by Isaac Hooke
Rade abandoned the M117B block and scrambled backward on the cold, hard stone, still firing his blaster. The others had joined in, he knew, judging from the way the robot shook. Rade could fire much faster than they could, but conversely, his weapon was all the weaker.
That red light glowed on its head again.
But it winked out a moment later.
“Ha!” Bomb said. “I spit in your eye.”
The robot retreated under the assault, vanishing into the darkness once more.
“Where’d it go?” Bomb said.
“Shh!” Tahoe.
Rade returned to the explosive. Keeping an eye on the darkness, he holstered his blaster, picked up the block, and removed the adhesive liner so that it was ready for attachment. He held the charge in his free hand while he withdrew his blaster once more.
Rade spun, scanning the darkness all around him. Motion, and a loud footfall, drew his gaze toward the entrance.
Tahoe’s mech had stepped forward.
“Tahoe, no!” Rade said.
The mech collapsed when it passed the threshold.
The robot spider swooped down from above, hoisting the Titan upward.
Rade opened fire from his position on the cave floor.
The robot released the Titan, and the mech crashed into the rock below.
“Tahoe, what are you doing?” Rade edged toward the mech.
The spider leaped down before Rade could reach the Titan; it clamped its jaws around the middle of the mech, and shook as it took fire from the other Titans. The robot didn’t seem to care. Rade watched in horror as the metal spider pierced the cockpit area with its massive fangs and tore the mech in two.
Its back was toward him; Rade leaped toward the abdomen and attached the charge to its carapace before he bounced painfully away.
The spider turned angrily, Titan parts spilling from its fangs.
Rade clambered to his feet, but before he could move the charge detonated.
The explosion threw Rade backward. He lay there, stunned upon the hard rock. He couldn’t hear anything but a high-pitched keen. Robot pieces were spread across the floor around him, receding into the darkness past the limits of the illumination. One of those pieces must have struck him in the chest, judging from the throbbing pain he felt. He weakly explored his torso with one hand, searching for signs of shrapnel or blood, but apparently whatever had hit had been a glancing blow.
He tried to sit up, but halted at the abrupt pain in his side. He touched the thermal undergarment there, and his gloves came away wet.
There we go.
Shrapnel had torn into his ribcage.
He struggled to his feet, and soon learned that he had more shrapnel in his thigh.
The remains of the robot resided in front of him. It lay on its back. Its abdomen was smashed in. Its remaining limbs lay flat, twitching. It reminded him of a spider that someone had partially stepped on.
The Titans remained standing at the threshold, probably worried that the directed-energy EMP weapon was still active somewhere in that cavern.
Rade hurried, limping, to Tahoe’s split mech.
“Tahoe!” He knelt beside the torn cockpit. There was no sign of his friend. “Tahoe?”
“I’m okay,” Tahoe said. He stood by the entrance, wearing his jumpsuit. “I dismounted before sending it in.”
Rade slumped in relief. “Don’t do that to me, man.”
By touch, Rade searched the inside of the cave near the entrance until he found a small, metallic box. He had Tahoe toss him an M117B, and he affixed it to the unit.
He limped back outside just as it detonated.
“That should do it.”
Tahoe retrieved the medkit and treated Rade’s wounds.
“No painkillers,” Rade said. “I can’t be groggy, not now.”
“All right,” Tahoe said. “I’ve stopped the bleeding. That’s about all I can do for now.”
“I want a stimulant.”
“You got it.” Tahoe applied the sonic injector and Rade felt better immediately.
“Can someone walk in there and confirm that the EMP is down?” Rade said. “TJ?”
TJ ejected from his mech and ordered it inside.
The robot entered, raised its arms, and spun in a circle.
“Looks like we’re good to go,” TJ said. He recalled his mech and boarded.
“All right,” Rade said. “Tahoe, hitch a ride with Bomb. TJ, summon the others.”
Rade started dressing. By the time the rest of the group arrived, he was nearly finished suiting up. He swapped out his EAB for his helmet, and stowed the gear back in the storage compartment of his Titan.
