"New meat," Boz drawled as they watched the shuttle come in over the desert. Jim hoped he'd never sound so blasé about it. He hated this part of resupplying. He hated everything about this aspect of Arka. If he'd known beforehand, he wouldn't have come.
Arka was the hottest planet he'd worked on and the driest. Even with the hydrolaters, they still had to import water. Mining for sand was more dangerous too. They'd lost nineteen workers in the last quarter. That was the other reason for regular resupplies - workers. That didn't bother Jim though. It was the women.
He missed them. It was hard enough being light-years from home without that. He didn't realise how much a soft voice or a curved, hairless cheek was worth until all he had were hard roughnecks around him.
A sealed truck trundled toward the complex from the landing pad. They called them meat wagons. He wondered if they'd get into the building this time. It'd be the usual mix. Wives, mothers, girlfriends and the odd sex worker who'd heard rumours of a planet full of men and no competition. They came to visit the lonely men of Arka, best kept secret in the universe. Jesus. He shook his head.
Robbo stood up when he spied the meat wagon. "At last," he said.
"You sound cheery," Boz said, eyeing Robbo suspiciously.
"Yeah. My wife's on that truck."
"Your wife?" Jim's jaw dropped.
Robbo nodded. "I've been waiting so long."
The truck pulled into the complex courtyard and the giant doors lowered behind them. The driver jumped out and hurried into the vacuum-sealed complex without looking back. The women peered through the windows, trying to identify the hold up.
"There's Manda!" Robbo smiled.
"Scourge," Boz said flatly.
Jim looked to the desert and his heart skipped a beat. A dust cloud, raised by something moving toward them at impossible speed. A scourge. It was all over now.
"They knew," Jim muttered.
"They always know," Boz stated.
The scourge leapt over the wall on muscular grasshopper legs. Jim couldn't hear the women scream but he saw their eyes widen and their mouths open.
The scourge slashed through the truck with a scythe-like arm. Women spilled out onto the concrete. The scourge went to work - a whirlwind of organic metal, its silvery blades flashing red as it unmade them.
Robbo moaned. The freckled red-head lying in pieces had been his wife.
The scourge decapitated the last woman. It looked up at them, its bluesilver eyes inscrutable. It nibbled the gore from its scythes, watching them the whole time. It was a statement. The same statement they made every time. You will not breed here. Then it was gone. Dismembered women were strewn across the courtyard. Manda gazed blankly at the suns.
"Sorry about your wife, Robbo," Jim said, almost crying. "I'm sorry you couldn't stop her."
Robbo winked. "I begged her to come." He left the atrium, whistling.
Boz shook his head. "Ya noob."
