Codex Transportica

With the detonation of dirty bombs in several major cities (see reference at end) everyone thought the war could not get any more grim. However, nothing prepared the embattled population for the deployment of the MAIM.

Vjegoslavia, steadily losing the war, had commenced studies on the psychology of the Allies in order to try and find new ways to sap morale. The answer was soon forthcoming, ironically in the form of a question:

”What is worse for the Allies than a dead soldier or dead civilian?”

To the Vjegoslavians, well-known for their disregard of human rights and with an overall brutal pragmatism, the answer was typically inspired:

“Worse is a soldier or civilian still alive, but so badly injured that they are unable to function in any useful way and requiring constant care and medical attention for the rest of their natural life.”

A few moments reflection on this idea reveals its truly horrifying nature. Caring for a crippled soldier, alive, yet unable to make any contribution whatsoever, was already placing a great deal of strain on the “four M’s” that were currently winning the war for the Allies: materials, money, manpower and morale.

Euthanasia was not only illegal but morally abhorrent to most of the populace, leaving a beleaguered Allied government with ever-growing hospital dormitories filled with ”living corpses.” Thus the Vjegoslavians avowed to increase the strain of caring for such people by making sure as many of the Allies as possible fell into that category. At some point, they reasoned, that any form of surrender would be preferable to seeing more and more of the countries’ finest falling prey to the horror of the MAIM.

Consequently, instead of killing soldiers, Vjegoslavia designed and built the Mobile Artillery & Infantry Mutilator. Clearly based on the design of the Grim Reaper machine (see reference at end), the MAIM was the stuff of nightmares. Medical QUIDNAC computers, already programmed with all extant knowledge of human anatomy were programmed to randomly inflict enormous, yet non-fatal, damage on personnel. Amputation, deafening, blinding, spine removal… every possible form of serious injury was inflicted on the unfortunate soldiers. They were then left behind on the battlefield, helpless and in agony until the Allies were able to collect them and do what they could with their ruined bodies.

Note the irony of the Red Cross emblem on the side of the machine.
During early encounters the machines were often mistaken for genuine mobile hospital units and spared thanks to the tenets of the Helvetican Convention, forbidding attack on hospitals and equipment with humanitarian purposes.

Shown here is a Mark IX MAIM in an encounter with a small contingent of Allied tanks. Well armoured, and with a mobile shield which could be easily replaced if damaged, the MAIM was surprisingly difficult to disable. Usually deployed in ranks of several dozen, there were few soldiers who could go into battle without truly dreading the possibility of being harvested by the “harm farms”. Note how the tanks themselves are scavenged for parts and materials and then processed into primitive life-support systems to ensure the MAIMed soldiers remained alive.

Related Posts:
Dirty Bombs
Grim Reaper