Deception

by M. R. Forbes

  “Roger, Alpha,” Flores replied, rushing into the vehicle. “

  Washington, are you ready?” Caleb asked.

  He shook his head no while smiling. Then he moved to the next drone, placed beside the ADC. He wrapped his large arms around the front of it, while Caleb took the rear with his left arm.

  “One. Two. Three. Lift.”

  They lifted the drone in unison.

  “Alpha!” Flores called from inside the ADC. “We’ve got one near Drone One!”

  “What?” Caleb said out loud. They hadn’t activated the comm signal yet. “Wash put it down. Sho, go check it out.”

  Washington seemed happy to lose the weight again. They lowered it carefully. The T-9 had its detonator in, and they weren’t taking any chances on accidentally blowing the explosive.

  Sho had run into the ADC, and now she came rushing back to report.

  “Sarge, the drone recorded motion about a minute after we left. A Reaper. I don’t know if it was tailing us, or if it’s just coincidence, or what. It sent the recording when Flores opened the comm link.”

  “It should still be pretty close. Let’s bundle up and see what we get.”

  “What about the other explosives?”

  “We can’t waste the opportunity.”

  “Roger that.”

  The Guardians piled into the ADC, and Caleb closed the hatch behind him. Then he moved to the pilot station where Flores was sitting. The screen was dark, the link offline.

  “Turn it on,” Caleb said.

  “Roger, Alpha,” she replied, tapping on the controls. The drone came to life, the forward-facing camera showing the floor leading down the corridor. There was nothing out of the ordinary in the display. No sign of the Reaper.

  “What now?” Sho asked.

  “Now we wait,” Caleb replied. “Go up front and keep an eye on the monitors.”

  “Roger.”

  Sho moved to the front of the vehicle. Caleb and Washington watched the drone’s display over Flores’ shoulder.

  A minute passed. Two minutes. Three. There was no activity near the drone. Nothing was happening at all.

  “Maybe the Reapers don’t respond to comm transmissions the way the trife do?” Flores suggested. “Maybe David toasted it out of them?”

  “Toasted?”

  “CRISPR. Crispy. Toasted,” Flores explained.

  “Roger,” Caleb replied. “There.” He pointed at the display.

  “I don’t see anything,” Flores said.

  “Watch the shadows.” The shadows ahead of the camera were shifting, suggesting something was there. Unfortunately, the drone didn’t have a full field of view from the floor.

  “Oh. The lights went on. Something’s coming.”

  The display changed suddenly, the camera thrown forward, rolling and spinning in a blur. The drone hit the wall, the noise coming through the feed and into the ADC. It came to a rest a moment later, facing the opposite direction.

  The Reaper was right in front of it, reaching for it cautiously. Caleb could see its eyes more clearly than he ever had before. They were intelligent eyes. Almost human eyes. It seemed as if it knew what the drone was, but it didn’t know why it was there. It dipped down further, staring directly into the camera. The look of sad comprehension sent a shiver down Caleb’s spine.

  “Alpha, should I send the detonate signal?” Flores asked.

  Caleb hesitated. Riley had said David made the Reapers by combining the DNA of dead humans with the DNA of dead trife, and somehow regenerating them back to life. That type of science was over his head, and it wasn’t really his current concern. Except seeing the thing’s eyes, up close and static and not in the midst of a fight for his life, he was struggling to believe those eyes had ever been dead eyes.

  “Alpha?” Flores said. The Reaper was straightening up and starting to back away. “Should I blow it?”

  Caleb swallowed hard. What the hell was going on with this ship?

  And who was the enemy, anyway?

  “Sarge!” Sho shouted. “We’ve got company!”

  Chapter 25

  “Alpha!” Flores barked a third time. “It’s now or never!”

  Caleb glanced forward to the cockpit of the ADC, and then back to the display.

  “Send it,” he said.

  Flores hit the key programmed to trigger the detonator. The only evidence they had that it worked was the sudden loss of the feed from the drone. They were too far away to hear the explosion or feel the effects.

