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The chest triangle finally broke its fleshy tether, shooting upward on a geyser of blood that splashed against the ceiling.
Margaret heard the droning monotone of the EKG machine sounding out a flatline.
Shut that f.u.c.king thing off, Dew said.
Dan lowered the camera and quickly punched a b.u.t.ton on the panel. The flatline sound vanished, leaving only silence.
Margaret put her gloved hands against the transparent wall. Blood drops trickled down the inside of the gla.s.s, rolling toward the floor. They left little see-through streaks of red.
The three hatchlings tried to stand on weak tentacle-legs. They managed a few wobbly steps, filling the air with strange clicking sounds. Gradually they slowed. Their black, vertical eyes blinked slower and slower, heavy-lidded, sleepy, until they closed and the little creatures stopped moving.
Margaret rested her helmeted head against the gla.s.s. She checked the red clock on the far wall.
Time of death, nine forty-four A.M., she said weakly. I hope it was worth it, Dew. I really hope its worth it.
Dew still hadnt moved. He stared into the cell, stared at the body. Its not, Margaret. It never is.
EYES ON THE PRIZE
It was only a matter of time now.
The Orbital had long since mapped all human satellites capable of detecting its presence. It had also identified a few ground-based observatories that might be able to see it. In all, the Orbital tracked eleven devices that could spot it, if only they looked in the right direction.
And now five of them were.
One was unfortunate, but not a cause for concern. Just random chance. Two was pus.h.i.+ng the boundaries of coincidence and meant it had possibly been spotted. As the day progressed, the Orbital saw a third, then a fourth, then a fifth device point its way.
There was no question: the humans knew.
It was only a matter of time before they attacked. The probability tables rated this at 100 percent. The same tables predicted a 74 percent chance that the first attack would destroy the Orbital.
It had some defenses, but it was small and designed for stealth and reliability, not combat. It could not fight an entire world.
The Orbital had prepared Chelsea as best it could. It would probably be up to her to finish the doorway. Chance of success? Incalculablethe Orbital simply did not have enough data.
The Orbital ran through the tables and arrived at the final entry in its extensive decision tree. If a planet could resist colonization, detect the Orbital and attack it, then that planet qualified as a long-term threat.
A threat that had to be eliminated.
The Orbital began to modify its final probe.