Washington and Flores added their firepower to his, three MK-12s spitting out hundreds of rounds in only a few seconds. They knocked out at least twenty of the small aliens, but it was hardly close to enough.

  “Cover!” Caleb shouted, dropping his head as the things swept up and over the top of the ADC.

  He heard them hitting the launchers on either side of him, and saw them spreading their sharp wings and cutting against the metal on the way past, taking deep gouges out of the armor. They tore through the two remaining drones. Washington tucked his head as one of them sparked and exploded, sending shrapnel flying out around it, some of it slamming into the big Marine’s SOS.

  Then the wave was past. Caleb rolled over, following it as it slowed and started to turn for a second pass.

  “Shit, Sarge!” Flores cried.

  “Get in the carrier!” Caleb shouted. “Go, go, go!”

  Flores pulled herself to it, falling in face-first. Washington stood up, taking three long strides toward the hatch.

  Caleb looked back to the humanoid, just in time to see it leap from the ground, landing on the ADC ahead of Washington’s escape. Washington threw a hard punch at it, his fist connecting with its chest and knocking it back a step. The serrated edges of the machines cut through the bodysuit and into his flesh, tearing open the SOS.

  Flores fired up at it from inside the hatch, her rounds chipping at its surface and distracting it long enough for Caleb to bounce back to his feet. He noticed the second group was coming back around.

  He drew back his frozen replacement arm, swinging it like a club. It hit the humanoid, knocking it back another step. He followed up by shoving the barrel of his rifle into its chest and firing, rounds digging deep into the aggregate.

  Washington joined him, pressing his rifle into it and firing. At first, Caleb wasn’t sure it would be enough. Then the humanoid fell backward, tumbling off the edge of the ADC toward the ground. It shattered when it hit, breaking apart into hundreds of the smaller machines.

  “Cover!” Caleb repeated, turning back to the hatch.

  They didn’t need it. The machines broke away from the ADC, turning to the south. The broken humanoid’s component parts lifted from the ground and joined them, the swarm pulling away from the area and vanishing back over the treetops.

  Within seconds, they were gone.

  Chapter 30

  “Wash? Shit,” Caleb said, putting his hand on his friend’s shoulder. Washington’s hand was dripping blood, and the big Marine clutched at it, trying to put pressure on it. “We need to get that patched. There should be a kit in the carrier.”

  Washington nodded, moving to the hatch. Caleb noticed his SOS was pierced in multiple places, which were also trailing blood. He hoped they had enough patches for all of them.

  “Flores, are you hurt?” Caleb asked as she helped Washington get into the hatch and down into the armored carrier.

  “Negative, Sarge. Nothing but my ego. That wasn’t exactly my most graceful dive.”

  “I’d give it a four out of ten,” Caleb replied. “Horrible form, but effective. See if you can find some patches. Wash, get out of your SOS and let Flores get at look at the wounds. I’m going to keep watch.”

  “We can’t stay here,” Flores said. “What if it comes back?”

  “Where are we going to go?” Caleb replied. “Back to the ship, where Governor Stone and twenty-thousand colonists want our heads? We patch Washington, and then we go into the jungle on foot.”

  “That should be fun. Have you ever seen Predator?”

  “You named one I have seen for once. I think I’d rather fight that thing than whatever it was we just scared off.”

  “Agreed. Come on, Wash. Let me see all those big muscles of yours.”

  Washington was silent as he unclasped the combat armor and began pulling it off. His undershirt was soaked with blood, causing Flores to gasp.

  “How are you even still standing?”

  Washington shrugged.

  “Get it done asap,” Caleb said. “We need to be on our way.”

  “Roger,” Flores replied.

  Caleb stood, looking out at the Deliverance. What was that thing, and why had it abandoned the ship to attack them? He twisted back to watch the treeline, leveling his rifle toward it. Without the ammo counter, he wasn’t sure how many rounds he had left in the current magazine. It couldn’t be that many, but he needed every shot he was carrying.

