Argonauts 1: Bug Hunt

by Isaac Hooke

  Tahoe issued his orders and the door opened a moment later.

  TJ and Manic rushed through. Rade saw TJ go high on the other side, and Manic low. The other mechs and robots rushed past them.

  “Clear!” Tahoe said a moment later.

  “Any change in the ecosystem?”

  “No,” Lui said. “It’s still human safe.”

  “I want you all to treat it as if it were a hostile environment,” Rade said. “We’re going to continue observing a full suit policy. Because let’s just say, I don’t want to have to rush any of you to a xenobiologist.”

  He switched to Manic’s forward camera to study the external area. A large passageway led to glass doors, which opened out into a wide concourse. In the main terminal beyond, Rade could see the city in the distance, past floor-to-ceiling glass.

  “Bender, I’m transferring control of the HS3s to you,” Rade said. “You know what to do.”

  “Do I ever, boss,” Bender said.

  The eight fist-sized drones emerged from the shuttle, and flew into the corridor. The glass doors opened, and the HS3s proceeded to scout the terminal beyond.

  Rade wondered if he should have invested in laser upgrades for the defenseless HS3s, but came to the same conclusion he had had when previously considering the idea. First of all, those upgrades were extremely costly, and stretched his already thin budget to the limit. Second of all, HS3s were meant primarily as scouts; the extra bulk and weight of laser attachments would reduce their effectiveness in that role. He decided he had made the right choice. He had to stop second guessing himself. He’d done that more than enough times in the past.

  “When the HS3s finish, secure the terminal, Tahoe,” Rade said.

  He waited, watching on the overhead map as the dots representing the HS3s fanned out. The units mapped the various passageways and routes of the terminal, those areas that were accessible, at least. The drones were unable to open most hatches and doors. That was where Tahoe and the others would come into play.

  When the scouts had mapped as much of the terminal as possible, Tahoe had the robots and mechs fan out into the main concourse to secure the remaining areas. Doors were bashed in or cut through.

  “Free of hostiles,” Tahoe announced several minutes later. “Or anything else, for that matter.”

  Rade assigned two of the robots to watch the shuttle, then he proceeded with Harlequin and the remaining four into the terminal. Fret escorted him and the robots through the corridor, into the concourse, and to the floor-to-ceiling glass walls on the far side.

  Beyond, he saw the cityscape. Skyscrapers resided at the city center: towering forms of glass and steel that thrust toward the underside of the dome. To the left, on the western side of the city, the skyscrapers quickly gave way to the closely-packed stucco structures favored by the Sino-Koreans: buildings with rectangular doors, arched windows, and mansard roofs. Walkways and rooftops were covered in solar panels.

  He cast his gaze to the right, toward the eastern half of the city, and the Persian area it contained. That was where the away team from the Amytis had disappeared. Minarets poked up beyond the rooftops.

  Nothing moved anywhere out there. It was a ghost city by all definition of the words.

  The party approached the translucent doors that led out onto the city proper, and the glass slid aside.

  “Send four HS3s to search the city,” Rade said. “The rest are to come with us, in Diamond formation. We’re going to make our way toward the last known location of the Amytis away team. I want traveling overwatch, Tahoe. I’m going to shadow the two fire teams from the rooftops. Harlequin, Units A, B, with me.”

  Tahoe split the mechs and robots into two fire teams of three mechs and two robots each. The first fire team led the way, scanning the buildings and alleyways around them with their weapons. The second fire team followed fifty meters behind. Their metal skins had changed to match the surroundings, becoming grayish. The HS3s assumed Diamond formation: one for each of the four points of the imaginary compass surrounding both fire teams.

  Rade jetted onto the sloping mansard roof of a nearby house and proceeded to shadow the two teams from above. He clambered up and down the sloping tiles, jetting and leaping across the separation between buildings as necessary. Rade noted that there were no vehicles of any kind in the streets below, at least not in the current area.

  Above, the covering dome tinted the sky blue, which was a welcome change from the stark red that Rade had witnessed on the way to the city. Then again, he wasn’t looking at the sky very often at the moment anyway.

