Robot Dust Bunnies (Argonauts Book 5) Read online

“Disable all LIDAR bursts,” Rade said. “Looks like we won’t have to worry about giving away our position after all. TJ, halt the HS3 at the edge of that opening, capture an image of the cavern beyond, and then retreat.”

  TJ complied. In moments, Rade had a picture of the following chamber. He saw thin columns with thicker, rounded bases. Several humanoid shapes—some possessing the bulk of jumpsuits—lounged between them. Near the center of the chamber, a rectangular-shaped box composed of several blue horizontal glow bars provided the light.

  “Looks like we got at least six jumpsuits,” Lui said, describing the shapes. “I think they’re strength enhanced, but they might be ordinary environmental suits. And see those four individuals near the front? The ones with the thin bodies? Security robots.”

  Rade could agree with that assessment. The aforementioned four were all servomotors and polycarbonate limbs, with flat visors in place of faces. Two were facing the opening, two the far side of the chamber. They carried rifles, and stood guard while the other six lay against the different columns. Those latter six were unarmed.

  “The Phant has to be hiding among them,” Surus said.

  “Should we get them to evacuate the chamber?” Lui said. “Order them back to our Hoplites so we can more readily interrogate them?”

  “No,” Rade said. “I don’t want to give the Phant a chance to escape.”

  “But as you told us, it would have sensed the presence of Surus and the other Green by now,” Tahoe interjected. “If it wanted to escape, it would have already.”

  “Maybe,” Rade said. “But then again, maybe not. Bender, Lui, you’re going to enter first. Target the weapons of those robots with the help of your onboard AIs, but if necessary shoot their centers of mass and disable them entirely. Don’t announce your presence; let your rifles do the talking. Surus, you’re going to follow Bender and Lui inside. I want you to stun the four robots after they’ve been disarmed, and then the individuals in the jumpsuits, just in case the latter group contain Artificials, or humans with cybernetic attachments capable of hosting Phants.”

  “Will do,” Surus replied.

  Rade and the others flattened against the wall and Surus squeezed forward to assume a position behind Bender and Lui in the cramped tunnel.

  “Let’s get closer,” Rade said.

  The Argonauts approached the opening. Bender and Lui halted just beyond the edge of the dim blue light cast by the source inside. Surus hovered close behind them. Bender glanced at Rade expectantly.

  “Proceed,” Rade ordered. He switched to Bender’s viewpoint to watch.

  Bender and Lui rushed inside, Bender going high, Lui low. They unleashed two quick shots with their lasers, disarming the closer robots. As the farther robots spun around to face them, Bender and Lui fired again, burning holes through the rifles of those automatons as well.

  Surus moved forward. She fired her stun rifle four times in rapid succession, and the robots dropped to their knees, electricity sparking across their metallic skins. Then she unleashed the electrolaser on the six jumpsuits in turn. The plasma channel created by the stun weapon wouldn’t harm any humans inside those suits, other than providing a momentary sense of discomfort as all the hairs of their bodies stood on end.

  “Search them!” Rade said as the remaining Argonauts hurried inside. He switched back to his own viewpoint.

  Surus and Corunna ran forward, quickly examining the different robots and jumpsuits. If a Phant was present, they would have seen signs of it bubbling to the surface near the AI core regions.

  Surus moved from the fallen robots to the stunned men in jumpsuits, and after examining the last of them, she glanced at Rade with a solemn expression. “Our prey isn’t here.”

  “But you still sense it?”

  “Yes,” Surus said. “Strong as ever. It’s somewhere in this cave system.”

  Those in jumpsuits were on their knees, like the robots, and had their hands raised over their heads. The other Argonauts had trained their rifles on each of them.

  Rade quickly surveyed the chamber. He saw another exit leading to a tunnel on the far side, which explained why two of the robots had been watching that quarter.

  “Tahoe, Manic, secure that exit,” Rade said. “Bender, Lui, watch the rear passage.”

  The four assumed positions on either side of the two openings.

