by Isaac Hooke
Rade considered his options. “It’s obviously an ambush, so I’m not all that eager to follow them down.”
“I don’t see any other choice,” Lui said. “Check your overhead map. No matter where we move the grappling site, there will be crevices all around. Even if we set up an armed guard on as many of the surrounding crevices as possible, we can’t cover every possible attack point. A Hoplite could aim at us from a kilometer out, sever the cord, and be gone before we or Snakeoil could ever get a bead on it.”
“That’s a good point,” Rade said. “All right. Tahoe, Lui, Fret, you form T2. Stay up here, and get the grappling hook relocated. The rest of us in T1 will hunt down the rogue Hoplites. Snakeoil, when can you have replacement HS3s down here?”
“I’m 3D-printing some new ones,” Snakeoil said. “Five hours? Maybe longer.”
“Too long,” Rade said. “Surus, Bender, scout those openings!”
Surus jetted her mech Sprint from cover and accelerated toward the closest crevice, while Bender sent Juggernaut to the other.
“It’s clear!” Surus said.
“Got nothing here, either,” Bender said.
“T1, form up with Surus,” Rade said. “We’ll focus on that tunnel and assume any Hoplites in the other intend to join up at some deeper rally point.”
“And if they don’t?” Shaw asked.
“Then we’ll come back after we’re done and scour that tunnel, too,” Rade said. He was reluctant to split up his team any further. “Or better yet, let the HS3s handle some of the fun.”
“When we see the Hoplites, our orders?” TJ asked.
“Terminate with extreme prejudice,” Rade answered.
“But I can’t kill Juggy,” Bender said.
“Juggernaut isn’t the same,” Surus said. “None of your old mechs are.”
“Surus is right,” Rade said. “You’ve seen the footage of the Hoplites jumping from our ship to the Volare at the space station. We have to assume their AIs are corrupt. They’ll be shooting to kill.”
“Wait a second, the Hoplites are equipped with anti-Phant emitters,” Manic said. “How could Zhidao get control?”
“Sprint would have been the easiest,” Surus said, referring to the callsign of her Hoplite. Sprint didn’t have an emitter, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to enter the cockpit, not even while inside her host. “As for the other mechs, they would have been in hibernation when Zhidao took over the ship. Through a remote actor, such as a Centurion, or Ms. Bounty, he could have shut them down completely, removed their AI cores from the anti-Phant shielding, and then entered directly. So you see, the anti-Phant tech wouldn’t have mattered.”
“We can’t afford to show mercy,” Rade said. “Not here. We’ve already restored our mech AIs from their backups. That’s the best we can do. I’m sorry. Surus, you’re on point. TJ, take drag. Twenty meter separation between mechs. Zig-zag formation.”
Rade and the others reached the crevice and leaped inside. Because of the extremely low gravity, they could have floated in the middle of the tunnel, jetting along, but Rade ordered everyone to activate their magnetic mounts to secure themselves to the interior surfaces instead. That way they made less of a target, and could flatten themselves against the tunnel walls to further shrink their profiles if necessary. They moved at a patrol gait, not wanting to let their targets get too far ahead, yet not wanting to fall too easily into any waiting ambush, either.
“Harlequin, I want you on the ceiling,” Rade said. “You’ll be our eye in the sky. Or in this case, eye in the cave.”
Harlequin jetted to the top and secured his feet with his magnets, and mirrored the party from above.
“Manic, I want you on the left wall,” Rade said. “Bender, you take the right. The rest of you, continue as you were.”
“Classic space tunnel infiltration formation,” TJ said.
“You got it,” Rade said. “Have to put all that MOTH training to use sometime...”
Rade spent most of his time scanning the ceiling directly ahead, while the others in place on the walls and ceiling would be focusing on their own ceiling equivalents, ready to alert the party if they spotted a tango.
“I can understand Bender’s reluctance to terminate Juggernaut,” Electron told Rade as T1 advanced. “I, too, have mixed feelings about shooting down my predecessor.”
