Part 15 (1/2)
”Gruesome, but effective,” she said to herself. ”I have something here. Something I hope isn't too scrambled to be a.n.a.lyzed.”
Cilreth scanned the room again. She didn't see any threats, but she realized she had not been paying enough attention to notice. The Vovokan spheres were watching her, at least. They rotated lazily around the tube she had dug in.
”Where's Telisa?” she asked again.
The other column displayed the flat creature. Cilreth felt only frustration. She took a deep breath and approached the display.
”No. This. I want her,” she thought, bringing up the image of Telisa in her mind. ”Where?”
A pane opened in her PV. The routing protocol was accessed and a route entered into her link. Cilreth accessed the map. There was a display of more tunnels she had not been in yet. And a red line marked a path through them.
”She's there?” Cilreth asked. Nothing happened. ”Then that's where I need to be,” she said. Cilreth opened her eyes. The display before her showed a Terran brain again.
The brain was utterly dark. Devoid of all activity.
Oh no. She isn't dead, is she?
Cilreth stuffed the sample tube in her pack and hefted her laser rifle. She followed the map out a tunnel across from where she had entered.
Chapter 19.
”I heard a grenade go off at the entrance, but my machine there is still intact,” Magnus said.
”I got a close miss on the Konuan with a grenade,” Arakaki replied.
”Has it been hurt? Maybe we can track it now.”
”Don't think it for a second. It will use the blood trail to lead us into a trap,” Arakaki said over her link. ”If it even has blood. Besides, it was an incendiary.”
”We have a trap of our own,” Magnus transmitted back. ”And the scout robots.”
”Better than nothing. The bugs aren't even worth mentioning.”
”The bugs-my scouts-are of limited use, but if I have one train its laser right at a grille, it could shoot fast. No target sig. Just if it moves, fry it. The machine has a destructive discharge option. And they can sense moving ma.s.s through walls. An alien trick. They can see it coming, I guarantee it.” Unless it has a Trilisk trick to defeat that. I gotta be more careful what I guarantee these days.
Magnus meant the scout could blow its entire energy supply in one shot, which would damage or destroy the laser, but the strike would probably vaporize anything short of a tank. Which should be good enough to fry one Konuan; super fast or not, it wasn't faster than light. Or more accurately, faster than the ramp-up speed of the laser delivery system, which was very fast.
”Then it will shoot us if we get in the fire corridor,” Arakaki replied.
”The scouts will be at an angle. I won't put them right in front of the grille. They can stay in corners and cover the grille opening. The center position is for us.”
”Good luck picking the grille,” Arakaki said.
”They have ma.s.s sensors, remember? And the other one has a glue grenade launcher. And these grilles are small. One shot for each one and they're blocked off...”
Arakaki gave him a new look.
She realizes I may have a plan forming here.
”Okay, that's good,” she said. ”We can block off the tunnel entrance at the bottom of the building with a couple of armed grenades. If it drops down there, boom. The scouts can glue off the exit routes...”
”Except one.”
”Yes. Except one.”
”That traps it in here with us,” Magnus said.
”No, that pretty much traps us in here with it. We're toast, my friend. Or my enemy, or whatever the h.e.l.l you are.” She paused. ”It's still around. I'm getting a few readings of it nearby,” Arakaki took out two grenades. Magnus caught sight of a flash of green from them; then she dropped them to the ground. They spun off.
”It's staying here with us,” Magnus said. He told his scouts to glue the grilles shut by the exits. He wanted to restrict the movements of the Konuan, give him a chance at a clear shot.
Arakaki s.h.i.+fted but didn't flinch when she heard the sounds of the glue capsules popping through the building.
”We should move to cover these two exit grilles I busted open,” he said, showing her a map through his link.
”Gluing us in? I doubt it's concerned.”
”Well, it should be,” Magnus said.
Arakaki kept out both the UED PAW and her laser. Her weapons were shorter range, but fast to aim and rapid firing. Magnus felt rea.s.sured by the familiar feel of his old rifle, even if it wasn't as optimal for a fight in the tight confines of the building.
”It's nearby. Coming closer,” she said.
”Which way? How do you know?” Magnus replied over his link.
In reply, Arakaki sent him a pointer to a feed. It opened in his PV. He saw information from the sensor module outside. In response, he gave her access to his own sight and his weapon's scan feed through his link. It was trusting her with a great deal, but Magnus was in grave danger anyway, and he felt like trusting her was a solid gamble.
A moment later her sight feed joined the channel. Magnus looked it over along with the sensor data.
”I see two sigs here,” Magnus transmitted.
”Never. There's never been two. It's messing with us,” Arakaki said. ”One is fake. Or both.”
He heard the hiss of a laser. He had missed whatever it was she saw. ”You saw it?”
”My laser did.”
”You have it on auto?”
”The only way to be fast enough,” she said.
”Send me your target sig.”
Her weapon sent his rifle a target profile. It was a lot more detailed than he had put together so far, so he loaded it and told his weapon to shoot as soon as it saw that signature again.