Chapter 28: The Dead City Is Destroyed

When Seth returned from fishing Tani told him he could no longer go out alone. He was not happy but one look in Tani's eyes showed that she was not trying to be bossy but was genuinely concerned. When Steve and the others returned they found a very different community than the one they had left. The community had taken on the resemblance of an armed camp with guards on patrol not just at night but all thirty hours of the day and night.

When Tani and Mika told Steve what had taken place he agreed that the war needed to be taken to the robots. He did not however agree with Tani's desire for immediate attack on the robot city. Instead, he persuaded her to wait while they made preparations.

The following months were consumed in furious activity. Another AAC was built, this one was slightly larger than the first two and could carry four passengers in addition to the crew of three. The two ten man air cars were modified they were armored around the passenger area and coated over the entire with the ray impervious coating. They also had one of the large guns added on the bow. All of them and the older AAC's were retrofitted with a new and more powerful engine that had been developed.

A new air car had been developed. This one was by far the largest on that had been built yet. It was massive and carried four bombs that had been specially developed for the mission. This huge air car only had a crew of two, one pilot and one bombardier.

The community was stripped leaving only a few people behind so that the expedition could be fully manned. After much debate it was decided to place Tani in charge. Finally the mission was set in motion and the convoy of air cars took to the air. Two of the AAC's, Two full ten man air cars, a pair of two man air cars and the huge bomber set off for the robot city. By mid afternoon they reached the pass and flew through it. The two man air cars were to function as scouts, they took the lead as the rest of the convoy spread apart, and they headed for the robot city.

They only encountered one four-man air car filled with robots along the way, which the AAC's promptly destroyed.

They approached the city and three ten man air cars rose to meet them. The AAC's blew them from the sky. No more attempts were made as Xtos decided that when the puny humans sought to enter his city he would destroy them with his overwhelmingly numerous robots.

The bomber air car took its place high in the air over the city and dropped its first bomb. This one exploded while over a thousand feet in the air and blanketed the entire city and surrounding area with a field that immobilized all robotic activity and shorted their circuits. All activity within the city ceased. The next bomb dropped and exploded a few feet above the tallest building. The huge explosive force of this bomb reduced the entire city to rubble. Nothing remained but wreckage and rubble. The tallest wreckage was only five feet tall. The third bomb dropped and when it exploded it set fire to everything. The intense heat melted and vaporized all metal, glass and the cremacreate used for construction. The fire raged for two days, the intense heat melted the very bedrock that the city had been constructed on forming a pool of molten rock thirty miles in diameter. Finally the fires went out for there was nothing left to fuel it. The intense heat slowly dissipated and the molten rock began to harden. The last bomb was dropped and exploded when it hit the ground churning the hardened rock again, reducing it to small rubble and making a crater half a mile deep and fifty miles in diameter. When the heat had dropped to acceptable levels the scout cars circled the area of destruction using their sensors to search for any electrical activity. When any activity was spotted one of the ten man air cars descended and disgorged its passengers to investigate. Most often it was a small piece of a robot that had been blown clear of the area of decimation. It was destroyed. A few times a complete robot was found and the AAC's swooped down and blasted it to small pieces. This continued until all traces ceased to exist.