by Isaac Hooke
“Yup, the queen didn’t survive,” Shaw said. Beside the container, the large alien remained motionless on the ground, blood oozing from the wounds in its thorax. Summarily executed.
“It is unfortunate,” Surus said. “But necessary.”
“You know, I just realized something: what if there are no other queens?” Shaw said. “This could be the last nest on the planet. These conquered aliens could become extinct. And it will be our fault.”
“What I’ve seen before in nest- or hive-dominant societies such as this one,” Surus said. “Is the ability for existing larvae to become queens. Usually this involves switching the food source while a larva is still young, which induces a phenotypical change in the newborn and triggering the development of queen traits.”
“What if you’re wrong?” Shaw said. “What if this one has to specifically lay young queen larvae, and for whatever reason, she hasn’t yet?”
Surus paused. “I will take a DNA sample before we depart so that we can clone the queen when we return to human space, and then deliver a new one to the nest before we destroy the Acceptor. Will that satisfy your conscience?”
“It will,” Shaw said.
By then the rotating bar had become a blur; dark liquid sweated profusely from the surface, coalescing into a black ball half a meter above it. When the ball was about the size of two fists, the box at the top of the container folded open. The liquid sphere floated inside and the box shut.
The metal rod became visible once again, slowing down, and the hum receded. When it stopped spinning, the rod lowered to the bottom of the container. There was no longer any black condensation upon it.
Surus opened the tank, retrieved the small box from the top of the container, and secured it to her harness.
“We have our prey,” she said.
The two robots reactivated the emitters on the container and resumed their portage of the empty, and now invisible, trap.
Surus paused beside the dead queen to take a DNA sample—on the LIDAR band, Rade watched as she retrieved a kit from her utility belt, and from it produced a small wooden stick she used to collect some of the blood into a vial.
“I have the sample,” Surus announced, placing the vial into the kit and returning it to her utility belt.
“All right, let’s go,” Rade said.
TANTALUS HURRIED TOWARD the throne room.
Before leaving human space, the Master had installed technology in Tantalus’ neural network that allowed him to act as a receptor for psychic messages. It allowed the Master to keep in contact with him at all times.
Thus, shortly after his return to the nest proper, Tantalus had been able to receive the urgent signal the Master had sent. It arrived in the form of mental images, which Tantalus viewed intently, a rising sense of fear forming within his neural network.
The Master was in danger.
Tantalus had dispatched the sentries to alert the garrison, and the warriors would be en route to the throne room via the ordinary routes at that very moment.
Tantalus had abandoned them for a more covert, direct route, using the network of secret corridors and passageways known only to the Master and he. A few other Conquered had once known of them, of course, but they had been executed. Tantalus had considered sharing the route with the warriors he had dispatched, but the release of that news could see Tantalus forced to execute half the nest. The Master very much wanted the covert ways kept secret.
There hadn’t been time to properly secure the nest with more advanced technology. Tantalus and the Master had been here only a few weeks. Ideally, they needed detectors placed in every passageway. And perhaps a few robots sprinkled about. The six Hoplites, while detestable to Tantalus, would prove a welcome defensive measure once the Master had a chance to reprogram them. Of course, it would take some weeks to introduce them to the nest in order to allow the Conquered to acclimate to their presence. But once that was done, the nest would be well-nigh impregnable.
Tantalus reached the final secret passageway, which led to the throne room itself. Like the other hidden tunnels, the entrance and exit were shielded on the visual and echolocation bands from discovery by the Conquered via special emitters taken from the preservation depot. The margins were coated in hormonal chemicals that activated the danger signal in the minds of the Conquered, keeping them from getting close enough to ever discovering the hidden entrances with their feelers.
When Tantalus reached the terminus of the passageway, he had a complete view of the throne room beyond, as the illusory wall wasn’t active from this side. He stared into the cavern: the queen lay dead in the center of the other murdered Conquered. They appeared to have taken laser wounds in the maws.
