MIDDLE OF PLAINS – 2004 – EVENING.
“I don’t like this, Hal,” Melinde said, pressing herself into her dashboard to talk into her skimmer-mounted comms.
“Don’t like what?” Hal rumbled.
“It’s quiet – it’s too quiet,” Melissa said.
“Uh, don’t go spouting horror movie quotes on me, Sis,” Melinde said. “It’s creepy quiet enough as it is.”
“According to last known patrol data, we should be passing straight through infested territory right now. Not a hide nor hair of them, or even a sensor pickup of their frequencies.”
“…Strange,” Hal said. “It’s not time for their migrations, is it?”
“Not according to the last five years’ patrol data, it’s not.”
“Still, keep our frequencies down as much as you can. I’d rather not run into any ambushes. Especially any from below.”
“Roger, Boss.”
MIDDLE OF PLAINS – 2025 – EVENING.
The skimmers moved on, still in silence. A shape flashed by, moving dark and bulky against the slowly dimming twilight.
“Contact,” Melissa hissed into her comms, and broke off the calculated plot on her skimmer.
“I’m assuming command,” Hal said, squinting into the night despite his visor shifting into low-light mode.
“Roger,” Melissa and Melinde said, a hand shifting to their disruptors mounted at the sides of their skimmers.
“Nanite packages armed?” Hal said.
“Three each,” Melinde said, all levity gone from her voice.
“Good, let’s keep it at that number.” Hal let his skimmer fall behind the other two, who revved their engines to skim in front of him in a reverse-V formation. “Number of signatures?”
“Just the one – no, two, no, three – all travelling in the same direction. They’re directly north in front of us – bearing 025 degrees.”
“Frequency disruptors up. Ammunition?”
“35 effective charges each,” Melissa read off her display. “At max.”
Hal’s HUD highlighted the infested shapes in the purple-and-olive twilight, their outlines glowing a faint red. In front of him, Melissa and Melinde’s skimmers and shapes glowed a faint blue.
“Vibroblade charges?”
“45 each,” Melissa said. “Maxed.”
“Increase relative speed to close into effective frequency disruptor range.”
“Roger,” Melinde said, and both twins’ skimmers sped up. Hal followed, one foot pressing gently on his brakes to give himself slightly more thinking time.
Hal eyed the positions of the loping infested. One was up on a slight incline – harder to attack and easier to defend. The other two were within linking distance of each other, but would take some time to sync up their roars, especially if one of them was in between the two infested. In close combat and un-disrupted, the infested had a significant advantage over typical militia members…but then, he wasn’t a typical militia member.
Also, if he could get some biomass and samples back from these infested, Anda might even forgive him for ‘ignoring’ his responsibilities. Which would be nice.
He mulled the approach over for a split second, then decided.
“Melissa, Melinde, stay at maximum effective disruptor range, and hold it on the two down on the lower altitude. If you can sync up for greater effective area coverage, do so, if not, don’t worry.”
“Roger, Boss,” Melinde said. They veered off to opposite sides for greater coverage, keeping their angles calculated to prevent frequency cancellation. The skimmers’ high-pitched engine shriek abruptly became audible, making Hal wince as it overwhelmed his hearing for a moment before his visor dimmed the reception of those particular frequencies.
Hal tensed as he waited for the infested to turn on his assistants and himself. The circuits on his body began to glow a dim gold.
Nothing happened.
The infested on the higher incline disappeared over it and loped into the distance. Well, Hal wasn’t going to look a neutralized infested in the maw.
“When their frequency is jammed, hold them still. I’ll be increasing gravity on them both.”
“Roger, Boss.” Locking their skimmers in place, twins held their disruptor up and fired, clenching their jaws as the back-end vibrations from the disruptor expelled themselves through their bodies and skimmers.
All at once, the infested stumbled to a stop, turned and growled, opening their maws and exposing rows of teeth within. Horn-like protrusions snapped up on their hides, angling toward the source of the frequencies.
Hal surged his skimmer into the dead middle of the two girls, letting his circuits glow a full, brilliant gold. He plucked the metallic grav-lance from its bed at the side of his skimmer and couched it under his arm, pointing the tip at the two infested. The gold light from his circuits traced little patterns over the shaft of the grav-lance. The infested shifted attention onto him immediately, and pods exploded from their hides, opening like umbrellas in mid-air and filling the air with sharp, miniature darts.
Hal let the instinctive calculations settle over his visor before triggering the grav-lance. All at once, the miniature darts plummeted to the ground, as did the infested beyond them. Their maws crashed to the ground, flattening the grass-equivalents below.
“Close in, Melinde! Melissa, provide backup!”
“Roger, Boss!”
Melinde shot toward the infested from Hal’s right, putting her disruptor back in the socket and drawing a vibroblade out from her hip holster. Melissa kept her disruptor trained on the two infested, despite them being unable to move in any respect, while Hal kept one eye on the gravity calculations and one eye on Melinde.
Stolen novel; please report.