Rade tried to reactivate his Implant. Surprisingly, it booted.
Guess I don’t have to rely on the internal aReal of my helmet after all.
He loaded into his Titan.
Rade noticed that Tahoe was seated in Bomb’s passenger seat area.
“Shouldn’t you be in the cockpit with Bomb?” Rade asked. “My AI told me it didn’t recommend more than twenty minutes of exposure.”
“That’s without a jumpsuit,” Tahoe said. “You’re also forgetting that you gave up one of your subdermals to Facehopper. My local AI tells me I can stay out here for eight to ten hours at these levels, if necessary. Let me fight. Let me protect Bomb’s six.”
“All right,” Rade said. “But keep an eye on radiation levels. The moment it becomes dangerous, I want you in that cockpit with Bomb.”
Manic’s Titan stood just beyond the threshold. He was staring at the damaged spider robot, and the shorted-out Centurion that lay beside it.
Luxe clambered up the rungs of Manic’s legs to get a better view. “Looks like someone had some fun.”
“I’ll say,” Manic said. He gently kicked the combat robot. “Well, at least Unit B didn’t die in vain, huh boss? Bacon saved your bacon.”
“Are you mocking my robot?” TJ said. Rade couldn’t tell if he was joking, or being serious.
“Not at all,” Manic said. “I was imparting the highest possible honor imaginable to your robot.”
“Good.”
“One thing I don’t get,” Manic said. “Why create such an elaborate deathtrap? Why not arrange a hundred laser arrays along the far walls, like Bomb suggested. Program them to fire at the same time as soon as any targets reach the center of the cavern.”
“It’s like I said,” Luxe told him. “They want to test us.”
“I don’t think so,” Fret said. “Don’t you worry, Manic, I’m sure we’ll be encountering a laser array of some kind soon enough. Especially now that we’ve lost our Centurion forward party.”
“What if the Sergeant is right?” Tahoe said. “What if it was a test? Because there are certainly far more traditional, and effective, ways of maintaining an automated choke point.”
“If there’s one thing we’ve learned about this enemy,” TJ said. “It’s that they’re anything but traditional. And remember, they like to kill as much as capture. The way this trap was set up, they could perform either with ease, though it looks like the kill option saw the most action. Besides, where’s the sport in killing with a hundred lasers? A giant robot spider crouched above an EMP? Now that’s killing with finesse. And I thought I was the artist.”
“Sounds almost like you admire them,” Bomb said.
“I kind of do,” TJ replied.
“Wait, so if it was a test,” Manic said. “Just what were the aliens testing for, precisely?”
“Probably to see if we were worthy of becoming hosts,” Luxe replied. “It looks like they’ve raised the entry requirements.”
Rade didn’t particularly like that answer. He doubted anyone else did, either.
Trace came alongside Rade’s Titan. “What now, boss?”
“We do all we can do,” Rade said. “We press on.”
twenty-six
Since he no longer had advance robots at his disposal, Rade split the Titan platoon into two squa
ds. He designated TJ as the squad leader of the forward unit, while Rade stayed with the second squad. The Marines returned to their designated spots on the mechs, and the two Titan units moved in traveling overwatch, separated by twenty meters to guard against the possibility of an ambush of the kind Manic and Bomb warned of.
The advance squad mapped the extents of the cavern and found a tunnel on the far side. Rade ordered them to proceed, and led the second squad after them. The tunnel was the tightest one yet, and could fit only one Titan abreast. The cylindrical walls were the usual glossy gray interrupted by veins of color. It felt like he was traveling inside some large, smoothbore rifle. He just hoped that rifle didn’t fire while he was still inside of it.
“I’d hate to see what kind of a laser burrowed this,” Fret said. “Can you imagine how powerful it would have to be to carve something of these dimensions?”
“It’s no laser,” Lui said. “More like some kind of advanced chemical etching. Or maybe billions of nano-machines operating in unison.”
“Quiet,” Rade said.