  “Shaw, are you tracking us?” Rade transmitted.

  “Got the Argonaut’s Vipers aimed in your current direction,” Shaw replied.

  A few minutes into the city, Bender transmitted: “See that collection of satellite dishes to the west? On top of that big square bitch? That’s the comm center: the source of the automated status messages we got when we entered the system.”

  “Is it still transmitting ‘all is well’ messages?” Rade asked.

  “It is,” Bender said.

  “TJ, can you hack in remotely and shut down those messages?” Rade sent.

  “Can’t do it from here,” TJ returned. “There aren’t any obvious backdoors in their remoting software. Looks like everything is relatively up to date for once. However, if I could get physical access to the console, I’d probably be able to find a way in.”

  “Never mind then,” Rade said. “It’s not a high priority. Continue the advance, Argonauts!”

  “I love it when he calls us Argonauts,” Bender said.

  As he moved forward, Rade noticed the profusion of wireless cameras situated atop the lamp posts lining the street.

  “Feels like we’re being watched,” Tahoe said.

  “That’s because we are,” Manic said.

  “If we detour to the command and control core of the city,” Bender said. “The feeds from those cameras could help us piece together what happened here. It’s not far, judging from the blueprints we purchased.”

  “Assuming you or TJ can hack into the AI core,” Manic said.

  “We can hack into it,” Bender said. It was obvious from his tone that he was trying very hard not to call Manic a bitch.

  “It just might take a few hours,” TJ appended.

  “I think we have a good idea where the Amytis away team went already,” Rade said. “Without having to visit the command and control core. We’ll get more useful information from the video logs of the downed robot, I think.”

  “I meant we could use the cameras to piece together what happened to the colonists,” Bender said. “Not just the away team.”

  “And we will, eventually,” Rade said. “The away team is our first priority.”

  Strange trees grew along the street in the current neighborhood. The unfolding blossoms looked oddly like middle fingers, so that in essence the trees were repeatedly flipping the bird at Rade and his team. Sometimes those blossoms drooped downward, and when they did, they bore a striking resemblance to male genitalia.

  “Hey Bender,” Manic transmitted. It sounded like he was barely holding back a laugh.

  Bender didn’t answer.

  “Bender,” Manic insisted.

  “What?” Bender sent.

  “Those flowers back there look like your sister’s pussy,” Manic said.

  “Goddamn it,” Bender said. “Shut up, bitch. You ain’t never seen my sister’s pussy.”

  “I have,” Manic said.

  “Since when?”

  “You remember that time you invited us all over for a barbecue?” Manic said.

  “You’re lucky we’re in the middle of a mission,” Bender said. “Or I’d whoop your goddamn ass.”

  “Manic knows that,” TJ interjected. “Why do you think he only talks shit like that during a mission?”

  “Hey,” Manic said. “Don’t go taking the boyfriend’s side, you Italian stud muffin.”

  “I think Bender
and I are both going to have a special talk with you when this mission is over,” TJ said.

  “That’s right, you can’t take me on one at a time, I see how it is,” Manic said. “You have to team up to win.”

  “Hey Bender,” Lui said. “I’m not sure you got the joke.”

  “I got the joke,” Bender said. After a moment he added: “Wait, what joke?”

  “Those flowers looked like dicks back there...” Lui said.

  Bender didn’t answer for several moments. When he did, his voice had darkened: “You trying to say my sister has a dick?”

  “Not me,” Lui said. “Manic.”

  “Hey Manic, bro,” Bender said sweetly. “You saying my sister has a dick?”

  “Took you long enough to figure it out,” Manic said. “You and your sister obviously swapped genitals shortly after birth. Brains, too.”

  “Yeah well, at least I got genitalia,” Bender said. “Your balls were so small your mom mistook them for pimples and she had the dermatologist freeze them off. ‘Pop them unsightly zits!’ she told the doc, and pop them he did.”

  “Genitalia?” Fret said. “There has to be an Italian joke in there somewhere, huh TJ?”

