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***

Boom!

The car shook.

We were inside a huge vehicle. Our atom ship, our main means of transport around the planet. A dozen soldiers, a dozen rookies led by two old-timers. There was surprisingly little space inside the giant vehicle. Even the troop compartment was designed for a very dense arrangement of soldiers. We had a two-hour drive ahead of us.

- What the fuck? - The sergeant looked back.

The impact was repeated - as if a huge hammer had hit the car. Inside the cramped metal box I felt like a herring in a tin can. Looks like I'm not the only one - I'm unbuckled:

- I think we're under attack.

- Don't talk rubbish, Hyarty," the sergeant said, "who could be under attack?

- Do I know? It's obvious that there's something outside....

The bang was repeated and the sergeant rose from his seat, stepping out of the narrow door of the troop compartment into the corridor. The driver of the car ran out to meet the sergeant:

- Assault!

- Fucking left, who?

- Something huge!

Turns out the car had been attacked by a dinosaur. It was a Jurassic Park - a Tyrannosaurus-like creature trying to take on a giant car. And it almost succeeded, because the car's armour was only a few centimetres thick. The sergeant got angry very quickly - two soldiers were sent upstairs. There was a hatch on top of the car, through which it was possible to get out.

I hastily began to pull off my regular armour and, while the others rushed into battle, put on my own.

- Good afternoon," the ISKIN greeted me immediately.

I didn't answer, but ran down the corridor. The sergeant wanted to say something, but remained silent. I ran up to the stairs and switched on the engines and soared into the air. Another second, and I flew above the car. The reactors were working properly, creating a jet stream of clean energy. Awesome. Ten metres above the car, I looked over the battlefield - the car was on a country road. True, the width of each rut from such wheels - as a separate road. Near the car stood a dinosaur, the same dinosaur. A green one, with a big head, standing on two legs and resting its tail on the ground. He was beating on the car with his front paws. There was already a decent-sized dent.

So there's no turrets on the car? Turns out there weren't. I hovered over the battlefield, wondering what to do next. The seeker intervened:

- I believe you need to engage the Ripper machine gun.

- I know. Okay," I took aim at it with the repulsor on my arm and fired. The energy projectile couldn't fly far, but it hit the dinosaur - it was turned round, but its skin was intact. Well... - he took out a machine gun from his storage, - shall we start?

The iskin helped me aim the machine gun. It showed me the point of aim. I had to fly sideways to avoid hitting the car. I plugged the power cable into the shoulder power bridge and the machine gun came to life. I landed on the roof of the car, where all my colleagues were already on it. When I noticed that the enemy had hesitated, the guys opened fire on his face. I landed next to them and took aim with the machine gun. I pressed the trigger and in half a second it started to hit, hammering shell after shell into the enemy like nails. The sound was beautiful. Each shot left a rapidly fading glowing trail behind it. The first two hit somewhere in the area of the creature's chest and it retreated a couple of steps back, and then I dispersed. "The Ripper had been pounding projectile after projectile for about ten seconds. The creature was still holding on, though I could see that all of the Ripper's shots had pierced the dinosaur through and through. Finally, it fell, sprinkling blood all over the place. Yeah, he fell and knocked over a couple of trees. There were guys standing around, staring at the thing.

- What was that?

- A lizard. There are a lot of them here, - answered our commander - an old serviceman, - is this thing dead for sure?

I put the machine gun into subspace and pulled out a grenade. I pulled the pin and threw it towards the dinosaur that had fallen down. The explosion threw the carcass slightly aside, scattering its powder over half the forest.

- Now it's dead for sure, - I looked at this picture, - and what, they couldn't put turrets on the cars?

- What's the matter, - the old soldier took off his helmet and spit, - what kind of weapons? Where did you get them?

I had to tell you. It's a pity, but you can't give such a machine gun to anyone - I unbuckled the power cable from the armour and the heavy death machine switched off. There was a decent delay in the movement - the demobels reported to the base that we were crumpled here, and in response came the order to wait for the second vehicle. This one, it turns out, was badly crumpled by a dinosaur. Until the second car arrived, I took to the air and flew to see the dinosaur. The idea of landing had to be postponed - as soon as I descended, I noticed a lot of different animals around. The scavengers had already smelled a large feast and started eating the lizard. There were a lot of scavengers - the smell of blood seemed to have attracted everyone in the area. I flew around them and climbed higher, a hundred metres, taking a general look at the situation. The Howler was frozen on the road, the scavengers continued to eat the dinosaur... It seems that my machine gun for this planet was very useful! If this creature held under the fire of the "Ripper", then the rifles of the paratroopers were not useful here at all - only the skin would be burnt... The guys were sitting on the roof of the car - the roof was large, located high above the jungle... there was something like an external boot on top, for transporting oversized cargo or containers. There was nothing there now, except for the control room protruding from the front.