“It’s not your predecessor anymore,” Rade said. “It doesn’t know who any of us are anymore.”
“Even so,” Electron said. “It will hurt. If I had control of the cobras, I would probably aim for an area that wouldn’t damage the AIs, such as the power source.”
“I’ll try to do the same,” Rade said. “But if push comes to shove, and I have a shot on an AI core, I’m taking it.”
“I understand,” Electron said. “I will, too, I believe. Though it will hurt.”
“It hurts me, too,” Rade said. He respected AIs. He’d grown to trust them with his life. He considered them just as human as a real human being. It was sad that the team had to do this, but he didn’t see that the Argonauts had any other choice. “In this case, I’m afraid, it’s either us or them. And I’m inclined to lean toward the ‘us’ side.”
No light from outside penetrated the tunnel, so the team relied on LIDAR from their Hoplites to illuminate the area. Because of that, the smooth tunnel walls around Rade appeared to be made of white, 3D wireframes.
“You know, these tunnels are a bit too smooth to be natural,” Shaw said.
“You think Zhidao set his burrowers crisscrossing underneath the surface?” Rade said. “Tunneling away?”
“He must have,” Shaw said.
“To what purpose?” Rade asked. “There were no organic life residues for the slugs to convert to geronium.”
“Actually, you’re wrong,” Surus said. “I am detecting a slight residue of organic life. I believe it was primitive… single cell organisms. But life nonetheless. The asteroid belt was likely once a habitable planet. But the tidal forces of the system tore it apart.”
“That must have happened eons ago,” Shaw said. “Would the upper-dimensional imprints of the long dead life-forms even be viable anymore?”
“Their imprints are extremely weak,” Surus said. “And spread out across the entire asteroid belt. But there is enough concentrated here on these bigger asteroids for the slugs to create at least some geronium. A sufficient amount to feed a starving Purple, anyway.”
“That would make some sense,” Rade said. “There’s only so much geronium Zhidao could have taken from the Builder and the Volare before adversely affecting the ships’ power output.”
“I wonder when he began the harvesting,” Shaw said. “It would have taken years to nudge the asteroids into their current fatal orbits, after all.”
“My guess is, relatively recently,” Surus said. “Definitely within the past six months.”
“You think he’s acting alone?” Rade asked.
“So far we haven’t seen any evidence that other Phants are helping him,” Surus said. “But it is possible he has allies.”
The team advanced in silence for some time.
“We’ll be leaving comm range with T2 shortly,” TJ said.
“We’re about to lose contact, Tahoe,” Rade sent.
“Roger that,” Tahoe replied, his voice distorting badly. “Stay safe down there.”
“You too,” Rade said.
“We’ve retrieved… grappler and are in the process… to the new site,” Tahoe sent. “We’ll—”
Tahoe’s voice cut out entirely.
“Say again, Tahoe?” Rade pressed.
No answer came over the line.
“And we’re out of range,” TJ said.
“Does anybody ever notice how we always get attacked when we lose contact with the ship, or the other team?” Manic said.
“Well duh,” Bender said. “It’s the best time to stage an attack. We do it to our own targets all the time. No one says you have to play fair.
If you think you do, you’re in the wrong game. And try not to jinx us or anything.”
“Oh I’m in the right game,” Manic said. “I have no intention of playing fairly.”
“Damn right,” Bender said. “You’re always sucker punching me when you get the chance. Only way you can beat me. Just like Harlequin.”
“I’ve never sucker punched you, or anyone, ever,” Harlequin said.
“Yeah, but you still don’t play fair, you cheating AI!” Bender said. “You got your servomotors that give you strength ten times what a man as muscular as myself has. If that’s not cheating, I don’t know what is.”
“How can it be cheating if it’s my natural state?” Harlequin asked.
“Natural state, my ass,” Bender said. “There’s nothing natural about you. Or any AIs. I worked hard for what I have! You got yours for free!”