  Caleb felt the Reaper reach the ADC. One moment it was calm, the next it started shaking, and a sudden pounding came from the side of the vehicle.

  “Sho?” Caleb said.

  “Three of them, Sarge! Oh, hell!”

  Caleb’s head whipped toward the cockpit just as the Reaper’s face became visible against the forward camera. It bared its teeth, raking its claws against the hardened glass protecting the lens, scratching it enough that it blurred the view.

  “Three?” Flores said. “There are only supposed to be three left.”

  “They must have figured out which side of the transmission was the source and which was the destination,” Caleb said. Had they sent the solo Reaper to investigate the destination while they came to the origin of the source? Were they capable of working together that way?

  The third Reaper reached the vehicle, beginning to scrape and pound against the rear hatch. “The drones are right outside,” Flores said. “We can blow the rest of them.”

  “And risk putting a massive hole in the hull?” Caleb responded. “No thank you, Private. Standby.”

  Caleb moved past Washington to the cockpit, intent on staying calm. The Guardians had decided to hole up in the ADC for a reason. There was no way the Reapers could get through the heavy shell. It was designed to hold up to armor-piercing rounds. He glanced at the displays. The Reapers were hitting all of the cameras, scratching the protective covers to ruin their vision.

  “They’re blinding us,” Sho said.

  “To what end? Do you think they know they can’t get in?”

  “It sure seems that way.”

  The vehicle continued to shake, the Reapers persistent in their attack. Caleb watched each one of them, trying to get a good look at their eyes. It was impossible with the scratched lenses. What were they going to do once they had finished taking out the cameras?

  “Sarge, if they’re all here, that means Research is clear,” Sho said.

  “You’re welcome to step outside,” Caleb replied. “Just don’t expect me to follow you.”

  “Funny, Sarge. I had a different idea.”

  Caleb noticed one of the displays suddenly go black, the camera feed blanking completely out. “What just happened there?”

  “I don’t know.”

  The secondary display began to flash, showing a schematic of the ADC and a red mark on its left side, the same side where the camera had gone out.

  “The system is reporting damage to the area around the camera,” Sho said.

  Caleb watched the rear-view display go black, another camera shutting down. A moment later, that region started flashing orange too.

  “What are they doing?” he repeated. The system was acting like the Reapers were managing to tear through the armor, but that was impossible.

  Wasn’t it?

  A third camera went out, leaving them with a reduced view of the world outside. The vehicle continued to rock, the Reapers attacking it with full fury.

  “Sarge?” Sho said. “I want to get off this ride.”

  “Me too,” Caleb decided. “Get us moving.”

  “What? I can barely see.”

  “I don’t care. Put this thing in gear and get us moving.”

  “Headed where?”

  Caleb backed out of the cockpit. “For now, drive us in circles if you have to. Let’s not make this too easy for them.”

  “Roger.”

  Sho grabbed the steering yoke in both hands, pressing the trigger on
the left one to activate the throttle. Caleb was nearly thrown off his feet as the ADC lurched ahead. The front camera was out, leaving her to interpolate from the front-corner cameras.

  “Flores,” Caleb said, “Switch seats and activate one of the flight-capable drones. I’ll take the other.”

  “Roger,” Flores replied.

  They changed chairs and were nearly thrown into the side of the vehicle just as they got up. The ADC jerked sharply to the left, hitting something in the process. The whole thing shook, knocking Flores into Caleb. He caught her, keeping her from falling flat on her face.

  “Sorry!” Sho shouted from up front.

  “What’s going on?” Flores asked.

  “They’re tearing through the armor. We have to get them off.”

  “How can they tear through the armor?”

  “I don’t know. Just our luck.”

  Caleb nearly threw Flores into the rearmost pilot station before dropping into the seat opposite her. He grabbed the headset and dropped it over his ears. Then he took hold of the drone’s flight stick and reached over with his free hand, powering it on.

  The display showed the top of the hangar, in motion above the ADC. He triggered the drone’s main thrusters, launching it toward the ceiling, then using the stick to quickly level it out. It had been a few years since he had last piloted a drone, but the muscle memory remained.

