Guildswoman Emma Maven walked with her back straight and her arms folded beneath her breasts. She held her head high and gazed up at the sky with bright eyes.
'There are so many stars out tonight,' she said.
Guildsman Arthur Foble walked beside her with shuffling steps. His arms hung loose by his sides and his head turned at every sound. He gave no indication that he had heard her.
Emma shook her head. Arthur was older than her. He was always lost in his own thoughts. Sometimes she thought he might go a whole day without hearing anything that she said.
'What are you thinking?' Emma said, lowering her gaze to the dusty road ahead.
'Sorry, I'm not very good company tonight,' Arthur said, squeezing her shoulder with one hand. 'I just get things stuck in my head sometimes. I can't seem to shake them off.'
'What things?'
'I was wondering whether we should do something for his wife?'
Emma turned towards him with a frown. 'Whose wife?'
'Guildmaster Baker's wife. I was thinking about her just now. Do you think we should do something for her, now that she's lost her husband? She has four young boys to bring up on her own.'
Emma shook her head. 'She needs peace and quiet more than anything else. That's all she needs from us anyway. Others have already offered their help. Too much help can be burden too sometimes.'
Arthur nodded, chewing the corner of his lip. 'I never lost anyone like that,' he said. 'I don't know what she must be going through. Guild Master Baker was a good man. I knew him for many years.'
'Yes, we all did.'
Arthur frowned, looking down at his feet as he walked. 'How must it feel to lose someone like that, someone you've spent your whole life with?'
'We'll never know, Arthur - at least I hope we won't. Whatever she's feeling, let her feel it in peace.'
'Will she be all right, do you think?'
'She's a strong woman. She has four children to bring up. She'll do what she has to do and they'll all pull together. The Guildmasters have their own ways of doing things. If something needs doing, they will attend to it. If they need our help they'll let us know.'
Arthur muttered something under his breath, his brown eyes reflecting in the moonlight. He was older than Emma but he often needed reassuring about the emotional aspects of life. He had a tendency to worry about things but his heart was in the right place.
A girl screamed, running out into the road from one of the side streets.
Emma froze, staring at the girl as Arthur ran ahead.
'What is it?' he said. 'Some boys causing trouble?'
The girl shook her, running past him with tears in her eyes. Her boots were much bigger than her feet but she ran much faster than Emma would have thought possible in such ill-fitting attire. A few seconds later, she had disappeared down a side street, lost in complete and utter darkness.
'What do you think got into her?' Arthur said with a shake of his head.
Emma jogged towards the place where they had first seen the girl, and Arthur followed close behind her. She could hear more shouting in the distance.
'I don't like this,' she said.
Arthur stood staring at the ground with his hands held out to each side for balance. Emma wondered what he was doing at first, but then she felt it too. Tremors shook the ground beneath her boots. She was about to ask what it was but then a bright flash filled the sky, and a loud bang hurt her ears. The noise seemed to go on forever. She raised her hands when she heard something shattering in the darkness nearby. Pieces of metal flew across the road, landing on the ground behind her.
Emma blinked, unsure of what she was looking at. Arthur took her arm and pulled her towards the nearest side street.
'What are you doing?' Emma said.
Arthur didn't reply.
A scene of complete mayhem opened up before them. Half a dozen children passed by on the opposite side of the street. Their eyes were wide and their mouths hung open as their short legs scampered as fast as they could. A woman carrying a basket threw it on the ground before lifting the hem of her long skirt and running past Emma, heading for a narrow gap between two box cabins. She was only just slim enough to squeeze through the opening. She grunted and twisted sideways and then fled into the darkness.
'What's happening?' Emma said, glancing from side to side.
A fat man stared at her from a box cabin window a few metres away. He mouthed something that she couldn't quite hear and then raised his hand, pointing to something behind her.
Emma turned, following the path of his extended finger and she saw the silhouette of a dozen box cabins a few streets away. Darkness was gradually giving way to a dim orange light that spread across the rooftops but dawn was still some time away.
Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the metal monster towering over the box cabins, it's bulbous head angled down towards them. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words would come out. When she tried to step forwards, Arthur held his hand in front of her, blocking her path.
The ground shook again as several box cabins crumbled beneath the metal monster's advancing feet. Stone crumbled into sand and rock flew high into the air. The monster headed towards them on thick silver legs, smashing through walls as though they were nothing more than stones and dust held together with hopes and dreams.
Emma held a hand over her mouth. 'Who would do such a thing?'
Arthur's gaze darted back and forth as though he was seeking a stick to wave at the intruder. 'It's a Walker droid,' he said. 'I've seen them on consoles but I never imagined I would see one in real life.'
Emma watched in horror as the remains of several box cabins collapsed into a jumble of yellow and blue rock. A man cried out, trapped beneath the falling stone, and a woman screamed as she fell from a nearby window.
Emma brushed a hand though her hair. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. More box cabins fell as a tide of towering droids trampled them into the ground. People screamed and cried. Some threw rocks at their attackers with little effect.
Emma reached out to Arthur, pulling him to one side. She turned at the sound of heavy footsteps behind her, and saw a dark grey droid running past her, leaving strange round foot prints in the sand. The droid had a short fat tube on its back, and a silver mesh covered the place where its face should be.
'Whose droid was that?' Emma said, stumbling back a few steps.
Arthur grabbed her arm, pulling her towards him. 'I don't know,' he said. 'But it isn't safe here. We need to warn the guildmasters.'
The short grey droid ran towards the nearest Walker and opened fire from the tube on its back. A stream of red hot particles exploded around the Walker's head but they dissipated without reaching its thick armour, deflected by what looked like some kind of force field. The Walker turned and flipped open the end caps that covered two wide tubes attached to its arms.
'We've got to get out of here,' Emma said, her eyes opening wide.
Arthur nodded. He didn't look like he would take much convincing.
She started running and Arthur followed behind her, trying to keep up with her ever increasing pace. The ground shook beneath her feet, and she almost lost her balance, but she managed to reach out and correct her stumbling trajectory by placing her hand on a nearby wall.
A blast of hot air slammed into her back as a huge explosion shattered the peace once more. Emma kept running, gasping for air as her boots thudded across the sandy road.
When she glanced over her shoulder, she saw pieces of smoking metal scattered across the ground behind her. The small grey droid was nowhere to be seen but the Walker stood tall, followed by a dozen shadows behind it.
More grey droids ran past her, their limbs moving in a blur as they hurried towards the Walkers behind her. Shouting and screaming competed with the noise of explosions and collapsing walls. The streets were full of droids blasting each other with a myriad of weapons, tearing each other apart with a terrible roar.
Emma stumbled to one side as another droid ran past her. This one had four long stripy legs. It slammed into a blue droid that she hadn't seen before, and they spun around together, grabbing each other with many clasping hands. First one was on top, and then the other, and then they both exploded in a spray of metal as the Walker hit them with some kind of missile.
'Come on! We've got to get out of here!' Arthur said, catching up with Emma and sounding out of breath. He pulled her along with him, running faster than ever.
Emma didn't argue. She couldn't bear the sight of so much violence. She ran faster than she had ever run in her life.