I headed back to the car. The guys were doing what soldiers do when they have a spare moment and the danger is over - sleeping, playing cards, keeping a half-eye on the situation, and just lazing around. They barely reacted to me. I pulled a Robin sniper rifle out of subspace. Connecting it to the armour, I aimed it at the dinosaur's scraps and looked through the scope. The seeker immediately put everything on the displays. Thanks to the Force, I could sense the right moment to fire, but the sensation was so fleeting that it was hard to grasp. No more than a sixth sense. I crouched on the edge of the car, took aim, and whacked one thing in the head. The head shattered like a watermelon that had been hit by a KPV bullet. The body of the killed creature was immediately attacked by the neighbouring ones. Jackals. I took aim again... and again... in five minutes about a hundred creatures had been shot off. I stopped. A fellow officer came up behind me:

- Hyarty, what are you doing?

- I'm practising sniping. Besides, there's a lot of live targets here.

- Oh, well, can't you keep it down? The guys in there are just starting to relax from the stuffy cockpit.

- Okay, - I put the rifle into subspace and switched on the engines, jumped up on the roof, standing next to him, - what's your name?

- Rin. Actually, it's Ringar, but everyone calls me Rin.

- Everybody knows me here," I sighed heavily, shaking Ringar's hand, "I'm just messing around, you know? I slept well, I don't like to play cards, I don't drink... shall we have lunch? I've got some food in my subspace pocket... there should be enough for everyone..." I lied. "A little is a whole food store."

Ringar perked up:

- And you didn't say anything? - He turned to the guys standing nearby: "Hey, guys, Hjarti's setting up a clearing! There was plenty of food for each of them - they got a tin of tinned lunch like "buckwheat with meat", tea and other sweets. They were not fools to eat - they emptied a box of tinned food like "tourist's breakfast".

- Comrade demobel, are there any edible animals on this planet?

- I can't vouch for this lizard, but there are plenty of edible animals here. Why, soldier, do you want to shoot someone?

I shrugged:

- Just in case they get caught.

- Don't chase them, though. We had one of them, - he waved his fork indefinitely, which he used to eat tinned food out of the jar, - a year ago, when we first arrived, he boasted that he was a hunter on his planet. So he went AWOL one day, thought he'd bring back some meat. That's it, nobody ever saw him again. There's all kinds of critters out here - insects, snakes, predators, even guys like this big guy.

- Well, I have good armour, - I banged my fist on the cuirass of my suit, - I saw it myself, it flies even in such conditions.

- It's a pity flying suits don't work here, and they don't give us heavy power armour. They think that since there are no enemies, we don't need it..., but here we meet such snouts... - shook his head... - they will bite us in half and won't choke on it.

The others listened to our conversation in silence and did not interfere. And how could they.

* * *

The first trip to a neighbouring village ended for us with an unscheduled baptism of fire and return to the base. And we came back for a long time! I didn't have to worry about the suit and weapons - after all, in the galaxy weapons didn't fall under a special legal category and were no more forbidden than, say, welding machines. It wasn't that uncommon for a man to have a tool of his own. The commander said I could use my armour if I wanted to. And I did. After the first battle, we were locked up at the base for a month.

It was hard at first - Senna decided that the others should get a taste of what it was like and sent soldiers to the colonist settlements. We stayed at the base, I went to work on the tech. Fortunately, there was plenty of iron in subspace. So, on the third day, I approached Senna. The captain was sitting in his office, watching something on TV, sprawled in his chair. When I knocked on his door, he only turned his head.

- You want something, soldier?

- Mr Captain, I have a question...

- Ask the sergeant. He clearly didn't want to bother at all.

- 'It's about that lizard attacking us...'

The captain turned his head slightly again:

- So?

- There's an opinion that the Howler should be fitted with some kind of weapon for self-defence. If it wasn't for my machine gun, we'd all be eaten!

- Never mind, those lizards are usually a nuisance in township five. I don't know why it came here. There's a lot of heavy weapons in Section Five, especially for these things... And do you realise how much trouble it would be to put a weapon on a Howler?

- Not much, Mr Captain. I can do it if you need me to.