  “I’m up, Alpha,” Flores said.

  “Roger that. Come around on the ADC. Let’s see exactly what we’re up against.”

  Caleb guided the drone in a tight circle, the wide-angle camera revealing the armored vehicle partway into the turn. They were almost clear of the rest of the heavy equipment, but they were headed right toward the edge of one of the massive loaders.

  “Sho, hard right!” Caleb shouted.

  “Roger,” Sho replied over the headset. Caleb was grateful she had the wherewithal to put it on.

  Caleb would have been ripped from his seat if Washington hadn’t been there. The big Marine used his body to hold Caleb in place during the turn. Caleb stayed focused on the drone while Washington belted him in.

  “Thanks, Wash,” he said, eyes fixed on the ADC and the three Reapers climbing over it. One was still on the front of the vehicle. The other two had moved to the top to catch the launching drones. With one drone detonated, two in the air and the remaining three left behind on the floor of the hangar, the drone racks were empty.

  The Reapers on top started banging on the outside of the vehicle hatch, their arms swinging back and forth, the two of them taking turns raking at the armored hinge.

  “Flores, target the two on the roof,” Caleb said, flipping the switch to arm the drone’s gun. The action also caused a targeting reticle to appear on the display. “I’ll go after the demon up front.”

  Would the attack be painful enough to distract the Reapers?

  He was going to find out.

  He angled the drone into a light descent, lining the reticle up with the back of the Reaper riding the front of the ADC. He squeezed the trigger, sending a dozen rounds into the creature’s back.

  The Reaper turned to look at the drone shooting it. It reached out and swiped at the drone as it whipped past. Caleb increased the throttle, rocketing along the side of the vehicle and out toward the hangar’s massive blast doors before adjusting his vector to make another approach.

  “Going in,” Flores announced. Caleb glanced over his shoulder to her screen. He could hear the rounds pinging off the armor outside as she strafed the two Reapers, scoring direct hits along their backs and faces. One of them flopped over and fell off the ADC, its brain momentarily shredded in the attack.

  “Nice shooting,” Caleb said, going back to his screen.

  He decided to hit the Reaper on the roof, quickly snapping the drone into position and unleashing a barrage. The rounds tore into the creature, disrupting its attack a second time. It howled and leaped up at the drone as it passed by, barely missing it as its momentum carried it off the armored vehicle.

  He was pushed hard to the left again, the ADC skidding along the metal floor on its airless knobby tires. It spun out and came to a sudden stop. Caleb adjusted his drone, elevating it and turning it back toward the vehicle. It afforded a view of their position from the corner of the wide lens. They were at a standstill, the injured Reaper off the left fender, still recovering from Flores’ first attack.

  “Floor it!” Caleb shouted.

  He didn’t need to. Sho had already hit the throttle, jolting him sideways as the ADC accelerated faster than expected, the removal of the six drones lightening its load considerably. The Reaper saw the ADC coming on hard, and it tried to scramble out of the way. Sho had already guessed how it would move, and she adjusted her path accordingly, overcorrecting to hit the creature dead-center.

  The ADC shook as it impacted the Reaper, smashing it in the chest and pushing it down and under its wheels. The ride got bumpy while they ran over the monster, the tires crushing and ripping at it. Sho kept them headed toward the empty part of the hangar, advancing a hundred meters before sliding back around.

  Caleb guided his drone toward the first Reaper, still hanging tenuously to the ADC’s front. He opened fire, holding the trigger down and sending round after round into the demon. It screamed and jumped off the ADC, trying to avoid further injury.

  “Sho, is the roadkill staying down?” he asked.

  “Affirmative, Sarge,” she replied. “So far. I’m going to hit it again.”

  “Negative,” Caleb said. “Wash, grab a P-50 and get on the roof. Sho, get us close to it, we’re going to cook it.”

  “What about the other two?”

  “Flores, we need to keep Washington covered.”

  “Roger.”

