Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [112]
'I miss you, Beneto,' she said quietly.
'I know,' Yarrod replied for the treeship.
She didn't have a specific message for him. For now, as she held her stomach and felt the baby kick, Estarra just wanted to be close to him, close to the treeship. With all the dangers in
the Spiral Arm, this felt to her like the most protected place. She told OX to let them just drift there for a time. It was what she needed.
Sixty-six
Margaret Colicos
The Klikiss no longer responded when Margaret demanded J answers in their clicking language. She understood the I signs and knew she could wait no longer. The colonists had to prepare for their last stand.
Countless members of the Llaro subhive had been damaged or killed in major attacks against black robot infestations, and with rival breedexes expanding across ancient worlds and preparing for a new set of swarm wars, the Llaro breedex needed to produce many more Klikiss. More fighters. Very soon, Margaret knew, the subhive would undergo its fissioning and expansion. And the human settlers in the stockade would pay the price.
Margaret felt an ache for the upcoming tragedy. She liked these people. For a long time, she considered whether it might be best if she just hid the truth from them, let them have peace for a last few days. But they deserved to know, whether or not there was anything they could do about it. Even if it was a lost cause, shouldn't they have the choice to fight? Perhaps in the short time they had left, a few more people could surreptitiously get away. Margaret had to tell someone.
Faithful DD marched with her to the stockade. Resilient and intelligent, the Friendly compy adapted to nearly any new situation. Dozens of colonists had already quietly escaped, presumably taking shelter in the hideout that Davlin Lotze had promised to establish. But the rest of these…
More than a week earlier, at Margaret's insistence, the Klikiss had run a pipe from an agricultural well through the stockade wall. It was the only source of water inside, and the flow had sprayed across the ground in a muddy mess until Crim Tylar jury-rigged a trough and holding tank. The people filling jugs and buckets today stared at Margaret and the grim expression on her face.
Lupe Ruis and Roberto Clarin met her at the gushing water pump. 'I have news, but you may want to hear it in private.'
DD said, 'If we have a meeting, I would be happy to prepare some beverages. Do you have lemon concentrate? A popular old proverb says, “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”'
For a moment Clarin got a faraway look on his face. 'I miss lemonade. Back on Hurricane Depot, we sometimes got shipments of real lemons from the Chan greenhouses.' He sighed and reluctantly met Margaret's gaze. 'So, you're about to drop a giant lemon on us?'
Margaret didn't try to hide it. 'I'm afraid so.'
'We've been through seven hells and back already. What do the Klikiss want from us?'
'What have we ever done to them?' Ruis added. 'You said that they're after the black robots. I can't believe they'd want to hurt us.'
'The breedex sees you as a resource to help it meet its goals. It needs to reproduce, increase its numbers to fight other subhives. And for that it needs you. All of you.'
They entered a sheltered building with striped fabric overhangs, once a produce shop, it had been shut down since the arrival of the Klikiss. Clarin seemed resigned, as if he hadn't expected good news for months now. DD stood watch at the door under the bright awnings, though he would probably chat with visitors rather than turn them away.
'I've observed the preparations in the breedex hive. The domates are mature and ready to start assimilating new genetic material to improve this subhive's abilities. They will take what they can from human DNA, using all the colonists.'