Reloaded (AI Reborn Trilogy Book 2) by Isaac Hooke

Author:Isaac Hooke [Hooke, Isaac]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-06-04T18:30:00+00:00

14

Eric zoomed in on the area. At the end of a small valley, he saw a horizontal area of bright green, with different greenish blurs moving to and fro in front of it.

“Drop, Bolt Eaters,” Marlborough ordered.

Everyone took cover, using whatever was available. Eric ducked behind a shallow depression next to a boulder, then he zoomed in on the site again.

“What is that?” Manticore said.

“According to the latest map data, an old iron mine,” Marlborough said. “It was shut down a good fifty years ago, but apparently the aliens, or someone, has decided to take up residence.”

“It would be a great place to put some 3D printers to work,” Frogger said. “If you were looking to build a few military units.”

“It’s gotta be Bokerov,” Eagleeye said.

“Ah, if it’s that bitch Bokerov, promise me we’re going to stick it to him, Sarge,” Slate said.

“The question is, why didn’t those termites find this place and suck it dry?” Tread said.

“My guess is the entrance was closed off,” Manticore said. “The map data indicates as much. There was an avalanche in the region some years back, which is partially why the mine was closed in the first place. It just wasn’t worth the money to dig out.”

“That would jibe with what we’ve seen,” Mickey said. “The termites, at least this first wave, seem to concentrate on easily accessible metal content. Later on, once they’ve obliterated all life on the planet, the aliens will probably commit to a far more thorough mining of metals.”

“Bambi, I want two scouts up there,” Marlborough ordered.

“You got it,” Bambi said.

She sent two Savages forward. The robots kept low, and when they were within a kilometer of the mountains, they switched to a low crawl. They oriented their antennae backwards, toward the hiding place of the platoon, and switched to directional transmission mode, so that whoever occupied the iron mine wouldn’t pick up their signal.

The robots clambered up the shoulder of the mountain, and partially up a cliff, so they could remain in line of sight with the platoon—and thus keep within comm range as well—and peered down into the area in front of the mine below.

There were no lights illuminating anything below, but Eric saw all he needed thanks to the ambient light from the stars and moon, and the thermal signatures of the objects in the valley.

Armored carriers conveyed raw ore between the mine entrance and what looked like a smelter, judging from the thermal levels. Smaller vehicles conveyed processed bars of metal to several nearby industrial-grade 3D printers. Some of those printers were creating other vehicles—tanks, carriers, aerial drones—but the rest were concentrating on a larger object. It looked like a transport of some kind. Essentially a giant quadcopter. Four large rotors were connected to a submarine-shaped body. From the way the arms of those rotors were attached to the sides, with long horizontal channels surrounding the connection points, he had the impression those arms could tilt back and forth during flight, so that the submarine body remained completely level.

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