  “I’m from your Genitalia, si,” TJ said.

  “You guys are classy as always,” Shaw said.

  Rade usually let them banter a little because it helped with nerves on an op. But there came a time when the mission had to take precedence in their minds once more. And that time was now.

  “Can we have some quiet on the comm, people?” Rade sent. “Let’s save the lewd one-upmanship for downtime, all right?”

  “Sorry boss,” Manic said.

  They reached a large stone gate that signified the end of the Sino-Korean quarter and the start of the Persian. Beyond, the cramped streets were more suited for pedestrian traffic, and the mech fire teams continued in single file. The blocky buildings themselves reached as high as seven stories, forcing Rade to utilize his jetpack liberally at times. He kept a close eye on his fuel usage.

  Fired bricks decorated the front facades of the sand-colored buildings in blue geometric patterns: stars, triangles, spheres, cubes. Arched doorways and windows were outlined in pale gypsum. Upper windows were covered in decorative wooden shutters.

  The Hoplites, hugging those buildings, became sandy in hue as their realtime camouflage updated.

  A prerecorded call to prayer echoed over the street. It seemed muted. Rade guessed the source was a white minaret two streets away; when he zoomed in, he could readily see the speakers. A strange black gunk had been deposited on them. He didn’t think it was natural. The call ended shortly thereafter.

  “Anyone else see that gunk on the speakers?” Tahoe asked.

  “Shaw, how does the courtyard around that minaret look?” Rade asked.

  “Nothing there,” Shaw said.

  Rade nodded. “We continue toward the robot.”

  As they moved deeper into the Persian area, the close-quartered streets began to widen; they soon came upon parked rotor craft and wheeled vehicles for the first time. That told Rade the Persians had indeed moved in, though where the inhabitants were now was anyone’s guess.

  The buildings here were shorter, but wider, and Rade supposed they were apartments of some kind. The structures usually shared a common courtyard hemmed in by a tall stone wall.

  Rade paused at the edge of one rooftop to stare down at a nearby light post.

  “Check it,” Rade said. “The cameras are all shot out in this section.”

  “Ms. Bounty’s work?” Tahoe asked.

  “Maybe,” Rade said. “Lui, did you detect laser fire from the dome while her team was down here?”

  “No,” Lui said. “But that doesn’t mean anything, because I would have needed a full-blown firefight before I detected anything. You know how fast lasers pulse, right?”

  “Shaw,” Rade transmitted. “Rewind the feed and see if you can determine whether the Amytis away team shot out the cameras near the alleyway where the robot emerged.”

  “I can confirm,” Shaw said a few minutes later. The digital distortion in her voice was severe. “They were definitely shooting out the cameras.”

  “Guess they didn’t like that feeling of being watched,” Tahoe said.

  The fire teams continued forward.

  “This is where they vanished,” TJ announced after some time. He stood beside the alleyway where the blue dots representing the Amytis away team yet lingered on the overhead map.

  Rade assumed a vantage point on the rooftop opposite the alleyway, and studied the scene. The alley was formed by the walls of two courtyards that abutted one another. At the entrance was the robot that had emerged earlier, collapsed in a lifeless heap.

  “I’m attempting to access the robot’s memory,” TJ said.

  “Let me know what you dig up,” Rade told him.

  “Hmm, this is odd,” TJ said after a time.

  “What’s that?”

  “Its memory circuits are completely wiped,” TJ said.

  “Are you able to determine the time of the wipe?” Rade said.

  “Yes,” TJ said. “It happened at oh six hundred hours. Or after the robot had already fallen outside of the alleyway.”

  Rade frowned. “Shaw, rewind the Argonaut’s cameras, and see if you can detect anyone, or anything, messing with that robot.”

  A few moments later Shaw responded: “There was no one, and nothing. It’s just been lying here all those hours since it fell.” Her voice was distorting even worse than before. Rade feared he would lose contact with her soon, despite the repeaters.

  “It’s possible the robot issued a self-wipe,” Manic said.

