Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [227]
In all of his calculations, Sirix had also dismissed the Ildirans as a threat. Ages ago, as part of his bargain with the Klikiss robots, the Mage-Imperator had vowed never to create sentient machines. After the robots discarded the agreement, Sirix had never counted on a half-breed girl with unexpected telepathic powers to help the Ildirans negotiate with the hydrogues. He had also not expected the Solar Navy to turn against the far superior warglobes. Mage-Imperator Jora'h had cast aside the alliance like so much worthless debris, even though he knew the hydrogues would retaliate. It defied reason.
Now it was no longer possible for Sirix to complete the original objectives. It annoyed him.
The robot-hijacked battleships were identical to those commanded by General Lanyan. The stolen Mantas and Thunderheads outnumbered real EDF ships, and this time they had preemptively disabled all of the guillotine protocols. General Lanyan could not use that insidious trick again.
By displaying stock images of now-dead grid admirals, Sirix had expected to slip cleanly among the EDF vessels and open fire. But humans had a surprising ability to distinguish the subtlest details in each other's features and behavior. The deceptive images of human commanders had been taken directly from EDF records, but the surviving soldiers somehow detected the ruse.
Suspicious human captains challenged the holographic simulacra with ridiculous trivia that could not be found in EDF databases. They asked opinions about sports teams or gossip about celebrities and medialoop stars. Neither the Klikiss robots nor the Soldier compy poseurs could answer swiftly or correctly. Real EDF ships easily identified the infiltrators.
Sirix had underestimated these vermin. Simulations and analyses did not allow adequate understanding of chaotic biological intelligences.
Now, from his damaged Juggernaut, General Lanyan distributed target lists of robot-controlled ships. A third cohort of Ildiran warliners added their weapons to the remnants of the EDF. Verdani treeships continued to attack the few hydrogues that had managed to elude the Roamer doorbells.
What should have been a simple victory was turning into a rout.
Sirix had already lost a third of his stolen ships--and he required those vessels for cleansing human inhabitants from other planets. Unless he retreated with his remaining vessels now, he would not be able to recapture the former Klikiss colony worlds. That was his priority.
Faced with defeat, Sirix decided to save the rest of his ships. Otherwise, the overall mission--not just this single battle--would fail.
Watching the last hydrogues being wiped out, he reached the only logical decision. In a burst of machine language, his instructions rattled across all functional robot-controlled battleships. "Retreat. Salvage our military craft. Withdraw from the fight."
He repeated his transmission to make certain all of his counterparts understood. With extrapolative programming, they should have already reached the same conclusions on their own. "Disengage from the conflict."
In unison, with precision that would have made even the Adar of the Solar Navy proud, the robot-controlled vessels spun about. The stolen EDF battleships fired up their engines and fled swiftly into space.
134
JESS TAMBLYN
The alien citysphere shrank into the misty distance as Jess guided his wental bubble out of Qronha 3. Hydrogue domes, chambers, and pyramids were still visible through the colored fog, though a living mist continued to thicken around the bizarre metropolis. Wentals had penetrated to the core layers, approaching the citysphere itself. Diamond warglobes hurtled past, battling their intangible enemies with icewaves and deadly blue lightning, which had little effect.
"I didn't think we'd escape this easily," Tasia said.
Robb Brindle made a strangled sound. "You call this easy, Tamblyn? Maybe you hit your head on something--"