Mendez was dubious. He studied the sounding profile. “Just don’t push Prairie Dog too hard, okay? Let’s don’t press our luck on the first run. I’m showing discontinuities dead ahead…some kind of boundary layer, maybe.”
“Inclusion zone? Maybe it’s the quartzite.”
Rono shook her head. “It looks more like a fault, maybe a transform fault. The geos said there were fracture zones north of Tabriz.”
Prairie Dog angled slightly downward and slowed, as the borer swarm bit into denser rock.
“Cabin temps going up,” Robles reported.
“Acknowledged. Those mechs are working overtime up front, making us a tunnel. I—“
Mendez’ last words were cut off as Prairie Dog shuddered violently. For a brief moment, there was an unmistakable sensation of sliding, sliding sideways and downward. Almost at the same moment, something hit Prairie Dog’s nose with a sickening crunch and the geoplane shuddered again and ground violently to a halt. The cabin tilted to port and stayed tilted.
Prairie Dog’s cabin was deathly still for a few moments, then the creaking and groaning of the hull under tremendous pressure started.
“What happened?” Mendez asked, wincing as the tortured sounds of the hull being compressed grew louder.
Robles scanned his instruments nervously. “Borer is offline. I’m getting no responses from the forward module…pressure drop in containment…we may have a breach.”
“Great,” Mendez muttered. “Just friggin’ great. And it looks like we’ve got a breach in the pressure hull too.”
“I see it…cabin air pressure fluctuating…we’d better activate emergency flasks, just in case.” Robles toggled a few switches and immediately, high pressure air began flooding all compartments.
Rono was studying the acoustic sounder, replaying the last few moments before the—what exactly had happened? An accident? “Lieutenant, I’m not sure but I think we may have created our own earthquake.”
“What? That can’t be…can it?”
Rono went over the soundings again. “We were approaching some kind of discontinuity—see right here?” She pointed to the display. “Like a layer or inclusion zone. Remember when the geos told us there were some transform faults and fracture zones around this big volcanic ridge?”
Mendez said, “Vaguely.”
Rono was figuring out the scenario as she replayed in her mind what must have happened. “It was the bots in the borer module. The swarm disassembled just enough shale and quartzite and other rock to loosen up the fault. It slipped, shifted around and we were caught in the slide.”
So we did create our own earthquake.”
Rono took a deep breath. “So it would seem, sir…”
Mendez drummed fingers on the instrument panel. “Now we’ve got to figure out a way of getting out of here. What do we have to work with?”
Robles went over his instruments again. “Borer’s offline, like I said, and it looks like containment was breached in the accident. I’ve got no response from the borer swarm, no configs, no data of any kind. That swarm’s gone and it’s not responding to commands.”
Mendez tried a few tricks of his own but with no success. “Well, I do have a master in my shoulder capsule. We could jerry-rig a swarm for the borer if we had to.”
“If the module’s not too damaged. On top of that, the tread system’s not responding…so we have no mobility. And the pressure hull….”
Mendez saw the oxygen level had been dropping significantly in the last few minutes. “We’ve got to stop that leak…here, let me launch our secondary ANAD.” He started to link in.
“ANAD, this is Mendez…do you read me?”
***ANAD copies…reading you loud and clear…what has happened?...ANAD’s coupler indicates some kind of swarm break…is the borer functioning?***
“ANAD, Prairie Dog’s had an accident. The pressure hull has been breached. Configure for launch and max replication. I need a local swarm to find and plug the leaks.”
***ANAD configuring now…systems initializing…ANAD reporting ready in all respects…***
Mendez unstrapped himself and went aft through the tunnel to the power plant. “Launch, ANAD. Launch now….” As the CC1 went off to check on their power systems, a shimmering light blue fog emerged from the containment canister on the bulkhead.
***ANAD replicating…can I get a heading to the target?***
“I’m doing that now,” Mendez reported, as he scrambled through the galley and berthing deck and the engineering deck. “Robles, where’s the leak? Can you localize it?”
Still back at the command deck, Robles scanned his instruments. “I’m showing maximum pressure drop at frame ninety-six, starboard side…somewhere between E and F deck.”
