Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [218]
Reaching a small ventilation window a few inches wide, he scanned the grounds. Out on the battlefield, the Llaro domates were feeding on the carcasses of more dead Klikiss, incorporating genetics, acquiring the DNA songs of the defeated subhive for the next fissioning. The breedex would reproduce again, to expand its numbers and replace the warriors fallen in the recent battle.
Well beyond the domates, he saw a group of humans rolling away in a Klikiss groundcar. Davlin let out a held breath, feeling tension drain from his shoulders. Now he knew the others had escaped, and was confident they could get to the Osquivel and fly away immediately after rescuing the rest of the survivors in the sandstone caves.
Seeing the others depart, Davlin also understood that he would never catch up with them. It was liberating, in a sense. That gave him the freedom to find his own way off of Llaro. He was, after all, a specialist in these sorts of things.
He decided that the transportal in the ancient hive city would be his ticket offworld. Any place had to be better than Llaro -provided he could find a planet that wasn't already infested with Klikiss.
He made his way deeper into the old hive city. He knew where the transportal chamber was, since he had come through it with the Crenna colonists when they first arrived. But when he sprinted into the central cluster of the ruins, he saw an alarming number of insect workers and scouts in the tunnels. The transportal wall must be close, but he might have to fight his way through.
Two spiny warriors waved their segmented forelimbs, turning armoured heads in his direction. Davlin immediately saw that the breedex would no longer ignore his presence.
He didn't hesitate. He sprang forward, aiming perfectly, and thrust his metal pipe into the thorax of the nearest warrior. It clacked its pincers, hissed, and whistled as it fell over. The creature's bulk was enough to wrench the pipe from Davlin's grip. The second warrior slashed at him, and the serrated limb ripped across his shoulders and down his back. He felt the insect claw grate on bone.
Stunned, he staggered away and past the remaining Klikiss warrior. Even bleeding profusely, he put on a burst of speed. The insect raced after him into the tight passage, its horned carapace scraping the rough walls. Davlin's legs felt cold and leaden, and he could hear the monstrous beetlelike creature right behind him. Fumbling, he withdrew the flare grenade but held off for just a moment. He turned a corner and staggered through an arched opening, at last finding the grotto where the trapezoidal stone window filled one wall.
Ten more Klikiss waited for him in the room, ready to fight. Several dead minions of the rival breedex lay on the floor, and workers were busy dismantling and carting the butchered bodies away. From behind, the warrior came hissing and clacking in pursuit. When the insect guards inside the chamber also began to move toward him, he flipped the activation switch, set the timer to three seconds, and tossed the flare grenade into the room.
He memorized his path ahead, and squeezed his eyes shut. He just had to get to the transportal wall. Bleeding, he staggered forward, counting to three, not even waiting for the flash. The intense burst of light drove the creatures back, and when he opened his eyes again, Davlin saw flaring spots. An alarming black static filled the corners of his vision. The pain from the open wound across his shoulders was incredible. Did the Klikiss exude some sort of poison? He could feel blood streaming down his back, down his legs. ~
At last he reached the stone window. The smooth trapezoid seemed to beckon him. He slapped his hand on it, but the portal remained solid. Reaching up to pick a coordinate tile - any tile - he heard the Klikiss hiss, stir, and clatter forward. The grenade hadn't stunned them for as long as he'd hoped.
Davlin depressed a tile, and the transportal shimmered. He had no way of knowing which world it was, nor