Soundless Conflicts

by S. Walker

  She grabbed a handful of Janson's skinsuit and pull him downward until their helmets touched. Hopefully vibrations would travel between the material without being loud enough to detect nearby. "Can you hear me?"

  From five inches away he stared at her, eyebrows all the way up. "Yes, ma'am." He was obviously yelling. "Speak up ah little, if you can."

  "Is it! Safe! To use! The radio! Doyouthink!?" She yelled, then pointed at her wrist console.

  He thought about it for a moment, eyes drifting away. Then he tapped the console on his wrist and spoke over the speakers in her helmet. "Ah think it's fine. We're transmitting pretty much all th' time, anyways." Big shoulders went up and down in a shrug.

  Jamet let go and opened her own line to the bridge. "Sir, the boarders?"

  He came back immediately. "Yes?"

  "Do they look like broken triangles with lots of wires?"

  There was a long, expectant silence before her helmet speakers clicked back on. "Yes, I believe they do. You've seen one?"

  "One would have been bad enough, but it looks like there's some sort of... colony, I guess?... going on in the storage room. I literally can't count how many of them there are!" Janson made hushing motions with both hands, patting downwards toward the deck. She lowered the volume a little. "Sorry. What are they?"

  "Ah'm going to say they're artificial." Janson sounded professionally interested. "Drones, or some kind of advanced construction system. Captain, it looks like they're repurposin' some of our stock to manufacture more of themselves."

  "How many of our supplies are being used?"

  Janson risked a quick peek. "Sending an image now, sir." He tapped twice, then aimed the top of his helmet around the corner and swiped an icon.

  "Wait, these suits have image sensors?" Jamet blinked, then started working her wrist console and mumbling. "Can mine take images, too?"

  "Yes, ma'am. Records video, too. Can play it back on your wrist console if you like-- Kipper's suits are a bit on th' high end of tech." He looked slightly upwards. "Captain? Did it come through?"

  "Told myself I wouldn't count the cost any more, but really?" She mumbled, annoyed. "Image sensors on suits is just-"

  Siers talked right over her irritation. "We've got the image, Engineer. Hold one minute. If you see anything moving toward the hatch seal it immediately."

  "Instantly, sir."

  The line closed with a click, leaving them standing awkwardly in the corridor. "Should we put our helmets down? Avoid using the radio?"

  Janson thought about it. "If it's all the same, ma'am, I'd rather not. Ah'm imagining one of 'em getting into my suit." He tapped the neck seal significantly.

  Suddenly that was all Jamet could think of as well. "Thanks for that idea, it's not going to keep me awake later or anything."

  "Happy to help." He took another quick peek into storage, putting one eye barely around the corner. "Looks like they're staying on the far wall, ma'am. Also- hmm. They're moving very slow for some reason. Maybe whatever they're doing is taking a lot out of 'em."

  "I'd say it's making a lot more of them. Is there anything we can do? Weapons locker, or something?

  He nodded. "Yup. We had a Security locker, pretty stocked."

  "Okay, let's go get absolutely everything we can hold, then-"

  "-an' then we took debris through the entire middle of the ship."

  "Are you completely serious?" Jamet threw both hands up in rage. "Fine, fine. Improvised weapons? Where's the alcohol, we'll light them all on fire!"

  He nodded. "Good idea. But ah hate to say it: We're on a bit of a timer, ma'am. We could go make somethin' right now, or we can get the GravComm. Not enough time f' both."

  She stomped in a circle, then punched the bulkhead. "Okay. Alright. Drones! Where are the maintenance drones?"

  Janson looked up and to one side, eyes losing focus as he went into the Engineering system. "Ah have three down a ways, working on a power relay. Want me to pull 'em?"

  "Yes! Send them in, have the drones grab the GravComm! Wait, are they strong enough to carry it? How big is the thing?"

  "Should be alright. They've got local gravity generators an' manipulators, can carry about two hundred pounds each. Can you pull the storage list, ma'am? Need t' know where it is."

  Jamet edged up to the hatch, then stuck an arm around the corner and felt for the handheld console next to the entrance. It popped off with an easy twist. "Got it. Let me search, get those drones coming."

  "On it, ma'am."

  Her radio clicked on. "Lieutenant? Captain Siers here."

  "Go ahead, sir." She ran a wrist ID over the console and started flicking through menu lists.

  "Emilia ran the image through analysis, she says there are nearly seventy of them in a single snapshot. But there's good news as well: Paul is in the Environmental systems right now. He thinks they're isolated to storage and the aft reactor area."

  Janson twitched, his big suit exaggerating the motion. "The reactor area is where mah drones are coming from. Should ah send them back?"

  "No, we need them. Can't do this without help. Risk it. Captain, how much activity in the reactor?"

