by Isaac Hooke
“Won’t they do the same when you show up?” Eric asked.
“Oh, definitely,” Marlborough said. “But that’s what I’m counting on.”
Marlborough slowly made his way toward the bottom of the valley, carefully scaling the rocky wall with the arms and legs of his Cicada. He moved with his head facing downward, crawling like some deadly spider.
Keeping hidden behind the destroyed tank, Eric zoomed in on one of the defense platforms; he deemed those latter units to be the most dangerous, and planned to concentrate on them first. He prepared to fire his energy cannon.
Marlborough reached the bottom of the valley and stepped into view of the main cave.
The defense platforms promptly opened fire, riddling his body with laser bore holes.
Except it wasn’t Marlborough. He’d switched profiles with one of the Savages above.
Eric took advantage of the distraction. He opened fire with the energy cannon in rapid succession. In moments, all five defense turrets inside the cave were reduced to smoldering piles of rubble. He ducked as the armored carriers turned their attention on his location. Lasers riddled the exterior of the wreckage he had hidden behind.
“Get ready for a distraction,” Marlborough said.
Dunnigan jetted down, putting to good use the jetpack built into his Hopper unit.
“Now!” Dunnigan said.
Eric lifted his shoulder and the energy cannon it contained over the edge of the tank once again, and this time he targeted the armored carriers. They were all trying to track Dunnigan, who, living up to his model name, was hopping about, frantically jetting to and fro.
Eric concentrated on the turrets of the carriers as much as possible, because he wanted to damage the rest of the units as little as possible: the Bolt Eaters would need those carriers to convey ore to the smelter next to the transport if they wanted to finish it.
He took out the carriers in turn. Slaughter had dashed forward by then as well, and was targeting the carriers with his ZX-15, and together they eliminated the remaining turrets.
“All right, carriers are still intact,” Eric said. “But that means Bokerov will still be able to watch our approach.”
“That’s fine,” Marlborough said. “We need those carriers if we want to finish the transport. Bambi, send down the two scouts. I want to know where Bokerov is hiding. Use a Vision Round if possible: don’t expose the scouts unless you have to.”
“You got it,” Bambi said.
The scouts climbed down and split up. They entered the main cavern of the mine, and then approached different tunnels that led deeper.
The first scout was destroyed a few moments after it entered the second tunnel.
“Shit,” Bambi said. “I didn’t have time to launch a Vision Round.”
“It’s fine,” Marlborough said. “Eric, did you see that?”
“I did,” Eric said. “I’m moving into position.”
Eric left cover and moved closer to the main cave. He paused when he had the second tunnel well in view. He couldn’t see any targets inside, but that was because the tunnel curved inward shortly. The dead Savage would be lying on the floor at the start of that bend.
Eric aimed the energy launcher at the ceiling of that tunnel, and fired rapidly. Portions of the roof were eaten away, and the resultant shockwaves weakened the surrounding rock. In moments, the entire second tunnel came collapsing down.
“Well, that should hold him for a little while,” Eagleeye said.
“Assuming the other tunnels don’t join up at some central pit,” Eric said.
Bambi sent more scouts inside, and confirmed that the tunnels were indeed connected to a main mining pit; the second tunnel did as well, apparently, because Bambi’s scout fired a Vision Round toward the pit; the instant it passed inside, it was shot down.
“So, looks like we have Bokerov pinned in the pit,” Marlborough said.
“Why don’t we just collapse all the tunnels and trap him inside?” Slate said.
“Do we have enough raw ore?” Marlborough asked Dickson.
The staff sergeant moved among the different smelters, those within the mine and without, taking an inventory.
“I’m going to err on the side of caution,” Dickson said. “And say we don’t. I’d recommend against collapsing the tunnels.”
“Then we have to deal with Bokerov,” Marlborough said. “Bambi, did your vision round get an image of the pit before going offline?”
“It did,” Bambi said. “I got four Molotovs, and a tank design I’ve never seen before. It’s bigger than all the others.”
