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“I’m sorry, Lit-ta, did I hear you correctly? Did you say «appearance»? Maybe you meant that previously unknown stars were discovered?”
“That’s the thing. They did appear, there’s no doubt about it. They weren’t there before. Even 150 years ago, we couldn’t overlook a triple star system, even though it was made up of these little brown stars, right in front of us, in less than two dozen light years away. Naturally, this phenomenon aroused great interest among our ancestors, but at that time, flying this distance was still a difficult business, and while the expedition was being prepared, its purpose disappeared instantly and without a trace. However, it did not disappear completely – here is the trace. This asteroid is the only material evidence of the events of those years. It came from the direction of the vanished sub-brown dwarfs and was captured by the gravity of Iota Persei, becoming part of the outer belt of the system.”
“I take it this is only part of the story?” said I with a slight smile, “I’m sure you found there something worthy of attention.”
“Yes, we did,” confirmed Lit-ta, “but it’s better if you see it with your own eyes.”
* * *
“Once upon a time, something of value was clearly mined here, but what was it? ” The asteroid was pitted with tunnels that diverged in the most unexpected places and also ended suddenly in dead ends. Sometimes the rock had strange cavities, as if part of it had suddenly disappeared into nowhere, leaving behind a cavity of unpredictable shape and size.
“We’ve been through all the drifts, but we haven’t found any valuable minerals,” Lit-ta’s voice sounded in my helmet headphones. “Perhaps by the time of the catastrophe, the deposit of what was mined here had probably been exhausted and the asteroid was being used for other purposes. Come on, you haven’t seen the best part yet.”
Some of the tunnels in the surviving part of the asteroid were filled with equipment of unclear purpose, often embedded in walls. Only one thing was beyond doubt: the civilization that used these devices was developing along the path of technological progress.
“We didn’t touch anything here,” Litta continued her story, “It was obvious to us that we wouldn’t figure out the purpose of all this iron stuff anyway – it was too alien to us.”
“Why didn’t you tell us this before, Lit-ta? Our scientists could do a lot to understand what happened here 120 years ago.”
“I wanted to do it, but there were so many more pressing matters. Do you remember when I invited you during my first visit to the Federation? I wanted to show you this place, but then you didn’t find the time, which was natural in that situation. Come on, the most interesting find still awaits us.”
The tunnel we were walking through made another turn and suddenly led us into a rather spacious room cut down in the rock. I changed the pace at which I’ve been going, there were machines in front of me whose purpose was beyond doubt.
I stood there silently and looked at dozens of combat robots, which remained stationary in neat rows along the walls of the cave. They looked sort of like insects. This impression was caused by joint limbs, which for every combat machine were between six and ten, and scaly segmented armor. The largest of them were equipped with cannons, the barrels of which jutted out of the front of their bodies in such a way that they started an involuntary association with mandibles of arthropods. Smaller machines were grouped around each big robot, apparently, they were supposed to act on the battlefield with it, doing reconnaissance and destroying minor targets, although I wouldn’t say that with full confidence.
In my long service to the planetary commandos, I have encountered various robots, or as they were called in my first world, walking tanks. This was the first time I saw such a design, but I was paying attention to all the little things and details that were saying a lot to the man who had often seen such creatures in battle. Latticed emitters of protective fields were only visible on the bodies of large machines. Missile launchers were mostly hidden inside the hulls, but the launchers of small robots partially protruded outward, forming a characteristic hump on its «back». In general, I suspected that in combat these machines would be stronger than our Bisons and Goannas, but they could hardly compete with the walking tanks I controlled in my last battle in the body of General Dean.
“And what is your impression of this?” Lit-ta interrupted a prolonged silence.
“It’s a very dangerous adversary. I think you’re lucky those sub-brown dwarfs disappeared as quickly as they came. If they would have stayed here, and something like this would have got out of them,” I made a gesture around the cave, “you and I wouldn’t be talking right now.”
“Our scientists came to the same conclusion,” Lit-ta agreed with me, “but despite their best efforts, there is still no explanation for what happened.”
