon we had a computer control centre. It was built out of the remains of electronics recovered from one of the crashed ancient ship parts. Every cloud having a silver lining and all that, well I remember there was some old time saying that went something like that. We were still very short of plas steel and all efforts were being made to get more from either mining or the traders. So far we had not found any deposits from mining but had bought a small amount from traders. It was very expensive and many trees bought only a little plas steel. We had found more ore deposits and some silver and we now hoped to exploit these in due course.

It was on Friday, June thirteenth that they brought Parker in minus his right leg. Cristobal had accidentally shot it off whilst hunting snakes. We took the mini gun off him.

Twenty One

The kidnapping had been a great shock to everyone and for a few days we had not wandered far from the nearest turrets. Lynx had not been around for long and had spent most of the time in sick bay waiting for a new leg. He had been a cheerful man and I had made friends with him during the days we picked berries together. The fact we both had lost a left leg on this world meant that we had forged a kind of kinship. Now I had little hope of ever seeing him again and that was a sad empty feeling. It was at times like this that my mind wandered and I wondered if my wife Sarah still hoped to see me again.

Two slaves, Testsuya and Vudojir joined us this week and a few days later we gained two empaths; Vavara and Greene. They made a great fuss of scouring our past battlefields looking for missed bodies to dispose of. As we had gone through a period where our medical provisions had stressed beyond breaking it was good to get two people who were medically trained. They suggested we enlarge the 'Hospital' as they now called it and install more beds. This may prove wise if we suffer another epidemic or a heavy raid.

As I write it is a time of building, cleaning and growing. We now have a lot more people and that means we can do more but we also need more room. We actually need lot more room. We also need more food and a back up store for the frequent times of crop failure. We still have our captured tribe's people from long ago, Carro and Trobo. We also have one other tribal addition named Berro. None of the tribes' people look to ever convert to our cause. What was our cause? It was something I had been thinking on for some time and conferred with a few of the older hands. I told them that I wanted to hold a base meeting.

We held the meeting to which all were requested to attend on a wet, windy night after dinner. I was called to chair the meeting with Cristobal and Sissy beside me. It was a natural choice as we were the longest resident members of Home. The canteen had been converted into a temporary meeting room with a table at one end and rows of chairs facing it. I sat rather nervously and waited for the room to fill. Soon the whole base was looking at me expectantly.

'I thought it was a good time to hold a meeting to discuss our plans and to give a pocket review of the past year.' I looked up to see all in the room were quite and attentive. This unnerved me for a second as I had expected some distraction as this was the first time we had all been in the same room together.
'As you all know I was forced to spend rather too long doing no physical work of help. I used as much of time as possible to compile a short account of our year here and of some possible plans for the future. As some of you know I was once a scribe for the empire and now I am scribe for Home.' I paused for a second and looked slowly around the room at all the faces watching me. I let a gentle smile flicker at my lips.
'We number fourteen. We have four known enemies. The Pirate bands; The Ash knifes, The Deep Armadillos, The Rifle Party and then there is the tribe of Koala. They all hate us pretty much the same.' At this statement a cheer went up from Cisneros and a few others joined in.
I Continued. 'We have suffered fourteen raids and have lost four from our family of Home. We have built a good base but likely we need a bigger, better base. More rooms, more guns, more food, more, more, more.' There was a murmur in the room.
'Or we go home.' There was a stunned silence.

'Go home? You mean, like, off planet?' Jen asked incredulously.

'Yes Jen, go home. Me return to my home, you return to your home. Eventually we can all return to our homes.' There was a breakout of babbling, talking and some sobbing. It took me some time to quieten the room. 'We have what I think are workable plans for a basic Space ship. We can build a series of small ships to take us out of here. We may need quite a few ships built one after another. I think we can leave here if we put in a huge amount of work. We have checked and they are brilliant, concise and buildable by us'. A commotion of talking, questions and doubts were voiced all at once. I waited for the blabber to subside and outlined the plan I had worked on whilst incapacitated. 'Our other option is to stay and at some point die. The attacks are getting heavier and more deadly. Yes, we are getting bigger and more able to withstand repeated attacks but if we suffer a concerted attack by co operating pirate bands and it happens with the power out we would be doomed. I suggest we have a vote in a few days. Let us all have a good think. That is unless there are other suggestions from the floor?'

'Can't we just get so big that nothing could hurt us too bad?'  Parker shouted out. He was a surly but hard working odd jobber.