“I can’t help it if I’m innately superior in every way,” Harlequin said. “But I do find myself at a loss to understand how you can display such intimacy and care for your Hoplite, Juggernaut, and yet disrespect every other AI.”
“Of course you can’t understand,” Bender said. “That’s because Juggy is my pet. He’s like a horse. Whereas you, all you are is a punching bag.”
“Juggernaut, how do you feel about being considered a pet?” Harlequin asked.
“Juggy can’t hear you,” Bender said. “I’ve muted him to the current conversation.”
“Ah,” Harlequin said. “I’m certainly glad I’m not the AI of your Hoplite.”
“As am I!” Bender said. “I would have had your snarky ass replaced on day one!”
“So I have a question,” Manic said. “If these caves were dug by slugs and all, then how come there are so many hollows and depressions in the tunnel walls?”
“Those are pre-existing air pockets in the rock,” Shaw said. “They existed before the burrowers passed this way.”
“Yeah, Man-Bitch,” Bender said. “It doesn’t take a geologist to figure that out.”
“Hey, it was a valid question,” Manic said.
“This particular cave section seems to have many more depressions than usual,” Surus said.
“Keep an eye out for ambushes,” Rade said.
“Speaking of which, looks like we got some crabs coming in,” Surus said.
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Rade spotted the crabs immediately.
“It’s got to be a diversion to cover for the enemy Hoplites,” TJ said.
“Buckle in, people,” Rade said. “Get low.” If it was a diversion, he didn’t want any of his team members overly exposed.
Rade dropped down to one knee and aimed out at the incoming crabs. The creepy aliens were all attached to the same tunnel wall as he was, via the hooks at the tips of their legs. Their umbilicals didn’t loop up over the carapaces this time, and were stretched out behind them, making it difficult for him to target the tethers.
“Okay,” Rade said. “Everyone, we join Harlequin on the ceiling. It’s too hard to get a bead on their umbilicals from here.”
Rade jetted to the ceiling, and those Hoplites with him joined him. Bender and Manic on the far walls also jetted upward, so that soon the entire team was concentrated on the ceiling, which formed the new floor relative to the team. Rade activated his magnetic mounts and attached.
He aimed upward at the crabs that were now on the “ceiling,” but they were so closely packed, with those in behind crawling over the umbilicals of those in front, that it was still difficult to target the cords linking them to the unseen host slug.
“If you can’t target the tethers, aim for the general location of the three hearts,” Rade said. Some of the photons from the LIDAR penetrated the translucent skin, and gave vague outlines of those large, beating hearts, but Rade knew the locations by heart anyway. He’d killed enough of these things over the years to know their anatomy down to the organ level.
“Uh, these are the big crabs,” Manic said. “As in, just as big as our mechs, if not bigger.”
“I’d hate to see daddy slug,” TJ said.
“I wanna see it!” Bender said.
“You like big schlongs, huh Bender?” Manic said.
But Bender ignored him. He was singing away, already opening fire. “Buggy Buggy Buggy, won’t you come along with me, Buggy Buggy, woo Buggy Buggy!”
Rade settled into a hollow on the tunnel “floor” underneath him, and kept his ballistic shield in place, just in case there were enemy Hoplites embedded within the crabs. He tilted the shield at an angle against his mech, for optimum protection, and then aimed over it to target the beating hearts of the incoming crabs. The creatures didn’t fall right way when one of their hearts was hit—it would slow them, but not down them outright. Rade had to fire in rapid succession to take out all three hearts to completely eliminate an enemy.
As the crabs closed, they started leaping down, crossing from the “ceiling” to the “floor” now that they were essentially right on top of the Hoplites. Rade was able to pick out some umbilicals and sever them with a well-placed shot, but most of the crabs were so closely packed that he couldn’t even target the tethers: blurs of motion sped past above him, blocking the umbilicals from view.
As the first of the crabs almost reached them, Rade switched to grenades. He didn’t have to command his team to do the same. As soon as his grenades started going off, others joined in so that crab body parts were exploding across the tunnel and filling it up—pieces of crab and rock formed a floating debris field.
