Sunspot by James Axler

to part with so much as a grain of wheat until he was satisfied that Magus could do exactly what he claimed. Which meant test firing the blaster on a practice range and seeing the crew in action. Because the plan was to proceed directly to Sunspot from the test site, it also meant that the dark deed would be done, the ville obliterated, before payment actually changed hands. Haldane wasn’t surprised that Steel Eyes agreed to those terms. After all, the good baron had a reputation for honesty and fair dealing, even among the bottom-feeding scabs of the hellscape.
    The long ride gave Haldane plenty of time to consider the unfathomability of Magus’s true motives. The mechanized creature could have had all of the treasure if he’d used the chem shells on Nuevaville. Perhaps he couldn’t enter a poisoned ville because his troops didn’t have chem weapons suits? Perhaps he had no way to decontaminate the spoils? Or mebbe the real payoff for him was the monstrous act of mass murder itself? Or its anticipated, long-term consequences? A more prosperous barony for Haldane meant better pickings for Magus in the future. Steel Eyes always sided with those who had the best chance of turning a profit.
    Because of the bad road and heavy vehicles, it took the better part of a day to reach the site of the predark ville of Akela, the rendezvous point with the blaster team. There wasn’t much left of the ville—a five-acre patch of pocked-and-cratered asphalt that had been a box-store parking lot, concrete foundation pads sprouting rebar and PVC stubble. A rusted-out water tower toppled over on its side, the holding tank split and emptied. A few telephone and power poles still stood, canted over, draping sagging, rotten wires.
    Waiting in the middle of the ruined parking lot was another olive-drab six-by-six. Hitched to its rear bumper was a long, two-wheeled, tarp-wrapped trailer. When the convoy pulled up and stopped, men jumped out of the cab and rear of the truck.
    Haldane bailed from the Humvee and walked down the row of wags to join his troops. As they stared at the additional potential adversaries, they looked nervous. Nervous men and automatic weapons were a bad combination.
    “Easy, now,” he told them in a low, confidential tone. “Keep your safeties on and your fingers off the triggers. We’ve got nothing to worry about, yet. Just watch me and stay alert.”
    Then the door to the hulking landship opened. Magus descended to the tarmac and started walking toward the covered trailer. It was horror in motion. The creature lurched forward, swinging its arms, its still-human muscles wedded imperfectly to stainless-steel bones. Despite the convulsive gait, it glided on buttery-smooth, Teflon-coated ball and socket joints.
    At a wave of his half-metal hand, the blaster crew began unstrapping and uncovering the steely gray, D-30 Lyagushka. Cannon revealed, they disconnected the lunette under its muzzle brake from the six-by-six’s rear bumper hitch. Lowering the blaster’s central emplacement jack, they raised the wheels high enough to clear the three trail legs. Then they spread the two outer trails at 120-degree angles on either side.
    “Where is the practice target?” Haldane asked as the crew rotated the mount, turning the barrel to the north.
    “You can’t see it from here with the naked eye,” Magus said. He signaled one of the blaster crew. “Give him a scope.”
    The man handed the baron a spotting scope and faced him in the right direction, pointing out the target over his shoulder.
    It was a skeleton of a shack. More of a utility shed, really, squatting on the desert plain. Once it had been connected to the electric grid, but the power poles leading up to it were all blown down. The heat waves rising off the sand made it difficult to see, even with predark optics.
    “How far away is it?” Haldane asked.
    “Eight point three miles,” the crewman said.
    Haldane lowered the scope. “You’re going to practice