The Ashes of Worlds - Kevin J. Anderson [104]
From the size of the infestation down there, she wasn’t sure how Davlin would get to a transceiver, but if it was humanly possible, she was willing to bet he’d do it. In fact, Davlin might even have found a way to escape on his own. Via transportal wall, maybe? In that case, he wouldn’t be here anymore . . . and then she didn’t know what she’d do.
Alert, she circled overhead, unrealistically hoping that the Klikiss wouldn’t notice her. She kept herself ready at all times, prepared to throw the Curiosity into an immediate retreat. Then, unexpectedly, she received a signal on the EDF band. She did not recognize the voice. The strange tone sounded synthesized and mechanical, not human.
“Captain Kett.”
A chill went up her spine. “Who is this? I’m trying to contact Davlin Lotze.”
Suddenly, a swarm of small Klikiss ships came toward her, hundreds of identical component vessels. They launched from the colony structures below while others swooped down from orbit, rapidly converging on her poor little Curiosity. “Oh, crap!”
It was time to check out the new weapons the Roamer shipyards had installed. She shot jazer blasts at all the bug vessels that swirled around her, and in less than a minute she had obliterated a dozen of them; high-velocity projectiles smashed another seven. But the Klikiss ships kept coming. There were far too many of them.
She accelerated, trying to ram her way out. “Getting a little crowded around here.” Two of the component craft caromed off her hull as they attempted to evade her charge. Red alarm lights flashed on the Curiosity’s status indicator array, and sparks spat out of the copilot’s control panel. Good thing BeBob wasn’t there. He’d be panicked right now.
“Captain Kett, please land.”
She realized then that the Klikiss component ships could have wiped her out, but the precise shots had merely crippled her engines. As she descended, alien component ships surrounded her, herding her. She had about as much maneuverability as a square asteroid. She used up all of her favorite curses on the way down and made up a few more before the Curiosity skidded across the dirt and rocks, clipping one of the termite-mound towers.
Crash webbing exploded around her, pinning her to her seat while cushioning foam spurted against her body. She spluttered and cursed again as the Curiosity came to a grudging halt. The bottom hull was ripped, the engines wrecked. “Oh, dammit a hundred times over!”
Outside, thousands of Klikiss emerged from their tunnels and towers, scuttling toward her.
This wasn’t exactly how Rlinda had pictured the mission ending. She considered launching an emergency buoy into space with a brief last message for BeBob, but that would just be treacly sentiment, and she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
While peeling off the crash webbing and smearing away the soft, slimy foam that had saved her life, she heard scraping and scratching on the outside of the ship. Even though the lower hull was already compromised, she couldn’t bear to see the bugs rip open her beloved ship as if it were nothing more than a food package. That would just be too much.
Opening the hatch, she stared out upon a sea of polished chitin, segmented limbs, and faceted eyes. Offensive odors filled the air — like a mixture of ammonia, sulfur dust, rotting meat, and vomit. Then she saw an old woman standing among the creatures. A human woman. Leaving the insects behind, the stranger approached the Curiosity’s hatch. “Captain Kett, I’m Margaret Colicos. I’ve been sent to meet you.”
Rlinda blinked in disbelief. It took her a long moment to form a response, and she couldn’t decide which part she found most astonishing. She had spent a lot of time in the ruins of Rheindic Co with Davlin, helping him search for any sign of the Colicos team. “I tried to find you years ago!” She glanced nervously