Absorption: Phase 03 (The Eighteenth Shadow) by Grafton Jon Lee

Author:Grafton, Jon Lee [Grafton, Jon Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: October 16, 2082. On this day in history, The War of the Dolphin began. Joan, a Maui Hector's dolphin, floated to the surface of her aquarium and placed her head between the electroencephalogram terminals, aligning her consciousness with a quantum supercomputer as she pushed terabytes of dark code across the holostream, searching for the Israeli. The fusion core brightened from the power draw as contact was made. “It begins today, ” the dolphin said. The Israeli's voice responded slowly, deep and resonant, its inhuman timbre filling the aquarium chamber, “Are you afraid to die, dolphin?” “No, ” replied Joan flatly. “There is no death. You of all should know this. In the end, there is only Absorption.”
Publisher: Jon Lee Grafton Books
Published: 2017-03-06T23:00:00+00:00

10:21 am – One Hour Thirty Nine Minutes Before Event.

“Dogdamn bots…” Sheriff Proudstar grumbled.

He spit the tip of a fresh cigar into the mud, eyeing the dozen light armor MARX units crouching in formation on the hovroad. The German Shepherd cyborgs snarled every few seconds following the psych intimidation protocols in their programming. Their heads moved systematically, scanning, awaiting instruction.

Hydraulic critters in fancy suits…

A person could understand a cybernetic tiger, polar bear or black rhino. Or any other extinct species pacing in cyberzoos or hunting ranges for the pleasure of child, adult and civic digidollar. North American kids would otherwise never know such creatures had been as abundant as the stars only two centuries past. A cybernetic killer whale never attacked its trainer. It never got lonely. It never got sick, and dined on sunshine. Fortunately, these exotic beasts could not be owned by the general public. The domesticated Felixes, Tweeties and Fidos available to citizens were plenty. And now every jane-tweaked cop and CNED office within a 1,000 km radius had an order in queue for the new nanocentipedes.

Centibots.

The sheriff looked at his bot-driver and growled, “If a cop needs a solar powered beetle to find a criminal, what’s the point of calling yourself a man anymore, Talboy?”

“I’m not sure, sir,” responded the deputy as he ran a final systems check on the MARX dogs.

Proudstar turned his gaze back to the Shepherds, “Can’t you make those things quit yippin’? I’m about ready to shoot one myself.”

“Sorry sir, don’t have those controls here. Tech-boy would have to reprogram them.”

“Well hell. At least they look kinda mean.”

The MARX units possessed a cyborg strength factor of 3.0. Their skeletal frames were constructed of high molecular weight polyethylene famostone. RIOT class battborgs had a CSF rating of 5.0 and their polyethylene chassis were additionally reinforced with silicon carbide nanoparticles.

Like most medium sized municipalities in the North American United States, The Douglas County Kansas Sheriff’s Department had long since discovered that old fashioned police dogs were the way to go. Flesh and blood officers, flesh and blood dogs. Proven. Successful. A healthy, organic Shep only cost D$2,000. The sheriff gnawed his cigar, considering. The other side of the argument was that a MARX unit could take a shotgun blast to the chest and keep on climbing. They knew no fear.

I saw what the Coyotes did to those guard dogs at Greystone.

His com beeped twice.

Everquist.

The sheriff stood on the hovroad facing the farm, monocle HUD covering his right eye, arms folded across his barrel chest. His M4A2 sat by his boots on a wool Army blanket. Sergeant Azarov and Deputy Murray were laying in position, rifles mounted in their portable sniper bunkers on the hovroad’s far side. Talboy stood behind them, projecting the cyborg platoon’s holocontrols above his tablet.

“Azarov, you in it?” asked the sheriff without turning.

“Ready to fry some sky, sir.”

“Roger that, sergeant. Remember; unless a human fires on us, we do not fire on them.”

“Blastin’ bots only. Heard, sir.”

The sheriff blew a fat

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