Johnny Winger and the Great Rift Zone

by Philip Bosshardt

  ***ANAD ready in all respects…assuming C-7, extending effectors now, priming bond disrupters…enzymatic knife in position…just give the word, Hub and I’ll tear ‘em to pieces***

  Mendez had to smile, as did others on the command circuit. ANAD was like a little bulldog, straining at his leash. His personality algorithms needed work but there were some quirks that made the little bug kind of endearing, even to hardened nanotroopers.

  “Less than two hundred meters, Skipper,” said Rounds. “Possible aspect change on swarm mass…he may be replicating…I’m seeing enhanced returns, mass changes--“

  Mendez checked Gopher’s status on his own panel. “Robles, slow to one-third. DPS, get HERF ready. I want to blast the sonofabitch first with rf, then send ANAD out.”

  “HERF fully charged, Lieutenant. Pulse mode enabled.” Nguyen’s finger hovered over the FIRE button, ready to release a thunderclap of radio-frequency energy. With any luck, the bolt would fry enough enemy bots to make ANAD’s job a little easier.

  “Very well. ANAD…you may launch when you’ve reached fifty percent mass.”

  The master bot had already started replicating, grabbing atoms from local shale and slate layers, building billions and billions of daughter bots, building out the swarm.