'We could try but all empires fall.' I answered. 'We might live a few years but soon the exploitable resources here would start to fail. Already it is much harder to catch the native animals and we have to go a long way for Boar meat now. We are digging further into the hills to find metals and it's a damnable, hard life.'

A few days later the vote passed 11-3 and we started to plan the building of a spaceship. The S.S Lupe.

Twenty

The malaria spread no further but with Kelsey our main doctor very ill in bed the medical bay was full to overflowing. Sissy was also stricken so medical duties were being undertaken by nurse Cisneros and his helper Jen. They were both enthusiastic but poor medics. They accidentally gave Trobo the sick tribesman a triple dose of something and he spent a night hallucinating and screaming gibberish in the cell next to the medical bay. We had a sudden flurry of activity when several of the guys brought in Lynx minus his left leg. I winced as I saw the reddened raw stump. He had been caught down near Geo thermal three when a group of pirate's suddenly dropped in. They got Lynx before he knew what was happening and started an attack on the base. The auto guns soon finished them off and Lynx was brought in with two injured pirate prisoners. We would need another leg from the traders. Lynx was given morphine and was soon asleep in his own room. The days passed and we were all still pretty ill on the ward but it was Hogan and Doc Kelsey who were the biggest worry as neither seemed to be responding to treatment. We have been woefully short of trained medics. Having our best one delirious was something we could ill afford. Cisneros was doing his best but he was no Doctor. We did however have plenty of medical supplies and a few days later a trader had a simple prosthetic leg for Lynx. We would need at least Sissy back fit before attempting to fit it.

A night later Hogan died. He was found dead when Cisneros went to give him a shot. I thought I was feeling better but on seeing Hogan I suddenly wasn't so sure. My head ached and my blood felt like it was made of ice. I had been ill for two weeks on top of the weeks of waiting for my own leg. I just wanted to be out of the caves. I wanted to be under the stars. Free to wander and breath fresh air. The walls of the caves seemed to want to crush me at times and the oppressive cramped conditions depressed me considerably. That night Doctor Kelsey also died. Loosing Doc Kelsey was a big blow to all. He was popular and good at his job. He had likely worn himself away trying to heal us.

A few days later I was definitely feeling better and felt that I would not be long before I would be free of the malaria. Sissy also was looking and feeling a lot better. We were discussing one of Lupe’s spaceship plans that he had left in the lab. I had been studying them for some days. They were in a big snake skin leather bound folder. Amongst the various sketches and drawing were plans for a crude space ship. It looked almost workable but I am no engineer.

'The kid was a crazy guy but he had a very good brain. This looks very simple with all the right parts. We need to get some of the more technical types to take a look at these plans. See if there is anything in them.' I said.

'Walt, the chances are that Lupe was just filling his time up when making these plans. They are probably just drawings or stuff we can't make or buy.'

'Maybe so but it won't hurt asking about.'

As I looked at the plans there was a sudden burst of gunfire as all the turrets seemed to open up at once. I looked up and could see Sissy craning her neck as if to use it as an antenna to pick up more of what was happening.

'Rush attack, tribe's people; only our turrets are firing.' She said.

'It will be another massacre.' I sighed.

'Why do they insist of rushing the guns?' Sissy pondered.

'I'm glad they do. If they were more organised or used modern weapons we would probably have not got this far.'

Cristobal came in a few minutes later with the toll.

'There are about twenty tribe's people dead out there. They are scattered all around the guns. We got three injured tribesmen in the cells and a crap load of tribal weapons. None of us got as much as a scratch.' He grinned and gave me a rather spangled piece of cloth. 'One of them was dressed in this. Thought you would look good in it Walter.' He Laughed before quickly walking out the door.

I recovered well enough to leave sickbay a few days later and was very happy to be back doing light duties to build my strength back up. The other malaria stricken colonists  also started to recover and leave the medical bay and soon we got to fix a new leg for Lynx. He was back working but at reduced movement within a few days. As we were both getting used to new legs we had taken to the relatively easy job of gathering berries from the wild bushes growing around the base. We were out gathering when a group of twenty pirates suddenly dropped in pods almost on top of the vegetable patch. The pirates were between us and the base. I ducked down behind a rock and peered over the top.

I could see the pirates start to rush the guns and some falling. The next thing I saw was Lynx who had gotten up and was blasting away at the pirates with an Uzi machine pistol.  A group of pirates saw him and suddenly rushed him. Lynx went down in a flurry of legs and arms. All of a sudden they were gone.