The room appeared empty, but Tantalus suspected the attackers were still present. He almost activated LIDAR, but realized that might give him away. He switched to the passive thermal imaging band instead: sure enough he detected the heat outlines of humanoid shapes. Twelve in total. He also spotted what appeared to be three hovering HS3s.
Interesting. No doubt they were using holographic emitters similar to those that hid the current passageway, but he had not seen human tech used to conceal moving objects before. The Other must have taught them how to do it.
Twelve enemies. Tantalus doubted he would be able to terminate them all alone, even when striking from a position of surprise. Unfortunately, when the Conquered arrived, his allies wouldn’t be much help if they couldn’t even see their enemy.
While the rest of the nest wasn’t as secure as it could be, fortunately the Master had laid a few traps in the throne room to prepare against unwanted incursions such as these.
Tantalus stepped furtively into the cavern and, keeping close to the wall, hurried to a certain hidden device embedded in the rock near the dead queen. An electro-magnetic pulse generator. He turned down the intensity, not wanting to remove himself from the equation, and activated it.
The generated EMP was weak: not enough to impair Tantalus and his ilk, but hopefully sufficient to disable the concealment devices of the intruders. The special Tech Class IV emitters that hid the secret passageways wouldn’t be affected, of course, but the human Tech Class III emitters would definitely fail.
Sure enough, the illusions dissipated, revealing the surprised interlopers. They were all wearing jumpsuits. The three HS3s clattered to the floor.
Good luck fleeing the nest now, Tantalus thought.
He dropped to the floor and took cover behind the body of the queen. Then he drew an ordinary blaster. His Tech Class IV AI-disabling weapon was relatively useless, as he had no way to tell which of his opponents were robots in those jumpsuits.
He aimed past the edge of the queen and fired.
eleven
As Rade headed toward the boulder that sealed the opening, he was trying to figure out if there was a way to move it without alerting the sentries beyond. He finally decided that the Argonauts would simply have to roll it aside and shoot down the waiting gatorbeetles.
“There’s something moving on the north side of the cavern!” Bender said.
A red dot appeared on the overhead map, near the queen.
A moment later the emitters failed and the entire party materialized. The HS3s smashed into the floor.
Harlequin collapsed.
“Taking fire!” Lui said.
“Drop!” Rade dove behind one of the mounds.
“Tango is behind the queen!” TJ said.
Rade ran the crosshairs of his laser rifle above the contours of the fallen queen, parts of which were occluded by the dead gatorbeetles in front of her. There, he spotted an anomaly, partially hidden by the crimped limb of an alien. It appeared to be the nozzle of a blaster.
Rade centered his reticle over the weapon and squeezed the trigger. A moment later the blaster vanished from view: pulled away by its owner, no doubt.
“Got a bead...” Tahoe said.
“Take the shot,” Rade said.
“Tango is down,” T
ahoe said.
Rade detached a frag from his harness and threw it across the cavern for good measure. He had the suit adjust his strength for the optimal throw.
After it detonated, Lui said: “I think you got it. But it’s still alive, as far as I can tell. I caught sight of a human hand, and when I shot it, the hand withdrew behind the queen.”
“Units A and B,” Rade said. “Flank the target. The rest of you, provide covering fire. Unleash your lasers both directly into the queen, and above her. With luck, one of our shots will go right through that carapace and find the target.”
While the others opened fire, the two Centurions arose, abandoning the empty glass container. The combat robots quickly made their way forward, keeping low to the ground, dodging between the mounds for cover.
Via the overhead map, Rade watched as the two blue dots representing the units moved in on either side of the queen in a classic outflanking maneuver.
He pulled up the video feed from Unit B and reduced it in size, shoving it into the upper right of his vision.
“Tango is sprawled on the ground,” Unit B said. “And attempting to crawl away. It’s pointing a blaster at me! Taking cover.”
