Nanotroopers Episode 11: Engebbe

by Philip Bosshardt

  Winger had already decided. “I’m going after ANAD.”

  “Into China? Skipper, that’s—“

  Winger held up a hand. “I know all about the rules, Buddha. But I can’t leave him behind.”

  D’Nunzio said, “He’s a bot, Skipper. Advanced, fabulous capabilities and all that, but he’s a bot. He can be regenerated. You…we can’t do this.”

  Winger cut her off. “There’s only one question now, Deeno. Who else is coming along? We’ve got a lifter. We’ve got weapons. We’ve still got small swarms we can deploy. I’m going after ANAD…it’s the right thing to do.”

  One after another, D’Nunzio, Reaves, Nguyen and M’Bela raised their hands. Reaves spoke for the rest of the Detachment.

  “We’re going too, Lieutenant. We’re all in this together.”

  Alpha Detachment began to gather their equipment and stow it back in the rail car. Half an hour later, they had driven the car back up its rusting tracks all the way to the mine entrance.

  The black hull of the lifter was covered with a light dusting of snow, but the ship was soon powered up and ready to go.

  The Detachment loaded the rest of their gear and boarded, taking positions in the cockpit and cabin.

  They lifted off in a swirl of snow and dust and turned north. Heading zero one five degrees. A nap-of-the-earth flight profile…north into Indian Country. Tibet. The Peoples Republic of China.

  By Johnny Winger’s figuring, the Detachment had an hour to the border and perhaps another hour to Paryang Valley.

  Somewhere in that time, they would have to figure out how to locate and extract the ANAD master…a target all of sixty nanometers in height, lost in an underground cavern a hundred meters below an abandoned Buddhist monastery in the brow of a rugged valley carved out of the high desert of the Tibetan plateau.. Surrounded by defensive swarms, a quantum Sphere and probably hundreds of Red Hammer troops and technicians.

  Winger was content to let Witchy M’bela pilot the lifter. He closed his eyes and a memory came back of a time when he and Archie Hester had been lost in a cave out back of Dorado Canyon, lost for hours with no idea where they were or how to get out. Only in his mind’s eye, the face he saw wasn’t really that of Archie Hester at all.

  It was ANAD.

  Chapter 4

  “Quantum Shadow - Bravo Detachment”

  Engebbe, Kenya

  January 23, 2049

  1130 hours

  The lifters crossed the Great Rift Valley, and began their descent across vast acacia woodlands and open grassland, thick with galloping herds of wildebeest and zebra. Through light chop surrounding the twin summits of Mawenzi and Kibo, the formation settled onto a dusty plateau rimmed with massive outcrops of rock, hillocks of lava known as kopjes, in the local dialect. As the lifters touched down, a few hyrax and a solitary leopard scuttled away into the grass.

  "Welcome back to Engebbe Valley, Lieutenant," said Major Dikesi to Dana Tallant. The Kenyan officer ordered his detail of soldiers to dismount and form up a perimeter around the dig site. "The birthplace of Man--" the Major proudly announced.

  Engebbe was a dry, sere wasteland of ash fall and rock, desiccated as the bones that often turned up on its pockmarked ground. The Valley itself was little more than a wide spot in the meandering streambed of the Engebbe River, a waterway in name only for most of the year. As Tallant stepped out onto the hardpan of the ravine, she saw only a sinuous ribbon of slightly damp soil marking the outlines of the river's course.

  The dig site itself was situated on a sloping shelf of rock and solidified ash north of the riverbed, surrounded by rugged slopes of rock and crushed ash heaps. Roughly trapezoidal in layout, the dig site was a series of concentric trenches circling the outer, surface-level perimeter of a vast pit. Each trench was meticulously laid with grid lines of laser lights and rows of mobile mirrors and flood lamps arrayed in and among the grid lines. The entire pit bottomed out some thirty-five meters below the top surface of the ledge.

  Just upstream of the dig, a small gathering of huts and trailers had grown up, given the name of Camp Matterhorn. Above the camp, a sheer cliff rose in a near vertical escarpment to a patch of level ground overhanging the valley. In the middle of this ground, the ruins of an old Arab trading fort, known locally as El Mareb, lay in piles of stone and broken wall. The riverbed coursed and undulated downstream to the southeast. Some kilometers away, a turnoff from the Nairobi Highway led to a small village called Longido, the closest thing resembling a town. The border with Tanzania was less than four kilometers north of the dig itself.

