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without losing too many of their own. Not all kludges scavenge from the old, dead places. Some think the living places are a lot easier.”
    Hoku looked at the force shield strapped to his wrist. If only they were easier to make, then he could outfit Odd’s whole kludge with them. “Can you fight?” he asked Pocket. “Your name — does it mean you’ve got weapons hidden somewhere?”
    Pocket chuckled. “I’ve got food. Tools. Some nice shells and a few shiny bits of tech I picked up here and there. I keep a ball that Squirrel and I toss around, and a little stuffed thing she likes to hug when she sleeps.”
    “Your horns look dangerous,” Hoku said. “Can you hit people with them?”
    “I can store water in them,” Pocket said proudly. “Most of the time that’s a lot more useful.”
    “How have you survived this long?” Hoku asked. He felt an unfamiliar outrage growing in his mind. “Your kludge doesn’t even have any warriors!”
    “Used to,” Pocket answered. “They signed up with Strand. Mags convinced Odd to hold out a little longer, but then you and Dash came along. Looks like we’ll all be part of his army before long.”
    Not if we can stop Strand first
, Hoku thought.
    Squirrel bounded out from behind a rock and leaped in front of Sunbeam. Hoku barely managed to hold on to the reins as Sunbeam jerked his massive body to the side.
    “They didn’t like that we sped up,” Squirrel said to Pocket. She acted as if Hoku weren’t even there, as if Sunbeam hadn’t almost trampled her to death. “I heard the big one say they needed to attack now, before we got too far ahead.”
    “How many are there?” Hoku asked.
    “All my fingers,” Squirrel said. “Plus one.”
    “Eleven coming,” Hoku said aloud so Aluna could hear.
    Squirrel bolted away, her springy feet carrying her to Odd in three quick strides. A moment later he yelled, “Circle up! Pocket, Squirrel, and the prisoners on the beast. Everyone else, get ready for blood.”
    Pocket headed for the rhinebra. Hoku paused to grab the reins of Vachir and Calli’s horse, even though Aluna and Calli were already moving to where Odd wanted them. Calli’s hands were still bound, but he could see Aluna toying with her ropes.
    Dash made the rhinebra sit, a defensive pose intended to protect its more delicate underbelly. Not that the other kludge would try to hurt the beast; the rhinebra was more valuable than tech to a bunch of nomads. Dash slid down the rhinebra’s side and joined their group.
    “Do we run?” he asked Aluna, his dark eyes darting down the path, to the sides of the valley, and back again. “We must make sure we survive.”
    “We’ll know what we’re up against in two flashes,” Aluna said. Her eyes seemed brighter now that a fight was close. “It may be too late to run.”
    “Good,” Dash said. “I would not abandon these people to a slaughter unless we had no other choice.”
    As he spoke, the world around them seemed to burst into blades and flames and battle cries.

A LUNA PULLED HERSELF to the top of the rhinebra’s saddle so she could get a better view of the fight. She thought Pocket had already climbed up, but when she got there, she found only the saddlebags and supplies strapped to the animal’s side.
Good.
She didn’t have to worry about playing prisoner in the middle of a crisis.
    “More Upgraders,” Aluna said. She knew Hoku could hear and would share her words with the others. “The girl was right. There are eleven. No beasts of their own, as far as I can see.”
    The attacking Upgraders had come from the south, so at least they hadn’t had time to surround the kludge. She watched Odd wade into a cluster of men and women and metal and start swinging his massive, armored arms. The Upgraders dodged and taunted him, but he didn’t falter. He’d seemed focused and methodical, as if he were merely a farmer pulling in his fish nets or a gardener weeding his kelp beds.
    Aluna spotted Mags and Squirrel