“Have these specimens been standing here since they were discovered without any activity?”
“When we found this place, it was hopelessly dead. No energy, no living things, not even the corpses of the owners of these machines – nothing. There is a far-fetched hypothesis that our world was somehow not suited to those who had come here in such an unusual way, but that’s just a vague assumption, which, by the way, doesn’t explain the origin of that split-in-half asteroid.”
“What do you think those who built these robots looked like, Lit-ta?”
“We’ve been wondering the same thing. As you know, we’re pretty good at everything with natural and artificial evolution of living things, but the conclusions of our bioengineers have been mixed. They were definitely not lizards, toads, humans, or quargs. So we have the paradoxical view that these machines had evolved on their own for some time, without the help of their creators, as unbelievable as this may sound. By the way, we gave them a name, and I’m curious if our perception matches yours. What would you call the civilization that created these robots?”
I thought for a few seconds, but I finally decided that the first association that came to my head was the best thing to designate what I saw.
“This is Swarm, a swarm of insects who built war machines in their own image. I have no basis for this opinion – it’s just a first impression that I’m used to trust.”
“Perhaps Igor, humans and lizards are not as different as they seem at first glance,” Lit-ta spoke thoughtfully, “We gave them the name «Hive».”
Chapter 3
Yoon Gao and Mbia arrived seven hours later. Earlier their journey would have taken several days, but mass production of transport rings revolutionized the Federation’s logistics. General of the Army Barrington jokingly complained that I had robbed him of his job with my invention, but it was clear that in fact the permanent head of the rear services was pleased with the changes that had taken place.
“André, have you forgotten your last landing on Groombridge-2?” I asked the Colonel with a grin.
We had tea in my office on board Dragon’s Tail and I was telling the scouts why I pulled them out of the Solar System.
“Who could forget it with this,” Mbia absentmindedly moved his hand, hit by a shell fragment during the operation to rescue President Tobolsky from an underground shelter. The arm recovered long ago and did not cause the Colonel any discomfort, but the memory of the injury remained.
“Would you like to do that again?”
“Eh… Is that a question?”
“Well, for now, yes.”
“Then it depends on what needs to be repeated. If this is about covert landing on the planet and reconnaissance, you know I’m all for it. But if you need to attack an enemy company reinforced with combat robots with a bare ass again, pardon me, with small arms in your hands, do it without me if you can.”
“Yes, I remember that. That time your raid didn’t go very well, even though you did a brilliant job,” I agreed with the Colonel, “but in this case, I hope it won’t be necessary to fight, and not even to save anyone, except for a few million quargs now on the planets of Groombridge.”
“My ship won’t have so many quargs,” Yoon Gao raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly.
“Something else will save them, and that is what I want to deliver to the planets with your help, Yoon. You and André know that we’ve been shooting a little bit here, and as a result, the orbital defense of Groombridge-2 has lost its fighting power. The new non-lethal ammunition was used well, but it turned out it didn’t do us much good. Apparently, the toads have made changes in the mental block given to the quargs, and now they can’t surrender to us. In fact, they couldn’t surrender to the lizards before, because the quargs knew very well that the reptiles could remove the block, but now that, along with the cruiser captured near Kappa Ceti, we have got the equipment to remove the blocks, the situation seems to have changed, and the toads updated the conditions for activating the death-order.”
“It makes perfect sense for them,” the Chinaman shrugged his shoulders, “what I don’t understand is, why didn’t they do it right away? Why allow the possibility of any negotiations with the enemy or surrender in the previous version of the block?”
