"Ah, the shield," noted Major Julian Spires.  His steady eyes swiveled as he scanned
the readouts from his console.  Looking outside, Julian recognized the Jopla Valley of Novala,
his destination.  The Elephant's secret base was nestled in the heart of the Jopla Valley.
The Elephant was about to reveal its secrets to Julian's camera.  Too easy, he thought.

     Even though Novala had entered its night cycle, Julian could see as though it were day.
In so many ways, he was an extension of his Roach Cyberunit.  He could feel the air against
the shell, the rocky ground against the thin, pointed legs.  He could `latch off' at any time, but
he felt secure in his Roach and was in control.
     Holding his breath, he activated the shield breaker and felt his skin tingle as the Roach
moved through the magnetic shield.
     Julian began to search for the Elephant's base.  His Roach scampered forward,
moving around large boulders and a few scattered skeletons of trees, finally spotting
buildings that cropped the valley floor kilometers away.  He stopped and smiled.  He turned
on the LDD and powered down.  The Roach became an extension of the valley, rocks, and
trees.  Julian loved being invisible.  He knew nothing the Elephant had could detect him.  The
Roach Cyberunit was at the top of stealth technology.  Too easy.  He took pictures.
     Of course, things weren't always this easy.  His last few missions had netted him failure
after failure.  He was lucky to survive and his Father was embarrassed to have such a washout
for a son.  His dad had served a long and brilliant carrer in the Coalition Navy, reaching the
rank of Admiral and retiring early at the age of sixty.  His Father had become high on Julian
joined up at the brisk age of sixteen and rose up through the ranks fast.  But all of that was
forgotten after his last missions that he bungled.  His father had measured Julian against the
successes he had.  Julian needed to prove to his dad that he could accomplish success once
again.
     Julian tied in his optical feed into the base's own security cameras.  He would find out
what they were doing there in a matter of minutes.  The camera shots were then downloaded
into the storage chip which only Julian could handle without its built-in explosives going off.
     "DOWNLOADING FINISHED," stated the computer.
     Julian placed the chip in his coat pocket, powered the Roach up and left.
     Moving at a steady pace, Julian spotted a Walker approaching fast.  The LDD was still
on and he didn't wonder how they spotted him, instead, he accelerated toward the shield.  The
Walker was huge, possibly twelve meters in height.  With that size, it could easily crush or
seriously damage the Roach with its weapons and legs.  Julian reached the magnetic shield
 and went through it the same way he came in, only faster.  The computer flashed a warning:
"SLOW UNIT TO AVOID SHUTDOWN."
     The LDD was eating up his energy like ants in the.pantry.  His Tumbler ship was still
fifty kilometers away, around a mountain range.  Julian couldn't keep the LDD on, but
couldn't let the Walker gain more of an advantage than it already had.  How could it see me?
     Julian needed to get to the Tumbler ship to transmit the shots back to the Coalition.
They needed the shots to plan their strike.  Turning off the LDD, he retracted the Roach's
legs and hovered the five-meter long Cyberunit at full speed.  His back became glued
to the chair as the Roach accelerated, leaving a cloud of dust behind.  Energy beams blazed
from the Walker, creating massive craters around him, narrowly missing the Roach.
     "Bloody hell!"
     LDD or no LDD, Julian had to get those shots back onto the Tumbler to trasmit back.
He's failed before and if he fails again, he'd be out of a job or demoted and sent to some
backwater outpost.  Julian had nothing else to look foward to but his military career.  He
couldn't botch another assignment.  The lancing beams stopped as Julian continued to race
the Roach at top speed.  He knew the Walker must be far behind.
     Instruments flashed in warning as Julian saw the silouette of the Walker a
hundred meters ahead.  What the Hell?  Decelerating, he pulled hard to the right and watched
his panel suddenly go wild.  The Roach spun like a tornado.