  It was made of the same material as the Axon starship and his arm. According to Hal, this had been an Axon planet, so that wasn’t completely unexpected. But Hal had also said the Axons were gone. That his transmission went unanswered.

  Unless those machines were the answer?

  Hal had never been here before, and it had been out of touch with its makers for over ten-thousand years. It might not seem like a long space of time to a machine, but to Caleb it meant anything could have happened. The Axon AI was as much a stranger to this world as they were, and their interaction with the other thing had proven it.

  Caleb moved back to the edge of the ADC and looked down at the AI. It was painful to see Sho’s body lying there, lifeless and cold. It had a wound in it where the alien had stabbed it, though there was no blood spilling from it. Because she wasn’t alive. Because she wasn’t really there.

  Her soul was somewhere else.

  Somewhere better.

  He had to believe that.

  Her face moved. Her eyes shifted color and gained a light glow. Her hands rose, clenching into fists. A moment later the ADC began to hum, coming back to life. He felt the change in his hand as well, with the suddenly regained lightness of a limb and working muscles. He glanced at his rifle. The ammo counter was active. It was on zero.

  “Sarge, we’ve got power!” Flores cried excitedly.

  “I know,” Caleb replied. “Hal, are you active?”

  “I am active,” it replied. “My logs suggest a powerful waveform disrupted the communications network between my active nodes.” Hal raised its head and looked down at its chest. “The capsule was wounded not.” It turned its head, noticing one of the machines they had shot down. It spun over onto its hands and knees, reaching out and picking it up. Then it looked at Caleb again. “This is Axon made.”

  “I figured as much,” Caleb replied. “Do you remember the incoming target?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s it. Hundreds of them. They took all of our systems offline when they approached. Everything electrical, like a damned EMP. They knocked you out cold too.”

  “Yes. I captured a quantum waveform. It disrupts energy flow and light. Not an electromagnetic pulse. It is more like putting a wall up between circuits, or virtually cutting a wire. It is very interesting. There is a similarity to the hallucinatory transmission pattern, but it is based on an algorithm I am unfamiliar with. I would like to study it.”

  “You can study it later. The things, they merged to form a humanoid, and then it stabbed you and started flashing.”

  Hal froze, its demeanor suggesting its attention was internal. It returned a few seconds later. “It broke into my data systems. It captured a complete log.” The AI’s affect was generally flat, but Caleb sensed a hint of dismay. “It knows all that I know, or will once it has time to process the data.”

  “Do you have any idea what it is?”

  “I believe so. It is one of me. An evolution of my design. It must be hardened against the waveform.”

  “These things are Axon artificial intelligences?” Caleb said.

  “No. The creatures are a single intelligence. My node communication range is limited to a few centimeters. That is why I require a single host of relative size. To contain the proper network construction. The Axon scientists must have further developed the technology to allow for greater range.”

  “They spread out across the entire length of the Deliverance.”

  “Interesting. They must have also advanced the mesh capabilities.”

  “I guess it isn’t all bad news for you. If it knows what you know, then it’s going to tell the Axons about Earth. Doesn’t that mean your mission is complete?”

  “I must confirm the warning was delivered. I must confirm the intelligence is of Axon design.”

  “Didn’t you just say it was?”

  “Then I must identify the reason my emergency transmission was not responded to. Do not be too quick to make assumptions, Sarge. We do not know the truth of the matter. My mission is not complete. Your mission is not complete. I require you.”

  Caleb sighed. “Well, it’s not like we have anything better to do. But I require something too. I require you to figure out how to negate the quantum wall, or none of us are going to make it very far.”

  “I will begin processing as soon as feasible.”

  “Good. One other question. Why do you think the intelligence would utilize a shape like that?”

