The Trilisk Supersedure by Michael McCloskey

Author:Michael McCloskey [McCloskey, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780983843054
Publisher: Squidlord LLC
Published: 2012-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Arakaki moved slowly across the ruins after the Konuan.

She didn’t have any delusions about who hunted whom. The Konuan was letting her follow. It wanted to lure her out away from her friends, her Guardians, and her probes. It planned to ambush and kill her just as it had done to so many of her fellow soldiers.

I’m coming, you bastard.

Arakaki checked her PAW for the tenth time. Its self-diagnostic reported optimal. The laser at her hip verified at full charge over her link. All her grenades checked in, including the one around her throat. The UED probe taking up the rear thirty meters behind her monitored the area. It reported another sensor ghost near a larger building ahead.

So this is the spot for your trap. Fine.

It had steadily led her across half the city, going toward the area occupied by the newcomers and their tiny robots. Arakaki figured the Konuan must be hunting them as well. At least she hoped it was. Anything to distract its predation of the UED unit would be a welcome break.

Or so I tell myself. Have I grown so used to it being out there, hunting, that I would miss it? Miss my chances to kill it or die trying?

She chomped down painfully on the sliver in her mouth. The tiny fragment was so tough she could gnaw on it for decades without accomplishing anything but wearing her teeth.

Arakaki dropped the self-analysis and walked toward the building.

“Captain Arakaki, report,” Holtzclaw ordered over the link.

“I’m pursuing the Konuan,” she said. She half expected to be chewed out for calling for fire support, or to be pulled away for another remote pickup. But Holtzclaw had something completely different cooking.

“Good. Keep on it. Keep that thing away from camp. I’ve pulled a lot of men and probes to go after the science ship east of the ruins. Our tech team is vulnerable in the back.”

“Yes, sir.”

That suited Arakaki. She was seldom so happy to have to obey. Especially since she had given up all hope for the war. She had contemplated desertion several times, but…where would she go? What would she do without him? And here, she had the creature to hunt.

In another five minutes she saw the first face of the structure. Like all the other clusters of Konuan living chambers, it was a hodgepodge of square cells heaped one upon another three or four layers above ground. There was often one layer under the surface as well, and below that, Trilisk tunnels.

There was a hole in the side of the building. Arakaki looked at the roof and clusters of plants nearby. She didn’t sense any danger. Neither did the probe trailing her. She padded over to the opening.

Arakaki checked the rocky ground. There was no dirt to hold any prints, but the red coating on the rocks became darker if their surface was recently scuffed or struck. The rocks around the entrance held a lot of evidence of movement through the area. She spotted some

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