Horizon Storms - Kevin J. Anderson [154]
As the strange spaceship settled to the ground in a rush of heat and noise, he saw that it was all angles. Its design used brute-force engineering to create a fast, efficient ship composed mainly of engines and a carrying module. Crude but effective deceleration rockets blasted black smears on the ground.
Though he had never seen such a vessel before, the Dobro Designate realized who must have built it. This might be worse than discovery by the humans.
Lower hatches opened like an armored mollusk splitting its shell, and a Klikiss robot emerged into the harsh Dobro sunlight. It swiveled its head, optical sensors panning to record images of the Ildiran settlement, the fenced-in barracks that held human experimental subjects.
Scuttling forward on fingerlike legs, the robot spoke no word to the Ildirans, as if it had every right to observe whatever it chose to. The guard kithmen held their weapons ready, though Udru’h wasn’t sure how easily they could battle the beetlelike machine.
He stepped in front of the robot and planted himself firmly to deny it passage. “Halt. What are you doing here?” Designate-in-waiting Daro’h watched, impressed by his uncle’s bravery.
The robot buzzed, then stared at the Designate. “I am investigating.” It lumbered forward, and Udru’h had to step out of the way to keep from being trampled.
He strode after the robot. “This is an Ildiran world. Klikiss robots have no business here.”
“We decide where we have business—especially if Ildirans no longer abide by our ancient terms.”
“Ancient terms?” Udru’h grew angry now. “Perhaps you would do well to remember those same terms.”
“Our memories are not faulty,” the robot responded.
The Designate laughed. “Oh? That isn’t what you tell the humans, is it?”
“Our dealings with humans are not your concern.” The robot proceeded inexorably toward the breeding compound. Behind the fences, human captives stared in awe at the ominous black machine, never having seen anything like it before.
Udru’h followed, raising his voice. “Hydrogues have attacked Ildiran settlements at Qronha 3, on Hyrillka, and others. Clearly, the Klikiss robots either cannot or will not provide the vital services to which they agreed. Ildirans have the right—no, the imperative—to protect ourselves. If you won’t do it, we will.”
At the fence, the robot flashed its optical sensors, scanning the humans, the Ildiran medical kithmen, the low breeder barracks. Bureaucrats and doctors ushered children out of sight, but the robot clearly recognized that many offspring were half-breeds between humans and Ildirans. The tall black machine absorbed it all in silence.
“Because of your bad faith, Klikiss robots are no longer relevant to us,” Udru’h persisted. He gestured, and nearly a hundred soldier kithmen swarmed around the robot to prevent it from further observation. “Depart now. You are not welcome here.”
The robot hesitated for a long moment, assessing its options. Finally, it spun its torso and lumbered on metal fingerlegs back to its still-cooling ship. The robot had completed its mission here, though Udru’h suspected it was not satisfied with what it had seen. He felt a deep uneasiness.
Daro’h remained silent and nervous, watching as the Klikiss mechanical craft roared upward in a blaze of expended fuel, scorching the ground and damaging the nearby support facilities. The Designate-in-waiting finally turned to his uncle, his face full of questions.
Udru’h put a strong but faintly trembling hand on the young man’s shoulder. “We must send a message immediately back to Ildira.”
Chapter 78 — OSIRA’H
After the departure of the sinister Klikiss robot, Osira’h returned to her intense mental studies with wholehearted diligence. Once again, she pretended that she didn’t know what was really happening here on Dobro…
So far, every year of her life had been focused on a single goal. Her instructors and keepers, the lens kithmen and the Designate himself, had nurtured her, claiming to be friends. They had hammered into Osira