Reforged by Isaac Hooke

Author:Isaac Hooke [Hooke, Isaac]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-08-27T16:00:00+00:00

13

Eric blinked as the real world returned. He raised his robotic arm and squeezed his metal fist with some regret. But maybe not as much as might be expected.

Back inside the killing machine.

It was this form that was keeping him alive in here, not his VR form. And he respected that about his machine body more than anything else.

“Well, the emitters are finished,” Marlborough said.

“Even mine?” Bambi asked.

“Even yours,” Marlborough replied. “Though you started late. Some of the other drones finished their emitters early, and the different Accomps in charge sent the spare units to yours to help with construction. So yes, you’re ready, too.”

Brontosaurus nodded toward what was left of the tanks. Most still had substantial metallic components left, though many were gutted.

“So what should we do with these, or what’s left of them?” Brontosaurus asked.

“We don’t need them anymore,” Marlborough said. “They’ll only draw attention to us, and give away what we really are. But gather as much material as you can fit into your storage compartments for any future repairs.”

Eric and the others ripped away different parts of the wreckages, and shoved the materials into their storage compartments.

“So what’s the range on these masking devices?” Tread asked. “As in: how close can we let the enemy approach before they realize we’re not actually those three-legged Sloth units of theirs?”

“Just to be on the safe side, I’d say don’t let any Banthar units close to more than five hundred meters,” Frogger said.

“But with modern telescopic lenses, couldn’t they get a visual a lot farther than that?” Treads pressed.

“And maybe, just maybe, we should have talked about this before we spent all this time creating the damn things?” Hicks said. “Instead of just blindingly trusting in Frogger.”

“Your trust isn’t misplaced,” Frogger said. “I’ve been recording a lot of data on the Banthar machines, and I’m convinced that most of their units don’t really rely on the visual spectrum, except at very close ranges. In fact, some of them don’t even have cameras. My alien tank certainly didn’t for example: neither I, nor my repair drones, found anything remotely resembling a camera while disassembling the tank for spare parts. There were a few LIDAR emitters, but that was about it. The hulls of our mech automatically scatter LIDAR, so we’re safe on that front.”

“But won’t LIDAR scattering give us away right there?” Brontosaurus asked.

“I don’t think so,” Frogger said. “As far as I can tell, the real Sloths used LIDAR scattering.”

“So keeping our distance from Banthar units might prove easier said than done,” Dickson told him. “When I was in the army during my human days, if ever we spotted friendly units in the distance, we always established an ID before moving on. I don’t see why these aliens wouldn’t do the same. If they detect us, they’ll probably approach in an attempt to confirm we really are friendly.”

“I don’t think so,” Frogger said. “The emitters are the ID you’re speaking of. If I thought otherwise, I would have never designed the devices.

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