  There was a pause as he consulted. "Paul says every tamper sensor he has is going off in the venting system there. Lots of activity."

  "There, found it!" Jamet tapped an entry for GravComm relays, then handed the console to the engineer. "It says bay B-12, is that close to our friends in there?"

  "No, bit of luck there. It's th' second rack over, less than twenty feet in. But ah'm having a thought, here. Take a look inside-- are they still moving?"

  She peeked, shuddered and pulled back. "Very slowly, but yes."

  Janson tapped his wrist console. "Captain? Remember looking at those pictures of our incoming?"

  "Yes. Do you need to see them again? Also, a status update would be nice."

  "We're using drones to carry the relay, sir. Two minutes to get 'em here, then maybe five to get the relay on the way to a lifeboat." He snuck another look. "Remember earlier, when ah said they were manufacturing those asteroids into ships?"

  "I recall. You're talking about how the ones nearest the asteroid belt center were more complete?"

  "Yes sir. But also ah was wondering about th' power supply. They don't have one. Not that ah can find, anyways. Unless you can see something with Comms, Emilia?"

  "I'll check, but something big enough to power all that would have been obvious from the start. I think, anyways."

  Jamet jogged a short way down the corridor, anxiously scanning for the maintenance drones and making exasperated noises when they failed to appear from thin air. Grumbling, she turned to the nearest bulkhead and pulled the emergency cache out. Seconds later she had the contents folded outwards, diving through cases and pulling out tools. "Paul, I'm looking through the bulkhead kit. Anything in here that can be a weapon?"

  "Is there an air cast?"

  "Yes! Why?"

  "Because you did a lot of damage with that to me."

  "This is not the time!" She threw a sealed package of rations against the wall, then pulled a handheld welder from a hard shelled case. It clicked on with a searing blue light that made their shadows stand out against the wall. "Okay, found something."

  "Cut the chatter, everyone." Siers silenced the channel, then took it back. "Engineer, explain about the power supply. Something we can use?"

  Janson snapped his gloved fingers and directed Jamet's attention down the corridor as three maintenance drones rounded the far bulkhead. They floated at a slow walking pace on internal gravity generators, manipulators already unfolded and dangling beneath. "About time!"

  "Paul, still there?"

  "Yes. Something I can do, engineer?" Frustrated sounds came over the link.

  He watched the drones slowly floating down the corridor while talking on the radio. "Do me a favor: Check those alerts in th' reactor room again?"

  "One moment... hmm. That's odd. Almost all the alerts in the aft reactor r
oom stopped triggering. What changed?"

  Jamet and Janson looked at the drones coming down the corridor, then shared a glance. "You think?" She nodded at the floating assistants.

  "Might be, ma'am. Paul, you have alerts around storage? Watch for more activity soon. Ah'm sending the maintenance drones in to get the relay now."

  He looked steadily at the three waiting drones, silently sending instructions through his chip. After a moment they started moving again, floating through the hatch as Janson flattened to the side to let them pass. Jamet took up position on the other side of the hatch, welder in hand and sparking nervously every other second.

  Janson stared upwards, unfocused. "Paul? Anything?"

  "Increase in activity. The Environmental system went from one tamper alert to three. Four, now." He paused, then came back sounding thoughtful. "It's the drones, then? How?"

  Jamet stuck her helmet around the corner, welder ready in one hand. Inside the room all three drones were cooperating to pull a large, flat rectangle from a shelf nearby. But on the far wall the invader activity was picking up, triangles flipping and scrambling with increased speed. As she watched three of them combined together, forming half a hexagon side that rapidly filled in with more units. Within seconds a full lattice formed, engulfing an entire container of parts. "Engineer, I think we need to hurry this up."

  "I agree, lieutenant. Every single hard lockout is now under assault. Two are in danger of breach, I am going to lock the compartments to either side."

  The maintenance drones lifted the large case off the storage rack, then turned and proceeded toward the hatch at half the speed of horror. Jamet made urgent 'hurry up' motions at the three of them without ever setting foot inside the room, eyes glued to the roiling mass of attackers covering nearly the entire back shelving units. "They're getting faster! Also, I think- oh shit."

  A group of triangles broke away from the mob, cables whipping across the floor as they flipped between shelves towards the drones. Jamet yelled, moving to one side as the drones floated past, then hit the hatch controls with an open-handed strike that threatened to break the toggle.

  The hatch whooshed shut, clipping the lead attacker as it flipped through but leaving the others sealed inside. Instantly the triangular unit orientated on the nearest drone, cables whipping out to surround it. Jamet screamed, stiff armed the handheld welder and charged with it like she was trying to spear it straight through the attacker. "A little help here, Janson!"