  Washington grabbed one of the P-50s and quickly scaled the ladder to the hatch, pushing it open. He climbed fearlessly out onto the top of the vehicle, using the hatch to hold himself in position as the ADC raced back to the crushed Reaper.

  Caleb guided his drone around a third time, targeting his Reaper while Flores dropped toward hers. He swooped in low, emptying round after round into the creature, causing it to cover its face with its hand. It spun around, crying out in pain and frustration as the bullets tore through its flesh. It ducked low to escape attack, only the drone failed to buzz by on its strafing run. Red text began flashing at the bottom of Caleb’s display, indicating sudden and catastrophic engine failure.

  “Damn it! I think he got me,” Caleb said, trying to regain control of the drone. It wasn’t responding. “Shit,” Caleb said again, his drone’s camera feed failing as the craft crashed into the deck.The ADC came to a stop beside the wounded Reaper, and Washington climbed the rest of the way out of the hatch. “Flores, do you still have sights on your Reaper?”

  “I’m on him, Alpha,” she replied. “The second tango is rushing the ADC. I think it sees Washington.”

  Caleb grabbed for his belt, unlatching it and jumping to his feet. “Flores, where is it?”

  “Coming up from the rear,” she said. “Washington, get out of there!”

  Caleb looked up through the hatch. He could see Washington standing in front of it, bathing the Reaper on the ground with a stream of plasma. Caleb hoped Washington had done enough damage to keep it down.

  “Sho, full reverse, now!” Caleb shouted, climbing the ladder to the top of the hatch. He reached out of it with his cyborg arm, grabbing Washington’s ankle as the ADC began to back up. The sudden change in direction caused Washington to lose his balance, and he dropped the plasma rifle as he stumbled back toward the side of the vehicle.

  Caleb held onto Washington’s ankle tightly, keeping him from plunging over the side. At the same time, the ADC crashed into the other Reaper. It grabbed onto the back and held on as they continued in reverse.

  “Alpha, the other one is charging,” Flores said. “Moving to intercept.”

  Caleb craned his neck to see the scene in Flores’ display. “Sho
, forty degrees port,” he said. Sho adjusted the path of the ADC.

  Flores’ drone began to drop toward the Reaper, getting between it and the ADC, banking hard and opening fire. Bullets tore into the monster, and it bellowed a challenge at the oncoming drone, spreading its claws wide.

  The drone hit it square in the chest, Flores emptying her limited munitions into the Reaper. Dark flesh filled the display, along with flashes of light. Then the display went dark.

  Caleb kept his grip on Washington, pulling him back toward the hatch. Washington turned his body, getting his hands on Caleb’s arm and yanking himself back onto the roof of the ADCV. He scrambled to the hatch, and Caleb moved aside so he could drop in head-first.

  “Flores, grab a plasma rifle. Wash, hold on!”

  Caleb ran to the back of the vehicle and slapped the controls for the rear hatch. It thunked and began to deploy outward.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Flores asked.

  “Just be ready to shoot!” Caleb replied.

  The ramp continued to descend. Ten degrees. Twenty. Thirty.

  A large, ugly claw appeared over the side, trying to get better purchase.

  Forty. Fifty.

  A head followed, the creature swinging up from under the ramp. It held on despite the angle.

  Sixty. Seventy.

  The other hand came over, and it started to pull itself around and into the ADCV, mouth open in an angry scream. Caleb focused on its eyes. They reminded him of Shiro’s eyes.

  “Alpha, move aside,” Flores said, stepping forward with the plasma.

  Caleb stayed where he was, looking past the demon.

  Eighty degrees. Ninety. One hundred.

  “Brace for impact!” Caleb shouted, grabbing the straps to the rear pilot station’s seat. Flores noticed the jammed doors almost too late, falling between two seats and bracing against them. Washington held onto the other side of the ladder.

  One hundred ten. One hundred twenty.

  It seemed impossible the Reaper was holding on, and maybe it wasn’t. It was being dragged on the ground, pressed down by the open ramp, only its arms and head visible above it. The stuck door was rapidly approaching, a perfect if messy guillotine.