***ANAD understands…grabbing feedstock now…***
A shimmering blue-white fog emerged from Gopher’s access tunnel as ANAD fissioned itself for the two configs. Overhead, the master bot slammed atoms and built structure, thickening even as it drifted toward the hatch to the borer module. Sergeant Li cycled the feedport to the borer and the fog drifted on, filling the port, expanding as it replicated into the borer lens itself.
Unseen from the command deck, a second tendril of fog worked its way aft to Gopher’s lockout chamber on G deck. There, the defensive shieldbots would exit the ship and work their way through dense shale rock to confront the oncoming swarm.
Tense moments passed. Li watched her board, noting the pressure and temperature rise inside the borer compartment.
“Just a few more minutes, Lieutenant…borer coming up nicely, pressure now at sixty five percent…I’ve got some control already.”
Mendez checked his tread controls. “Robles, let’s get powered up. Once the borer’s online, I want to get Gopher the hell out of here.”
“Roger that,” the DSO replied. He worked with several joysticks. “Treads working now…I’m feeling a little bite al--“
Gopher shuddered and groaned as rock shifted outside. They felt the ship sliding forward, then to the left again, but the motion stopped almost as soon as it started.
“Okay--“ Mendez pulled his own hands away from the controls. “No more tread…wait till the borer’s up. Let’s not make things worse. DPS, where’s that swarm?”
“Best estimate is two thousand meters and still closing on our position. They can’t move any faster through this rock than we can.”
Johnny Winger and the Great Rift Zone Page 19