  Hal turned the damaged node over in its hand. “The alloy is very sharp and very durable. It can cut scores in your alloy but would need time to break through. Its destructive power against Axon materials would be more limited, though it would be very effective against softer materials. For example, the flesh and bone of a human, an uluth...” It paused a moment, considering. “Or an Axon.”

  The idea that an Axon AI had been modified to kill its makers sent a chill running through Caleb’s entire body. He barely understood enough of the basic facts to get a complete picture of what that might mean for Hal, the Guardians and the citizens of Metro, but he was sure it wasn’t good.

  He found his helmet resting against one of the launchers. It had a deep gash in it, but he was pleased to see it was still operational. He dropped it into the ADC and climbed down after it, with Hal right behind him.

  “How are you holding up, Wash?” he asked.

  Washington was spread across three of the drone pilot seats. His SOS and shirt were both off, and Flores was sticking a patch to a laceration near his left pec. His body was like a tree trunk whose knots had grown in the shape of muscles and covered in more scars than Caleb had heard stories to match. He flashed his thumb. I’ll be okay.

  “Tough as nails,” Flores said. She glanced past Caleb to Hal as the AI entered. “I was hoping we would get the power back without Rachel Creed.”

  “How many patches do we have in the kit?” Caleb asked, ignoring the statement.

  “I used four on Luke Cage here. We have six left. Fortunately, nobody thought to pilfer the med-kits from the military vehicles.”

  “Do you require that I exchange capsules?” Hal asked, pointing to Washington’s SOS.

  “No. He’s going to need it. I don’t suppose you could ooze yourself into a drone, or even the ADC?”

  “Negative. One is too small. The other too large.”

  “Then we’re stuck with you like that for a little longer. Do you know how to drive?”

  “I have parsed the manual.”

  “Good enough. Head up to the cockpit and get us underway.”

  “On what heading, Sarge?”

  “You said the Axon city should be to the south, and the AI flock took off south. So let’s head south.”

  “Affirmative.”

  Hal moved past the Guardians to the front of the ADC, sliding into the seat behind the steering column. Caleb didn’t know why he thought the AI would take the wheel and drive the vehicle like a human. Instead, it placed its hands on the dashboard, metal tendrils snaking out of Sho’s flesh and sinking through the padded plastic and into the vehicle’s electronics. Hal stiffened up, and then the APC started rolling forward, shaking slightly as it entered the jungle.

  “We should have left it there,” Flores whispered.

  Caleb shook his head. “I don’t like it or trust it, but right now I think we need it. Whatever story this planet is waiting to tell us, I don’t get the impression it’s going to have a happy ending.”

  Chapter 31

  Sam knew the moment Governor Stone entered the Law Office because the hum of the sheriffs and deputies working outside suddenly fell into an uncomfortable silence. She looked up from her position behind her desk, glancing over at the clock on her display. Stone had told her to meet him in an hour. He had arrived within thirty minutes.

  She smiled as she stood up, adjusting the weight of her revolver on her hips. She had guessed the Governor would be eager to see the armory, which was why she had hurried back to her cube, showered, and changed in near-record time.

  In truth, she was as eager as he was. Once Governor Stone saw what they had to work with and gave her credit for revealing it, he would allow her more control over the organization of the defenses and the steps they needed to take to prepare the colony for its future on Essex.

  And they were going to have a future here, she decided. She would do anything to make sure of that.

  She thought about Caleb. It had been almost two hours since he had fled the city. Where was he now? She had only gotten a brief glimpse of the outside world when she had been on the bridge. They had set down next to a water source, in a river valley surrounded by tons of vegetation which provided more color than she had ever seen in her life. It made sense to follow the river in one direction or the other. If there was hostile life on the planet, it probably needed to drink too.

  She tried to imagine what it was like for him as she circled her desk and reached the door, aiming to meet the Governor on the office floor. It had to be exciting to be the first human on a new world. It also had to be terrifying. The sheer size of the planet, the endless sea of green, the fact that they were either here alone or sharing the world with an alien race that had set out to kill them. The immensity of their mission was overwhelming to her. She was doing her best not to let the pressure of her situation control her, the way she imagined the Marine Sergeant wouldn’t allow the pressure to control him.