Melinde leaped from the side of her moving skimmer, using the momentum provided to slam her vibroblade home into the weak spot of the twitching infested. It twitched once, and fell still. Melinde pulled the vibroblade out from the infested, vibrating it to make it easier to pull out.
She plodded over to the other infested, each foot almost dragging on the ground, and Hal switched the gravity influence to increase more on the infested Melinde was approaching. He caught Melissa’s eye. Melissa nodded, and aimed her disruptor wholly at the infested Melinde had already stabbed. With one hand, Melissa rooted around in her skimmer’s storage compartment for biomass collecting nanites, and tossed a small box at the stabbed infested.
The nanites poured out of the box in a silver swarm, and began to slowly cover the infested flesh with an iridescent film.
Eyeing the infested which was twitching on the ground, Melinde stepped over one of its limbs and drove her vibroblade into its unarmoured spot, then again, and again.
The infested twitched, and went limp.
Melinde’s skimmer eased up by her. Blank-faced, Melinde stabbed the infested again. And again.
“Melinde,” Hal said. “Melinde! Stop.” Melinde kept stabbing the infested.
Gritting his teeth, Hal eased his skimmer closer to the infested. Melinde, the vibroblade still sunk into the infested on one of her stabs, sank closer and closer to the ground as the effective gravity field around her increased.
“Melinde. You’re wasting vibroblade charges.”
Melinde looked up at him, her body twisting with an effort. “Roger, Boss.”
“And I think it’s dead.” Hal fished his own biomass-gathering nanites from his storage compartment and tossed it on the multiply-stabbed infested. Melinde drew away from the nanites sharply, and climbed back onto her skimmer.
“Just…give it to Anda,” Melinde said, her voice carrying doubly through the air and over the comm on her skimmer.
Hal released the gravity field and placed his lance back into its bed, waiting for the tell-tale click before releasing the grav-lance entirely.
“Of course, Melinde.”
Melinde looked at him for a moment. Melissa moved her skimmer closer to her sister’s, vacuuming the biomass-nanites from the ground as she did.
“Good haul today, Melinde,” Melissa said.
“Yeah,” Melissa whispered, her voice carrying more through the comm. “A good haul.”
Hal kept his eyes on the far horizon as he let his circuits dim.
Melissa’s eyes flicked down to her skimmer’s readouts for a split second before she cursed.
“Contact 180!”
Hal whipped his skimmer to the left, catching a glimpse of an infested as it barrelled all the way by, ignoring them as it ran up an incline and disappeared over the hill.
“What the hell?” Hal asked, as three more infested appeared within his sight, passed them entirely, and kept loping into the far distance.
“I don’t know – I’m getting some strange frequencies – I’m analysing…”
Another four infested passed them, moving in a pack, shoulder to shoulder.
“Fuck, that’s a small pack already – “
“Boss,” Melissa said, sending a burst of data into his visor. “I think you’d better make an executive decision. It’s a distress signal.”
(-37.68964, 147.820953) – ????? – EVENING.
What…where…?
PLEASE REMAIN STILL, USER OPHIUCHUS. LANDING WAS…A TOUAS;GK;LJ… AND GO, FOR A WHILE. CALCULATING. CALCULATING. CALCULATING.
Ophiuchus shook her head gingerly, letting her brains resettle into her skull. She unbuckled the clip on her harness. And then the second clip. And the third. By the fourth, she was alternately praising and cursing the designers of the vehicle – praising them, for letting her land relatively safely in what was basically a barebones spacecraft, and cursing them, for being so ungodly redundant in their design.
AIR CLOSE TO TERRA NORMKGYLYDKD, BUT THERE ARE SMOKE PARTICLES. PLEASE REMAIN WITHIN THE SUIT AND THE VEHICFKKYKUJYT.
“Recognized.” But not complied. She unclipped the seventeenth clip. Well, the suit reminder was probably for the best, but remaining within the vehicle? Hell no – Ophiuchus was darned sick of a) running simulations, b) playing card games, and c) playing card game simulations.
She held on to an overhead bar and climbed out of the massive gaping hole in the side of the pod.
USER OPHIUCHUS. THIS IS NOT ADVISEADRRAJEM. PROBABILITY –
“Enough, Resolve.” Ophiuchus looked out into the distance, her mask brightening slightly to counteract the darkness of the local night.
“Pretty world, this one.”
SHOULD I BEGHGFKG BROADCASTING ‘MAYDAY’ TRANSMISSIONS OR EQUIVALENT? SIGNS ON ATMOSPHERIC ENTRTE7LT;TTSRYR JMMTMARKDICATE COLONIZED TERRITORY.
Ophiuchus thought for a moment. “Did you record the local frequencies that the colony was broadcasting on before atmospheric entry?”
YES, USER.
“Broadcast the rescue transmissions on those frequencies alone. And conceal my identity and IFF. Let’s not give the Federation any more ammunition than absolutely necessary, yes?”
