Quantum Predation (Argonauts Book 4)

by Isaac Hooke

  “Shaw’s right,” Tahoe said. “For the preservation of humanity, I say we go.”

  “All right,” Rade said. “Kato, Batindo, we’ve done all we can for you. I suggest you make your way to the hangar bay area and find a shuttle. Reach the Argonaut. Once we’re done here, we can offer you a trip to the nearest system, Kato.”

  Assuming we survive what’s coming.

  Shaw knelt, allowing Batindo down from her passenger seat. Bender did the same for Kato.

  “Thank you for all you have done,” Kato said.

  “What about our pay?” Bender said. His Hoplite, Juggernaut, gazed down at Batindo.

  “Batindo, I’ll expect you to wire us the agreed upon funds at your convenience,” Rade said. “Trust me, you don’t want us to send our debt collectors.”

  “I will wire them ASAP,” Batindo said. “But I am going to reduce the agreed upon amount by ten thousand digicoins, since you didn’t deposit me directly in the hangar bay.”

  “What?” Bender stepped Juggernaut forward. Batindo raised his hands over his head, cowering. “You little bitch! I should squash you where you stand!”

  “The streets are clear,” Rade told Batindo. “Or they will be. Hunker down here for half an hour, and then make a run for it. Besides, it’s not like we’re leaving you undefended... you both have plasma rifles.”

  Batindo didn’t answer: he continued to stare at Juggernaut worriedly.

  “Don’t worry, Bender, he’ll pay the full amount.” Rade said. “Isn’t that right, Batindo?” When the man still didn’t reply, Rade added: “Or do I have to sick Bender on you? Batindo?”

  “What?” Batindo said. “No! I will pay.”

  “The full amount?” Rade pressed.

  “Yes yes.”

  “Good.” Rade cast an urgent glance back across the streets in the distance below. There weren’t many pods left. “As for the rest of you, I can’t make any of you come on this mission. Those who want to opt out, head to the booster rockets and return to the Argonaut. We’ll rendezvous with you when we can.”

  Rade dashed forward, heading toward one of the pods that had yet to lift off. Unsurprisingly, nearly everyone followed him. All save Fret.

  “Shit,” Fret said. “I hate it when you all guilt-trip me like this. Wait up!”

  Fret ran after them.

  “Split up,” Rade said. “I have a feeling if we all hang on to the same pod, it’ll have some trouble reaching orbit. Hoplites aren’t light. There are two more pods to the east and west.”

  Rade had some misgivings about splitting up the group, but it seemed the best option at the moment. It would give them a lower profile on the pods as well, which might help them evade the notice of any point defenses the mothership might have.

  The group divided into three fire teams.

  Rade continued bounding between buildings and leaped down onto the target pod just as the last of the spiders dove inside. The panel shut.

  Rade activated his magnetic mounts. He didn’t attach.

  “Magnetic mounts aren’t working,” Rade announced.

  He wrapped his hands around various handles that conveniently protruded from the surface. Shaw, Surus and Manic joined him as the pod began to vibrate. It tore free of the street and thrust skyward. Rade tightened his grip as the ground fell away.

  The two other pods lifted nearby. Most of the remaining Argonauts had clambered onto either one. TJ and Bender jetted into the air just as the last one rose, and barely managed to grab on in time.

  Fret was lagging, firing his jumpjets to follow Bender. It looked like he wasn’t going to make it. He outstretched his arm...

  TJ extended the hand of his mech to grab him, but the Hoplite was just out of reach.

  Fret’s jumpjets ceased firing, their propellant exhausted, and he plunged back toward the city.

  “Get to the booster rockets and return to the Argonaut,” Rade transmitted to Fret. “We’ll meet you aboard the ship when we get back. Bring Kato and Batindo with you. Help them find a shuttle.”

  “Ha! You get to babysit the civilians!” Bender said. “You snooze you lose! By the way, looks like it’s gonna be a hard landing, bitch. Hope you wore your diapers!”

  “I still got some reserve fuel for the aerospike thrusters,” Fret said as he dropped. “Won’t be so hard. Have fun on that ship. Wish I could say I’m upset I’m not going with you. But actually, I’m kind of relieved.”