The two squads proceeded along the downward sloping tunnel for several minutes, until it opened into another cavern.
Two Titans from the advance squad entered first, followed by the remainder. They were still exploring the new cavern by the time Rade and squad two reached the opening.
“Detecting a thermal signature,” Bomb said. He was on point in the forward squad. “Seventy meters just ahead. It looks... humanoid. It’s hard to tell from here, but I think... I think it’s holding its arms raised above its head. Maybe in a gesture of surrender. Should I shoot it down?”
“No,” Rade said. “If there’s even a small chance that we’ve got one of them surrendering, we can’t let the opportunity pass.”
“Smells like another trap to me,” Lui said. “We just got done talking about their artistic finesse when it comes to inflicting death...”
“TJ, send two Titans forward,” Rade instructed. “The rest of you, overwatch.”
Mauler and Bomb advanced. Rade tapped into Bomb’s video feed. The display distorted every few seconds due to the interference. Mauler took the lead, his Titan crouched, the purloined weapon mount held at eye level.
Rade saw it then, at the extreme limits of the light cones of the two Titans. A figure of metal polished to a golden sheen, with long, cylindrical limbs, and spherical servomotors serving in place of joints.
“That’s close enough,” Rade said.
“It’s definitely a robot,” Bomb said. “Get this: it’s showing up as a friendly on the HUD.”
Rade glanced at his overhead map. Sure enough, a blue dot appeared where the robot stood.
“Zoom in—” Rade started, but he realized the display was already enlarging.
“Two steps ahead of you, boss,” Bomb said.
As the image became bigger, Rade began to discern the robot’s face in the dim light. Human.
One of those, is it?
The face became sharper, and more distinct, by the second. It looked like...
No, it couldn’t be.
The camera reached maximum zoom. There was no doubt who it was.
Adara.
Like the Sino-Korean visages of the robots he had seen in the nuked city, the skin of her face was pale pink in color, the hue of real flesh. That skin only contributed to the incongruous effect, making it seem like someone had glued a human face onto a robot head and body. Her expression was blank, her eyes dead, vacant.
“Bomb, pipe me in to your external speakers,” Rade said.
“Done.”
“Adara,” Rade said.
She said something in response, but Rade couldn’t hear.
“Bomb, crank up your external volume,” Rade ordered.
When Bomb had done so, Rade spoke. “Say again, Adara?”
“Petty Officer First Class Rade Galaal,” she replied. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
“What do you want?”
“I heard you would like an audience with the Sentience?” The capital S was clear from the respectful emphasis she imparted the word.
“Take us,” Rade said.
“Only one Titan may come,” Adara said. “Yours. No weapons.”
“No deal,” Rade replied. “All of us go. Or none of us.”
She cocked her head and smiled for the first time, though it did not reach her eyes. “This is not a negotiation. Come with me, or do not. The choice is yours. But if you do not, you’ll have to fight your way forward. And it is a very, very long way...”
She beckoned toward the darkness behind her. From it emerged several bioengineered creatures: seething, sickening things.
The camera jumped as Bomb physically started. He hastily raised his weapon.
“Don’t fire, Bomb,” Rade sent. “They’re not attacking. Not yet.”
Bomb didn’t reply. But he also didn’t fire.
The ranks of creatures remained in place, not advancing. But they did squirm. They looked like overgrown white larva, with nasty mandibles at the front connected to one another by slime. There were a few robotic worms among them, of the same shape and overall structure; Rade had to assume that was the result of the infamous nano-machines the aliens were so fond of, converting the larva into “hosts.” These latter worms had assumed defensive postures, folding their upper bodies to reveal funnel-shaped weapons mounted underneath. Electrolasers, Rade guessed.
“If I go with you,” Rade said. “What happens to my men?”
“They will be allowed to leave.”
“You can’t believe this bitch,” Bender said over the comm.
“Do we have much choice?” Rade said. “Do you really want to fight here, against potentially infinite foes?”
“If it means not giving you up to them, then yes. Besides, she could be bluffing.”
