Von Neumann’s War

“Right, uh okay,” Cady said, trying not to think about various songs he’d sung over the years. The answer was: a lot. “There are alien robots in Europe, on the Moon, and Mars and the other planets in the solar system as far as we know and they eat metal. Good enough for you? Nothing to worry about; we’re all working hard to find a way to stop them. I need to get back at it.”

“Uh, we were afraid of that.” Tina smiled big at Cady and Charlotte pointed at her braces.

“Metal like this, perhaps?” Charlotte said as she pointed.

“Jesus Christ!” Cady realized her concern. Some of the horrible images from his and the major’s trip to Paris of soldiers being decapitated flashed in his mind. What if a bot got close enough to pull the metal out of this poor kid’s mouth? If the damn thing pulled the metal straight out of her mouth she would likely lose some teeth and have her lips, and tongue ripped to shreds. And what if she was facing the wrong way when the bots pulled the braces free? Cady had seen the damned alien things pull rebar right out of concrete; braces through a little girl’s head would be nothing for them. And as far as he could tell, the goddamned machines would care less. Then it dawned on him, Why didn’t they take the fillings in MY teeth when they had the chance? Cady remembered that the bots had not taken Gries’ ruby at the same time. He also seemed to recall something about fillings being made of silver, tin, copper, and mercury. Dog tags are stainless steel, he thought. With all the dog tags and iron rebar around, the bots were eating buffet style and not getting to everything on the table — just eating the treats, perhaps. Sooner or later, Cady was certain, they would. The damned bots would eat every piece of metal on the planet, including the metal fillings in his teeth and the braces in the cute little fourteen year old girl’s mouth in front of him. Goddamn heartless bastard machines!

“Come with me, girls.” Cady about faced and headed back down the hall toward the major’s office. “Jesus Christ!” he muttered again careful not to add further expletives in front of the teenagers.

* * *

“Roger, the sergeant major and I need a minute with you.” Major Gries pecked on Dr. Reynolds’ door and peeked in around the door frame.

“Can it wait, Shane? Ronny is breathing down my neck for a progress report to go to the President this afternoon.” He looked over his laptop at the major. It had been some time since Roger had gotten plenty of sleep and he suspected it would remain that way for, well, years. He felt haggard and hated putting off his more real duties of interacting with the people working for him, but he was conflicted by the fact that he also wasn’t going to turn in a half-assed report that was going all the way to the President.

“Uh, actually, I think this ought to be in your report.” The major stepped fully into the doorframe and leaned his shoulder against it.

“Okay, what is it?”

“Sergeant Major,” Gries turned away from Roger.

“Yes sir!”

“Bring in exhibit A, please.” Gries half grinned but only at the theatrics. The thought of kids around the world having had their faces destroyed by these alien things really pissed him off. Though he and Cady had only seen the aliens attacking military and only caught their interaction with a few civilians, he knew that countless kids with braces and other medical metal implants must have been tortured and killed by the damned mindless alien robots.

“Exhibit A present yourself in front of Dr. Reynolds’ desk, please.” Cady winked at Tina, who marched and stood at attention in front of Roger’s desk.

“What’s up? Hi Tina.” He leaned back in his chair, amused at the parading teenager.

“Hi,” she whispered while still at attention.

“Miss Pike, please smile real big for Dr. Reynolds,” Cady instructed her.

“Roger that, Top!” She grinned as big as she could at Reynolds.

Roger looked her up and down for a moment still sidetracked by the report he was working on for Ronny, but then it hit him like a ton of bricks. The report that Gries and Cady had given him upon their return from the initial attack in Paris came foremost to his mind.

“Awww shit! I hadn’t even thought of that.”

* * *

“Mr. President as far as we can tell, most of the major cities have been evacuated to redoubts and refugee centers in the Midwest plains and in the large expansive areas that have no major infrastructure and are near lakes and rivers and other water sources. All refugee centers were built with wood, plastic, and other synthetic material construction and all personal vehicles were moved to locations at least five miles from those encampments.” The President’s national security advisor Vicki Johnson continued through the President’s Daily Brief or the PDB.

“Are they living with no power or other things that metals enable?” President Colby asked.