  While the lifters were being unloaded and a secure post set up by the Detachment a few hundred meters from Camp Matterhorn, Dikesi and Tallant picked their way along the streambed toward the edge of the dig. Sanders Leonard came up to greet them.

  Leonard was the dig leader. “I see the Major has already given you the tour. It’s not every day we have such distinguished and—“ he eyed the HERF weapons being offloaded by troopers Grant and M’wale “—well-armed visitors. To what do we owe the pleasure, Lieutenant?”

  Tallant had already checked out Leonard’s bonafides with Q2, the moment she spied him across the excavation pit. The word came back from Q2: probable Red Hammer…approach with caution.

  “Professor, we’re just here to conduct a little recon…there’ve been reports of illegal nanobotic activity in the area and Major Dikesi and the Kenyan government asked for our help.” A little truth couldn’t hurt, she told herself. “We’ll be bivouacking near here, in fact right at the foot of that mountain with the fort. Just a little surveillance, that’s all.”

  Leonard frowned, thinking. “I’m sure we’ve complied with all Bioshield regulations, Lieutenant. We’re just looking for old bones around here.” The way he said it meant something like: what could be more harmless than old bones?

  Tallant wandered around the edge of the excavation, noting the powerful lights and laser grid lines marking off the levels of the dig. “This is the site that Dr. Volk found those ancient robotic remains, isn’t it?”

  Leonard didn’t know whether to be proud or wary. Maybe a little of both. “It is. Micro-robotic devices of some kind. We’re studying them, right over there—“ He indicated a small gathering of tents and tables, shielded with a canvas top hanging from rickety poles. The canvas flapped in the gathering breeze.

  “I’d like to learn more about that,” Tallant said, truthfully.

  Leonard nodded. “Sure. Stop by our exam tables some time and we’ll show you what we’re finding lately. It’s really quite interesting.”

  Tallant had a gut feeling that she ought to take Leonard up on his offer. “Could I see your findings right now, Doctor? It might help me get a better feel for what you’re doing. If we know what’s normal activity around here, my Detachment will able to spot abnormal activity more quickly.”

  Leonard frowned at that but said only, “Surely. Just follow me—“

  On their way to the tent compound, a tall black man with a gray beard came up to speak with Leonard. His name was Obora. Tallant learned he was from the Ministry of Antiquities.

  “Come right away to the tent, Doctor…you’ve got to see this. We found more pieces yesterday afternoon…one of Leaduma’s people found them…just the most amazing pieces--”

  Leonard and Tallant went immediately to the dig site tent. Looking under the ultrascope, the two archeologists threw out theories and ideas…more robotic elements…that could be another effector…this could be some kind of propulsor, maybe a piece of limb…what could this be?

  Both spent several hours poring over the new finds, explaining their theories to Tallant, ignoring the calls to dinner and huddling over the latest discoveries well into the night. By the time Leonard pronounced himself satisfied, they had categorized the pieces and examined them fully, so the two men called a halt to the evening.

  “Dr. Leonard,” Obor
a said, “there may indeed be live microbots buried deeper in the pit…we have to be careful with this…observe all safety protocols. I don’t want to inadvertently activate something we can’t control.”

  Leonard wiped down grime and sweat from his sunburned face. “Oh, I don’t think we have to worry about that. Whatever’s down there has been down there for a few billion years. Highly unlikely anything would be functioning after that long.”

  “None the less,” Obora said, “the Ministry won’t approve any further excavation until more controls are in place.”

  Dana Tallant had long since excused herself from the tent and headed off to Bravo Detachment’s own bivouac a half kilometer away. She immediately huddled with Ozzie Tsukota, Bravo’s CQE.

  “Q2 says Sanders Leonard has known and provable connections with a Red Hammer cell in Belgium. I’ve been given orders to keep him under surveillance. Oz, I want to plant a TinyEye on the guy. Can you get the bot set up for me and we’ll work out a plan to place it on him somehow?”

  Tsukota rubbed at some chin stubble, thinking. “If he’s Red Hammer, he may have a halo. TinyEye might wind up in a real furball of a fight. I’ll have to hack out some defenses for the bot or it’ll never last.”