“That has to be Bokerov,” Dickson said.
“I agree,” Marlborough said. “I need options, Bolt Eaters. What have you got?”
“We storm the pit,” Slate said. “Take him down in a blaze of glory.”
“I’m not sure storming the pit is such a good idea,” Manticore said.
“Yeah, I knew you’d poo-poo my idea, Manure,” Slate said.
“I think we already agreed that Bokerov has more computing cycles per second than we do—he has to, in order to control all the different machines at his disposal,” Manticore continued. “He’ll be able to think so many more moves ahead than we can. We go in there, he’ll target us all with his laser cannons, shooting us down one by one. Sure, we might score some good hits in return, but chances are his armor’s so well shielded that even if we combine our shots we won’t penetrate. He’s been acting cautious so far, gauging our abilities, but now that we’ve backed him into a corner, he’ll strike back with all he has. I’m sure of it. It’s what we would do.”
“My energy cannon could probably penetrate,” Eric said. “Or we could always create a wormhole in there, firing it right at his tank, and then firing the dispersion bolt immediately after, before too much of the pit is destroyed.”
“You stick your head in there to fire the cannon, he’s likely to get off a shot before or at the same time you do,” Dickson said. “As Manticore mentioned, he’ll be operating at his highest time sensitivity, now that we’ve backed him into a corner. He’ll fire at anything that shows up.”
“Unless we can stage a diversion of some kind,” Eric said.
“What do you have in mind?” Marlborough asked.
Eric laid out his plan.
“It’s not bad,” Marlborough said. “I’m inclined to approve it. Unless anyone else has something better.”
“We’ll lose access to some of the ore with that plan,” Hicks said.
“Dickson?” Marlborough asked.
“The reduction shouldn’t affect our plans,” Dickson replied. “I’ve reviewed the imagery returned from the central pit by the vision round before it went down. There is more than enough ore there for our purposes, once we’ve eliminated Bokerov.”
“So no one has any other ideas?” Marlborough repeated.
“We could set up some guards to watch all the tunnels,” Brontosaurus said. “And as soon as Bokerov or one of his tanks show up, we blast ’em back into the pit.”
“But what’s to stop him from making a concerted push,” Crusher said. “He could come up one tunnel in force, firing everything he has. There’s a good chance he’d break through. And once he did that, he’d be in behind the rest of us.”
“Not necessarily,” Brontosaurus said. “We’d still leave some troops behind outside the cave. He’d be sandwiched between us.”
“Yeah, but we’re Cicadas and their support troops, along with three mechs,” Crusher said. “Against four tanks, and one likely super-powerful Bokerov vehicle. Scorpion and Slaughter are essentially the only troops who’ll cause any damage.”
“I have to agree with Crusher on this,” Marlborough said. “The potential for casualties is a bit too high with your plan, Brontosaurus.”
“Maybe he won’t attack,” Brontosaurus insisted.
“Bokerov will start to grow antsy if we leave him alone,” Marlborough said. “I would. He’ll want to stop us from com
pleting the transport. He will attack. Scorpion, looks like we’re going with your plan.”
“All right,” Eric said. “Frogger, Slate, Crusher, hack the diggers.”
The aforementioned Cicadas mounted the different diggers as they passed out of the tunnels. When all of them were under their control, Marlborough had them gather the diggers in the cavern at the entrance to the mine, alongside the inactive carriers.
Eric then fired his energy cannon into the roofs of the different caves, collapsing them, so that there was only the central tunnel left intact. Bokerov would be forced to come down that route when the time came.
Eric advanced down that central tunnel, keeping low. Slaughter was with him, along with Manticore, Brontosaurus, Hicks, and Crusher, all of them also crouched, their laser rifles and heavy guns pointed at the terminus of the cave ahead. The group slowly rounded a bend, until the cavern of the main pit came into view.
“The tunnel is empty,” Eric said. “He’s still in the main pit, as suspected.” He walked another three meters forward, then dropped, low-crawling the rest of the way. He stopped four meters from the lip of the tunnel, before the pit. He could see the arched ceiling carved out of the rock overhead.