  Surus gathered the recovering robots and herded them toward the jumpsuits, so that the Argonauts could readily cover them all with their laser rifles.

  “What do you want?” one of the jumpsuit-clad individuals said, via the external speakers on his helmet. He spoke Russian, but Rade’s Implant translated the words in realtime.

  “You’re the spokesman?” Rade said, utilizing his own external speakers.

  “I’m Vladimir Dartashonov,” the man said. “Lead researcher at Leningrad station.”

  “Which of you are Artificials?” Rade asked the man.

  Vladimir pointed out two of the jumpsuits.

  Rade went to them. “Remove your helmets.”

  The two complied.

  “Surus, stun them again,” Rade said.

  She did so, and when the Artificials collapsed, she turned them over and examined the nape regions. “Still nothing.”

  Rade glanced at Vladimir. “Why did you come here instead of waiting for us at the research station? And why didn’t you inform us of your intentions?”

  “We lost communication with your ship shortly after we spoke,” Vladimir said. “Our sensors told us a massive solar flare was incoming, so we assumed that was the cause.”

  “A massive solar flare?” Rade said.

  “Yes, it would have arrived within the hour,” Vladimir said. “A flare that would increase the heat of the temperate zone by an order of magnitude, potentially damaging the research station. We decided to take the exploration vehicle here to shelter underground in the cave system. But I assume, since you are standing here unharmed before me, the flare never came?”

  “No.” Rade glanced at Lui.

  “If the Phant took control of the station’s AI,” Lui said over the private comm. “It could have reported a massive solar flare, deceiving them into evacuating.”

  “Are you aware that the station’s AI has been wiped?” Rade asked Vladimir.

  “I was not aware,” the Russian replied.

  “You didn’t leave anyone behind at the base at all?” Rade said.

  “We left the robot chef,” the man said.

  “Well, it’s not there anymore,” Rade said. He glanced at Surus and sent over the comm: “Is it possible the Phant is hiding deeper inside one of the robots and Artificials? Away from the AI core?”

  “If it was, it would come to the surface when stunned,” Surus said. “It only remains in place when it has embedded itself in the AI core, at which point it becomes externally visible upon the units.”

  “What about that light box?” Harlequin pointed his rifle at the rectangular-shaped object covered in horizontal glow bars.

  TJ stepped forward to examine it. He glanced upward a moment later, and met Rade’s eyes. “It has a primitive AI core. But I’m not seeing any signs of Phant possession.”

  Rade glanced at Surus. “Stun it.”

  She did so, and then checked all six sides of the container. “Nothing.”

  “You know, it’s possible that the Phant was hiding out in that light box when we arrived,” Lui said. “It could have seeped into the rock while we were stunning the robots, and then moved back into one of them right before our eyes. Remember, Surus can’t sense their locations with any finer granularity... all she has is a vague sense that the Phant is here. Either a weak sense, or a strong sense. And it’s still strong right now.”

  “The feeling hasn’t changed,” Surus confirmed.

  “I don’t see any signs of Phant possession,” Rade said, examining the four robots, and taking a look at the necks of the two Artificials once again.

  “Could be that it’
s lingering deeper inside like you already suggested,” Lui said. “We won’t know, unless we stun them again.”

  “Fine,” Rade said. “Surus, please stun the robots and Artificials again. Let’s make sure Lui gets his—”

  A blur of motion told Rade the four robots and two Artificials were moving.

  Scratch that, not moving, attacking.

  seven

  Rade and the Argonauts fired, downing two of the robots. The other two robots, and the pair of Artificials, grabbed the Russian personnel who wore jumpsuits and employed them as shields, swinging their bodies like clubs and attempting to batter the Argonauts.

  Rade’s laser rifle was knocked away by one of those incoming bodies. The Artificial that held it abruptly split the body in half, unleashing a gory wall of red mist. It hurled the upper body against Manic, and the lower body into Tahoe, sending them reeling backward. The other robots and remaining Artificial did the same with the other three bodies, using them to bowl over other Argonauts, closing in to attack those still left standing.