  “Do that, Ozzie,” Tallant ordered. “Maybe we can do the placement when Leonard sleeps…if he ever sleeps.”

  Grant, the Detachment’s DPS 1, poked his head into the tent. “Sorry, Lieutenant, but I thought you’d want to know…that Leonard guy just left his own tent…looks like he’s heading for the excavation—“

  Tallant stood up abruptly. “Get on it now, Ozzie. Soon as Leonard hits the sack, we’ll do a covert placement of TinyEye. After that, the bugger won’t be able to fart without us knowing about it.”

  Tallant left with Grant. The two of them soon spotted the archeologist striding purposefully through scattered piles of equipment toward the pit. They hung back, then followed at a discreet distance. It was dark away from the lampstands but knots of people clustered randomly about the campsite. There were arguments, laughter, gesturing and even some singing. One trio of diggers staggered off toward a line of bushes, joking with each other, clearly hammered and about to keel over.

  Tallant and Grant used the commotion to move closer but maintained a few dozen meters gap between themselves and Leonard. He was clearly heading out of the camp, toward the excavation pit itself, several hundred meters to the north.

  “I’m exhausted,” Dr. Obora had admitted to Leonard in the examining tent, a few minutes before. Leonard was a short, stocky red-haired Englishman, with sunburned cheeks and freckles; Obora was taller, gray stubble lining his face, with deep, blazing eyes and arms that flapped like a bird. “Why don’t we grab a bite from the mess tent…maybe Ndaba’s left a few scraps for us.”

  Leonard demurred. “I’ll be along. I want to go back down to the pit. Just to check the layout…there’s something I’m missing, some piece of context. Maybe it’ll come to me.”

  Obora was already headed out. “Suit yourself. Me… I’m famished. See you later for drinks by the river.” That was a standing joke, to call Engebbe’s pitiful little streambed a mighty river. He disappeared through the tent flaps and was gone, heading across the open ground to the mess tent on the other side of the compound.

  Leonard had lit up a pipe and wandered out to the excavation pit. It was a short ten minute walk, through scraggly acacia bushes to the sloping edge of the dig. The sun had gone down hours ago, but a twilight glow still permeated the site, refracted through a haze of ever-present dust from the pit. Leonard stopped at one corner of the trapezoid, checking the alignment of the laser grid. It seemed okay. Then he spotted a man crouching on the opposite slope, right on the edge of the pit.

  He didn’t notice Tallant and Grant hovering just out of the light cone of a nearby floodlamp pole.

  The man Leonard had spotted was Lekati Leaduma, their dig leader. The Maasai laibon had laid out a blue cloth on the dirt, and surrounded himself with a variety of paraphernalia.

  Leonard hung back by a light pole, in the shadows. Leaduma was focused on his work, unaware that others hovered a few meters away.

  “Tell me truths, not lies…” Leaduma was mumbling. He cast stones from his nkidong gourd, thirty two in all, tumbling out onto the blue cloth.

  “—tell me what is to happen…truth, not lies….” He threw nine stones, then re-adjusted a tying amulet around the tumbled stones. The amulet consisted of two cowry shells with assorted black and white rocks, forming semi-circles around the edges of the blue cloth.

  “Is this ground cursed…I ask you this now….” Leaduma shook the gourd vigorously, then let it spill more items, a bullet, a hyena’s tooth, some clear crystals.

  Leonard was about to step into the light, when something over the center of the pit caught his eye. The dust haze had grown thicker as the sunlight failed. There was a reddish tint to the haze and it coiled and boiled like a miniature thunderstorm. Pinpricks of light shot through the haze…what was this?

  Leonard stared at the gathering cloud. It crept toward them like a silent thunderstorm, backlit from within by flashes and speckles of light. Even as he watched, the cloud had swollen and spilled up out of the pit, advancing on their position, a flickering ground fog with faint whispers on the breeze, hushed voices barely audible. Leaduma shifted uneasily. Leonard stayed where he was.

  Tallant knew right away what they were looking at. “Botswarm,” she whispered to Grant. “Get your weapon ready, Corporal.” Grant unholstered his magpistol and clicked the setting to fifty percent.

  “Who did this thing…tell the truth, no lies—“ Leaduma was crouching, gathering items from a necklace of leather amulets hung from his neck. He threw five stones.