USER, FLEEBFJ; FROM THE FEDERATION IS ILL-AD—
“Yes, yes, I know. Well, it’s been light-years since I left, so –“
MEASURE OF DISTANCE AND MEASURE OF SUBJECTIVE TIME IS NOT EQUIVALENT, USER.
“I said, it’s been light-years since I left, and I’ll go back when I’m ready. Begin broadcasting.”
BEGINNING BROADCAST.
“While that’s going on – what’s the state of our supplies and your charge, Resolve?”
SUPPLIES: MINIMAL – ENOUGH TO LAST TWO TERRAN DAYS OF OPTIMAL NUTRITION, FIVE DAYS ON RATIONS, TWO YEARS ON HIBERNATION. WOULD YOU PREFER TO RE-ENTER HIBERNATION?
“Yeah. No.”
OWN CHARGE: NEARING 5% WITHOUT AVAILABLE ENERGY SOURCE. CONVERSION TO BIOMASS REQUIRES MORE POWER THAN I HAVE. CORRUPTION LEVEL: B-GRADE.
“B-grade? Approximate to percentage, please.”
CORRUPTION LEVEL – MANAGEAWA;GJLK. CALCULATING. CORRUPTION LEVEL: 25%.
“…That’s mildly concerning.”
Shapes emerged on the horizon.
“Increase magnification.”
The shapes resolved into lumbering, hulking monsters.
“Okay, that’s more concerning.”
One of them opened a gaping maw – Ophiuchus watched with extreme discomfort as the magnification on her mask emphasized the thick ooze dripping down its stained fangs. The image vibrated subtly. Ophiuchus hastily decreased the magnification, and checked the horizon again. Against the dim twilight, dark shapes emerged across the horizon, and were moving toward her position, moving rather rapidly.
More shapes emerged on the horizon – more than twenty.
WARNING: INFRARED DETECTED. HIGHER THAN NORMAL ACTIVITY.
“Individual signatures, Resolve.”
CALCULATING. … … …. SIXTY. AND INCREASING. SIGNATURES CONVERGING ON CURRENT LOCATION.
“Welp.” Ophiuchus took a deep breath. “Guess it’s the first time I’m seeing action as a Knight of Constellation, then.”
A rumble on the ground. In the distance, the … beasts? Monsters? Lifted their heads up as one and roared, the higher frequencies of their roar carrying faster toward Ophiuchus. The lower frequencies hit a moment later, vibrating Ophiuchus’ suit and making her wince. The lowest frequencies hit a moment later, knocking her physically backwards a step or two.
“Hale,” Ophiuchus muttered. “Resolve? What’s the deal with those frequencies?”
FREQUENCIES APPEAR TO BE JAMMING BROADCASTS ON ALL FREQUENCIES BUT LOCAL COLONY PATTERNS. INDICATES THAT COLONY IS USED TO DEALING WITH CREATURES. INITIAL HYPOTHESIS: INDIGENOUS FAUNA OF PLANET.
The beasts roared again, forming up into clumps. Ophiuchus braced herself, a hand on her vehicle.
The higher frequencies – the lower – she could feel her suit buzzing against her stomach – the lowest. This time the hit was physical, and despite bracing herself she slid a few centimeters back. A loosely hanging panel on the torn-open side of her vehicle shook itself off entirely, clanging to a halt on the ground and buzzing.
USER, WOULD YOU LIKE TO ENGAGE WEAPONS SYSTEMS?
Eyeing the rapidly increasing dark shapes on the horizon, Ophiuchus nodded. “I think that’d be best, Resolve.”
DEPLOYING FLECHETTE TURRETS. CANNIBALIZING NONESSENTIAL INTERNAL VEHICLE PARTS FOR AMMUNITION. DEPLOYED. TURRETS READASGRRRRRRRH TO FIRE. AMMUNITION CONVERTING.
“Ammunition count at maximum?”
WITH AVAILABLE NONESSENTIAL PARTS FOR SURVIVAL – THREE TURRETS DEPLOYED COVERING HEMISPHERIC FIRE. TOTAL TWELVE BURSTS AMONG ALL TURRETS. CANNIBALIZING NON-ESSENTIAL EXTERNAL PARTS. AWAITING COMMAND.
“Recognized. Resolve, is there a sufficiently heavy piece of external metal somewhere?”
WHY?
“I’d like to have something big and heavy on hand in case they get past the turret line.”
… HIGHLIGHTING ON YOUR HUD.
“Thanks, Resolve.” Ophiuchus picked her way through the wreckage, and managed to grab hold of a piece of torn plate from the hull. Hefting it up to her shoulder, she maneuvered back to her original position.
FIRING ON YOUR MARK.
“Recognized.”
The beasts, so numerous now that they formed an amorphous black blob on the edge of her vision, grew vertically, and roared again.
“MARK!”
BRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA –
ELEVEN BURSTS REMAINING. SIGNATURES, SIXTY-FIVE. SIGNATURES INCREASING.