     Julian's stomach churned as the insectile vehicle skipped on the rough ground.  He
faintly heard the computer make an announcement, "EMERGENCY SYSTEMS ACTIVATED.
COLLISION FOAM ENGAGED."
     Seconds later, Julian blacked out as the Roach stopped, upside down.
     Julian woke as his foam-filled cabin vibrated.  He reached through the thick white
foam and felt the hatch switch.  Julian flipped it and crawled out of the tattered Roach after
unfastening himself.  Looking around, he remembered why he was on all fours.  The Walker
thundered closer.
     Not having time to check for injuries, Julian tried to get up and failed.  No, he thought, not
now!  His right knee sent shockwaves of agony to his brain.  He moaned.  Fumbling for the
chip, he buried it under some brush.  Julian looked up and saw the mammoth leg of the Elephant's
Walker.  He swallowed hard and tasted blood.  "It's over," he whispered, "I  failed again."
     The heat from the Walker's engine sliced the chilly night air as it raced to meet Julian's
injured form.  Steam rose from exhaust ports as the Walker's lights poured onto the scene.
The pilot descended from a small elevator, rifle in hand, "Stay put.  You're under arrest."
     The pilot's electronic voice sounded similar to the Roach's computer.  A robot pilot?
No, he thought, it was wearing body armor and a helmet.
     "Fancy that," Julian replied.
     The pilot then motioned Julian to raise his arms and then systematically checked his
pockets, searching for anything he could hide.  "Well, what have we here," the pilot paused
while eyeing Julian's uniform, "Major Spires?"  The pilot showed the small monochrome
handgun to Julian.
     "Uh,...Standard issue."
     "Wrong answer, Earth scum!"  The pilot then slapped the butt of the rifle across his
face.  Blood sprayed the valley floor.
     "Roaming around in the valley can be highly dangerous without an escort.  The native
predators are fond of human flesh and are always hungry.  Of course, no weapon, no chance to
live," the pilot put Julian's handgun under his belt.
     Julian didn't know anything about the life here, and he really didn't care.  All he cared
about was returning the shots and maybe returning the pleasure of meeting a rifle's butt end.
Wiping the blood from his mouth, he wondered if the pilot called for help.  He listened for
other Walkers.
     "Well, Major, looks like we're going to be here a while.  Here, put these on," the pilot
threw Julian electrocuffs.
     "What do you go by?  Or should I call you `Elephant man,'" Julian said.
     The pilot leveled the rifle into Julian's bad knee in a hacking motion.  "That's Lieutenant
Hammerstein," the Colonel said while taking off the helmet, "Kate Hammerstein."
     "Novela is owned by Hannibal Securities.  That's the last time you'll use that name to
insult us," she said as Julian cried out, grasping his knee.  Kate took in a deep breath, "I love the
fresh air."
     Everyone outside Hannibal Securities used the word `Elephant' to describe the super
corporation.  They dealed in weapons, vehicles, and space transportation, but they primarily
dealt in death.  Julian wished the Elephant spent more time with medical technologies.  He'd
give anything to have a pain-killer.
     "Why don't you take me in now, Lieutenant?"  Julian asked between gasps of pain.
     "My computer just informed me there are some mechanical `difficulties' with the. . .
fusion intake.  We'll be out of here soon.  So why don't we go retrieve the little snapshots you
took.  Move it!"
     Grunting, Julian got up, hopping on one leg.  The flood lights lit up his Roach, cracked
and splintered.  A couple of  hops brought him to the cabin.  He sat down, bringing his back
against the hull.  "It's stored in the core computer under the file `SHOTS-TCFB'."
     "Don't do anything stupid, the Walkers' guns have you in their sights."
     As she went inside the Roach, he managed to get a good look at her.  Because of the
lights from the Walker, all Julian could see was her outline earlier.  But now he saw that her
collar length hair was red, her face was lightly tanned with comet-shaped dark eyes.  She was
about his age, twenty-five, Julian thought.  Hmmmm.