  “That’s because you’re a pussy,” Bender said.

  “Hey, you’re the Pussywillow,” Fret countered.

  The pod broke through the glass, and the ground below continued to recede, the geodesic domes becoming small circular shapes on the surface.

  Rade turned his gaze toward the alien ship. It filled much of the sky, an imposing, massive thing. He wasn’t looking forward to going inside.

  He saw that the mercenary ships were indeed engaged with the enemy. They were performing flybys, launching a barrage of missiles each time, and firing their Viper heavy lasers. The vessel returned fire with lasers of its own, and one of the mercenary ships had an entire wing segment cut off as Rade watched.

  Even so, the mercenaries seemed to be winning, because the alien vessel was slowly ascending, pulling away from the planet. Then again, maybe the aliens had merely finished what they had come to do—drain away the planet’s atmosphere entirely, and ravage the colony. Or perhaps the ship wasn’t moving at all—it was hard to tell, given the acceleration of the pods.

  “Lui, is it just an optical illusion, or is that alien ship actually retreating?” Rade asked.

  “According to my calculations, it is in fact retreating,” Lui replied. “Though not fast enough to prevent the pods from docking.”

  In moments the elongated black diamond of the alien vessel consumed everything. The pods headed toward the bulging area at the middle, where those long launch tubes protruded in ray-like fashion.

  “How many alien ships have we boarded in our day?” Tahoe asked.

  “Too many,” Manic said.

  “I’m just trying to say,” Tahoe transmitted. “That we can do this.”

  “Hope so,” TJ said.

  Bender was noticeably silent.

  Rade’s particular pod headed toward the tip of one of the launch tubes. The pods containing the other Argonauts made for the adjacent launch tubes.

  In moments the tube engulfed Rade, and he found himself inside a tight cylindrical compartment interrupted by ring-like protrusions. Those rings appeared to be some sort of stabilizers, because they kept the pod centered in the middle of the tube. Rade had to flatten himself to avoid having any part of his mech strike those rings.

  The pod reached a dead end; behind Rade, a hatch irised closed.

  “Airlock,” Shaw said.

  Thick red mist filled the chamber.

  “Definitely some kind of atmosphere...” Surus said.

  The inner hatch opened.

  “Into the belly of the beast,” Manic said.

  The pod proceeded inside.

  twenty-two

  Artificial gravity drew the craft downward into a narrow compartment, and it fell toward a conveyor belt of some kind.

  Rade was located on the underside of the pod; he swung himself outward and jetted higher so that he wasn’t crushed. He grabbed on to a handhold beside Shaw’s mech, his fingers clanging against the material as the pod thudded onto the conveyor. The sudden return of sound seemed almost out of place—after all this time operating in the silence of the void, it was truly a change to reside within an atmosphere again.

  “Howdy,” Shaw said.

  “Hey,” Rade replied.

  The craft was carried forward; thin, neon-blue glow bars were embedded in the round bulkheads on either flank, shining through the red atmosphere to outline the metal, highlighting individual panels and providing enough illumination to see by. Between those glow bars, the surfaces of the bulkheads and overhead were covered in small, regular hollows, of the kin
d big spiders might use to secure grips with their forelimbs.

  Two other troop pods resided on the conveyor belt in front of Rade, the nearer about twenty to fifty meters ahead, the farther a hundred meters. Those had docked only minutes before, and were not the same pods the Hoplites of the other two fire teams had latched onto.

  “I’m sensing the Phant once more,” Surus announced. “He’s definitely somewhere aboard this ship.”

  “It’s going to be fun trying to find him in this massive monolith of a ship,” Manic said.

  After the conveyor brought the craft forward by twenty meters, the receding hatch opened behind them and another pod dropped inside. Again, that pod didn’t contain any Hoplites from the remaining two fire teams.

  Rade glanced at the overhead map. The other Argonauts had likewise boarded, and appeared to reside within similar conveyor belt compartments nearby. The comm nodes within their Hoplites would ensure they remained in contact, at least while the teams weren’t too far apart. It was hard to say how much the interference the alien bulkheads would cause.

