Nanotroopers Episode 14: The HNRV Factor

by Philip Bosshardt

  ***ANAD changing course now…slowing to one quarter propulsor…detecting faint thermals, faint EMs***

  Taj Singh cried out. “I’ve got the beacon! It’s her locator beacon…faint, but it’s there all right. We’ve got to get down there—“ Singh started to fire up his suit boost but Winger held him back.

  “Hold on, Taj…let ANAD finish the borehole. Scan those side walls…see if they’re stable enough to enter.”

  Singh sounded the shadowy borehole with acoustic pulses from his own ANAD embed. “Detecting a few voids, Skipper. No relative motion. She’s holding up.”

  Spivey and Calderon had been on the other side, using their own swarms to shore up the walls of the Chasm. “You two—get your ANADs around the tunnel entrance…keep shoring there. Taj, get ready. When ANAD gives the word, I want you in that borehole. Use your suit boost to pull Lucy up and out…you’ll have to work with ANAD to keep the path clear.”

  Singh was already grabbing and attaching tools and rolls of dropline to his belt. “Roger that, Major. I’ll get her out—“