Iapetus Saves Albuquerque

Dr. Maland and the Iapetian storyteller turned to see what Captain Cheever saw. They saw Cyber-Iapetus coming their way. It moved much more confidently now. However, behind the mechanical monster something was stirring up some very large clouds of dust..

After Captain Cheever finished reporting to his superiors, he returned to rental car to speak to Dr. Maland and his passenger.

"You gentlemen will want to follow me," he told them without giving them a chance to respond.

He ran back to his Humvee and drove away from the sandpit. He turned north and drove quickly away from the scene. At first, Dr. Maland was not going to follow; however, he changed his mind and headed north.

After a few moments, the roar of jets became quite clear in the sky. Suddenly the sandpit began exploding. A wave of B-52 bombers dropped several smart bombs into the position indicated by Captain Cheever. Even at the distance Dr. Maland had traveled, the explosions became deafening.

Looking around, Dr. Maland saw some military hardware rolling towards the pit. Tanks and rocket launchers had left Albuquerque and now surrounded the pit. They sat there awaiting the arrival of Cyber-Iapetus.

When the mechanical weapon neared the sandpit, the missile launchers released a wave of missiles. All the missiles struck their target and exploded. The Iapetian protector was engulfed in a huge fireball. However, it continued to make its way to the sandpit. The first wave had no effect.

The tanks began firing and a second wave of missiles were launched. The attacks did not slow down the giant mechanical weapon. For some reason, its weapon systems remained silent. Cyber-Iapetus did not return fire.

Suddenly, the Sletfernian Sand Monster arose out of the sandpit. As the tanks began firing a second round at Cyber-Iapetus, it attacked the military hardware. Some of the tanks and missile launchers became a tangle as the sand monster attacked. Cyber-Iapetus continued its way to the rendezvous.

A few of the tanks retreated but maintained firing at their targets. The shells passed right through the sand monster and they had no effect on Cyber-Iapetus. Nonetheless, they maintained their assault.

After a few moments, Cyber-Iapetus joined the sand monster in attacking the military hardware at the outskirts of the sandpit. It did not use its advanced weaponry, but simply kicked and swung at the hardware. Some of the tanks and rocket launchers made a retreated further.

Again, the roar of jets became clear as another wave of B-52's flew overhead. The tangle of some military hardware and the two monsters became engulfed in an exploding fireball. The intense heat made its way to the location where the 4 men observed the battle.

As the smoke cleared, the sand monster and Cyber-Iapetus kicked themselves free of the tangle of red hot metal, and headed towards Albuquerque. The retreating tanks and rocket launchers set off another barrage which, like every other attack, had no effect. The only damage was done to the surrounding area and the tangled pile of smoldering metal that was once some expensive military hardware.

It appeared that the aliens had not quite mastered the complete workings of Cyber-Iapetus. In the march to the sandpit, they worked on motion controls. They would need to work on weapon system controls if they wanted to successfully annihilate the major metropolitan areas of earth.

Thus, they began testing the weapon systems on the retreating military vehicles. First, the machine gun installed into Cyber-Iapetus's shoulders open fire. The spray of bullets went wildly all over the place. Eventually, the aliens figured out what was happening and successfully targeted a tank.

The other weapons systems were more complicated. They managed to get the laser to target something, but they expected it to do the damage. However, eventually they learned that it was a targeting system for the missiles. Thus, they sent several missiles at several targets.

The sand monster was getting bored of watching, and it jumped into destructive mode. It smashed up a few rocket launchers that launched their last group of missiles to no effect.

Finally, Cyber-Iapetus opened up its mouth and used its fire weapon. The sand monster was damaged in this attack as some of its sand particles fused together. It quickly headed back to the sand pit. It disappeared into the pit. It shook off the glass and replenished it supply of sand.

With the slow going, another wave of B-52's was able to drop another load of bombs on the pair of alien controlled monsters. This wave was as effective as the previous loads. However, it did slow them down slightly.

This allowed the A-10's from Tuscon Arizona to finally make an appearance. The agile tank killers fired their depleted uranium rounds at the pair. The armor piercing round had no effect upon the sand monster. However, they put some dents into the thick armor of Cyber-Iapetus. Other than that, they did little damage.

The maverick missiles and the other armament on the tank killing aircraft had little impact upon the pair. Cyber-Iapetus attempted to use its missiles against the jet airplanes; however, it could not keep its lasers upon the flying machines. Thus, those missiles flew off harmlessly.

The giant mechanical monster also attempted to use its other weapons, but they could not hit the agile A-10's. After a few more passes firing at the pair, the A-10's broke off their attack and headed home.

The four men looked on in dismay as the alien partnered giant monsters easily withstood the attacks of the U.S. Military. It looked like they would be able to reach Albuquerque without hindrance. It looked like destruction was imminent.

The cloud of dust in the distance was now much closer. Whatever caused it was moving rapidly towards the two monsters. The one cloud was clearly two at that distance. Something major was about to happen.