Shadows by Brian Whiting

Author:Brian Whiting [Whiting, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-12T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Automatic Response

Philip was actively communicating with a small community of digiforms he put together for his little creation team and was updating them with the information presented at the TIC.

“Philip, so explain to me how this works,” Dayanh asked, as she stood in the TIC and watched a graphical map of a large forested section of Brazil. Dozens of autonomous ground vehicles were being dropped from one of the largest cargo container transport ships in the UEF inventory.

On another screen multiple point-of-view video streams were being broadcasted from the drones moving around on the dense jungle floor, often getting stuck, then unstuck, and then stuck again. A small arm with a tiny saw blade would occasionally swing out and cut a small vine or other obstruction, or the drone would drive and lift itself over small logs or branches. Anything else would require terrain avoidance.

Philip was sitting next to Dayanh with his arms crossed. “So these drones will conduct an ever-widening search pattern until they attract some Zorn, then we drop off more drones in that area until we locate the queen.”

“Got one!” one of the drone techs said with excitement. At the moment a Zorn drone was attempting to stab the much smaller UEF drone, which stopped moving on command. At first the Zorn was not able to locate it, but out of sheer luck the Zorn drone happened to step onto the UEF drone, causing significant damage to it. The moment the UEF drone registered critical damage, it detonated.

“OK, reroute Archangel to the explosion and drop off a half dozen more drones. Let’s find that queen,” Grissom said with quiet confidence. At that moment one of the command personnel in the TIC gave a quick command order to Archangel, which doubled back in its flight path.

The UEF drones attached to rope were lowered into the dense jungle floor. When the activation signal was sent the drone startup routine began with a test of the tiny saw blade, which then freed itself from the rope system.

Within the first hour, four drones had detonated within the forested canopy of Brazil. One drone had found a deep cavern and as programmed explored the area as a primary search location. It traveled until it located a Zorn pod, around which were white eggs. The queen attacked the UEF drone to protect its sanctuary, which triggered a massive explosion.

The tech who had monitored the entire scene turned in his seat and said happily, “It’s dead, we killed it.”

The entire TIC screamed with jubilation and excitement. Several people hugged each other, and nearly everyone wanted to shake the hand of the creator.

“Rinse and repeat, gentlemen!” Grissom said calmly. “There are hundreds more to find. Have Archangel release the remaining batches of hunter drones on American soil and get the word out that the drones are not to be disturbed if found, if they value their own lives.”

Grissom turned to newly promoted QK squad leader Dayanh and said, “Get your people suited up, you’re going to recon that site.

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