Harry paid the points and summoned the hive after toggling everything he wanted from it. He took the time to grab a flash bang out of the quartermaster program. He might as well buy time for his hive to help him out.
“You should be working on your legs,” said Nick. “What are you doing?”
“I’m buying myself some cover if you don’t mind,” said Harry. He emptied the pistol down the hall. Nine mill didn’t do more than act as a distraction, but the hovering drone followed with beams of light burning anything they touched.
He picked up the flash bang. He armed it with a push of the button at the top of the stick. He threw it through the glowing ring hovering in the air.
“Caleb Hame says hi!,” he shouted.
The sound of the grenade going off reached him, but he didn’t care. He had to throw his other weapon across before any of the monsters realized what he was doing. He picked up the ball that formed the outer shell of the package and threw that across the boundary.
He needed to do one more thing but he didn’t have the points for it yet.
Points started rolling in.
“What did you do, Harry?,” asked Nick.
“I’m farming,” Harry said. He bought a couple of stimulants and jabbed the
dispensers in his legs. That should keep him moving for the necessary time. Points were rolling in, but the area around him seemed clear. His strategy of clearing the other side of the gate seemed to be working for the moment.
The xenos probably got attacked on their home ground all the time. A hive producing one robotic bee every forty seconds should not be that much of a challenge to them. He expected to lose contact with the small factory at any second. He had to get mobile before that happened.
He bought the artificial legs. He checked out the instructions that came with the limbs, and the various instruments he needed to use to apply them to his stumps. He really needed another pair of hands for this.
“The first thing we need is the green goop,” said Nick. “You’re going to have to apply that to the first stump. Once we have one clamper installed, we can do the other. This should be a snap.”
Nick walked him through the procedure. He grimaced at the application of the drugs, the ointments, and then the artificial calves fitting over his stumps. He gritted his teeth at the searing pain from the first prosthetic joining to his flesh, knowing the pain would be repeated when he finished the second operation.
Harry worked his way through the second leg. He wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand. He took a moment to stare at his new feet. They only had four toes apiece.
“I lost my pinkie toes,” Harry complained.
“Does that really matter right now?,” said Nick. “I think you should get up and move from this position. You’re right next to the gate. If there is a surge, you will be overrun.”
“How long will this gate stay open?,” asked Harry. He didn’t feel like moving even with the drugs pumping through his system.
“I don’t know,” said Nick. “They control the gate from their side of the equation.”
“That’s okay,” said Harry. “The radio equipment catalogue unlocked for me. Let me do something, and we will see about getting out of here. Luckily most of the xenos are trying to eat the other people in the building instead of coming back here.”
“I think we should try to do something about that,” said Nick.
“I am,” said Harry. “First, I need to figure out how to walk again. Especially since I only have eight toes now. Then I need to rearm myself. Then I need to figure out what I need to buy to find the rest of the xenos who made it out of here before I could kill them.”
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“Forget about the toes,” said Nick. “You will be able to get new legs if you make enough points. Let’s start by getting a mana sensor. That will help locate the enemy.”
“You know of a way to shut the gate down?,” asked Harry. He flipped through his catalogues until he found a small handheld sensor. He bought that and turned it on.
A clump of red dots were fleeing away from where he was on the screen. He saw movement further away. It looked like he was in the clear unless the gate spat out more enemies.
He flipped through the catalogues again and saw a brain enhancer he could plug in when he wasn’t worried about being eaten. He put that aside for something to buy in the future. Instead he decided he needed to keep the other side too busy to come to his side of the line. And he wanted to know where that side actually was so he could arrange a visit.
It wouldn’t be his first time dropping in and setting things on fire.
He summoned a wand to hand. It came with a box. He activated the box and the antenna told him where it was.
He flung the antenna across the border of the gate. He checked the screen on the new box. He blinked at the distance marked on the screen. He put the box in his pants. He could check it later.
Now that he had a target, he wanted a battleship to get there.
He decided that he could send a couple of hives over, and maybe a mobile tank to keep the area around the gate clear. Then he could set up a hive on this side to keep any new xenos to a minimum.
The bees were more effective than he thought they would be. He assumed it was because of the particle gun he put on them. Getting shot with something like lightning must sting.
He decided to arm his drones with a mana checker before they went out. Why chase his enemy when he had hounds that could do that for him? That appealed to him.
And he wasn’t sure he could chase some of the things that had rushed by him in his current condition.
He still needed a gun if they decided to double back since he seemed to be on his own in the middle of their onslaught. He put the last magazine of his pistol in before holstering it. He looked around at the tunnel and wished he could sleep there, but it was too dangerous.
He ordered two more hives and threw them into the gate. He noted that the ring seemed to be closing. He decided to push his tank across before it closed completely.
Harry quickly toggled everything he needed and let the box drop in front of the gate. He smiled at the wheeled vehicle. He patted its back before sending it through the gate. The sounds of burning air came back to him.
The tank’s main gun cracked like thunder through the gate. Harry squirmed back. A lightning flash leaked through. The gate closed.
“That was exciting,” Harry said. He sighed. He had lucked out and was still alive. Not a lot of people in his situation could say that.
“You’re still in danger, Harry,” said Nick. “If the enemy turns to try to get back to the gate, they will be coming right for you.”
“I got it covered,” said Harry. He checked his points and thought about how they were still going up. His drones on the other side of the gate must still be at work. How long would it take before the xenos could stop the hives from multiplying?
Harry created two more hives. He tossed them under cover so they would be hard to dig out. They could keep putting out bees as long as there was danger around.
Once the danger was over, the hives would sit on alert until they were needed again. Harry took a moment. His bee flew around him on guard. If anything showed up, bottled lightning would strike. The immediate danger was done. Some people were dying, and he had to do something about that. He only had eight toes.
The last bothered him the most.
“Harry?,” said Nick. “Can you hear me?”
“Really tired,” said Harry. “I think I took too many drugs.”
“I need you to thumb through the first aid kit,” said Nick. “There is a drug marked NE-4325. I need you to pick and buy that. I need you to take that, savvy?”
Harry went through the kit and found the option to buy. He paid the points and the dispenser dropped by his side. He opened the box and stabbed his leg with the pen. Cold flowed through his body, energy following the snap.
“All right,” said Harry. “I’m awake. That stuff is all right.”
“You will crash, savvy?,” said Nick. “You need to clear the enemy out before that happens. Do you understand? You need to move before you drop.”
“I don’t think I can,” said Harry. “I think I need to sleep.”
“You need to get up, you monkey!,” shouted Nick. “You need to move now, savvy? Move!”
“You’re not my mother,” complained Harry.
“You need to move if you want people to help you,” said Nick. “Let’s get things
done.”
Harry breathed deep. He pushed himself to his feet. He stood there. He wanted his pinkie toes back. He took a step. He nodded. He took another step. He felt off. The stumps of his legs hurt around where the artificial legs dug into his flesh and hooked up to his nervous system.
He took another step. The pain faded a little. He had to get to the surface to help the students. He couldn’t run yet. At least the bees were doing his job for him.
He held the mana scanner so he could read it. His bees flew in front of him and he could see the nearest dots being worked on. He nodded. He might not have to get close to his enemies at all the way things were going.
He was glad his childhood experience was paying off so well for him as an adult. It wasn’t a hyper gauntlet, but he would take what he could get.
He came to some steps and a broken door at the landing. At least the xenos made it easy to follow them.