Mendez squirmed through the central access tube. He knew E deck was for Engineering, Shops and Utilities. Just aft was F deck, home to Prairie Dog’s hybrid battery and fuel cell power plant.
“I feel it…there’s a whistle just off to my left—“ Mendez paused, sniffing, letting his senses guide him. There. A utilities duct penetrating the bulkhead seemed to be the center of the leak. He saw a faint mist in the air swirling around the duct. “I found it….ANAD configure max propulsor. Home on my signal.” He pressed a button on his wristpad.
Several decks forward, the shimmering fog of the assembler swarm wheeled about and began transiting the access tube.
***ANAD is en route to your location…estimated time is twenty-two minutes***
Mendez tried examining the source of the leak, where the inner pressure hull had been stove in. It was scalding hot with swirling steam and air and he couldn’t get any closer.
“Hurry, ANAD…this break is getting bigger by the minute.”
The ANAD swarm eventually arrived at the site of the breach and promptly went to work. Configuring itself as a tightly interlinked mesh, ANAD sought out the pressure hull penetrations and quickly formed a nanoscale patch over the holes with its trillions of replicants. Gradually, the whistling subsided, then stopped altogether.
“I’m reading air pressure stabilizing in all compartments,” Robles reported from the command deck. “The patch seems to be working.”
Oscar Mendez breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the cool oxygen of the geoplane’s emergency flasks wash over his face. “ANAD, you’re a lifesaver.”
***ANAD reporting swarm element in place and holding. No more air molecules can get in or out. I am configured in repeating tetrahedral with radicals at my outer barrier. Oxygens hate that. And yes…I did save the ship, didn’t I?***
An alarm sounded from the DPS console at the rear of the command deck. Corporal Ng was the Defense and Protective Systems tech (DPS1). He swallowed hard.
“Acoustic flag, sir…some kind of swarm, for sure. Not sure whose bots I’m seeing…” his fingers flew over the board. “…but it’s a large mass, headed this way, bearing two nine two…I make the range at just under four thousand meters.”
Mendez swore under his breath. “On my way…can you get any details, Corporal? Any structure?” The CC1 hurried forward to the command deck.
Ng scanned his panel. “Reading high thermals…I’m applying acoustic filtering…lots of seismic noise out there. Looks like it’s a bot swarm all right…”
Mendez sank into his seat at the main console. “What about the borer? Can we move?”
Sergeant Li, the BOP1, shook her head. “Negative, sir. Borer still offline. I’m getting nothing from up front. I think the bots are dispersed. We had a containment breach and the lens itself may be damaged.”
Time for ANAD again, Mendez thought. Combat at five hundred meters underground was definitely not for the slow-witted. “ANAD, listen up. I need configs for two elements and fast. First, I’m downloading a config for re-populating the borer. Basic stuff. Make reps to fill the borer so we can get the hell out of here.”
***ANAD will go t
o max rate replication for this config. Borer bots are simple things…what is the second element?**
“Defensive shield…we need to be ready to meet this botswarm head on…Ng…Rounds, any structure on this swarm?”
“Negative, sir,” came both replies. Rounds scanned his sensor board. “Rock’s too dense…my filters are having a hard time distinguishing swarm signals from seismic noise. I’m getting acoustics that resemble swarms with Red Hammer signatures but it’s hard to be sure.”
“I get the picture,” Mendez said. “ANAD, I’m sending a config for basic defensive shield. Max rate on this as well.”
***ANAD understands…grabbing feedstock now…***
A shimmering blue-white fog emerged from Prairie Dog’s access tunnel as ANAD fissioned itself for the two configs. Overhead, the master bot slammed atoms and built structure, thickening even as it drifted toward the hatch to the borer module. Sergeant Li cycled the feedport to the borer and the fog drifted on, filling the port, expanding as it replicated into the borer lens itself.
Unseen from the command deck, a second tendril of fog worked its way aft to Prairie Dog’s lockout chamber on G deck. There, the defensive shieldbots would exit the ship and work their way through dense shale rock to confront the oncoming swarm.
