¨¨¨¨.††$#@                                          @#$††.¨¨¨¨
¨.«†††$###                                          ###$†††«.¨
¨.«††$##@#                                          #@##$††«.¨
¨.«††$##@#                                          #@##$††«.¨
¨¨¨.««†$##                                          ##$†««.¨¨¨
¨.«††$##@# ######################################## #@##$††«.¨
¨¨¨¨«««†$# # autonomous railmakers will notice    # #$†«««¨¨¨¨
¨.«††$$$## # wildlife in their path and stop,     # ##$$$††«.¨
¨¨¨¨¨..†$# ######################################## #$†..¨¨¨¨¨
¨.«††$##@# sound  a   horn,  nudge  the  animal   a #@##$††«.¨
¨¨¨¨¨««†## little,  but  ultimately  wait  it  out. ##†««¨¨¨¨¨
¨.«††$#@## although  they  will  log video, no call ##@#$††«.¨
¨¨¨¨..«†#@ will   be   made    for   any    outside @#†«..¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨.«†††#      assistance. this is very good.      #†††«.¨¨¨¨
¨.«††$$##@                                          @##$$††«.¨
¨.«††$#@##  the railmakers are siemens-manufactured ##@#$††«.¨
¨.«†††††$# brick-like  things. fields of  gray  and #$†††††«.¨
¨.«††$##@@     teal, floodlights, thrumming and     @@##$††«.¨
¨¨¨.††$### hissing.  trilling to each  other,  like ###$††.¨¨¨
¨¨.«††††$# language.  and  here,   three  of  them, #$††††«.¨¨
¨.«††$##@# slowly  making  their  way  through  the #@##$††«.¨
¨¨¨¨¨¨.††#               dense forest.              #††.¨¨¨¨¨¨
¨.«††$##@@                                          @@##$††«.¨
¨.«††$##@# i'm  coming up on  them  from behind and #@##$††«.¨
¨¨¨¨¨¨«††# to the  left, hidden  behind  the  thick #††«¨¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨.«†$## foliage.  their  light  finds  the  gaps ##$†«.¨¨¨¨
¨.«††$##@#     between the leaves, casting rays     #@##$††«.¨
¨.«††$##@# through the wet  air,  playing  over  my #@##$††«.¨
¨.«††$##@@ face  and arms, and my weapon. i quickly @@##$††«.¨
¨.«††$##@@ overtake them, crouch in  the ditch made @@##$††«.¨
.«††$##@## by the  preprocessor, and  watch. one of ##@##$††«.
¨.«††$#### them  is  already  a   bit   behind  the ####$††«.¨
¨¨¨¨.«†$## others.   it    will   be   my   target. ##$†«.¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨.††$$$#                                          #$$$††.¨¨¨
¨.«††$##@# just as the light of the leading  two is #@##$††«.¨
¨.«††$##@# dimming, i  deploy the rabbits, throwing #@##$††«.¨
¨.«††$##@@ them  in  the  path  of   my  prey.  the @@##$††«.¨
¨.«††$###@ creatures  are yet  alive, but maimed so @###$††«.¨
¨.«††$##@# as  to  be unable  to  move -  they will #@##$††«.¨
¨¨¨¨¨«††$# stay  in  the  path  of  the  railmaker, #$††«¨¨¨¨¨
¨.«††$##@# forcing it to pause, further  separating #@##$††«.¨
¨.«††$$##@         it from its two friends.         @##$$††«.¨
¨.«††$####                                          ####$††«.¨
¨.«††$###@                                          @###$††«.¨
¨.«††$##@# ######################################## #@##$††«.¨
¨¨¨¨.††$## # another thing about the machines:    # ##$††.¨¨¨¨
¨.«††$###@ # there's flesh inside them. ########### @###$††«.¨
¨.«††$##@# ############################## not meat, #@##$††«.¨
¨¨¨...†$$# but something  like  a liver, that  will #$$†...¨¨¨
¨.«††$##@#  keep the railmakers internal chemistry  #@##$††«.¨
¨.«††$$$$# well  away from  their various exhausts. #$$$$††«.¨
¨¨¨¨¨.«†$#                                          #$†«.¨¨¨¨¨
¨.«††$###@ a liver that, as  long as you  manage to @###$††«.¨
¨¨¨¨«††$#@ keep  it  alive,  can  clean  the  creek @#$††«¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨««†$# water enough for  it  to  be  drinkable. #$†««¨¨¨¨¨
¨.«††$##@#                                          #@##$††«.¨
¨¨¨¨¨«††##          which is why i'm here.          ##††«¨¨¨¨¨
¨.«††$###@                                          @###$††«.¨
¨¨..«†††$#                                          #$†††«..¨¨
¨.††$##@##                                          ##@##$††.¨
¨.«†††$###                                          ###$†††«.¨
¨¨¨¨¨.«†#@                                          @#†«.¨¨¨¨¨