They had kidnapped Lynx.

This is the base as it stands. Note: this is a Alpha 7 vanilla game.

Nineteen.

I awoke in a cot in the sick bay. I looked around and saw I was the only occupant. It was quiet for a few minutes and then I heard the whistle and crump of an incoming mortar shell. It landed somewhere south of the vegetable patch, I guessed.  I then heard the pops as several of our own mortars fired. I lay back listening to the flurry of pops counting the shells as they launched. Our salvo was eight shells. We were getting two in return. I tried to figure out what was happening. It was obviously another pirate attack and from the lack of people in the outpost caves all were needed outside. I looked down and groaned. My leg had been amputated at the knee. A stump ended where my left leg used to be. I next awoke with a jolt. A tired Sissy was giving me a shot.

'Easy Walt. You lost a lot of blood but not too much. We will get you a leg of some sort as soon as we get a trader with something.' She smiled at me and yawned.

'Thank you, I'm a fool. What was I doing? I forgot how deadly it is out there.'

'It can happen any time to any of us Walter. It was brave. You killed it. It might have killed me later. So thank you.' She gave a little wave as she exited the sick bay.

I learnt from Cristobal who brought dinner that I had been out for three days and in that time a band of twenty odd pirates had landed to the south and were pounding incendiary shells into us. We had returned a lot of fire since but they had got a good position behind a large hill and were difficult to hit. There were too many for a frontal attack this time. The plan was to gradually wear them down and let them run out of food triggering an attack. It would be foolish to attack our formidable defences. The food was a simple meal of chips and fried snake, someone was still able to find time to cook for the others.

After six days we scored a direct hit on a damaged enemy mortar and destroyed it,  a short while later the pirates attacked our defences and were cut to shreds, whilst only destroying two fixed turrets and damaging another. These were soon fixed and the task of sorting the dropped items and ransacking the enemy camp started. It took five days for all the usable items to be transferred to our stockpile. We had a lot of ammo and clothes to sell but no trader had been in near space to buy it. My leg had to wait. I had been in the sickbay for several weeks and was getting very bored. I had made all manner of lists to entertain myself.  I made lists of our 'Clan' members. We now numbered fourteen as several more pirates had been converted from acts of desperation to colony builders and slaves released. It was because of this that we had had to build more rooms and runmore cable. All this has meant more exploration for ore so Cristobal is happy.

I have developed sleeping sickness and seem to do little but sleep eighteen or more hours a day with no energy. I feel terrible and with the amputation, useless. I can be of no help unless we get a leg for me. I sleep. I eat. I sleep. I eat. Mainly I sleep.

It is a week later and I still have the sickness and still no leg. We had a strange accident and alas the Count is dead. He was out hunting and was cornered by a mad boar and a mad cobra. He fought well but only had a pistol which was his odd but favourite hunting weapon. Sissy told me that by the time help came he was already dead. He was buried next to Lupe. We have also had another pirate raid of thirty cut throats which was easily dealt with. A lot of us have good power armour and heavy weapons. I keep my R-4 next to my bed. Just in case. We have recruited a few more ex pirates, Steele, Parker and Gizmo. So far there have not been any loyalty problems from those that so recently were pirates. A rebellion from within has always been at the back of my mind ever since we have been recruiting swashbucklers. A mutiny would be a disaster for all. The last few days have been ones of battle field clear up. Cristobal brought me a nice pair of EMP grenades as a present.

January the first today and Sissy and a few others came in with a large long shipping crate. Inside was a brand new bionic leg. It must have cost a great deal. I tried to be humble but was overwhelmed by the gesture.

'A wooden one would have been fine.' I said meekly as possible whilst beaming.

On January twelfth I was declared fit and left sick bay. On January thirteenth seven of us came down with malaria. I was back in sick bay.

Thank you. New episode in a few days. Hopefully that is as I'm a bit busy. I have not even looked at A8 for more than a glance. I will post a screenshot or two of the colony as it is, soon.

Eighteen.