  Rade found himself struggling for his life against one of the Artificials. His weapon had landed near one of the floor to ceiling pillars, but it was too far away, so he was forced to engage in hand-to-hand combat. He dialed up the strength settings of his exoskeleton to full and began deflecting those incoming blows. He struggled to recall what he had learned from his many sparring practices against Harlequin. Most robots and Artificials used a variant of the mixed martial arts program designed by the military for combat robots. For example, Harlequin employed the latest version, 2.3g.

  Rade kept an eye out for the patterns inherit to that program, such as the tendency to attack from the lower right after the opponent, in this case Rade, dodged a central body blow, but so far none of those patterns manifested.

  He took a hit to the faceplate, and the polycarbonate-glass composite buckled slightly, with a crack spidering across the surface. Rade took another hit to the flank, and he felt the exoskeleton momentarily dig into his ribs.

  Rade sidestepped and moved forward, extending a foot while joining both arms and hurtling them backward like a club, connecting with the upper back of the Artificial’s jumpsuit. It tripped over Rade’s boot.

  Rade immediately attempted the mounting maneuver. But the Artificial was quick, and turned itself around as Rade landed, so that its torso faced upward. Before Rade realized what had happened, the Artificial had reversed the hold so that Rade was lying with his back to the stone. He gripped the Artificial’s wrists, attempting to hold the hands at bay, but its gloves were slowly closing with his faceplate. It intended to puncture the already weakened composite.

  Those fingers slowly edged toward Rade’s face.

  “Guys, some help here...” Rade sent.

  The eyes of the Artificial momentarily swam with neon green droplets, and then it blinked several times, clearing the substance. It released Rade, then stood up, raising its hands in surrender. The other Artificial was similarly surrendering nearby. The remaining two robots had been shot down by the other Argonauts, who were gathering their weapons and regrouping. The gory pieces of the dead Russians lay on the floor between them, their torn midsections covered in red crystals.

  “Surus?” Rade asked, using his external speakers to address the helmetless Russian Artificial before him.

  “Corunna,” it answered.

  “I’m here,” the other Artificial said. “It seems these Artificials have been reprogrammed by our prey. They had instructions to terminate us by any means necessary, with the caveat they kill the scientists in the process. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to reprogram them. At least not within any acceptable timeframe. They are quite useless to us. You will have to destroy them.”

  “Is there any information on the robot chef?” Rade said.

  “Some,” the Artificial said. “It’s not strictly a robot, but an Artificial. Seems to be your standard chef model. Female. Also served as a sex surrogate for most of the researchers, it seems.”

  “These dirty little scientists,” Bender said. “Copulating with their robot chefs.”

  “Wouldn’t you?” Manic said. “If you were stationed on the far end of nowhere?”

  “No,” Bender said. “I’d copulate with you, my bitch.”

  “Is there any other information of note within those AI cores?” Rade asked.

  “Nothing pertinent, I’m afraid,” Surus said.

  “Corunna?” Rade said.

  “No,” the Artificial directly in front of him replied.

  Rade glanced at Bender and Lui. “Take them out.”

  “I feel kind of bad doing this to you, Surus,” Bender said. “Actually, I don’t.”

  He opened fire at the same time as Lui.

  The two Artificials collapsed with bore holes drilled through their forehead regions.

  Green mists emerged from either body, and Rade and the others stepped back to give them room. The vapors returned to the jumpsuit-clad bodies of Ms. Bounty and the other Artificial serving as host to Corunna. The jumpsuits of those two didn’t contain the Phant-repelling EM emitters like the others, so their return was assured.

  “I’m back,” Surus said a moment later.

  “Corunna?” Rade asked.

  “I have transitioned as well,” she replied.

  Rade was relieved—he had been worried that their prey might have taken over one of the friendly Artificials after the Greens left them.

  Rade ignored the cracks spidering his faceplate as he gazed at the wreckages of the four robots.

  “The robots were reprogrammed, too?” Rade said.

  “Most likely,” Surus said. “Either that, or blackmailed in some way.”