  The fog thickened and billowed, but Leaduma didn’t move, though he was visibly shaken. Leonard stepped back deeper into the shadows, letting the fog curl around his feet and legs. There was a definite pressure there, and a high keening buzz.

  Locusts, Leonard had decided. Flies. He backed away.

  Leaduma was now completely enveloped in the fog. Only the shadow of his form could be seen, backlit from the light poles blazing down into the excavation.

  “I am protecting this ground…you see that, don’t you? You can’t hurt this ground…go back…go back where you came from and hurt others—“ He poured out the contents of another amulet, a piece of lion’s skin, more black and white stones, tiger cowry shells sealed with tree gum.

  Leonard decided it would be best if they both retreated into the tents, where netting could protect them from the locusts. But he couldn’t move his legs. He was stuck…as if anchored to the dirt. He squatted down, stuck his hand in the swirling fog and immediately yanked it out…Ow!...something had stung him. Now, his feet hurt…he was losing his balance…he saw Leaduma leaning, wobbling, keeling over onto the ground…Leonard dropped to a knee and was pulled, sucked down to the dirt and was on his side, flailing…swatting…lashing out…trying to fight it off…but he couldn’t breathe…the red haze…like a cloak smothering him…couldn’t…get a…couldn’t…and then …and then it came. A snap flash, like a camera going off. An image of geometric forms—icosahedrons, polygons, trapezoids—all compressed into a tunnel, a long curving corridor and he found himself hurtling at breakneck speed down this corridor, until—

  Sanders Leonard never saw the two nanotroopers springing out of the bushes, weapons drawn, firing short blasts at the oncoming swarm….

  Chapter 5

  “Quantum Shadow – Alpha Down”

  Somewhere in Tibet

  January 23, 2049

  0815 hours

  “Contacts, Skipper…multiple aerial contacts!”

  Johnny Winger shook himself out his dream and squinted at the lifter instruments. “What bearing? How many?”

  Sheila Reaves pointed to the display. “All around us…closing fast…could be drones. Or smal
l aircraft.”

  Winger looked out the windscreen of the lifter. The sun was a pale daub rolling around the mountain valleys on the horizon. He knew the lifter didn’t mount much in the way of defenses…just a few beam weapons was all.

  “Get the disrupters primed…I’m betting these are Chinese…Peoples Liberation Army killdrones.”

  Moments later, as the lifter banked and soared over mountain tops following its nap-of-the-earth profile, the sky was filled with small objects, objects that swooped and dove at them from every angle. Objects that looked initially like birds, until one of them unleashed its own weapons.

  The beam struck the lifter starboard side, near her nose, a blinding flash-zap! followed by some audible creaking and whistling as the lifter’s hull had been breached. Straight away, M’Bela reported problems.

  “I’ve lost pitch, Skipper! Must have slammed my rudders too. I’m banking now—“ The lifter careened sideways, wobbling, sideslipping through the air. They dropped ever closer to the ground, just in time to spy a large range of snow-covered peaks dead ahead. At this altitude, there was no way the lifter would clear them.

  “Deeno, get those disrupters—“

  “Primed and ready, Skipper!” D’Nunzio came back. She twisted the joystick around, trying to get a bead on a flock of nearby drones. One came slashing right over top of the lifter. Close up, it did resemble a black eagle, its quadjets pulsing differentially to spin it around for another pass. Seconds later, more drones flashed by and they were soon engulfed in the middle of the flock.

  M’Bela had put them down on the deck, screaming over sere and barren ground a several hundred knots. “I can’t get go any lower or we’ll—“

  At that moment, the entire cabin lit up with intense white-yellow light. Part of the portside hull gave way, peeling off like a banana skin and the ship slewed hard left, then dove toward the ground.

  Winger and the rest of the Detachment were thrown violently about as M’Bela fought the controls. Scant seconds before the lifter would have slammed into the side of a mountain, he managed to pancake them onto the desert floor, the lifter hopping and cartwheeling and sliding like a huge discus as it gouged out a furrow several thousand meters long. The ship spun, lifted onto its portside skids, then slammed back to the ground and skidded to a grinding, screeching stop. Dust and snow swirled through the jagged hull breaches as groans and coughs filled the cabin.