“A few hours before we met, two captive toads were brought here – the captain of the captured cruiser and the doctor. I questioned them both again. The captain doesn’t know much about the modus operandi of the block, but the doctor turned out to be more informed, which is no surprise. As it turned out, the number of conditions for the death-order to be triggered cannot be too high. Or, rather, it can be, but then there’s a sharp increase in the risk of mental illness in the block’s host, and this danger is higher the longer such «overloaded» block is in the quarg brain. This makes it impossible to impose such comprehensive conditions as, for example, death in violation of any order of the masters. The quarg’s brain simply can’t withstand this kind of setup. The toad doctor, of course, couldn’t have known exactly what changes were made to the block, but he suggested that the conditions for activation of the death-order had expanded significantly. This was a deliberate risk, given the emergency that followed the Kappa Ceti combat. Apparently, the toads’ leadership hopes to solve the problem relatively quickly and get everything back, or even substantially weaken the block for a while if they can get rid of us and the lizards.”
“And what will it take for us to thwart the enemy’s wicked designs?” Mbia was back in the conversation.
“I issued an ultimatum to the quargs almost eight hours ago. I gave them 48 hours to voluntarily evacuate from the system and promised not to attack the planets or touch their transport ships. The result so far is zero, the quargs are sitting on planets with no activity. Only a few light ships have left the system. We did not stop them from accelerating and jumping, but I think it had nothing to do with the evacuation.”
“In fact, it would be strange to expect otherwise,” Yoon Gao shrugged his shoulders. “They have a very strong Internal Security Service, which is staffed only by the quargs, who have voluntarily chosen to side with their masters. So without their permission, no transport leaves the system.”
“I think you’re right, Yoon, and all the more important is the task I’m about to entrust to you. I need you to secretly bring a captured little toad recon ship to the surface of the planet in your ship’s hangar. And then with its help, our task force will visit their largest city, or the place where their chief person responsable for the planet lives.”
The puzzled scouts went into silence for a while.
“But, Igor…” uttered Mbia, being a bit confused, “it’s not an army reconnaisance task, it’s a human intelligence mission, which, for obvious reasons, we don’t do and never did. We’d need to make direct contact… Yoon will take us to the planet, hiding behind a camouflage field, I mean, the Empire made sure and provided the necessary equipment for his department, but then what? Neither I nor my people are quargs. How do we get into their cities?”
“But you won’t get there, André. You will land, secure and camouflage the temporary base, put the special task force in the captured recon ship and send it to the city, and then, after they complete the task, meet them and arrange for evacuation.”
“Will the quargs come with us?” Yoon Gao has even lost his usual imperturbability for a moment.
“Not only quargs, Yoon. The task force will consist of three – two quargs and a toad.”
* * *
The recruitment of the toad doctor went surprisingly smoothly. Unlike the captain of the cruiser, who gave us the information we needed only through the use of chemical agents that loosened his tongue, the doctor told many things voluntarily. However, Tlet was not a coward; rather, he was an unscrupulous and cynical being who had nothing but contempt for the top leaders of his state. He enlisted in the fleet solely for financial gain and status, and he thought his choice was right, as long as his duties were limited to the hassle-free work of a medic on the ship, that was escorting transports in the deep rear of the quargs. However, the combined attack of humans and lizards on the Kappa Ceti system brought into Tlet’s measured life a not too pleasant variety in the form of space battle and captivity.
The medic blamed his captivity on the incompetent idiot who commanded the convoy. According to Tlet, there was no point in getting into a fight near Kappa Ceti, but Commander Shreen, who was nothing but an inflated bubble, decided that simply leaving and reporting to the Supreme Leader was not enough. He wished to capture or destroy the hyperportal which, unexpectedly for them, was possessed by humans, and which this underdeveloped civilization simply could not have. Well, OK, he made that decision, but then why did he separate the cruisers? If the commander had sent all three warships to attack, things might have been different, but no! How can you leave the transport with the priceless Shreen’s carcass on board without cover? And the fact that this transport would have no problem getting away from any slow human ship, is an insignificant detail.
Anyway, my offer has found fertile ground, but the toad still had reasonable doubts, and I had to work really hard to get him to cooperate.
