Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [52]
She looked at the images. He had even gotten a shot of one type near the Klikiss ruins that had a pale carapace and a horrifyingly human face, but it had not stayed still enough to let Davlin get a clear image. She shuddered as she remembered the origin of those sub-breeds. Poor Howard Palawu.
'Let me show you how to break down the genetic map of the Klikiss.' Identifying the sub-breeds for him, Margaret rattled off information she had stored up in her mind over the course of many years. Davlin listened, made notes, and seemed to be memorizing every word she said. This was the first time they had spoken closely together, and she found the man very impressive. Because he had long ago been sent to Rheindic Co to find her, he already knew a great deal about her. It was clear as he pressed her for details about the Klikiss that he had no capricious curiosity, but a genuine drive to help the colonists.
'What are all those people corralled inside the wall supposed to live on?' He looked at her. 'Can we eat Klikiss food?'
'I did.' She remembered the first time she'd gotten hungry enough to taste the mashed, mealy mixture. 'It kept me alive.'
On Llaro, Klikiss 'biomass gathering swarms' had continued to fly out, using nets like giant butterfly catchers to scoop up any airborne creatures. Gatherers returned from distant rivers and lakes with bins full of marsh-weed, jellyfish, and flopping, scaly swimmers. The Klikiss dumped everything together and processed it into a homogeneous mealy substance. Huge quantities of it were stored in newly built silos next to the breedex hive.
'So, will the Klikiss provide the humans with food, now that they've harvested everything in the vicinity?'
'I doubt very much the breedex even thinks of such things.'
'How do we change that? Those colonists have a few hidden supplies, but they won't last forever.'
She hesitated, looking him in the eyes, then abruptly stepped away from the uneven wall of the tower. Without showing - or feeling - any fear, Margaret placed herself directly in front of a marching worker. Since the hive mind controlled all the creatures, Margaret could talk directly to the breedex by speaking to any one of the ungainly insects. 'You!' She clapped her hands.
The yellow-and-black creature paused. She launched into a tongue-twisting, throat-scraping series of clicks and guttural noises that conveyed the general concepts of nourishment and how the colonists, as members of her subhive, needed to be fed.
The worker moved to one side and tried to stride past her. Margaret interposed herself again, and gave its hard head carapace a sharp smack. 'Listen to me!' She repeated her demands in the Klikiss language, and supplemented her words by scrawling the main ideas in equation symbols in the trampled dirt.
'Food. For my hive.' She pointed to the stockade. 'Food!'
Grudgingly, it seemed, the breedex sent instantaneous commands. Four workers emerged from one of the thick-walled storage vaults, carrying rough containers filled with mealy Klikiss cuisine. They delivered the containers to the walled-in town.
Davlin was impressed. 'All right. Now let's work on a water-delivery system.'
Thirty
Sirix
Klikiss warriors from Llaro streamed through the Wollamor transportal and crashed into the defensive line of Soldier compies. The compies were powerful fighters with tough body armour and reaction speeds far superior to those of any mere human. But they were no match for the vengeful warrior breed of insects.
Sirix retreated as fast as his artificial body could move, before it was too late. Klikiss were coming through the transportal, right here, and his main force of EDF ships was still in orbit. Sirix needed to get to his Juggernaut and use that firepower to eradicate the hateful creators all over again. He sent a burst to his two compies. 'Get aboard the nearest troop transport.'
QT, his green-and-chrome skin filthy