- Do it, - he waved his hand, - take a damaged Howler for this purpose, it's already written off anyway...

What a blessing! The captain was clearly not keen to be distracted from the TV show, so he didn't pay any more attention to me. I left his office in the best of spirits. Who would have thought that the service is incredibly, fantastically BORING!!!!

At least it's fun to mess around with a decommissioned Howler. I went to the car park where this marvel of machinery was parked. It had already been stripped to the ground - everything more or less valuable had been taken out from inside. But that's okay. The technicians only shrugged their shoulders at my desire to mess with the Howler. It didn't look like it could be repaired. So I began researching the tech. I released all the drones from subspace, which were immediately taken over by the seeker.

- Heavy wheeled vehicles, I've never seen anything like this before," he said.

I climbed inside, inspecting my acquisition.

- They gave me permission to work on it. Make a drawing, I'll think about how it can be converted into something useful...

- There are few options, - a voice in my head sounded, - the platform has a high cross-country ability, but as a truck is not suitable because of the problem of access to the body. The light armouring prevents it from being used as a platform for a combat vehicle. What's the need?

- Everything. We're on a wild planet where civilisation is represented by six small settlements of colonists. There are lizards that could tear this car apart... - I climbed into the driver's cabin, sitting in the seat, - you tell me, what are the options?

* * *

The alteration of the dented car attracted the attention of the "grandfathers", who visited me several times. However, having realised that I am not a genie who can do anything, they left. The car was quickly transformed. First of all - I cut the top off, replacing it with a flat top, only at wheel level, not higher. This lowered the centre of gravity. The top layer underwent significant processing - it was not just a sheet of steel, but a full-fledged top part, with many technological hatches, holes, the commander's turret. A welding machine came in handy, and so did the assault droids. All droids could work with hand tools, so the work progressed much faster. After three days, the top of the car was already cut off and welded into a new one. At the rear, a full uninhabited tank turret with a 50mm railgun had to be welded in. The railgun was made in a single piece and almost all the mags I had were used for it.

Thanks to money and provisions in my pocket, I managed to negotiate with the colonists and they sold me aluminium. Six tons of aluminium to armour my monster. Gradually, the "bald" machine was getting details - a baffle in the front part, allowing to ram large enemies, a smoke screen, a hatch for the mech-driver....

After a week of work, I finished reassembly of the reactor, slightly forcing it to work the cannon. I was equally hopeful about the two rapid-fire blasters in the rotating turrets at the front of the hull - they could clear a path in front of the vehicle, or create a dense barrage. Finally, after a fortnight of fiddling, the machine was ready.

It looked like a mixture of a Howler and an APC. But in fact it was an ersatz tank of the "Shushpanzerosaurus" type. I proudly demonstrated the vehicle to my fellow soldiers - especially powerful was the cannon, which could launch a 50-mm steel chunk at the enemy at the speed of 0.2 light. Or sixty thousand kilometres per second - that's very, VERY much. With a projectile mass of three hundred grams, the Reilgun's penetrating power was hellish. Another thing is that Railguns were seldom used because of their energy requirements and low resource, demanding competent maintenance. The machine was demonstrated to all comers. For lack of other entertainments, there were many people who wanted to see it - even colonists came to see it. To look, to climb, to sit behind the wheel and to turn the turrets. It's a good thing I've locked the guns and the AI has written control programmes that allow me to control the machine under any conditions. They won't use it against me, which was good.

* * *

The farther into the forest, the thicker the guerrillas! This life statement has proven to be very resilient. And it all began with the fact that, being bored, after wiping the barracks from invisible dust, I decided to try to encourage my fellow soldiers to go hunting and fishing. I'm bored! And it's hard to find any other entertainment on this planet. It was proposed to hunt the local boar - such creatures were in great abundance in the vicinity of the colony.

But it's not enough to want to hunt - you need to have some kind of business plan, which is not ashamed to show the bosses. Senna didn't give a damn about the garrison's affairs, though he did occasionally screw the soldiers, because he was bored out of his mind. Like the rest of us. I got some rapport with my fellow soldiers, and they were good conversationalists, though sometimes annoying. No matter how people tried to pass the time, it was no use. Killing boars could at least brighten their leisure time a little. So I first approached my colleagues with this suggestion. Once they were interested, I decided to ask their superiors for authorisation. Senna was the king and god of the garrison. But he didn't want to risk the boys for some hunt. I managed to convince him not at once - he insisted on the fact that the guys need to shoot, and in general, we have a tank, which tyrannosaurus with one shot will put down - how dangerous it is ...

