Rade Kills Bugs by Isaac Hooke

Author:Isaac Hooke [Hooke, Isaac]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-12-10T16:00:00+00:00

10

It was less than an hour later when the HS3 reported something new.

Rade studied the feed on his HUD. A cleared area awaited ahead—the trees there had been reduced to ground-down stumps, and the shrubs had become little more than burn marks in the soil. Armed alien variants patrolled the clearing, equipped with those menacing energy cannons on the shoulders above the forelegs. Dispersed among the reptilian creatures at regular intervals were what could best be described as defense platforms—wicked turrets set on rotatable mounts. Probably capable of spewing the same sort of deadly energy as the shoulder mounts, except on a more damaging scale.

Beyond the aliens and platforms, about a kilometer away from the tree line, a long perimeter fence had been raised. It was composed of tall, translucent blue glass situated between thick metal posts. Defense towers interrupted the glass at intervals, sheltering more aliens, and topped by turrets.

The fence was circular in nature, and designed so that the one-kilometer distance between the tree line was maintained all along the perimeter, at least as far as Rade could see on either side. He didn’t doubt that the land was cleared all around the unseen portions of the perimeter as well—it was simply good design to keep your approaches unobscured.

Past the translucent glass of the fence, Rade could see into the base itself. Windowless metal stacks jutted skyward in clusters of differing heights. His gaze was drawn to the far side, where more glass enclosed a smaller series of cylinders whose surfaces seemed to be moving. It took a moment to comprehend just what he was looking at, but after catching flashes of carapaces, spindly legs, and fingerlike mandibles, he realized the container swarmed with the same insect-like creatures the ChickenGators had hunted in the forest. The disgusting things frolicked and bred inside, oblivious to their coming fate as alien finger food.

Rade let his eyes roam onward, casting his gaze across more of the base interior. There were other armed aliens patrolling inside, but otherwise no sign of any robots or other automated units. No defense platforms, either. He supposed if added firepower was ever needed, the turrets atop the perimeter defense towers could probably help with that, as they seemed capable of rotating three hundred and sixty degrees.

He noted that the building clusters were constructed around a central area, where a rectangular piece of metal sheathed the ground: perhaps a landing pad for the transports he had seen earlier. It was wide enough to hold at least ten of the craft.

“Well, well, well,” Bender transmitted. “It’s a bug luxury resort. All we have to do is break through that glass, and we’re in. Then it’s time for our bug roast. I’m looking forward to some ChickenGator fricassee myself.”

“You and your fricassee,” Manic quipped. “You always want fricassee.”

“By the way, you said break through that glass?” Lui asked. “That’s not glass. It’s some kind of energy barrier.”

“Well I’ll be, Fooey Lui, you’re right!” Bender said. “I’m going to have

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