  “Why the hell would it do that?” Bender said.

  “To prevent it’s data from falling into the hands of whatever did this,” Manic replied.

  twelve

  All right,” Rade said. “Send in Units C and D, with an HS3 on point. I want another HS3 to shadow them from the air.”

  The designated robots proceeded into the alleyway while the two fire teams joined up to form a protective half-circle in front of the alleyway.

  Rade maintained his position atop the building opposite them. He switched to the point of view of the airborne HS3 and watched the other units advance through the alleyway.

  “A major component of these walls is lead,” Unit C transmitted. “I can understand why we lost communications with the away team when they went in here.”

  “Is that a feature unique to the area?” Rade asked.

  “No,” Lui replied. “I’ve detected lead in most of the previous buildings. It’s in everything. I’m guessing they used the desert sand from outside the dome as the raw material for their bricks. I took a sample of it earlier while I was out there, and it definitely contains a lot of microparticle lead.”

  “So it’s naturally part of the surface, you’re saying?” Rade asked.

  “Yeah, that’s what I’m saying,” Lui replied. “Nothing to be alarmed about. Except it will interfere with our comms.”

  The robots continued down the alleyway. It was dim inside. The walls reached up three meters on either side, so that only about half of the light from the sun—and reflective balloon arrays—reached within.

  Movement drew Rade’s eye to the northern section of the wall.

  “Did you see that?” he asked. The wall seemed empty further along, but he was sure he had seen something...

  “Roger that!” Unit D said. “Sending the HS3s forward.”

  Rade rewound the video feed and focused on the movement, but it looked like a dark blur leaping off the wall and moving deeper into the darkness of the alley.

  He thought of the gunk he had seen on those speakers...

  He dismissed the video so that the POV of his chosen drone filled his vision once more. It was rapidly proceeding down the dimly lit alley.

  There, he saw a dark shape, frantically racing away from the drones. He exhaled in relief when he re
alized what it was.

  “It’s a domestic robot of some kind,” Rade said. It was a small thing, similar to a trash bucket on wheels. Though it moved quite fast.

  “Well,” Tahoe transmitted. “At least we know that the city isn’t entirely abandoned.”

  “Get the HS3s to attempt remote interfacing,” Rade said. “TJ, piggyback on the connection, and see if you can hack into the robot and stop it.”

  The HS3s followed the robot out of the alleyway and into the street beyond. The target proceeded through the broken doors of the metal shed that led down to the underground pedway system.

  “I just lost the robot’s signal ping,” TJ said. Which meant he wouldn’t be able to hack into it.

  “Do you want the HS3s to continue the pursuit into the pedway?” Bender asked.

  “Negative,” Rade said. “I don’t want to risk losing them. Hold the HS3s at the surface entrance. Meanwhile, have Units C and D halt at the far side of the alley. I want them to sweep the area with their scopes. If it seems clear, Unit C is to join the HS3s at the entrance. Hoplites, proceed through the alleyway in single file. I’ll be right beside you.”

  Rade jetted onto the walkway formed by the wall of the rightmost alleyway, and bounded forward while the mechs ran through the alley beside him. The protruding heads of the Hoplites were level with his waist. Behind him was Harlequin, and ahead of him were the two Centurions he had assigned to his guard.

  The robots on point reached the end of the wall and assumed an overwatch position. Meanwhile the Hoplites in the alleyway paused when they reached the street, and waited for Rade to give the go ahead.

  Rade dropped to the edge and scanned the area with his rifle. Harlequin joined him.

  Rade spotted Unit C waiting beside the glass doors of the pedway system shed. The HS3s hovered beside it. The robot was on its knees, scanning the surrounding buildings through its rifle scope. Rade noted that the human face portrayed behind the faceplate was devoid of any emotion. He would have to get Lui to modify that sometime, to at least show fear, or perhaps determined resolve. As it was, he was worried any watchers would know it for the robot it was.

  He turned his attention onto the pedway entrance itself. The doors had been smashed inward, the glass shattered. Whatever had entered had done so in a big hurry.