Tense moments passed. Li watched her board, noting the pressure and temperature rise inside the borer compartment.
“Just a few more minutes, Lieutenant…borer coming up nicely, pressure now at sixty five percent…I’ve got some control already.”
Mendez checked his tread controls. “Robles, let’s get powered up. Once the borer’s online, I want to get Prairie Dog the hell out of here.”
“Roger that,” the DSO replied. He worked with several joysticks. “Treads working now…I’m feeling a little bite al--“
Prairie Dog shuddered and groaned as rock shifted outside. They felt the ship sliding forward, then to the left again, but the motion stopped almost as soon as it started.
“Okay--“ Mendez pulled his own hands away from the controls. “No more tread…wait till the borer’s up. Let’s not make things worse. DPS, where’s that swarm?”
“Best estimate is two thousand meters and still closing on our position. They can’t move any faster through this rock than we can.”
***ANAD Config Two exiting the ship now*** came ANAD’s voice over the commlink.
“Very well,” Mendez checked ship’s status one last time. “ANAD, maneuver to these coordinates--“ he sent the last reported bearing from Ng, “--and hold that position. Form up a frontal shield…assume Config Six Six.” Mendez had pulled that one from the ship’s archive…it would configure the ANAD nanobotic formation into a barrier that should in theory hold off any bots working their way through the shale rock that had Prairie Dog trapped.
“Borer at ninety percent,” Li called out.
Good enough, Mendez thought. “Engage the borer. Robles, get us out of here now! DPS, get your HERF weapon and magpulser spooled up. We may have to fight our way out of this--“
The DPS tech complied, quickly bringing the High-Energy Radio Freq system to power. The magpulser magnetrons were already humming as well. Prairie Dog had quite a bite for any bots that came too close.
The ship shifted, slid a little, then lurched forward with a vigorous shake, like a dog let off its leash.
“Borer operating at ninety-five percent,” said Li. She manipulated her controls, shaping the hemispherical globe of bots that were beginning to chew away at the rock layers surrounding them. “Pressure and temps nominal, configs look good, we’re digging out--“
“Best forward speed, DSO,” Mendez ordered.
Robles shifted his stick slightly and the ship leveled off, then lurched forward and settled into a steady humming vibration. A cheer erupted on the command deck.
“We’re moving!” said Li.
“Prairie Dog moving out smartly,” Robles added. He steadied his stick, feeling the force of the rock pressing against the treads and the hull. “Setting cruise speed…now two point five kilometers per hour.”
“Steer toward that swarm. Ng, give us a bearing. ANAD, hold on, okay. We’re maneuvering to intercept.”
Now finally underway, Prairie Dog propelled herself on full tread and borer toward the enemy bots, less than a thousand meters to starboard.
“SS1, what are we dealing with here…got any structure on those bots?”
Sergeant Rounds licked his lips and scanned his board. “Acoustics look like Red Hammer-type bots, sir. I’ve been able to run the data through filtering, screen some of the seismic stuff. EMs and thermal…too soon to tell. Best guess, Lieutenant: we’re dealing with standard bots we’ve seen before from this source.”
“That’s good enough for me. ANAD, prepare for combat launch…assume Config C-7, opposed entry.”
Clinging to Prairie Dog’s outer hall as she squeezed through the layers of shale and slate nearly a thousand meters underground, the ANAD master responded.
***ANAD ready in all respects…assuming C-7, extending effectors now, priming bond disrupters…enzymatic knife in position…just give the word, Hub and I’ll tear ‘em to pieces***
Mendez had to smile, as did others on the command circuit. ANAD was like a little bulldog, straining at his leash. His personality algorithms needed work but there were some quirks that made the little bug kind of endearing, even to hardened nanotroopers.
“Less than two hundred meters, Skipper,” said Rounds. “Possible aspect change on swarm mass…he may be replicating…I’m seeing enhanced returns, mass changes--“
Mendez checked Prairie Dog’s status on his own panel. “Robles, slow to one-third. DPS, get HERF ready. I want to blast the sonofabitch first with rf, then send ANAD out.”