We called an immediate meeting and decided to send a sniper and guard to investigate, and try and entice the probable Scythers and Centipedes to attack our defences. It was as we discussed our operation that a strange and tragic event occurred. The first indication of further trouble was the spitting sound of a turret soon joined by another on the east side of the compound. We rushed to weapons and doors and saw that a large party of about twenty five pirates had advanced un-noticed and had taken defensive positions in some rocks. They were concentrating fire on two targets. One was the turrets; the other though was a group of four visitors from Strength's plain. They had obviously wandered in without knowing that the pirates were there and had been hi-jacked. They were pinned against our dump wall to the south and exchanging fire with the pirates. Thankfully there was no sign of Scythers or Centipedes and the psychic irritation was currently low. We tried as best we could to help by picking off a couple of pirates at long range with sniper rifles but the overwhelming firepower of the pirates soon took their toll. Two of the visitors from Strengths plain tried to make a run for it but were cruelly shot in the back. The young woman who had been killed so callously looked very much like my Sarah when she was young. I felt sick to the pit of my stomach. Enraged I crept forward with my R-4 and found a position where I had a good view if any pirates tried to rush the gap between the turrets. A few seconds later there was a shout and the pirates did indeed rush the gap. The pirates were firing in all directions. Projectiles ricocheted from the rocks and clanged against turrets. The Turret by the graveyard was smoking but still firing. I fired at the mass and saw bodies fall. Shock and fear was evident on those faces.  Soon it was over and a pile of bloodied corpses littered the ground. Some had fled. There were fourteen dead and Parker who is a miner and Steve, a drone are now lightly injured prisoners in our brig. We now have power armour for a couple of us and armour vests for all. We each have a good choice of weapons.

We concreted our plans to attack the crashed ship and Jen, the volunteered sniper and Cristobal her bodyguard prepared to sniff out our quarry.

'We are going to take this nice and easy and smooth.'  Cristobal said. He was tucking a large pistol into his belt. On his left leg he wore a short sword and carried a light machine gun. He was dressed in a power armour suit. Jen was also in power armour and carried a M-24 sniper rifle.

'Sure, we get just close enough to get in a few shots and then ski-daddle when we know what the opposition is.' Jen Confirmed.

'As soon as your back here we will start a barrage of mortar shells on them and later creep back with an attack party. Let's see if we can pick them off whist EMP stunned.' I said.

I watched them as they crept off into the jungle, I found I was getting that same odd feeling of wanting to go and stay at the same time.

'Take care you two.' I muttered to myself as they disappeared into the green.

They were back within the hour grinning and talking excitedly.

'There are two Scythers and two Centipedes. One Centipede has an Inferno cannon, one a Heavy charge blaster. There are two charge lance Scythers.' Cristobal reported.

'Ok, boys and girls, to the mortars, Sissy you hate the mortar duty so do you want to be the General? General dogsbody, that is.' I smiled at her.

'Sure. I'll get sick bay ready just in case of accidents with explosives.' She said hurrying off to the medical room.

We took positions at our battery of mortars and let rip for the rest of the day to wear them down and try inflicting a bit of damage. The plan was to attack them after a nights rest. It was very early and raining hard in a heavy gale as we headed out to attempt to destroy the mechanoid invaders. We had discussed attack and it was a good feeling when everyone volunteered to be part of the attack party. We needed three to stay behind to fire EMP shells to try disabling the mechanoids and allowing us time to damage them without getting hit by their fearsome weaponry. Sissy was one as we needed a doctor, Count Frantz much to his annoyance was another and Cristobal the third. The rest of us dressed in the best of the armour and chose whichever weaponry we preferred, going mainly for sniper rifles, R-4's and Machine Guns. We advanced to positions behind rocks which blocked us from the monsters and split into a pincer both sides of the outcrop. Our snipers took long range pot shots for a while with a few hits on a centipede and then a EMP shell got a good hit on all four as they grouped together. We stepped forward and let rip with everything. Very soon a centipede was dead and a Scyther was down. The other Scyther was just out of range and behind a centipede that was looking to wake but taking lots of shots. I crept forward looking to get a shot in on the Scyther with my R-4 and got to just within range. I lifted the rifle and steadied myself, took a deep breath and pressed the trigger. The head of the robot disintegrated in a shower of sparks. I heard shouts behind me. Warning shouts. I looked towards the remaining centipede. Its fearsome blaster was aiming straight at me. I scrambled over rocks trying to get away from that tube of death as I heard the splatter of the gun. I only remember the earth coming up to meet me as a searing pain coursed through me almost stopping my breathing. I fell. I screamed. I felt blood and dirt in my mouth. In front of my face on the sand was my boot. My naked leg, knee down was still in it.

