Ally or Alien: A Sci-Fi Novel (20 page)

And then another.

Followed by yet another one.

A new panel flickered on the inner dome's surround screen.

This one showed an abstract blue map which displayed the facility as a hexagon-shaped building from the bird eye's view. Around it stood the pillars, displayed like circles positioned strategically around the complex.

Bellrock felt like a country boy being in the big city for the first time, unable to hold back his amazement. He had seen a lot of military tech in his life time, but nothing remotely like that.

"What's that?"

He pointed toward the hexagon setup around the Farsight station.

"That, my dear friend, is our notorious stasis shield installation. It lets friendly units pass but blocks unfriendly ones out. Impressive, no?"

Cybernetic antennas extracted from the pillars and fanned out some sort of solar sails. They charged the sun energy and created a curved semi-transparent shield from pillar to pillar. In less than a minute, every monument connected with each other and formed an octagon of pure shield power.

Bellrock remembered how to speak again.

"What makes you think it will work against the creature?"

"It may not, but it will slow down the life form, which is our top priority."

Bellrock was flashed out of his goddamn mind, but since he was the only soldier in charge, he had to get his act together.

He remembered those shields from his Spec Ops days, but back then, they were still in the experimental stage. Now the Newtype had perfected them, or so it seemed. Once the biomorph was taken care of, this impressive shield array could be used as a defensive mechanism against his brothers and sisters from Earth.

No, he had to brush that thought aside.

The hostile alien was the priority.

The captain looked at the top-right panel on the dome's screen and saw the ginormous creature creeping forward. 

Freaking corrupted BLDR-22.

A mech creature running on solar power and the will for total assimilation. The next second proved it—another relay tower came in contact with it and got swallowed up.

Snap.

Just like that.

Hull and components merged into the creature and became part of its ever-growing tech body. 

The closer the creature creeped, the more Bellrock's heart hammered. Or maybe it was the excitement to finally engage in combat.  eLoom must have sensed his vibes, because her left eye pointed at his direction.

"I know you are probably sick of our passive approach."

Pause. 

"Well, based on your military background, you are going to enjoy what will happen next."

"Stop teasing me and show me your fire power."

He said it in playful way, but he was indeed wired for the action.

The battle was imminent.

49

eLoom.

Back in her element.

Connected to the station, being the station, seeing through its optical sensors—placed around Farsight's exterior hull. She unlocked all unmanned vehicle bays of the facility. The door of the ground hangar slid skyways, the airpad—located near the peak of the structure, retracted its dome hull and released ten launching pads with the aerial UDVs.

So this was it, eLoom thought on a private channel, all means of peaceful communication have failed so far. 

The human captain, Bellrock, stood to her left and glanced over her shoulder with eyes bulging out. eLoom knew the Earthlings used similar unmanned vehicles which where less advanced units than their Newtype counterparts. Plus, not a single human was able to command dozens of units at the same time—unlike her.

The perks of cybernetic brains with endless upgradable storage space.

While coordinating the droid army's launch, eLoom explained her action to the human captain. Judging by his twitching face, he seemed a little bit bewildered.

"These are our unmanned defense vehicles, called UDVs for short. All of them are equipped with anti-grav technology and defense measures such as directed-energy cannons and smart missiles."

Bellrock nodded and seemed to smile. 

"I'm impressed. Didn't know you guys actually used any form of firearms."

"As I said before, it should only be the last option."

eLoom pre-checked every available unit and sub-divided each droid variant according to their roles on the battlefield. Her array consisted of four highly-specialized main types:

1) The HVR-Hornet came equipped with a separate firing mount, consisting of two twin-turrets which could fire in 360 degrees, independent of the vehicle's floating direction. They used 35mm Anti-Materiel shells which could penetrate medium-armor and carried two pods with Anti-Air mini-cluster rockets.

2) The LGR-Wolf, a long-range variant of the HVR-Hornet, sporting less armor and low maneuverability in exchange for tri-barreled cannons with an effective range of up to 500 km.

3) The ARL-Sparrow, a light aerial droid equipped with kinetic 20mm HV impactor rounds and long-range scanning abilities.

4) The BMBR-Falcon, a slow and heavy aerial droid that launched armor piercing smart bombs.

Four variants in total, perfect for any ground-to-ground and air-to-ground combat situations. 

Like this one.

eLoom focused on the tactical display of the dome screens. They showed live-feeds from the units swarming out the bay. Green triangles depicted their positions on the map. The LGR-Wolf artillery units floated over the ground near the station, extracted their mechanical stabilizers that drilled through the ground for maximum recoil reduction. The long-range cannon transformed on the tank's chassis and tripled in size. eLoom then ordered her HVR-Hornets to target the biomorph in a straight line while the two diversions of aerial droids ascended in a V-formation. Almost every screen in the dome showcased the impressive robotic armada. 

eLoom tilted her head and smiled at Bellrock who couldn't stop gazing.

"What do you think?"

"I think it's good you're on my side."

She giggled. The soldier from Earth seemed to be more relaxed. Maybe the sight of her military equipment calmed him down. After all, annihilating the opposing faction seemed to be the Earthling's preferred choice of conflict management. Quite different from his scientific partner who seemed to share her passion for analysis and peaceful exploration. She had to keep in mind that humans came in variants as well.

"Are you ready?"

"Just waiting for you to unleash the fireworks."

eLoom threw a glance at the worldmap screen. 

Distance to the biomorph:

277.2 kilometers.

Now eVax rang her up on the private channel. She had barely noticed her compeer up until now. It was so rare of him to stay in the shadows. eLoom could feel a sense of hesitation, even though eVax tried to block the thoughts that gave away his emotional state. Maybe, just maybe, he was intimidated by the human's presence. 