  “Fire teams two and three, I can still read you,” Rade sent.

  “Yes,” Lui said from his position. “These bulkheads aren’t completely blocking our signals. Though we probably don’t want to move too far apart.”

  “My team is on some sort of conveyor belt at the moment,” Tahoe said.

  “We all are,” Rade said.

  “We could attach to the ceiling, and hide here until the aliens exit their pods?” Manic said. “Well, assuming the ceiling is magnetic, I mean.”

  “No,” Rade said. “There’s no hiding. The enemy knows we’re here, I’m sure. I expect the welcoming party will be forthcoming. In fact, they’d probably be here now if they were able to teleport into this cramped area.”

  Rade swiveled his shield toward the forward section; up ahead, on the right side, the tunnel opened into a long platform next to the conveyor belt. Rade scanned the area through the scope of his cobra.

  The conveyor belt ground to a halt. The lead pod was closest to the platform; a panel opened with a thud, and the spiders emerged, leaping onto the flat area. He heard the disturbing rattle of their feet on the metallic surface, thanks to the atmosphere.

  A quarter of the way across the platform, the aliens paused as if receiving some instructions, then turned the laser turrets on their abdomens as one toward Rade and the others.

  “We’re taking laser fire,” Electron said. “The shield is holding.”

  The enemy turrets made an audible clicking sound as they cycled through their lasers.

  “Looks like the gig is up, folks.” Rade centered his targeting reticle over one of the tangos and squeezed. The spider dropped.

  Rade heard more thuds from the forward and backward areas.

  “The other pods are opening up,” Shaw said.

  “I got the rear.” Manic repositioned his mech just behind Rade, covering his back.

  On the overhead map, Rade saw red dots appear as bugs emerged from the pod behind them.

  The closer pod ahead had opened as well, and a few spiders emerged, firing. None teleported—the conveyor tunnel was too cramped.

  Rade remained in cover behind his shield and targeted the enemy units, bringing them down as they emerged.

  The panel at the fore of the current pod opened. A spider leaped out right in front of Rade. Shaw and Surus executed it at point blank range, and it crashed down onto the craft and slid over the side, landing on the still motionless conveyor. The other bugs in the craft wisely remained inside, only occasionally lifting their turrets past the rim to fire at the party.

  Rade continued to unleash his cobra at the more distant bugs on the platform; most of them had taken cover behind the bulkhead where the tunnel opened up, and dug in.

  During the melee, the cockpit hatch of Surus’ mech fell open and Surus leaped down.

  “What’s up?” Rade asked.

  “Nothing,” Surus replied. The tone was subtly different, and Rade realized Ms. Bounty was speaking. “My master wants to be freed. It’s faster if I exit the Hoplite.”

  “But more dangerous to you!” Rade said.

  Though he had to admit her Hoplite, Sprint, was doing a good job of shielding her.

  At the periphery of his vision, Rade saw the green liquid flow from her jumpsuit and onto the pod. The liquid form meant the pressure was too high for the Phant to attain its gaseous state.

  When Surus was out, the host, Ms. Bounty, leaped back into the cockpit and shut the hatch, resuming control of the mech. Meanwhile, Surus oozed forward and dripped inside the opening in the pod. Rade heard terrified squeals—he knew that shortly there would be nothing left alive in there. He saw a plume of black smoke emerge from the open panel—all that was left of the former occupants.

  The Green emerged and continued toward the next pod, its liquid flowing ominously across the conveyor belt.

  “Ms. Bounty, confirm it’s clear,” Rade said.

  She low-crawled forward in Sprint, and shoved her cobra into the opening. “Clear.”

  “Just landed a grenade inside the rear pod,” Manic said. “Let’s see if that gets them out.”

  Rade heard an explosion behind him. Squeals followed. He glanced in his rear view mirror and saw a bug emerge. Manic shot it, then launched another grenade.

  Several more bugs piled outside, some of them on fire.

  Rade swiveled his torso around to help Manic bring them down. The grenade detonated inside the pod an instant later, sending up fragments.