The captain grabbed his head:

- Ah, fuck you! Only in the vicinity of the base, further - not a foot! And God forbid, don't move out from under the cover of the armoured vehicle, otherwise... - Senna stood up, - So, Private, I'm with you.

A surprising display of initiative for someone like him. Usually Senna's look showed he didn't belong in the army at all. His look every time said, "What am I doing here?" and "Am I really in the army? Holy shit." Now it was a wonder he'd come with us at all.

We decided to go out in the morning. We took a dozen old-school soldiers with us, the ones who knew how to handle weapons. I brought stasis containers to transport the loot. A dozen large containers could easily hold a mountain of meat. I also decided to check out the local birds - as far as I remembered, almost all the birds on the ground were edible.

In the morning we drove out with pomp - we were greeted by the soldiers who ran out for charging. I was driving. It was the first time I had a chance to drive a wheeled vehicle. From a height of several metres, driving was like steering a big ship. The car flew very fast - one revolution of a giant wheel is a decent distance. The huge suspension did not just swallow bumps, they were not noticeable at all. Just the general landscape. After ten minutes of driving, we pulled off the road and I switched on the bioform scanner. Here we go. Since the car was really scaring away all the forest dwellers, I had to dismount and walk. I put on my armour and surveyed the forest from above, flying in circles. Senna, in his armour, looked just like a soldier - walking with a rifle in his hands.....

The first animal shot was some small dinosaur, about the size of a man, and running fast on its two hind legs. It tried to attack us, apparently thinking we were competitors.

- Hjarti, are there any big ones around?

- Nah, I can spot them from afar. At eleven o'clock, 300 metres away, there are two boars.

- Okay. We go quietly, - he turned to the group, - do not open fire without a command...

* * *

The boars were eating everything in the area. Digging up the ground, eating the trees. The captain, not much of a hunter, took out the first boar with one shot. I watched it through the scope of my railgun. I took the second one. Both carcasses weighed over a centner of weight. After the shot, everyone rushed to the prey.

- Oops, - the captain turned the carcass over with his foot, - a fat boar. Who here knows how to butcher a carcass?

- Put them in stasis, and then the cooks will deal with it themselves, - said the sergeant who came up to us.

- That's a good point. Hyarty, put them in your miracle box," said the captain, looking much better than before.

I got down to business. The carcasses have been packed into the stasis containers. A few more to go. The captain was getting the hang of it, so we drove on, towards the third settlement. On the way we came across a couple more boars that had been shot like Hitler with a machine gun. I packed the carcasses without any questions. Further hunting was not so dynamic - we stopped the car somewhere between the second and the third colony. Wooded terrain, a few streams, meadow flowers... in general, beautiful. The captain took over:

- Listen up. This is the home of the horned what's-it deer. They come around a lot, but they're fucking scary! So everybody stay quiet, and if you can, get up in the trees. And wait. We've never hunted here before, so they shouldn't expect us to do anything to them.

That's what happened. I flew into a tree, crouched there, high and a good position for a sniper. I sat down with my rifle and waited for the deer. Only one deer came and only after two hours - I had to sit for a long time... I caught it in the sight and carefully put it down with one shot in the head. The accelerator winding went off and the railgun slammed into my shoulder. The three-millimetre ball pierced the deer's head through and through. The horned one fell to the ground, the soldiers rushing toward it. I tucked my rifle into subspace and took off, surveying my surroundings. No one, just a couple of birds... and why not hunt them?

***

Hunting trips were a regular thing now. Every week we took an armoured truck and rolled from here to one of the villages. During such trips mountains of meat were extracted, so that the soldiers' rations now consisted mainly of meat dishes - a vegetarian's nightmare! Boar kebabs were made weekly, and a couple of weeks after the start of the hunt we managed to drive a whole pack of boars - forty of them.

The yard of our garrison was decorated with a huge brazier, carved from stone and iron sheets - two hundred skewers, richly studded with meat, could be safely put on it. And they were stuffed to the brim! Captain Senna was visibly cheerful. I took my ship to the planet and hid it in the woods where no one would find it. I didn't know much about hunting, but I knew how to shoot, and that's all I needed. In practice we learned - one shot - a centner of meat for the soldiers. As practice showed, the weekend feast led to the fact that we had to chase the soldiers at double pace - otherwise they started to gain fat, and very quickly.

But nothing lasts forever. I would have been immensely happy to do what I was doing for two years - fishing and training, cleaning barracks and the like, but....