After all, Bellrock followed the archetype of the alpha personality.

A character model that few Newtype expressed, even the ones that identified as male.

eVax mind-said.

He added a pressing tone, but eLoom ignored it.

Truth was, she didn't want to do any of this. It had been more than a decade in Earth years since she had used military measures to tackle a challenge. She still loathed physical violence with every active cell of her circulatory system. Especially after what had happened in the last sols. Truth was, making first contact with the biomorph was the most revealing moment of her life cycle. The humans would call it a godlike experience where you connected with the universe and felt part of something greater.

Pure existence, resulting in a human condition close to bliss.

Thus, using military technology to keep the life form at bay was the least preferred option, but the human called Dr. Rao was facing death, and keeping him alive with eKazumi's help was the priority.

His death could mean the end of the fragile alliance between humans and Newtype, and that was out of the question. Besides, with eLoom's firepower, she could eliminate most of the biomorph and still allow the organism to survive. As long as the core remained intact, eLoom could still research this fascinating life form in safety, far away from human intervention.

But now it was time for defense.

With eLoom's brain synced to the system, she mind-told her Falcon bomber droids to charge ahead while telling the Sparrows to guard their flanks. The two classes of aerial droids spearheaded in V-formation and targeted the incoming biomorph walker, now 256 kilometers away. Trajectory lines connected the bomb pods with the organism and showed the optimal ballistic line of fire. Hundreds of data points depicting air pressure, turbulences, temperature and accuracy bickered over the target pointers. 

eLoom observed the two men standing flabbergasted to each of her sides.

"This is it."

eVax twitched. He mind-talked to her again.

She suppressed that rare feeling inside that felt like a bubbling volcano. How dare eVax accuse her of violent behavior if she had tried so many peaceful methods? What had he done in return, apart from the lecturing?

Null.

Nada.

0.0%

So she mind-replied back with twice the attitude.

eVax' mind-chat remained idle.

I thought so, eLoom mind-said.

She shifted her attention back to the human captain. Bellrock's eyes burned with determination. It looked as if he wanted to swap places with her, controlling the droid armada himself.

"Shoot that sucker into submission," he said.

eLoom sighed and stared at the magnified biomorph on her main tactical screen.

What it is...

...is beautiful.

Mmmm.

Oh believe me, fellow life form—this is going to hurt me more than you.

And with that, she ordered the bomber squadron to unleash their first 'package'...

50

The smart bomb fell down in a curved trajectory. 

Contact in T-minus five, four, three, two...boom.

In the last nanosecond, the walker sidestepped the projectile in dazzling speeds. A blue explosion shattered the crimson ground, scratching off the top hull layers of the biomorph. 

Azure firework. 

SFX deluxe.

eLoom tried to ignore her feelings for the life form. She pictured a giant wall of fog between her and the organism, as if her droid attack was happening on a planet far, far away. 

Like in a simulation.

Blue bursts. 

And virtual action.

But this was just the beginning. 

Every bomber unit in the squadron dropped their 'package' and blew apart layers of the biomorph mech. The ground around the walker exploded; parts shredded into the dusty air. The biomorph closed its impact holes by shifting more of its body mass to the damaged parts. Even during the march, it adapted its tactics. 

What a fascinating organism, eLoom thought. 

It used the former hull of the exploration ship as a smart, physical shield. Since the projectiles were originally built to penetrate armor made from Earth, they caused minimal damage against Newtype hulls. And now the walker responded with an assault protocol of its own: barrels protruded from its openings and spat projectiles at the aerial squadron. Thanks to their automatic evasion protocol, most units avoided the biomorph's volley of needles. The agile ARL Sparrows increased their altitude and escaped the assault, but one bomber was hit by the shards and trailed down with smokey curves. 

The casualty meant nothing to eLoom. She had dozens of units at her disposal. 

All locked and loaded, an unstoppable force of Newtype engineering.

The biomorph mech walker interrupted its route to the Farsight facility and targeted the shot-down bomber. Hovered over its wreckage and assimilated the parts into its structure.

eLoom couldn't help but smile. 

It was terrible, but oh, was it also fascinating. All destruction aside, the biomorph was a sustainable organism that transformed trash into technology. Not even the Newtype were that effective at recycling, which she applauded the biomorph for. 

"What are you waiting for?"

Bellrock's coarse voice interrupted her thought line.

"Your aerial units are hovering in circles. Attack, attack, attack."

"Right."

eLoom, back in the game.

The top bar on of her tactical screen showed her current memory load-out.

"521 different tasks."

The remaining bombers dropped their explosives while the point-defense lasers of the ARL Sparrows heated the space around the heavier needles from the biomorph and imploded them prematurely. 

You can not fool me twice, dear biomorph, eLoom thought.

Amidst the battle, Bellrock's voice roared from behind.

"That beast is taking down your bombers."

Au contraire.

80% of bombers had survived the assault. They hovered over the moving biomorph walker and unleashed their last bombs before returning to the Farsight's pads for the ammo restock. Back at the base, the munition cases extracted from the platform and fed the freshly-printed explosive shells into the bombers' bays. During the reloading process, eLoom took control of her artillery units, the ones that had drilled themselves into the ground in front of the base. The tri-barrels extracted from their rear and discharged blue javelins that tore through the air in a ballistic trajectory. The first volley of twelve shells impacted the biomorph kilometers away from it. The salvo ripped through the front layers of the armor and hopefully shattered meters of hull. The biomorph tried to avoid the incoming blasts but received over 73% of the projectiles. One rear leg blew up and spat pieces into the rocky surrounding.