Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [163]
Taken by surprise, the captives tried to retreat, backing into corners. When the smoke cleared, Klikiss workers raced forward on multiple legs, pulling away debris to make a passage for the domates. The striped Klikiss raised their sharp limbs, ready to feed.
Again, Margaret sought shelter in memories. She forced her mind back to the days that she and Louis had spent at the Martian pyramids, wearing environment suits, combing the angled structures for any hint of alien language or extraterrestrial technology. They had used the best sensors and analytical devices they'd been able to afford, and had made leaps of intuition. They drilled core samples, sent echo-sounders to study the internal structure. They worked for weeks. And found nothing.
In the end, they'd had no choice but to conclude that the famed Martian pyramids did not have an extraterrestrial origin, but were instead a one-in-a-million natural phenomenon of bizarre mineral growths. She and Louis had painstakingly compiled their data and posted their results for all to see. Louis in particular had been sad to strip the wonder from a landmark of the human imagination.
That announcement had made Margaret and Louis Colicos famous, at the same time triggering an angry response among people who desperately wanted to believe in the mysterious alien presence. The Martian pyramids were still a geological wonder, built over countless centuries by the crystalline conversion actions of a rare colony bacteria. But that had not stopped the hue and cry. She and Louis had even received a few death threats. But they stood by their findings, simply pointing to the data. What else could they do? The truth was the truth, no matter how inconvenient or disappointing it might be. She had drawn strength from Louis, and he had stood by her…
Inside the stockade, the domates began their slaughter. They fell upon the trapped humans, systematically killing one after another. Though the people fought back, they had no chance at all. Klikiss warriors plunged through the gap in the wall, but let the domates do most of the killing. It was their racial tradition.
Margaret thought she could smell the blood from where she sat. The human cries of pain and fear merged into a single background tone that grated on the back of her skull. She closed her eyes.
By the time of the Martian expedition, she and Louis had only been married for a year. Though day-to-day existence was hard and uncomfortable, those days had been like a real honeymoon for them - so peaceful and romantic. She and Louis had barely finished their work before the funding and supplies ran out, but Margaret hadn't wanted to leave the red planet. It had been an accident, though probably inevitable, that they had conceived Anton there in the deep canyons on Mars…
High in the Klikiss tower, she wound the music box again. Greensleeves.
Finally, all the screams from the compound ceased. She heard a last frantic wail from a few colonists whose careful bolt-hole had been discovered, then that too was cut off. Klikiss workers flooded into the compound and piled the bodies of their victims before the domates, who gorged themselves on all the new human DNA.
One hundred and one
Tasia Tamblyn
When the Osquivel finally reached Llaro, Tasia was glad to be coming as a liberator, for a change. Nikko Chan Tylar was ready to tar and feather those who had illegally imprisoned his parents. Robb was making plans to load the ship with up to a hundred Roamer detainees, and anyone else who wanted to come along.
Arriving on a silent, low-angle approach vector, Tasia advised Robb on where the main settlement was. He altered course accordingly. ‘I'm sending an ID signal and announcing that we have no hostile intentions. Just in case.'
‘Shizz, you do that, you'll be warning the Eddy crew down there.'
‘Come on, we're not exactly a stealth craft. They must have orbital