“I’m aiming at the ceiling,” Eric said. “Get ready.”
He directed the crosshairs of his energy cannon at the rooftop, and aligned them as close as possible to the center of that arch.
“Now!” Eric said.
Eric fired the energy cannon, repeatedly, so that large chunks of rock were eaten out of the roof. The shockwaves caused other nearby pieces to break away and rain down on Bokerov below.
Hicks fired a Vision Round from his weapon, now that Bokerov and company were thoroughly distracted, and the camera-equipped dart struck the far wall. It bounced off, of course, since it couldn’t penetrate the hard surface, but it landed on the ledge that had been carved just below, overlooking the pit. Hicks had used the perfect amount of thrust, and supplied the perfect trajectory, to land it at just the right position. As could be expected of a sniper of his quality.
Eric routed the camera feed from the Vision Round to his HUD, and slid it to the upper right of his vision. Hicks had already rotated the camera so it was facing downward, toward Bokerov and the four tanks with him. There was little light inside the pit itself—apparently Bokerov had shot out any lights in the pit proper—but the camera operated on the thermal band, allowing Eric to see that the four tanks had started to race up the edges of the pit, their treads a blur. The Russian was afraid Eric was going to bring the roof down on him, as Eric had hoped Bokerov would be.
Eric accessed the remote interface of the wormhole weapon carried by Slaughter, and he lined it up with the center of the cave in front of him. Then he smashed his hands into the ground, as did Slaughter, and the smaller Cicadas, securing themselves into place.
Eric waited until the Molotov on point was near the top of the pit, and then he fired the wormhole weapon.
The bolt traveled across the tunnel and into the pit cavern, passing right over the Molotov on point. The wormhole opened up one hundred meters away, precisely in the center of the pit.
The first Molotov was ripped away from the wall and sucked into the wormhole; a flash momentarily sparked into existence as the unit exploded. It was followed by a second Molotov. But Bokerov’s vehicle, and the other two tanks, did not appear. He had lost the video feed from the dart, because the unsecured device had been sucked into the wormhole, but Eric guessed Bokerov and the tanks had managed to dig their shovels into the surrounding terrain in time.
Eric aimed his energy cannon at the rip in spacetime and let it charge for ten seconds. The wind gusted past him, sucking him toward the rip in reality. Loose items and equipment in the tunnel behind him were sucked past.
He unleashed the charged energy cannon, and it struck the wormhole. A black sphere, darker than night and the size of a thumbnail, appeared at the center of the spacetime tear. The wind became a roar around him. Items that struck him were moving so fast that they embedded in the shell of his mech. His hand was starting to slip across the surface below as the ground loosened. He punched his free hand into the ground, and held himself in place.
Inside the pit, the surrounding walls began to tear away, and the chunks of rock that Eric had broken away from the ceiling also flew into the hole, further feeding the gravity well, and slowly enlarging it.
One Molotov abruptly flew into the air, followed shortly after by a second one.
“You fools!” Bokerov said over the comm. “I was the only one capable of defeating the aliens. I had a plan to destroy the mothership! And now it will be lost!”
“Bitch is bluffing,” Slate said over the comm.
Eric was about to ask Marlborough if he should spare Bokerov, given the revelation, but a moment later the big vehicle harboring the Russian Mind Refurb was sucked into the wormhole and vanished with an explosive flash.
Eric chose the dispersion bolt option from the remote interface and fired it at the wormhole. As expected, the first hit didn’t make it shrink right away, and he had to fire three more successive dispersion bolts until the wormhole finally winked out.
The raging wind, and the incessant pull, faded.
“Hicks?” Eric said.
The sniper fired another Vision Round. It bounced off the wall, and landed on an intact portion of the ledge.
Eric accessed the feed, and confirmed that there were no more tanks or other surprises waiting inside.
“Well that bitch was fricasseed nicely!” Slate said.