“Tell me, Admiral, why should I be on your side?” asked the toad, looking closely at me with his bulging eyes, “Well, all right, let’s say you’re telling the truth and you’re genuinely willing to do whatever you promised me here. Let’s say, once again, that you and I will succeed, and you will win in the Groombridge Star system a grand, bloodless victory, capturing millions of prisoners. What’s next for you? You will return to your metropolis as a hero, but you will have no time to enjoy your triumph. I don’t know how many more weeks it will take for the High Lodge to assemble a new fleet and join the quargs in invading your space, putting an end to this war, but I’m sure it’s a month at the most. We make one more unlikely assumption that I will survive the upcoming slaughter, and I will be freed by my own. Should I continue?”
“Don’t bother, Officer Tlet, your message is clear. Have you ever wondered why, instead of preparing for a hopeless defense, our fleet launched this offensive?”
“That question has been bothering me ever since I got here,” admitted the toad.
“And I’ll explain that to you now, I’ll just start from afar. Would you care to recall how many active hyperportals are there in the space you control?”
“At the time of my capture, there were seven or eight,” responded the toad quickly, “I can’t say for sure – one of the portals malfunctioned all the time and was about to completely fail.”
“Here! And we have almost three dozen of them, most of them mobile, able to fly independently through hyperspace.”
“It certainly gives you an advantage in logistics,” agreed Tlet, “but it doesn’t help if we strike with all our forces at one point – your Solar System, for example.”
“And why do you think, Officer Tlet, that the hyperportal is the only technology humans have ever surpassed you?”
“Well, at least because in the battle at Kappa Ceti, which cost your fleet huge losses, you didn’t use anything else to surprise us.”
“Come on, officer,” said I and got up, “I want to show you something.”
Of course, it was a desperate bluff, but I just needed badly the toad’s approval to participate in the operation. I saw no other way to reach my goal, so I took a chance. Knowing how our conversation will proceed, I even before the start of recruitment set the task to the technicians of Dragon’s Tail, and they rushed through the work. Now I hoped that the result of their efforts would impress the toad.
The doors of the hangar spread out to the sides, and we were faced with battle machines lined up. Lit-ta kindly allowed me to take Swarm’s combat robot unit, found by the lizards on the cut-in-half asteroid, for research in the Jeff Department. I couldn’t afford to risk disclosing information on our contact with the Empire to the toad, there was no way to give information about the Empire to the enemy. But these machines made a strong impression on Tlet.
“I remember that your specialty is medicine, Officer Tlet,” said I as I watched the reaction of the toad, “but I think you’re familiar with the basic characteristics of your ground warfare equipment, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am, Admiral,” responded the toad in a few seconds, “Not as well as I should be, but who knew… What I see on the back of the larger robot is a protective field emitter?”
“I see, you’re showing false modesty, Officer. In fact, you’re much better at combat robots than I thought,” I’ve decided to flatter the toad a little, “And how does that make you feel?”
“These are dangerous machines, Admiral. I didn’t think you could do that, but to be honest, I’m not that convinced. There were no protective fields on your ships, which means you’re showing me single specimens that haven’t been mass-produced yet. And you don’t have time to rearm, but if you put anything on your ships in time, it’ll probably be first-generation fields – not very reliable and with very limited resources. I don’t think they can turn the tide.”
The toad was far from a fool, and despite his medical specialty, he was able to understand the most important thing about what he saw. Well, I had one last trump card left, and now it was time to pull it out of my sleeve.
“Now, dear Officer Tlet, I’ll show you something else. Perhaps this will help you make the right decision. Major Lavroff,” said I into the communicator, addressing my wife, “activate the camouflage fields.”
We certainly couldn’t make the protective shields of the Swarm’s robots work. Jeff and his men had still a long way to go to study them, but I just needed to show the toad something impressive, and I remembered what a shock my EW complexes, especially the later modifications, had on Federation officers. And yet they were nothing compared to the Empire’s camouflage fields. And now I had on board the camouflage field generators brought here by Yoon Gao for landing on Groombridge-2. It was these generators that the technicians of Dragon’s Tail attached in a hurry to the bodies of Swarm’s robots.
