The Frozen Sky by Jeff Carlson

Author:Jeff Carlson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: General Fiction
ISBN: 9781936460144
Publisher: JVE
Published: 2010-01-15T08:00:00+00:00

36.

Vonnie scrolled through their maps, measuring the unguarded space left by the loss of 114 and most of its spies. "How close is 115?" she asked. "Do we know where the intruder went?"

"No," Frerotte said. "115 is on the move, but it’s three minutes away. I had 14 and 15 in different catacombs to spread our coverage."

"They should have been together," Koebsch said. "That’s why we sent them down in pairs. We probably wouldn’t have lost 14 if the probes were able to support each other."

Privately, Vonnie doubted it. Whatever hit 114 would have walked right over 115 as well. Frerotte’s decision to separate the probes was the sole reason they had the ability to bring new eyes and ears to the scene quickly.

There were two more probes in the ice, 110 and 111, but those mecha were seven kilometers northwest of 115. Except for their spies, there were no other ESA mecha beneath the surface other than a hundred beacons and relays, none of which were mobile, equipped with AI, or combat capable.

"I want you to call Sergeant Tavares again," Koebsch told Vonnie. "Maybe you’ll have better luck than I did."

"You called the Brazilians?"

"Yes. They’re not answering. But I can’t figure out what they think they’ll accomplish. That’s why I want to keep this quiet. Mecha can be replaced. What we don’t need is an international incident."

"Tavares said they didn’t like us monitoring their grid," Vonnie said. "Maybe this is the end of it. They kill our spies. Then they retreat. You don’t think they’d invade our zone, do you?"

"Maybe they’re distributing their own spies. Right now they could march a hundred probes through the border without us knowing it."

"115 will reach the gap in thirty seconds."

"We’ve been blind for nine minutes. Even if nothing’s there now, I’ll be forced to waste time and resources hunting FNEE mecha inside our lines."

Vonnie nodded, considering Koebsch’s change from ’we’ to ’I.’ For him, the attack was a blemish on his record.

"115 is on site," Frerotte said.

She looked through the probe’s eyes. As always, the environment was as dark as obsidian. Her display was modifying 115’s radar into holo imagery.

Sprawled on the rock were the battle-scarred remains of a FNEE digger. It had been a sleek, six-legged machine with two cutting blades like a scorpion’s claws. One leg was missing. Two more appeared inoperable, shredded and crushed. There was also laser scoring on its head where its sensor array had been slashed open.

"114 couldn’t have caused those burns," Koebsch said. "They must have hit some of their own diggers while they were blasting. Then they decided those mecha were expendable. They used their damaged mecha to lead the assault."

"I guess."

Scattered nearby were pieces that may or may not have belonged to different FNEE mecha. 114 was missing. There was not a trace of ESA wreckage. There were no sounds or vibrations of mecha leaving the site in any direction. Nor did 114 respond to 115’s signals.

"I think 114 fought the digger and won, but there were other FNEE mecha," Koebsch said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.