“I’m taking laser fire!” TJ said. “The Hoplites are back!”
“Do we have a location?” Rade asked.
“Embedded in the seething masses!” TJ said.
“Stay low, and keep your ballistic shields deployed at an angle!” Rade ordered.
Rade glanced at his overhead map, looking for Shaw. He activated his jumpjets to reposition, wanting to stay close to her side. In mid-flight, he fired through the growing debris into the crabs; when he set down in the hollow adjacent to her own, he redeployed his ballistic shield.
The tunnel shook subtly...
“Think we got a burrower incoming,” TJ said.
Rade waited for the shaking to get stronger, but it remained subtle. That meant the burrower wasn’t going to emerge directly underneath them.
He still had his rear view cam active in the upper right of his vision, so he saw immediately when a white glow filled the tunnel behind them. A massive slug in “burrower” mode had just melted a hole through the cave at their back, emerging from the same surface Rade and the others were attached to. Its iridescent skin negated the need for LIDAR, and was so bright that Rade’s camera had to autogate down to dim the amount reaching his eyes.
“Burrower coming in from behind!” Rade said. “Concentrate fire!”
The slug turned to face the team. It nearly filled up the entire cavern. Its skin was quickly losing heat to the vacuum, now that rock wasn’t completely enveloping it, and the white hot darkened to red, then black.
Rade unleashed a barrage of grenades at the incoming slug but it was no use.
“Duck!” Rade said. “Flatten yourselves into whatever hollows you can find!”
Rade glanced at Shaw in the depression beside him to make sure she obeyed, then he dove to the bottom of his own. The slug passed right over him. Its body was bouncing between the different walls as it slithered past, not quite wide enough to fit the entire extents of the cavern.
When it had passed him entirely, Rade swung around, glanced at Shaw to confirm she was all right, and then aimed at the retreating tail section.
But the slug had phased out by that point, to sweep harmlessly over the incoming crabs. That’s when Rade realized he hadn’t yet spotted that particular slug’s own crabs. The hundreds of umbilicals trailing overhead into the tunnel section behind him hinted at what was coming…
Rade turned around in time to see the crabs. They were hurtling forward, drawn by the host slug’s momentum.
“Crabs on our six!” Rade said.
He dropped once again and fired at the crabs as they bounced past overhead. He targeted the umbilicals, severing them, so that affected crabs bobbed past lifelessly.
Some of the crabs struck him as they ripped by, and they raked their hooks over his mech and the other Hoplites nearby. When the last of the crabs had passed over, he had suffered some minor scrapes to his armor, but overall the damage proved light.
“Got laser fire coming from ahead again,” TJ said. “Forward crabs are closing once more.”
Rade rose to a crouch and spun his shield to the forward direction. He resumed firing at the incoming crabs.
He fought for some time… targeting hearts, and umbilicals whenever he had an obvious shot. There was still no sign of the host slug for this particular group: all the body parts and debris floating in the air above the crabs didn’t help in that regard. The concealing nature of that debris worked both ways, however, because it obscured the positions of Rade and his team from the enemy cobras at the same time.
The glow from the burrower’s skin was gone, forcing the team to rely entirely on LIDAR once again. The flash of detonating grenades was the only light in the darkness.
There were too many of them. The descending crabs began to overwhelm the Hoplites. Rade repeatedly bashed them away with his shield and then shot them with his cobra at point-blank range.
Shaw was faring little better in her depression beside him as crabs crowded around her, too. Rade wanted to go to her, but she could fight well enough on her own, he knew. She had trained with the best of them: him.
There were still enemy Hoplites somewhere out there, no doubt adding their own laser fire to the mix. The ever-building debris was still screening the team, though.
The proximity alert constantly sounded as crabs assaulted him from all sides. Rade fought them off as best he could, turning and bashing and firing.
Without warning Rade found himself pulled backward.