The Complete Aliens Omnibus by Mihael Jan Friedman;Diane Carey;

Author:Mihael Jan Friedman;Diane Carey;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc. (Tier 1)

2

The massive door panels clunked one under the other, like curtain blinds moving slowly apart to reveal the sunrise. I bumped backward against the container behind me and spread my arms. “God a’mighty . . . ”

There was no sunrise inside the giant container. Nothing so encouraging. We stood together, Clark a little taller and bulkier than myself, yet we were both suddenly very small. My chest tightened, my heart thudding as I looked up at a gleaming phalanx of robots. Like the Confederate line at Seminary Ridge, the mechanized regiment bristled with spines and explosive-tipped barbs, thousand-eyed sensors and all the things any human kid recognizes as “do not touch.” Each of dozens just in this box alone, was shaped like a bullet cartridge with a round helmet. The helmet was embedded with spines, barbs, and feelers. There was no front, back, or sides, and each had six folded legs, usable in any combination. They could move in any direction. And they fired those poison-filled darts by sensors. The darts were supersonic. Once targeted, there was no getting out of the way. I’d seen smaller versions for urban warfare, but nothing this bulky and over-armed. Even standing there in repose, the machines broadcast aggression. They were scary as hell.

“They’re something, aren’t they?” Clark scanned the dangerous rank. The lights of the cargo bay reflected from the gleaming bodies of the robot soldiers, fell back upon his all-too-human face and changed his eyes to metallic disks. “Every one of them could kill a small town. They’re loaded with sensors programmed to seek out any life form whose DNA doesn’t match the planet. Those barbs are actually percussion hypodermics. Their bodies are canisters loaded with poison deadly to anything that’s not native here. All you have to do is get too close, and jab. If I don’t do this right, we’ll kill ourselves and all those geeks out there. The poison-packers only have two targets—the aliens that have hijacked this planet, and us. Everything else on the planet will be spared.”

I dredged up my voice. “How . . . how . . . many . . . ”

Lost it again.

Clark also was subdued. “There are five hundred in every container, and I’ve got ninety containers.”

His voice was laden with awe and responsibility. This was the most important thing Clark had ever done, or would ever do in his life, and it showed in his expression. His features, normally smooth, rosy, and carefree, were lined, hardened, and gray. We stood together in a profound hush.

My whole body snapped when something moved beside me. The first mate, Theo, had come up on me from the side. The kind of person who doesn’t miss much and spends his life chasing details while understanding big pictures, Theo stared up at the poison-packers.

“Damn us all,” he murmured. “So that’s what they look like . . . ”

Only then did I realize they hadn’t surveyed their cargo before this. Probably the containers had been delivered fully loaded and secure from the security company contracted by PlanCom.

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