Bunker Core (Core Control Book 1) by Andrew Seiple & Amelia Parris

Author:Andrew Seiple & Amelia Parris [Seiple, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-09-20T06:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

My bats returned and paid their guano tithe. Cade and his entourage had departed hours ago, claiming a need to return before the screamers came out. I’d spent the time talking over options with Argus.

I also checked in on the “Tazzel Worm.” He lay there in the dim light, unmoving. I didn’t even see breath passing through his throat. Occasionally his tongue flickered out of his mouth, but otherwise I couldn’t see any sign of life.

It was a certainty that he wasn’t dead. You don’t get to be that size by being fragile and pockmarks and old scars on his ridged, scaly back showed that he wasn’t lacking will to struggle. I could respect that. Which meant that I had to do something about him before the poor bastard starved to death.

Besides, right now he was tying up a room I needed. That was valuable bandwidth going to waste! Two whole units worth.

Fortunately I had a plan that would make it a non issue.

I figured that this thing was mostly nocturnal and waited until I couldn’t see it moving at all. Then I directed the nanobuilder swarm in and started digging a tunnel upwards, just big enough for my new guest. I gave them the instruction to come back after they’d emerged into the open, and after an hour of quiet work, they did. I stared ruefully at the one whole feedstock they’d gotten for me and shrugged. Feedstock really wasn’t the point.

Next, I directed them into the main corridor and sighed as I stared at the cross-cut that I’d just filled in a day or so ago. Then I had them dig the damn thing out again, claimed it, and started work on a room of equivalent size to the one my gator mutant guest was occupying.

“Why are you doing this?” Argus wondered.

“The symmetry pleases me,” I said. “I’ve got a thing for patterns, I think. Also I’ll need a place to stick the broadcast node. It works better the farther it is from the core chamber.”

“That’s not far at all.”

“I’m going to move the core chamber.”

“Okay, but where are you going to get the bandwidth to do that? You don’t have enough right now.”

“Not yet, no.” Once the room was finished, I directed the nanobots back to the core chamber and started dissolving the drone turret. “But after this guy goes, sure. And even more so once I pull the next trick.”

“Is it wise to get rid of our last ditch defense?”

“I can rebuild it later. Besides, it can’t hurt the worm, and from what our new buddies tell us, we’ve got several days before the Jaspa find their balls to come again. “

“If his information is accurate.”

“I think it is.” Cade had confided in me that some of the Jaspa “Sivvies” had a good smuggling operation going with the Arcadians. There were family ties, too. Something I could maybe use in the future, to sow dissension and spike my enemy’s plans… but that would have to come after the next crisis.

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