“What happens if they open up that rear tunnel and outflank us?” Rade said. “What then? Look, she’s offering me a chance to meet this Sentience of theirs. Maybe I can negotiate some sort of peace treaty between our races.” Or kill it, as prescribed by our mission.
“You know you don’t have that authority,” Lui said.
“But they don’t know that,” Rade responded on the encrypted comm, hoping that Adara wasn’t able to eavesdrop. “Trust me. You haven’t seen the last of me yet.”
“And if the enemy betrays those of us you leave behind?” Bender said. “And we have the fight of our lives on our hands?”
“Then you fight,” Rade said. “It’s nothing new to us. Fighting for our lives is what we do.”
Rade switched back to his own viewpoint and stepped forward. Squad one started to follow him, but he waved them down. “Stay here.”
“What are you doing, boss?” Fret said.
“What do you think I’m doing?” he answered. “I’ve made up my mind.”
Rade crossed the cavern to the forward squad, then joined Bomb and Mauler at the forefront.
“Boss,” Mauler said respectfully.
Rade handed over his pilfered weapon mount and then marched past, making his way toward Adara. He halted halfway to her.
“TJ, you’re in charge until further notice,” Rade sent.
“Boss, don’t go,” Trace said. “You’re our LPO... send someone else.”
“She specifically asked for my Titan,” Rade said. “It has to be me. They’ve always wanted me.”
“You’re not going alone,” Luxe stayed in his passenger seat.
Tahoe jetted across to him from Bomb and clung onto the shoulder rungs. “What she said. And then some.”
The other Marines with Rade dismounted. The one named Corporal Paxon remained with Luxe.
“Tahoe,” Rade said. “While the radiation is low now, if it worsens, you could suffer the same fate as Facehopper. Our jumpsuits don’t possess the same radiation protection as the Marine gear...”
“Alien-robot-with-a-woman’s-face,” Tahoe addressed Adara via his external helmet speakers. “Tell me, what’
s the radiation like where we’re going?”
“The repulsive magnetic field generated by your standard issue jumpsuit will more than suffice,” Adara said.
“There you go,” Tahoe said.
Rade almost ordered him to stay, but he knew the others would never let him go if he didn’t take at least one of them with him. And as for the two Marines hitching a ride, they probably wouldn’t take no for an answer, either. So he allowed it.
He only hoped he wasn’t bringing them to their deaths.
Rade approached Adara, halting his Titan three meters from her.
She glanced at Tahoe and the Marines clinging to Rade’s mech and raised one eyebrow. The act was strangely human. He could have almost believed she was, if not for that body, and those dead eyes.
“You said my Titan could come,” Rade told her via the external speakers. “But you didn’t say anything about the passengers.”
“As you wish.” She held out her hand. “Your weapons, please.”
“Like hell we’re giving them to you,” Tahoe said. “Boss, take us back for a bit.”
Rade retreated several steps so that Tahoe, Luxe and Paxon could toss their weapons to the Marines hanging from the Titans of Bomb and Mauler nearby.
Adara raised her voice: “And the blaster you carry at your waist, Petty Officer First Class Rade Galaal?”
Rade opened up his Titan, slid the blaster from its holster at his belt, and tossed it toward Bomb. A Marine caught it.
“Your storage compartment, too...” Adara said.
Rade emptied the compartment of weapons, then sealed up the mech and marched to Adara once more. She asked him to open the compartment, and when she was satisfied that he had no weapons hidden there, she led him toward the solid mass of worms and robots.
When she neared, the enemy ranks parted to let her pass.
“Stay close,” she said. “Do not lag behind farther than three meters.”
Rade obeyed, walking his Titan between those living walls. The creatures snapped at the air and hissed at his Titan and passengers, while the robot worms tracked him with their electrolasers.
Those ranks continued for some time. Adara hadn’t been bluffing.
She led him to a wide side tunnel. She stepped inside, passing more of the worms, which slithered aside to make room for her and the Titan.