Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [6]
The edgy EDF soldiers began shouting. 'Wait a minute!' Some of them pushed forward. 'At least let us get our stuff out first.'
The bustling insects diligently continued their tasks, paying no more attention to the distraught men than they would to ornamental rocks.
Bolstered by their fellows, several soldiers ran toward the barracks. 'Stop! Hold on!'
Klikiss workers tore one section into scrap metal, strewing dismantled bunks, storage units, clothing, and supplies around like garbage. The nearest EDF soldier got in the way of an insectile demolitionist and raised his pulse jazer rifle. 'Back off, bugs! I'm warning you--'
The Klikiss swung a segmented limb, decapitated the man, and returned to its labours before the corpse fell to the ground. Outraged, nine uniformed soldiers screamed, took aim with their high-powered rifles, and started shooting.
Margaret groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. 'This will turn out badly.'
'Isn't there something you can do?' Orli cried.
'Not a thing.'
As projectiles slammed into them, the insect creatures didn't comprehend what was happening. Despite the weapons fire cutting them down, workers continued to destroy lockers full of clothing, equipment, scrapbooks of friends and family.
EDF weapons splattered eleven of the insect workers before the rest of the subhive turned on the soldiers. Dozens of spiny warriors marched up while the soldiers kept firing until their weapons were empty.
Then the Klikiss killed them.
Orli stared speechless at the bloodshed. Even DD seemed alarmed. A troop of workers arrived to replace the dead insects, and others hauled the human and Klikiss bodies away.
A tiger-striped domate strode up to Margaret and spoke in a clattering language. Margaret made a clicking, unnatural sound in her throat, while DD translated for Orli, 'The domate says those newbreeds are defective. They have been eliminated from the gene pool.' It turned away as a new troop of workers continued the demolition of the barracks in order to build their own structures.
'They're going to kill us all, aren't they?' Orli asked with grim resignation.
'The Klikiss aren't here for you.' Margaret narrowed her eyes, staring at the ancient structure that housed the transportal. 'I learned something very important when I deciphered their language. Their primary enemies are the black robots. The Klikiss mean to wipe them out. All of the robots. Just don't get in the way.'
Two
Sirix
Despite significant setbacks, Sirix and his black robots were undefeated. He immediately formulated a revision to his plan and determined that the robots would recapture - or destroy - one world at a time. The human military was greatly weakened, their governments too scattered to do anything about it.
All of the long-hibernating robots had been reawakened and were ready to complete their mission. The base that the robots had seized on Maratha was nearly completed, and Sirix's military force would be substantially augmented by the stolen EDF battleships. They would form a metal swarm to crush the humans, and then the Ildirans. Extreme and unprecedented violence was the only appropriate course of action.
Until recently, he had felt invincible, but in the free-for-all between the human military, hydrogue warglobes, monstrous verdani treeships, and Ildiran warliners, the robot fleet had been decimated. Worst of all, Sirix had lost many of his ancient, irreplaceable comrades. After millennia of planning, he had expected to conquer Earth and eradicate the rest of humanity, much as the myriad robots had exterminated the creator Klikiss race thousands of years ago. He had never postulated that the hydrogues might lose.
Seeing the tide turn, Sirix had assessed the damage, gauged his limitations, redefined his objectives - rather than admitting actual defeat - and retreated. Now, isolated in empty space, the remaining ships were safe, and Sirix intended to retaliate swiftly. One world at a time. From the bridge of his