***ANAD reporting swarm element in place and holding. No more air molecules can get in or out. I am configured in repeating tetrahedral with radicals at my outer barrier. Oxygens hate that. And yes…I did save the ship, didn’t I? Isn’t that what you learn in nog school…don’t leave your buddies behind?***
An alarm sounded from the DPS console at the rear of the command deck. Corporal Nguyen was the Defense and Protective Systems tech (DPS1). He swallowed hard.
“Acoustic flag, sir…some kind of swarm, for sure. Not sure whose bots I’m seeing…” his fingers flew over the board. “…but it’s a large mass, headed this way, bearing two nine two…I make the range at just under four thousand meters.”
Mendez swore under his breath. “On my way…can you get any details, Corporal? Any structure?” The CC1 hurried forward to the command deck.
Nguyen scanned his panel. “Reading high thermals…I’m applying acoustic filtering…lots of seismic noise out there. Looks like it’s a bot swarm all right…”
Mendez sank into his seat at the main console. “What about the borer? Can we move?”
Sergeant Li, the BOP1, shook her head. “Negative, sir. Borer still offline. I’m getting nothing from up front. I think the bots are dispersed. We had a containment breach and the lens itself may be damaged.”
Time for ANAD again, Mendez thought. Combat at a thousand feet underground was definitely not for the slow-witted. “ANAD, listen up. I need configs for two elements and fast. First, I’m downloading a config for re-populating the borer. Basic stuff. Make reps to fill the borer so we can get the hell out of here.”
Johnny Winger and the Great Rift Zone Page 17
