Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [5]
DD's optimism was unrelenting. 'Margaret understands the Klikiss. She will explain them to the colonists and show you how to live together. Won't you, Margaret?'
Even the older woman had a sceptical expression on her face. 'DD, I barely understand how I survived. But you're right. My years of training as a xeno-archaeologist should count for something. I observed, and I managed to stay alive.'
Orli reached out and took her calloused hand. 'Then you have to tell Mayor Ruis and Roberto Clarin what you know.'
DD dutifully took her other hand. 'Knowledge is helpful, isn't it, Margaret?'
'Yes, DD. Knowledge is a tool. I'll explain what I learned and hope it turns out to be useful.'
As they descended the hill toward the town, they walked directly past several spiny Klikiss warriors and a troop of mottled yellow-and-black builders that had begun to dig long trenches, disregarding any boundaries the colonists had marked. Anxious, Orli held the woman's hand tightly. Margaret was unruffled, though, she paid no more attention to the individual Klikiss than the creatures seemed to pay her.
Why are there so many types of Klikiss? They've all got different colours and markings.' Orli had even seen some with almost human heads and faces, like hard masks, while most just looked like bugs.
'Klikiss don't have sexes, they have sub-breeds. The large spiny ones are warriors to fight in the many hive wars. Others are gatherers, builders, scouts, scientists.'
'You can't be serious. Those bugs have scientists?'
'And mathematicians, and engineers.' Margaret raised her eyebrows with a certain measure of admiration. 'They discovered the transportal technology, after all. They invented the Klikiss lurch and left detailed records and intricate equations on the walls of their ruins. Those creatures solve problems through brute force - and do it well.'
Orli watched the swarming Klikiss, whose clustered, towerlike structures looked like a giant hive complex. 'Do they have a queen?'
Margaret stared with unfocused eyes, as if buried in unforgettable nightmares. 'Not a queen - a breedex, neither male nor female. It is the mind and soul of the hive.'
Orli drew the woman's attention back to the real question. 'But what do they want?'
Margaret remained quiet for so long, Orli thought she hadn't heard. Then the archaeologist said, 'Everything.'
Most of the Klikiss had moved back into their ancient city, as if nothing had changed in millennia. One huge Klikiss, with a silvery exoskeleton adorned with black tiger stripes, had an extra pair of segmented legs, a carapace full of spikes and polished knobs, and several sets of faceted eyes. Its head/face was ovoid, composed of many small plates that shifted and moved, almost giving it expressions. This one seemed much… vaster somehow, more important and ominous than the others. Orli stared, her eyes wide.
'That is one of the eight domates that attend the breedex,' Margaret said. 'They provide additional genetic material necessary for spreading the hive.'
'Will I see the breedex myself?'
The older woman flinched. 'Hope you do not. It is very risky.'
'Did you ever see her - it, I mean?'
'Many times. It is how I survived.' She offered nothing more.
'So it can't be that risky.'
'It is.'
They passed by EDF barracks built among the alien towers. The soldiers were pale and frightened, their uniforms rumpled and stained. These Eddies - stationed here with instructions to 'protect the colonists' and guard the transportal so the Roamer detainees didn't escape - could now do little more than watch the invasion, as helpless as the colonists they were supposed to safeguard.
Orli was surprised to see that the Klikiss had not disarmed the troops. 'Why do the soldiers still have their guns?'
'The Klikiss don't care.'
Without asking permission or making any gesture to acknowledge what they were doing, the Klikiss