     "You lied," came a cry from the cabin.
     With a rifle barrel between his eyes, Julian tried not to smile, but failed.
     "Where ARE they, Major Spires?"
     "Ooh.  A woman with a gun.  Turns me on, Lieutenant," Julian answered.  Even though
he wouldn't mind dying staring at such a pretty woman, he wanted to live and he knew the
Lieutenant needed him to find the shots.
     "All right, Major, I could break you other knee, but I'd hate to see you in a wheelchair
the rest of you life.  So tell me, why is the computer file have `TCFB' tagged at the end of it?"
     "Well, if you insist.  It means `Taking Candy From a Baby'.  And you're the Baby,
baby."
     "That's it, Major.  Your career as a comedian has come to an end," the Lieutenant said
angrily as she raised her rifle again.  Julian braced for an additional blow.
     A big `THUMP' sounded above Julian, on top of the Roach.
 Looking around, Julian saw a pair of yellow eyes against the darkened shape of a large
wolf-like body.  Those eyes shot fear into him.  Kate aimed above Julian.  He gripped the
rock-strewn valley.
     The Colonel fired her laser rifle into the night air.  The yellow eyes that Julian stared at
suddenly narrowed and disappeared just as a rush of air brushed his face.  After the Colonel fired,
the animal leapt and smashed into her, knocking her to the ground with the rifle discharging a
second time before falling on the rocky terrain, smoking.  The rifle was just a few feet away from
Julian.
     Where was the other animal?  Those yellow eyes. . . stabbing into me.
     The Walkers' lights displayed the struggle like two gladiators fighting in a
championship match in an ancient coliseum.  Kate's body armor seemed to protect her
from the initial rakes and bites from the animal's claws and teeth.  He saw his chance to escape,
even if he had to crawl to the ship.  He stumbled over to the rifle.
     The Lieutenant was down, with the fanged animal on top of her desperately trying to rip
through her armor.  It was only a matter of time before it succeeded.  Straining himself, Julian
looped his cuffed hands by bringing them from under his legs.  His knee throbbed with great pain.
    With his hands now in front, he grabbed the rifle and watched a shot burst from the Walker,
nearly taking off his head.  Why wasn't the Walker shooting the animal?
     Julian fired anyway.  The animal screached like an dying eagle.
     The Walker's automatic weapons fired again, hitting its target.  Julian watched his
knee horrifyingly explode, blood and flesh scattered amidst the powerful beam.  He choked on
his own voice while trying to scream.  He thought about Kate, why she or anyone would work
for Hannibal Securities.  Developimg a virus to exterminate all who wasn't on their side, the
side of their new empire.  Julian tried to do his part, to follow the orders of his superiors, to do
what his parents wanted, so they could share in his success.  Julian didn't know anything else,
didn't want anything else, except to look at Kate one more time.  To see her smile before the
loss of blood carried him into death.  He awaited the inevitable.
     "Get up you poor excuse for a corpse!  You can't die now.  You have to tell me where
the pictures are.  Major Spires?  Are you listening?"
     "I did what you said, Mom.  I followed my Father's shadow.  I tried, Mom.  I can't do
it anymore.  I can't follow. . . the shadow.  Mom. . . where are you?"  Julian muttered as the
rifle lay next to him covered with parts of Julian's leg.
     "What are you talking about?  I'm going to get some supplies.  Just don't die on me!"
Kate yelled, and limped over to the Walker.
     "Don't leave me, Mom.  Mom?"  Julian fell in and out of consciousness, seeing the
black wolf-creature that attacked Kate, approach him and snarl, showing dinosaur-size teeth.
Julian finally wailed, but this time out of fear.  Was this Death?
     "I'm here," said Kate as she wrapped up his blasted knee, applying medicine.  "The
Walker fired because you fired in my direction.  I programmed it to incapcitate, not to kill.
     You'll live to insult me again."
     "Ka- Kate, is that you?"  Julian asked as his mind came back to reality.
