“Sprite!” Helen yelled again.

It would be quick.

Sprite was yanked into the air, legs dangling beneath her, and now she would be destroyed.

It would be quick.

There was a fast sound of metal being crushed, mangled, and wrenched apart. And Sprite fell back to the ground, still whole, collapsing under the weight of the guardian’s arm. She found she could wiggle out of the machine’s now dead grasp. A smaller but much more modern creation was facing off against the orbiter.

It darted and jumped rapidly, fighting the antique, tearing out chunks and punching in holes wherever possible.