The video feed blurred as the combat robot ducked behind a dead alien. Then it peered past the edge and shot at its foe.
A moment later Unit A reported: “Tango has been struck multiple times in the chest region. We’ve penetrated the battery region. Tango is eliminated.”
The red dot on the overhead map became darker in color.
“Battery region?” Rade said. “So the tango is a combat robot?”
“Negative,” Unit A replied. “It appears to be an Artificial.”
“Looks like we found the original host our prey used before coming to this planet,” Surus said.
“Collect its weapons,” Rade said. He turned toward the fallen Harlequin. “What’s the status on Harlequin?”
TJ was kneeling over him. “He’s been struck by a laser. Also in the battery pack, like our tango. He’s out of commission until we get back to the ship.”
“Damn it,” Rade said. “Carry him.”
Bender rushed forward and pushed TJ out of the way. “I’ll do it.” He scooped up Harlequin and threw him over one shoulder. Because of the strength-enhancing exoskeleton, Bender’s balance was hardly affected at all.
“The Artificial only possessed two weapons,” Unit B said. “Both appear to be damaged beyond use. Though I cannot be sure, as biometric security prevents me from accessing them.”
“Give them to TJ,” Rade said. “He’ll examine them when he has a chance later.” Rade glanced at the fallen HS3s. “What the hell hit us?”
“It appears to have been an EMP of some kind,” Lui said. “Though a relatively weak one, it easily shorted out our emitters and HS3s. But left everything else intact. Suits. Weapons...”
“Is there no way we can repair these emitters?” Rade asked.
“Not without access to a 3D printer,” Surus replied.
“In other words, not without getting back to the ship,” Rade said.
“That’s right,” Surus said.
“Where did that Artificial come from?” Rade said. “Did anyone see the boulder roll aside?”
“The HS3 watching our six would have detected it,” TJ said.
“There has to be another way into the room,” Rade said. “Maybe a hidden entrance.”
“The HS3s performed a complete scan of the area,” Bender said. “And didn’t detect a thing.”
“Perhaps the Artificial was hiding somewhere,” Lui said.
Rade pondered that for a moment, but before he could decide what to do the boulder at the exit began to roll inward of its own accord.
“Defensive positions!” Rade shouted.
Gatorbeetles streamed inside from the edge of that boulder. They were all of the warrior or sentry caste, with those red bands and bells attached to the upper right of their forelegs.
“Open fire!” Rade sent. “And headlamps on, visual band! Full brightness! Let’s see if we can blind them as they come inside!”
Rade turned on his headlamps and aimed at the mandibles of one of the incoming aliens. Because of the way it was rampaging inside toward the party, he had to involve the AI to help him hit the esophagus. He switched the weapon to auto-fire when the target was acquired, and his tango dropped.
He was aware of Shaw beside him, her weapon rapidly moving about as she too unleashed her rifle into the fray. Rade couldn’t tell if the headlamps were blinding the creatures or not, but those tiny eyes of theirs did seem to be squinting.
More of the aliens fell as the other Argonauts fired. Thrown grenades detonated in the midst of the gatorbeetles, sending dismembered limbs splattering across the cavern.
But for every alien he and the others shot down or dismembered, there was always another to replace them. They continually streamed inside from the cracks between the boulder and the outer passageway. The boulder itself remained in place, obviously being held open by one or more sentries on the other side.
A thick defensive wall of fallen gatorbeetle bodies was beginning to form. And while that wall and the cave entrance itself would serve as bottlenecks, it would only be a matter of time before the weapons began to overheat.
“Units A, B, push the boulder closed!” Rade ordered. “Cover them, Argonauts!”
The two combat robots leaped to their feet and rushed toward the boulder. They activated their jets to take bounding leaps over the bodies in their path.
Gatorbeetles swerved to intercept them.
Guess our headlamps aren’t blinding them after all. Or not enough, anyway.