Seventeen

The night proved to be busy with both Cristobal and our new guest Clarke both complaining of feeling unwell. They were both given the best meds we had and had then been isolated. Cristobal grumbled that it was only a cold and that he would feel better in the morning. He wasn't, he was infected with the plague, as was Clarke. Later in the day Count Frantz joined the sick list. Sissy was taxed in looking after all of them so I helped where I could in delivering meals and meds as doled out by Sissy.

For several days there had been no improvement in any of the patient's conditions. Thankfully in that time we had just a couple of maddened animals to deal with and the machine guns dealt swift justice to incursions of the perimeter. The two tribesmen we had captured wounded we now found to be stubborn as hell and just grunted insults and spat at as we delivered food. There was no point in trying to get them to be co-operative for the time being and didn't need more people running about the place with plague in the house.

The time passed and hours went quick with so many more jobs needing doing by fewer bodies. The plague ran its course with no more of us getting infected. Cisneros was the first down and the first up. He was declared fit to go when Sissy discovered that he had developed immunity to the plague. Without the powerful medicine the insidious virus would likely have killed him. The others recovered in a few days in a like fashion with Cristobal emerging very grumpily.

'Some Cold.' I said.

'Bit worse than a cold but nothing to put me out. I need some fresh air. Walter, you look pretty whacked old son.' He grinned at me.

'Yeah, well I've been doing the job of three these last few days.'

'Not mining though?' He raised an eyebrow at me.

'No not mining.' I Laughed.

A few days after all had been declared free of plague we had another sudden airborne drop of pirates. Fourteen fell almost on top of us. The turrets spat hot lead and pirate bodies were smashed and torn. Screams echoed into the jungle. Within a few minutes all the pirates were dead without one of us stepping outside. There was one left injured. He was transferred to the cells and we picked over the dropped weapons and armour. We were now pretty well kitted out and had spare weapons to sell to passing traders. The new prisoner was called Kelsey another damned Minstrel, sixty three years old and could have been Cisneros's long lost brother. He wasn't. He was a doctor of sorts though so we would have to work on him. We needed more medical help.

Keeping on top of food production is the most urgent  of our problems. We are always on the brink of a day of hunger and are at times resorting to picking the berry bushes. We laid out two new patches for food and I asked the count if he could look into the problem. In a few days he came up with a system of hydroponics and we started to prepare caves for growing inside under lights.

Kelsey developed a liver infection and Sissy has tried under his direction to treat it. She is enjoying talking to the Minstrel; she does like the musical types it seems, although Cisneros annoys her at times. Mind you he annoys all of us at times. Jen is a good all rounder and has recovered well from her pod crash. She was invaluable when the plague struck doing all sorts of odd jobs. She even found time to build a few more of Lupe's turrets. We are having another major tree cutting exercise to clear ground for more turrets and to get a cash crop from the wood. Medicine is again top of the shopping list. The count has figured out a way to get better nutrient content from our dispenser which should help our food situation. We were all out digging potato fields and foraging on the berry plots for most of this week.  At least we can start on the hydroponics soon. The caves are slowly getting hewn out of the rock. Most of it hard granite or marble.

It was Jen who recruited Kelsey the Minstrel to our group. He is to take one of the rooms we have recently carved in the deepest part of the complex.  We had grown considerably from the worn out shack of those early weeks.  We were now a functioning outpost.  It felt good. It felt a little less fearful. I knew that could change in seconds though and that thought made one feel always on edge. I was forever scanning the sky or finding myself staring and waiting for the twitch of a machine gun as it sought out a threat.

Kelsey was still very ill and had been transferred to the sick bay complaining of stomach pains and Sissy administered shots. He was a sick man and needed complete bed rest. Later that week the signs of blight were on our new crop and we lost the lot overnight so it was back to planting on near empty bellies. At least our first small hydro room is up and running. Hopefully a second bigger room would ready soon. Our two tribesmen were still holding out but at least we now knew names. Trobo was a twenty seven year old archer and Taro was a fifteen year old. Chief of the tribe and a right little shit.  As terrible teenagers go he was top of the class. He whined, stamped his feet and was as sullen and as attractive as a year old turd. We were working on Trobo though as she had shown a few signs of cooperation over the past few days.  She seemed to spend most of her days just pacing the room.  It was as I was looking at her through the cell door that a sudden psychic jolt made me stagger and I gripped onto the door frame. I sank to my knees with hammer blows of pain striking my very being. Jen came rushing up.