  Of course, she was still struggling to make sense of where the alien fit into things. Had it really helped the Guardians escape? Or was it trying to get out on its own and just happened to cross paths with them? She was adamant Caleb had a reason for leaving with it instead of trying to kill it. She just had no idea what that reason was.

  She reached the door to her office, her eyes tracking across the main floor and finding the Governor closing in on her. The room was filled with officers who had been recalled to Law after the alien killed the guards and escaped, their search for it ending abruptly in failure. They had their heads bowed to the Governor in respect. Some of it was even genuine.

  The assembled sheriffs and deputies had all met Caleb. They all knew some measure of the truth about the city and the starship. Sam didn’t know how many were on the side of justice and how many remained loyal to the Governor. Not yet. But she intended to sneak it out of them once more of her autonomy was restored. She knew Bashir and Caspar were on her side. Bashir had told her as much the moment she entered the office. She hadn’t known it before then, but he was the one responsible for helping ensure Stone would never know Caleb hadn’t knocked her unconscious.

  “Governor Stone,” she said, dropping to her knee and bowing her head to him. “Sheriff Lasandra Dante reporting for duty.”

  “You can stand, Sam,” Stone said, his voice nearly jovial. He wasn’t even trying to hide his excitement anymore. “We have a lot of work to do.”

  “Yes, sir,” she replied, standing up.

  Governor Stone turned to the rest of the officers. “Please, go about your duty. I have business with Sheriff Dante.” The other officers resumed their work. Governor Stone took Sam by the arm and leaned in close. “Where is it?”

  She had thought he might want a debriefing on everything Caleb had discussed with her. Instead, he was laser focused on the armory. She smiled and motioned to the back of the room. “Follow me, Governor.”

  “Hold on, Sheriff,” Stone replied. “Beth will be joining us in a moment.”

  “Your wife, sir?” Sam said. “That’s… unusual.”

  “She has a personal interest in the defense of this city. I think that’s understandable, considering what it cost her.”

  “Yes, Governor. As you say.”

  They waited together in silence for half a minute. The Governor’s wife entered the Law Office with a squad of guards in tow. She was dressed in black, her eyes puffy. She glanced at Sam with a look of disdain and didn’t say anything to her when she joined her husband.

  “I’m very sorry about Orla,” Sam said.

  “Let’s see what she’s got,” Beth said to Governor Stone.

  “Sheriff, lead the way.”

  “Are they coming too?” Sam said, pointing to the guards.

  “Is that a problem?” Mrs. Stone asked.

  “No ma’am,” she replied. She didn’t like it, but she didn’t have a choice either. There was no benefit to making it a problem. “This way.”

  Sam led them to the back of Law, through the corridors to the garage. After they entered, she turned to the guards. “Since you’re here, can you move that pile of crap away from the wall?”

  The guards looked at the Governor, who nodded. Two of them headed to the debris blocking the disconnected wire. Sam noticed when they passed her they had rifles slung to their backs.

  “Where did you get those?” she asked.

  “Sergeant Card isn’t the only one with secrets,” Mrs. Stone replied. “The Governor’s mansion has a stash of its own. For a rainy day.”

  “Sergeant Card told me Doctor Valentine let word of this place slip. You can’t fight a war without weapons, after all. There’s a panel behind that debris. Open it up and you’ll find a wire. Connect the wire and we can descend into the lower level.”

  “Lower level?” Beth said.

  The guards finished moving the debris. They began trying to dislodge the panel over the wire.

  “Sergeant Card and I encountered Doctor Valentine down there. She said she was leaving the ship to find the enemy and collect as much data about them as she could.”

  “What was she planning to do with it?”

  “She said she had some way of getting it back to military command. She didn’t say how.”