Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [95]
"It was an accident, EA. I read the report." Tasia didn't want to consider otherwise. She had always been stubborn, but now she found herself more rigid, clinging to the details of what she remembered as reality.
"I believe the Earth Defense Forces tampered with me before I was returned to you. Perhaps someone inadvertently triggered an automatic routine to erase my memories. Or perhaps it was intentional."
Tasia's indignation lashed out like a whip, striking many different targets. All Roamer compies contained fail-safe datawipes so that if any non-Roamer tried to interrogate them, all information about clan facilities and movements would be destroyed. Those precautions had been installed long before the Big Goose's declaration of war against the Roamers.
Robb looked at the compy, his honey-brown eyes wide. "The EDF messed with EA? Are you sure?"
Tasia took several deep breaths to calm herself. Why was she so surprised? The Eddies had constantly treated her like dirt, regarded her with suspicion, stripped her of command responsibilities. Now she felt even more betrayed. "I should have found some other way to warn the Osquivel shipyards. Then I wouldn't have lost you. Where was my Guiding Star?"
Robb looked surprised. "What shipyards at Osquivel? I didn't see any--"
Shoulders sagging, Tasia explained how she had warned Del Kellum's facility about the EDF battle group on its way. She had known the Eddies might turn their weaponry against the clans instead of the drogues; they had an annoying habit of chasing after the wrong enemy. Because of EA's message, the Roamers had managed to hide their facilities in time.
But she had never guessed what it would cost her compy. In some ways, the Earth military was even worse than the Klikiss robots. At least the black alien machines didn't claim to be trustworthy.
"EA was lost after delivering her message," Tasia continued. "Someone must have intercepted her before she could find her way home. The bastards ruined her. Could have been General Lanyan, or some underling." She stared into the compy's optical sensors. "I'm sorry, EA. I'm so sorry."
55
SIRIX
The Klikiss robot stood on the bridge of his stolen EDF Juggernaut and contemplated the extermination of the human race. His enjoyment of their demise was not cold and rational, since the original Klikiss race had imprinted a measure of their brutal personality on their servant robots. The malicious insectoid race considered such feelings necessary for the black drone machines to fulfill their roles. The Klikiss masters could not savor their power unless the downtrodden robots understood the difference between a dominator and a victim. The master could feel no pleasure unless a slave felt pain. The robots comprehended this to their very core programming.
Sirix and his fellows had known exactly what they were doing when they wiped out their creator race in a single, swift betrayal--and they had enjoyed it thoroughly. Even millennia later, the black robots hated the Klikiss with a violence that far exceeded the designs of the insectoid builders.
But with the Klikiss long gone, Sirix had only the humans to hate. And he did so with complete diligence.
This overthrow of the Earth Defense Forces was thorough and efficient. Soldier compies now controlled the Grid 3 battle group. A few ships had slipped away, but the robots had seized the bulk of the fleet and could use the battleships against humanity. It was a victory worthy of the most bloodthirsty Klikiss breedex.
All across the Earth Defense Forces, programming implanted in the compy modules had worked perfectly. The foolish humans believed promises and were slow to suspect supposed friends. No Klikiss would have made such an error.
As soon as the Soldier compies transmitted their initial success, Sirix and five Klikiss robots had boarded the captured Grid 3 ships. According to