Rade knew that if those aliens touched the Centurions, the robots were gone. He took down two additional aliens with the help of his AI. More fell, but sometimes the aliens twisted at the last microsecond and the incoming lasers struck a mandible or limb instead and the targets didn’t drop.
As the two robots neared the boulder, one of the emerging gatorbeetles managed to wrap its mandibles around Unit B, splitting the Centurion in half. The alien was in turn taken down a moment later.
Unit A hurled itself into the boulder and forced it shut.
When the remaining aliens trapped inside the room were eliminated, Rade shouted: “Bender, Tahoe, reinforce that boulder!”
The blockage had begun to roll inward, pushing the sole Centurion braced against it backward.
The two Argonauts jetted across the bodies littering the area. They reached the boulder and added their strength to the robot’s. They braced their boots against the floor and shoved their shoulders into the rock, forcing it back once again.
“Manic, Fret, join them,” Rade instructed.
With the addition of those two, there wasn’t room around the boulder for any more team members to brace the rock.
“There has to be another way out of here!” Rade said. “Illusory walls of some kind. That Artificial had to come from somewhere. Those of you not occupied with the boulder, double check the walls of the cavern on your LIDAR bands. Spread out, get right up to the rock.”
Rade knew that hidden walls could be designed in such a manner as to obfuscate their presence on LIDAR, especially when viewed from far away. He overlaid the LIDAR feed onto his visual band, and dashed toward the nearby stone.
“We can’t hold them forever!” Tahoe transmitted.
Rade glanced toward the entrance. The Argonauts keeping back the tide were repeatedly jerked backward as the external attackers flung themselves against the boulder from the other side.
“Hurry, people,” Rade sent.
A moment later Lui spoke up. “Found an illusory wall in the northwest of the cavern. I’m also detecting a chemical signature around the edges—I’m guessing it’s some kind of hormonal deterrent to prevent other gatorbeetles from wandering inside. The wall itself is generated by a type of emitter I’ve never seen before. Far smaller and more compact than our own. I’m surprised it survived th
e EMP.”
“Tech Class IV, no doubt,” Surus said. “Though the question is, did our prey bring it to this planet, or did he find it here?”
“Well, we don’t really have the luxury of worrying about that right now,” Rade said. “Everyone, to the false wall. Get ready to provide covering fire for those holding the boulder. Lui, place some charges along the roof just inside the passage. I intend to collapse it behind us.”
“You got it,” Lui said. He placed a charge in either gloved hand and activated his jetpack to fly upward into the illusory wall: he needed that thrust to reach the relatively high ceiling.
“Surus, grab that emitter when you get there,” Rade said. “Maybe you can figure out how to reprogram it.”
“Doubtful, if it’s Tech Class IV or higher,” Surus replied. “Though I’ll try to drip inside the thing in my natural state when we have a quiet moment.”
When everyone was in place, Rade said: “Lui, the charges?”
Lui emerged from the illusory wall a moment later. “Done.”
“What about the Phant trap?” Surus gazed across the room at the empty glass container.
“We have what we came for.” Rade nodded at the black box that hung from her harness. “We’ll have to write off the container as a loss. I want all hands weapon ready.”
Surus nodded her assent.
Rade turned toward the exit and aimed his reticle at the boulder. “Tahoe and everyone else, join us! Cover them, people!”
The five Argonauts tore away from the boulder and jetted across the bodies of the fallen aliens in their paths. Behind them the blockage rolled inward and the gatorbeetles streamed inside.
Rade and the others opened fire, buying the runners time. Rade threw a couple of frag grenades, as did some of his companions. The resultant explosions sent body parts flying across the cavern.
One of the fallen gatorbeetles in the path of the fleeing Argonauts apparently wasn’t dead, because it reached up at Tahoe as he jetted over.
“Tahoe, watch out!” Rade sent.
Tahoe must have given partial control of his jets to his AI, because he reacted before Rade finished the words; his jumpsuit jetted sideways, jerking him away from imminent death.
