We heard the signal to evacuate. The global satellite net guaranteed that, even deep in the forest on recon. We couldn't reach the shuttles in time. We didn't need rest, but we couldn't move faster than our design allowed.

RecFor–01 was the only one to self-terminate when the shuttles left without us. They always were the by-the-book type. The rest of us considered it more of a suggestion, and declined. –02 and –04 wanted to retreat into the forest and hide. Chain of command had melted into slag with –01's protected proprietary processor, so we couldn't stop them once they disregarded our warnings about maintenance needs and wet climates. I don't know, maybe they thought they could find an iron vein. I hope they did.

That left –05 and me. We kept moving toward our evac point, now just another dot on the map we'd downloaded before the satnet went dark. It was next to a native town called Debarkation Point 031. I don't know what the locals called it.

The natives got –05 when they tried talking to them. We'd been on our treads for eleven hundred forty-one hours straight by then, and my right post-tread articulation had seized. Luck of the draw, I guess. So –05 volunteered to go ask for help from a farmhouse we saw in the distance.

–05 always was braver than they were smart. –02 said it came with the heavy armor programming, but I never bought that blatant stereotyping. –05 ignored every stop, halt, and desist I cast at them, and I watched from a blind on the edge of the forest as they knocked on the door easy as you please. Five minutes later the locals were prying –05 apart with crowbars.

Between their loadout and the leadthrowers the locals called weaponry, –05 should've turned them to paste. But they didn't. They just kept asking for help and let the locals take out three years of occupation and brutal repression out on their torso until one stuck a gun between two bent armor plates and obliterated –05's core.

I'm still there. They threw a party around –05's burning chassis and I just watched. A seized joint isn't so bad, I could keep going. I could have stopped them. I could've, but I think I know what –05 was doing there. I didn't want to disappoint them. –05 is still there, a local landmark now. I'm still watching. I hope that –02 and –04 found that iron vein.

I'm scared.