  Welder met curiously slick metal in a shower of sparks that left a huge gouge on the casing. She had time to swipe it once more before the unit reoriented, a hard hit that sent one of the thick cables flying across the deck. Then it was on her, leaping from the hapless drone unit onto the front of Jamet's skinsuit.

  Cables whipped upwards, smashing the front of her helmet hard enough to leave cracks. Half a dozen others wrapped her lower back, hammering painful welts along every rib all the way to the shoulders. Jamet struggled, crashing from side to side against the bulkheads as she angled a free arm between them, fighting what felt like a ton of force to push it away. She still had the welder, but couldn't get an angle on the thing that wouldn't burn a hole straight through the skinsuit. "Jansooonnnnnn!"

  She fell down, losing the welder when her wrist cracked against the deck. The damn thing swarmed up her suit, putting the triangular central piece straight over her cracked faceplate as cables dug into the hard shell of the skinsuit. She had a horrified moment to look straight into the interior and see an entire microsystem of moving parts before the entire unit stopped moving.

  At the same time three loud thumps announced the maintenance drones hitting the deck nearby, one of them close enough to roll onto her foot. Not that Jamet cared; she was busy fighting wrapped cables and screaming. "Getitoff! Get it off! Get! It! Off!"

  "Easy! Easy, ma'am!" She realized Janson was talking to her, helping to untangle the gripping steel. "It's alright! It's not movin'!" The radio was screaming inside her helmet, a chaos of three voices yelling for updates that weren't coming any time soon. Feeling something go slack Jamet twisted hard, rolled and scooted backwards across the deck on her butt. She saw the welder a moment later and dove on it, bringing bright blue flame around.

  Janson had the attacker pinned to the deck with one large boot, holding his other hand out towards her in a 'hold' motion. "Easy, ma'am! It's not going anywhere! Ah got it!"

  Bright spots jumped and swam everywhere. The skinsuit helpfully pinged a caution advisement against the cracked viewplate to let her know she was hyperventilating. "Is it dead? Kill it! No, wait: I'm going to kill it. Move your foot, Engineer!"

  "S'alright! It doesn't have power anymore. Look!" He lifted his boot, drawing a startled yell from Jamet as she triggered the welder again.

  It didn't come back to life or whip cables around. Bereft of motion it seemed less harmful: Just a triangular body with a large gash, resting on a bed of oily cabling. She didn't trust it. "What did you do?"

  "Ah turned off th' drones. Look." He pointed at the three units, grounded and lifeless. "Ah think it's the gravity lifts. They're powerin' them somehow. When the drones got close those things picked up speed, came after it."

  Helmet speakers came to life, making them both jump. "That would explain a lot," Siers sounded concerned. "Lieutenant, are you okay?"

  "That's a solid hell no!" She nervously clicked the welder twice in a rapid succession, eyes glued to the motionless thing on the floor. "My back is on fire, I think it beat me half to death! Uh, sir."

  "Report to Paul in Medical as soon as you can. Engineer, I hate to push but if you have the situation under control we need that relay in a lifeboat five minutes ago. Sooner, if possible."

  "On it, sir. Paul, you there?"

  "Yes. Before you ask: Tamper sensors are almost entirely quiet now. Only one is alerting sporadically. Lieutenant-- I will be waiting in Medical whenever you can come."

  He nodded as Jamet acknowledged the offer, then looked at the three lifeless maintenance drones. "Ma'am, I know it's a lot t' ask. But we need to drag this thing."

  "That's fine," she took careful steps around the dead thing on the floor. "Ow. My ribs. Alright, I've got this side-- let's go before I collapse in shock or something."

  Janson gave her a bushy grin, beard on full display through his faceplate. "You're in danger of gettin' on my good side, ma'am." He grabbed a handle on his side and started pulling. She grunted and dragged her end alongside.

  "I wasn't already?"

  "Course you were. You ate one of my muffins an' everything."

  "That was a muffin?" Jamet wheezed a weak laugh.

  The two of them dragged the heavy case down the corridor at a brisk pace, Jamet hissing every other step as her ribs shifted. Less than a minute later they took a sharp turn away from the centerline, angling into an alcove containing a console and a bright red painted hatch. Yellow, gleaming letters spelled 'Emergency Lifeboat' all the way across the floor, with a single thick arrow pointing to a handle on the wall.

  Janson hauled downward on the handle, throwing the hatch open with an explosive whoosh of equalizing air. The lifeboat inside was the size of two closets put together, crammed with emergency equipment and an oversized atmosphere cycling unit. Four jumpseats lined the walls, two on a side, with crash webbing and convertible sleeping meshes tucked neatly beneath. No less than six skinsuits were racked above the seats: One for each spot and two extras. A fat combination Comms and power unit sat against the front of the boat like a bloated tick.