Bolo Mark XXIV

This is one of two Mark XXIV Series FRD Bolos assigned to the defense of Widesky, out on the Rim beyond the borders of the Concordiat. "Freddy," as he was known to his human counterparts, was instrumental in the defeat of the Malach Incursion in a desperate and wide-ranging battle, a moment of which is shown here.

Perhaps the biggest challenge of writing about Bolos is finding opponents serious enough to make a Bolo break into a figurative sweat. After all, if there's no threat to the book's hero, no anxiety as to whether or not he will survive, there's just not that much excitement to the story. In the first Bolo novel, Bolo Brigade, the threat comes from militant Darwinists known as Malach, a couple of which can be seen scampering out of the way in this illo.

In fact, part of the inspiration for the book came from my amused musings about the likely outcome in a contest between a Bolo and an army of BattleMechs -- a family of combat machines that I wrote about earlier in my checkered career. The Malach do their thing in armored contraptions that can fly or walk, as depicted here. One is not a particularly serious threat to a Bolo.

The problem is, Malach are evolved from pack hunters. If you find one, you're going to find lots....

Bolo Mark ?

At left is an illo that ultimately became the mood and setting piece for the early part of Bolo Rising, my second Bolo novel, which will be out later this year. There was something romantic -- and powerfully moving -- about the sight of that duralloy monster, squatting atop a hill beneath myriad stars and two moons.

Actually, Bolo Rising involves a Mark XXXIII Series HCT, "Hector" to his friends, and whatever the machine in this illo is, it's not a Mark XXXIII. Hector had three sets of tracks, not one, and three turrets, each mounting a 200cm hellbore. Still, this is the image that launched the opening imagery of the book.

In Bolo Rising, it turns out that Hector has been suborned by an alien machine intelligence and is standing guard over a camp of captured humans enslaved by hyperactive mobile PCs with delusions of grandeur. What happens after that ... well ... have you seen the movie Spartacus?

Bolo Mark XXXIII

At right is a Mark XXXIII done in Bryce2, with a little finishing-up input from Photoshop. This illo gives a good idea of just how big the beast really is. See the guy standing in front, like the famous protester facing down the tanks at Tiannamen Square? This sort of thing is not a good idea with Bolos, unless you're on friendly terms with them.

The Mark XXXIII is the highest mark for which we have reliable data, the largest, the fastest, the most heavily armed, and the smartest Bolo of all. Introduced in the mid-third millennium, at about the time of the so-called "Final War" and the onset of the Long Night, it masses 32,000 tons. Its main armament consists of three 200cm hellbores, mounted separately in three turrets. Secondary armament includes sixteen 30cm hellbore infinite repeaters in two lateral batteries, ten 40cm BL mortars, four 240cm howitzers, and a heavy VLS missile system. Road speed is approximately 110 kph; sprint speed is much higher, since internal contragravity generators can allow the machine to become airborne. In fact, the Mark XXXIII was designed to serve as its own landing boat for planetary assault. Where earlier Bolo marks were occasionally known as "continental siege units," the Mark XXXIII was, in fact, a planetary siege unit, capable of engaging enemy warships in near-space space.

In Bolo Rising, we don't see a planetary assault, but we do get to see Hector dueling with enemy battleships, fifty thousand kilometers out in space, pitting hellbores against high-velocity meteors that release kinetic energy equivalent to the destructive power of a tactical nuclear warhead.

And pity any humans caught in the open in the middle of such an exchange!...