     "Just sit tight, funny man and tell me where you hid the shots."
     One mistake after another.  Julian counted them ever since he turned off the LDD,
which was the first one.  Cracking jokes at Kate, number two.  And then saving her life while
risking his own counted for another two.  Four in all, an all-time low, he thought.  He knew his
career was over and he wouldn't be alive to make the fifth one.
     "It's over there," he pointed near the Roach.
     "Thanks, Major.  You may not end up dead, after all.  The Earth Coalition Government
will come to its senses about us.  They'll see that our way is the right way."
     Julian's knee was now numb.  In fact, as he thought about it, his whole leg went numb.
He heard about how prisoners were treated by the Elephant, especially ones from Earth.  He'd
rather wait here for the buzzards to get him then embarrassing himself, his family, and the
Earth Coalition Government by becoming a `experiment' of the Elephant's science projects.
He heard Kate's footsteps against the ground of the Jopla Valley.  He hoped Kate
didn't try to open the pocket-sized case the shots were in.  He wished to know her better, but
if she was curious enough. . . He covered his ears anyway.
     A firecracker sound popped through and was followed by a `thud.'  She didn't even
have time to react.  The case was pressure senstive.  She probably didn't even think about that.
Julian looked over at Kate and saw the blood dripping from her forehead.  She was still
beautiful, even though she was dead.
     He managed to slither his way toward the Roach. knowing what he had to do to get those
shots back to his superiors.  Julian agonized, thinking of his father's scolding voice, raking him
with curses and insults after his last mission.  Julian looked at the early successes he had and the
energy that gave him the rank of Major.  He found that energy once again, reaching the Roach
and crawled inside and pulled the right file from the computer.  He transmitted it to the Tumbler
ship with additional orders.  Even though he wanted to go to the Tumbler ship to avoid having the
information being intercepted by Elephant forces, Julian saw that what he just did was the only
option.  His superiors would get those shots at a cost of one, no, two lives.
     Watching his Tumbler ship streak into Novala's upper atmosphere, he knew he
wouldn't live long, even though his knee was healing.  The valley floor shook under the
vibration of three Walkers.  Lights shown all around.  The thumping rotor of an helicopter
sliced and mixed with the pounding feet of the Walkers.
     He watched as several soldiers dropped down a line from the helicopter and knew his
time was up.  As soon as they found out who he was and where he came from, they would
arrest him, question him and likely torture and kill him.  The soldiers mumbled some words,
Julian listened in.
     "It's a Roach all right, look at semi-organic skin casing.  I'll bet the engineers would
love to get their hands on it.  What have we here. . ." said one of the troopers.
     "A transposer wolf.  Shot through the neck by the looks of it," said another soldier.
     A set of footsteps approached Julian.  A human shadow covered his prone body and
stated, "Major Spires, you're under arrest for crimes comitted against Hannibal Securities
including the murder of Lieutenant Hammerstein and the slaughter of one transposer wolf.  If
you struggle, you will be shot."
     "You lost Elephant man.  The secret is out," Julian responded.  He didn't care
anymore.  Death seemed to be a common place on Novala.  It was almost too easy.
     Nearly hitting him, the soldier grabbed Julian and dropped him on a stretcher.  Turning
around, he ordered the other soldiers, "Put the Major in the chopper," then he eyed Julian,
    "Did you enjoy the wolf, Major?  We develpoed its holographic abilities to use in our Walkers.
     It's too bad you only learned of it now."
     "I still won, Elephant man."
     "After we get through with you, insults will be a thing of the past for you, Major!"  The
officer laughed confidently.
     After a second to think about it, he was glad the commanding officer couldn't read minds.
Highly bloody unlikely, Elephant man!  Julian tried to laugh too, but in hurt too much.
     I'll see you soon, Kate, and sorry about that explosive, I had no choice.  Mom, tell Dad
I'm out from under his shadow.  I succeeded!