“Good-bye Mr. Anderson,” Frogger said over the comm, in his best rendition of Agent Smith from the Matrix.
“Huh?” Slate said.
“Never mind,” Frogger said. “Mickey and Scorpion get it.”
“We certainly do,” Mickey said.
The team gathered in the main cavern.
“So, the diggers have been hacked,” Marlborough said. “Who wants to do the carriers?”
“I’ll do it,” Frogger said. He went to the carriers, and the units promptly backed away, trying to avoid his touch. He switched to Bullet Time, and mounted one of the units. He ripped open the panel, and inserted a connecting dongle. “All right, got this one.”
Slate and Crusher jumped onto other carriers, and between the three of them, they had the different carriers under their control in less than ten minutes.
Dickson took charge of all the hacked robots and instructed them to return to work. The pathfinding algorithms of the carriers and diggers allowed them to determine that the central cave was still intact, and they concentrated on that route to retrieve fresh ore for the 3D printers
Eric watched as the carriers moved back and forth, transferring the raw ore to the smelter; smaller drones retrieved the processed ingots that were produced, and handed them off to the 3D printers that surrounded the transport.
“How long until we can get this thing off the ground?” Marlborough asked Dickson.
The staff sergeant paused. Eric had the impression he was interfacing with the machines.
“Well, it looks like we can have something air worthy in about three hours,” Dickson replied. “Assuming you don’t mind cutting a few corners.”
“Cut as many as you can without compromising flight time,” Marlborough said. “We’re robots. We don’t need creature comforts.”
“Understood,” Dickson said.
18
About an hour into the three-hour wait, Eric was resting in the main cavern when he was distracted as someone—or something—opened fire on the starboard side of the transport. At first he thought the attacks were directed at the team, but then he realized that all of the fire was concentrated on the transport itself.
He rounded the bend in a hurry, only to find Manticore. The heavy gunner was letting loose with rapid-fire laser pulses, littering the starboard hull with bore holes.
Eric stared, shocked, but Brontosaurus tore past and tackled the man. He wrestle
d Manticore to the ground, but the robot managed to get himself on top. He shoved his heavy guns into Brontosaurus’ chest, right above the AI core.
“Manticore!” Eric said, dashing forward. “What are you doing!”
Manticore looked up. “Stay back! I’ll shoot out his core. I will!”
Other members of the platoon began to gather then, and they all kept their distance.
“What the hell is he doing?” Eagleeye said.
“I told you he’d lose it,” Slate said. “Emotions, bro. We can’t handle them.”
Marlborough arrived. “What are you doing, Manticore!”
The heavy gunner didn’t answer. Instead, he pressed his weapon mounts more firmly against Brontosaurus’ chest area. Manticore’s LED lips curled back in a grimace.
“Manticore,” Marlborough said. When still the Cicada didn’t answer, he added: “Corporal!”
Finally Manticore tilted his head upward slightly. But he kept his gaze firmly on Brontosaurus.
“We’ve lost!” Manticore said. “We’re going to die anyway. What’s the point? This is all for nothing!”
“It’s not for nothing,” Marlborough said. “We haven’t lost, not yet.”
“We have,” Manticore said. It sounded like he was sobbing, though it wasn’t possible for robots to cry of course. “We’ll never reach the storm in time. Humanity is lost.”
“They’re not lost,” Marlborough said. “Not yet. You can’t give up hope, Manticore. We’re so close.”
“No,” Manticore said. “You’re wrong, Sarge. You’re wrong. I killed her.”
“What in the blazes are you talking about?” Marlborough said.
“I killed her!” Manticore said. “Killed!”
“Who?” Marlborough said.
He sagged upon Brontosaurus. “My wife.”
Brontosaurus used the opportunity to swivel his body around, and he slid from Manticore’s grip, and flipped him onto his back. He spread his knees and pressed them into Manticore’s forearms, keeping his weapon mounts pointed wide, away from Brontosaurus. The mounted Cicada meanwhile directed both of his heavy guns at Manticore’s chest.