'Another ship part has crashed just next to thermal plant 3.' She said breathlessly.

Thanks Guys. New episode soon.

Sixteen.

Ciscernos helped me make a good strong coffin. We painted gaudy coloured swirls with the last of the paint Lupeiri had made and Cristobal and I dressed him in the clothes in which he had arrived. We quiffed his hair, shined his boots and nailed on the lid. We placed him into ground just under the first turret he had built. Sissy threw in a bunch of wild berry flowers and Cristobal a lump of the raw gold we had found. Lupe had always got excited when we found gold and liked to play around with any nuggets we found. The count had started the day by starting to argue that he should have been allowed to commandeer Lupieri's boots. I pointed out to him that thigh length silver platform boots were not the ideal hunting gear for our terrain. Cristobal overheard and told the count that if he didn't shut up he was out on the next slaver. I didn't object. It was a sad day that brought home just how hard it was to survive here. He was just a kid and the exploding ship didn't get him. The Pirates didn't get him. The snakes didn't get him. An infection got him. That age old killer that comes unseen and on a world such as this, as deadly as the most advanced technology.

A few hours after burying Lupe there was a bleeping from the comms console. Two ships had come into trading range. Both had ample stocks of medicine.

One of the ships was a slaver and had an slave by the name of Colin a forty six year old luddite who had a broad range of skills. We offered him an equal share and he was glad to take it. In fact he was near overjoyed at getting off the stinking slave ship.

We spent the next few weeks making a huge effort to get everything that was outside the cave dismantled and re-erected in the newly hewn out caverns that Cristobal and Sissy had been carving. The old shack had been a good start home but was cold, leaky and liable to catch fire under mortar attack. We hollowed out more rock and made a large new kitchen and dining area. We also laid out new cells and installed more alternate power lines into the cave entrance. A larger power cell store was also constructed. The count kept to the lab and we were glad he stayed there mostly. He had made a Tailors bench and a working crematorium so had been working hard. Nobody seemed to like him that much and he made little attempt to be friendly. He hunted every few days and was always civil but often curt and uninterested. He was obviously jealous of Lupe's skills and was often pouring over the notes that Lupieri had left in the lab.

Another pod crash brought a new patient to the sickbay. I was clearing rubble from a cave when Cristobal told me the news. I hurried to the sickbay. Sissy was bandaging a leg wound.

'He's out at the moment. I've checked him over and apart from banged up ribs and this leg he looks to be ok and he's lucky we now have lots of medicine, this time.'

'Sissy, don't give yourself a hard time over Lupe. We had no meds and no qualified medic, you did all you could. If it wasn't for you looking after us we would all have popped off from something or other by now.' I smiled at her.

'Thanks.' She said quietly with a long sigh. 'I miss him.'

'So do I Sissy, So do I. Who's this guy?' I said trying to lift the mood.

'Clarke, Commissioner, or ex- Commissioner as he is now. Fifty two, He's got cataracts in both eyes, oh and a very bad back.'

'Oh hell, not another one.'

We had been having intermittent power problems since moving into the caves.  A search was made for another vent and one was found one a mile or so away from home. We formed a chain to carry the needed construction materials to the site and constructed another geo thermal power unit. Once established we ran double cables back to the cave. We now had excess power. One morning Ciscernos said that he felt ill and went to sick bay. Sissy looked him over.

'It's plague, pretty sure it's plague.'

'That's bad. That's Very bad.' I stuttered.

'We can treat it. He has to be isolated and we need to monitor each other.'

'Ok, I'll go let everyone know, but lockdown for our wandering minstrel. He won't like that.'

'We can wave at him through the window but that's about all. We will have leave his food and meds outside the isolation room door. The less contact the better for us.'

We hadn't seen any local tribes people for some while but a large group of twenty odd turned up one morning and hovered just outside of gun range. We carried on as normal but kept an armed watch on them. They ambled around for a while then all of a sudden rushed one of the gun turrets. It was a massacre. Two lay wounded and we transferred them to the sickbay well away from Ciscernos. Seven lay dead and mangled in front of the turrets. The rest fled. As they disappeared into the jungle another pod crash landed a short way away from our potato patch. Inside was an almost uninjured Entrepreneur by the name of Jen. We were now eight. That night Cristobal complained of feeling unwell. Sissy confirmed Plague. We had a possible epidemic on our hands.