An unearthly sound of grinding metal and alien howling filled the air as Super Collie fought her way up the side of the monstrous machine, the superchilled wind that flowed off the polar plateau into the Dry Valleys battering the increasingly exhausted Sheltie with each meter she climbed. Blinking furiously to try and stop her watering eyes from freezing, she managed to make out her destination only a few more meters above, and with her hands and feet scrabbling on the cold hard metal Super Collie finally managed to reach the top of the mechanoid, resting on what appeared to be its "head".

Gasping for breath, Super Collie slumped against one of a pair of "ears", fighting to regain her strength. Had it only been an hour since the massive alien war machine had activated and tore itself out of its rocky tomb, scattering the archaeological team and blasting a gigantic crater in the valley wall? And now it was definitely moving in the direction of McMurdo Sound, heading towards the large American base and beyond that to the sea. Pulling herself up to a sitting position, Super Collie was able to make out the tiny figures of Crimson Cur and Mystic Cat running and dodging volleys of energy blasts from the machine's many weapons, with the occasional magical fireball being lobbed back in return. It had only been their distraction of the metal beast that had allowed Super Collie to get close - but would their efforts all be in vain? Could they even hope to stop such a gigantic machine of destruction?

"Only one way to find out," Super Collie muttered to herself, leaning onto her shepherd's crook as she pulled herself upright, gingerly finding her footing on the icy metal surface. A sudden lurch almost made her lose her footing, but she steadied herself just in time - no small feat as the icy wind continued to tear at her. Holding her crook in both hands, Super Collie savagely drove the end straight down into the machine's "head" again and again, focusing all the strength she could muster into blow after blow. Within moments large cracks began to form in the mechanoid's surface, each crack radiating out from the impact point and growing larger as Super Collie slammed her crook into the metallic beast again and again...

A dark reddish-brown liquid started to ooze from the cracks, splashing against Super Collies boots and cape with each impact and dribbling down the sloping sides. Three more blows, and the trickle of liquid turned into a flood. Two more -

Super Collie screamed as massive bolts of energy suddenly erupted from under her crook, the tip finally penetrating the metal surface. The Sheltie's howls were immediately drowned out by an unearthly wail unleashed from beneath her feet, and the streams of alien energy increased in intensity - it was only Super Collie's superhuman strength that kept her crook from being pushed out of the hole she had created. Her eyes were tightly closed against the blinding glare before her, struggling to keep her footing as arcs of lightning flashed and flared before her...

"Antar-Tarkus" based on and inspired by the ELP "Tarkus" album tankadillo.
Drawn entirely in Krita, an open-source multi-platform digital art application that walked upon the stones of years to watch the earth be scorched.