  “I’m going to clear it,” Manic said. “Cover me.”

  While the others lay down suppressive fire, Manic leaped down onto the conveyor belt and approached the rear pod. He carefully clambered onto the large cylindrical object and stuffed his cobra inside.

  “Looks clear,” Manic said.

  An alien had peered past the edge of the platform ahead, apparently seeing an easy target in Manic. Rade centered his crosshairs over the thing and fired. The bug slumped, plunging lifelessly over the edge of the platform and onto the conveyor belt.

  Surus emerged from the second pod and approached the platform, where the remaining spiders were dug in.

  “We’re going to have to rush them,” Manic said, rejoining him.

  “Or we can let Surus work,” Rade said.

  “I vote for the latter,” Shaw said.

  Rade and the others waited another minute. Several more shrieks filled the air, followed by the frantic clicking of turrets.

  And then silence. The Green Phant oozed into view near the edge of the platform.

  “Let’s move!” Rade said. “We clear the next two pods! Not that we don’t trust Surus, or anything...”

  “Of course,” Ms. Bounty said.

  Rade approached the nearer of the two pods ahead, clambered onto the hull, and slowly approached the open panel. He shoved his cobra inside and switched to its point of view. He saw a featureless cylindrical tunnel, the smooth walls completely devoid of fixtures. Or life: all the bugs had been burned away by Surus.

  Manic moved ahead to the final pod, and pronounced it clear.

  Beyond that last alien pod, the tunnel continued forward before making a sweep to the left, likely ending in some common pod refueling or maintenance area.

  Rade and the others pulled themselves onto the platform and then swept the boxlike compartment. Alcoves resided in the corners, but they were empty. All of the bugs had been incinerated, including those Rade had downed on his own, thanks to Surus. The bulkheads continued to be outlined in those eerie neon-blue bars, the light beams piercing the red-hued atmosphere.

  “Does anyone else feel like they’re in a flesh parlor?” Manic said.

  “No, just you,” Shaw said.

  “Definitely has a red light district sort of feel,” Rade said. “Not that I would know anything about that,” he quickly added.

  “Oh sure,” Shaw said.

  Ms. Bounty vacated her mech and approac
hed Surus, whose liquid form waited calmly near the center of the platform.

  “Before you let her back inside you, is there anything we should know about Surus?” Rade said. “Can we trust her?”

  “Fully,” Ms. Bounty said.

  She allowed Surus to begin flowing inside her jumpsuit once more.

  “That was a bit abrupt,” Manic said over a private line, excluding Surus. “Do you believe her?”

  “I do, for the moment,” Rade said. “She hasn’t let us down so far.”

  “But other Greens have,” Shaw said.

  “We can’t assume the actions of one are representative of the whole kind,” Rade said.

  The last portion of the Phant vanished inside the suit, and Surus leaped back into her Hoplite.

  “Welcome back, Surus,” Manic said over the main line once more, the former doubt in his tone hidden by what seemed forced cheer. “Feel better now?”

  “Actually, I do,” Surus replied.

  “Incinerating bugs,” Manic said. “Nothing quite like it, is there?”

  “I suppose so,” Surus said.

  “We’ll make an Argonaut out of you, yet,” Manic said.

  “I hope not,” she replied.

  A sloping ramp led to a sealed hatch. Rade suspected the group would have to place a few explosives to get through. Either that, or retrieve their plasma rifles from the storage compartments and use them as drills, because he highly doubted the aliens were going to willingly let them inside.

  “We have our platform secured,” Rade transmitted. “What’s your status, teams two and three?”

  “Just finished clearing ours,” Lui said. “The tangos were dug in good. We had to rush them.”

  “Almost done here,” Tahoe replied.

  Rade approached the sealed hatch. He opened his cockpit and used the rungs on the mech to clamber down to the storage compartment in the leg. He opened it and retrieved several bricks.

  He clambered back onto the open cockpit, and leaned out to affix the bricks to the alien hatch. Then he sealed the mech and resumed control.

  He retreated with the party to the edge of the platform, then they assumed defensive positions down on one knee.