“HERF fully charged, Lieutenant. Pulse mode enabled.” Ng’s finger hovered over the FIRE button, ready to release a thunderclap of radio-frequency energy. With any luck, the bolt would fry enough enemy bots to make ANAD’s job a little easier.
“Very well. ANAD…you may launch when you’ve reached fifty percent mass.”
The master bot had already started replicating, grabbing atoms from local shale and slate layers, building billions and billions of daughter bots, building out the swarm.
***At fifty five percent now, Hub…ANAD is releasing now…launching from base…***
Aboard Prairie Dog’s command deck, Mendez toggled the quantum coupler circuit to show the view from ANAD’s nanometer scale. Troopers had long referred to this switch as “going over the waterfall.”
At first, nothing made any sense. It was disorienting in the extreme, like going over the top of a roller coaster ride and your head was spinning out of control. Like standing on the beach in a driving sleet storm, with triangles and polygons and tetrahedrals and nightmarish tangled shapes blasting by your head. Gradually, your mind somehow made sense of the scene and the image settled down and stabilized. In a few seconds, you had gone from the macro world of things and substances and 3-dimensional shapes to the nanometer world of atoms and molecules and Brownian motion. Mendez shook his head, focused and fiddled with the gain on the imager, trying to make some kind of sense of all the photons ANAD was sending back.
To Mendez’s eye, maneuvering through layers of black shale rock was like flying over a field of broken gravel at an altitude of one centimeter. Calcium, sodium and magnesium molecules flitted by like trees in a hurricane. ANAD navigated as best he could through the jungle, forcing his way through narrow crevices and corners, squeezing through tight defiles and shifting back and forth to make some kind of headway.
“EM spike dead ahead, Skipper,” called out the SS1, Sergeant Rounds. “Big mass, lots of acoustics too.”
Gradually, the imager settled down to a dark, staticky, grainy picture--of what? Mendez squinted, leaned forward. The view slowly materialized--a dense, regular lattice of throbbing, quivering spheres.
> "Crystalline structures," Sergeant Rono (GET1) reported. "Looks like calcium. Maybe carbons--
Mendez was mesmerized by the perfect geometry. "Oxygens too, Sergeant." He pointed to long rows of tiny darkened blobs, marching off into the distance like a fence. "A cubical lattice, just like the micrographs. A crystalline solid--"
"Limestone's mostly calcium anyway, with some oxygens and carbons mixed in. Interlocking crystals--it's beautiful."
"And damned hard to navigate. Like a jungle…this stuff's so dense, ANAD's speed is way down. Enable the voice link--"
Mendez strained to see anything and then…there it was. Shadows drifting in and among the structurally tight crystalline lattices of silicon and calcium and iron and half a dozen over things. “Slow to one quarter propulsor--“ he told ANAD.
Over the next few moments, the enemy swarm came into view, gradually materializing among the loose atoms and clusters that choked the lattice. It was like playing hide and seek in a dense forest.
The bots looked like a chorus line of squat cylinders, festooned with effectors and gizmos around their circumference.
“Looks like some kind of shaggy cat,” muttered Rounds. “What the hell are all those things?”
“I don’t know,” said Ng “but they’re all coming this way. HERF’s ready, Skipper.”
“Let ‘em have it!” Mendez said. “ANAD…hold on. And cover your ears!”
“Fire in the hole!” said Ng. He stabbed the FIRE button.
The thunderclap of rf energy stabbed out into the rock and BOOMED! back in reverberation through Prairie Dog’s hull. The net effect of blasting waves of radio freq energy was to shatter the enemy formation. It also loosened some of the rock layers through which Prairie Dog was cruising.
The ship’s hull shuddered, creaked and groaned. Mendez felt a lurch and there was a momentary sensation of sliding, then a sudden jarring stop.
Rono, the geo tech, examined her instruments. “Side acceleration, Skipper. We’re slipping--“
“Losing traction in the treads,” Robles reported. He backed off a moment, until Prairie Dog’s tread bit again into the rock stratum.
“Okay,” Mendez said, “belay any more HERF. We’re shattering the rock around us. ANAD, prepare to engage.”
***ANAD ready in all respects, Skipper. Let me at ‘em!***