  His eyes drifted to the dead bodies. “We’ll have to get Shaw to notify the Russian government of this incident when we’re back within comm range. Next of kin need to be notified.”

  “I’ll let her know as soon as we return,” Fret said.

  “No, I’ll do it,” Rade said. He glanced at Surus. “You’re still reading our prey?”

  “I am,” she said. “The strength of its presence is the same... it’s still somewhere nearby. I suggest we retreat to the Hoplites to explore a different branch of the cave.”

  “The remaining HS3s should be reporting in by then,” TJ said.

  Rade glanced at the small opening on the far side of the room.

  Lui followed his gaze. “It gets tight in there real fast,” Lui explained. “Not much sense in proceeding that way. Though to be complete, we should still dispatch the HS3.”

  “Do it, TJ,” Rade said.

  The HS3 proceeded into the forward opening. Rade switched to its LIDAR-computed viewpoint, and watched as the tunnel diminished with each passing moment, until the HS3 was proceeding along a narrow gap along the floor.

  “I don’t think we’re going that way,” Rade said. “Even if we doffed our jetpacks, our bulky suits would never fit.”

  Tahoe seemed relieved. “For a second there, I thought you were going to press on anyway.”

  “You had a bad experience with a tight cave and a few bugs back in the First Alien War, if I remember correctly?” Fret said.

  “Certainly wasn’t a good experience,” Tahoe said.

  “Recall the HS3,” Rade said. “If the Phant is hiding in that tunnel, it’s out of reach for the moment.”

  “You have to wonder why the researchers were guarding the forward tunnel with two of their robots?” Manic said. “If it’s so tight...”

  “Dunno,” Lui said. “The robots were probably following their usual combat routines, and the Russian researchers simply didn’t know any better.”

  When the scout returned, Rade had TJ send it ahead to lead the way back to the Hoplites.

  The group returned to the cavern that housed the mechs shortly. The Phant wouldn’t have taken control of the Hoplites, of course, thanks to the special anti-Phant EM emitters surrounding the AI cores.

  The Argonauts boarded their res
pective units. Rade noticed that Surus entered her cockpit alone, and had Corunna strap in to the passenger seat above the jumpjets—Surus wanted to pilot the Hoplite, apparently, rather than relying on the onboard AI. At least for the moment.

  Rade checked the overhead map and saw that much of the cave had been filled out. Most of the HS3s were on the way back and had returned to communications range. Two had already reached the cavern where the Hoplites resided and were waiting. However to the west, past the cavern that housed the exploratory vehicle ahead, there was still a big black region.

  “HS3’s Five and Six still haven’t returned from the inner sections of the cave,” TJ said.

  “They were dispatched to the west?” Rade asked.

  “How did you guess?” TJ replied.

  “That’s the first place we explore, then,” Rade said.

  The party retreated toward the exploratory vehicle.

  As soon as Rade had contact with Shaw again, he updated her on the situation, and gave her instructions to notify the Russians of the deaths.

  “So we’re still hunting that Phant,” Shaw said.

  “We are,” Rade agreed. On a private channel, he added: “It’s eerie as hell down here. Be glad you’re up there rather than down here.”

  “Honestly, I’m starting to regret my decision to stay aboard the Argonaut,” Shaw replied.

  “You shouldn’t,” Rade said. “Yours is probably the most important task of all.”

  “What, protecting the twins?”

  “You guessed it,” Rade said.

  “Capturing Phants is more important for humanity, though,” Shaw said.

  “Maybe,” Rade said. “But protecting the twins is more important to me.”

  “And me as well,” Shaw agreed. “Guess that makes us traitors.”

  “No,” Rade said. “It makes us human.”

  The Hoplites reached the side passage that led to the western regions of the cave.

  “Send three HS3s forward,” Rade instructed.

  The scouts moved into the cave, and almost immediately Rade saw that the tunnel floor exhibited the familiar soot. Boots had thoroughly packed it down so that footprints were only partially visible along the edges of the floor.