The combat machines were covered with the pouring currents of trembling air, and became almost transparent. The robots haven’t disappeared completely, but if the hangar were a few times more spacious, it would be difficult to see the robots from its far end. The opposite wall of the hangar could be seen through the robots in every detail. On my signal Inga has led in movement a Goanna, which has walked slowly behind the formation of robots, hidden by the camouflage field. The toad kept watching the field almost without distortion reproduce on the frontal armor of the combat machines the robot walking in the background, preserving the high quality of camouflage.
“Are you satisfied now, Officer Tlet?” asked I with a slight smile.
“I saw everything I needed,” the voice of the toad showed firmness, saying that he had made a decision, “Let’s not waste time, you haven’t yet told me the details of our joint operation.”
* * *
Groombridge-2 was waiting. It’s already been half the 48 hours that the humans have given. The cautious suggestion of the Head of Civil Administration to take advantage of the opportunity to evacuate at least civilians was met with complete misunderstanding by the Surveillants. Negotiations and any agreements with the enemy have been strongly discouraged before, and now, in the light of the new instructions of the Masters, they were subject to the strictest prohibition and the penalty of death.
The Head of planetary control, Fetz, hasn’t slept in over 24 hours. He was informed of all incidents involving attempts by servicemen and civilians to violate the will of the Masters on Groombridge-2. Much to Fetz’s regret, not all deviant behavior of the quargs could be prohibited by the mental block, and the Surveillants were carrying out the voluminous, difficult but desperately needed work of controlling the loyalty of the population and the army.
An emergency call alert made the Head of Surveillants to turn to the communications device.
“Chief, our scanners have registered a high-orbit combat,” reported the planetary defense commander.
“Has the fleet come to our aid?” There was hope in Fetz’s voice.
“Alas, Chief, it is not so. The battle was local and has already ended, although it is not entirely clear what it was. The enemy fleet has largely retreated to the outer limits of the system, but the light forces continue to patrol the central areas and the circumplanetary area. Two enemy destroyers must have spotted a ship attempting to approach the planet and attacked it. The operators of scanners observed explosions of missile warheads and cannon salvos. The human ships were allegedly damaged and retreated. We have not been able to detect the ship they attacked, nor any sign of its destruction. Maybe it was a reconnaissance ship with a next-generation camouflage equipment. If so, it could have gone into the atmosphere, and the humans did not risk chasing it for fear of a volley of anti-orbital missile batteries.”
“If these are our scouts, they will soon show up,” suggested Fetz.
“What if it’s staged and the enemy has infiltrated the planet?” The commander of the planetary defense was in doubt.
“That would make no sense to the humans. Why would the enemy draw attention to their own reconnaissance ship entering the atmosphere?” objected Fetz, “We just have to wait. Just to be on the safe side, bring ground forces in the area of a potential breakout into a state of heightened readiness for sabotage attacks. I don’t think it makes much sense, but let it be.”
“Yes, Chief.”
The new emergency call came in 30 minutes. This time, it was a scanner post reporting directly to the Surveillants.
“Chief Fetz,” the commander of the post reported in a disturbed voice, “Scanners have picked up a target outside the planetary defense force. It’s a small aerospace recon ship of the Masters. It’s moving towards the capital. You’ll have it in 15 minutes.”
Now for the Head of planetary control, everything was in place. If the Masters’ reconnaissance ship has broken the blockade, it is understandable that the humans could not shoot it down. The odd thing is why they even managed to detect it, but maybe the Masters, for some reason, decided to identify themselves with the adversary, who knows?
“Provide the recon ship with a safe passage! Pick up fighters for escort, but don’t get too close, the Masters don’t like it.”
* * *
“What did you promise him, Fleet Admiral, Sir?” asked General Clay, who approached me quietly. He closely observed on the tactical projection, how Yoon Gao’s reconnaissance ship exchanged shots of training and simulation munitions with our two destroyers in high orbits of Groombridge-2.
“Nothing out of the ordinary, General, Sir,” I smiled at my former immediate superior, and now a representative of the Allied Empire, “comfortable conditions of captivity until the end of the war and a high post in the occupation administration after our victory, and this post will be higher, the more useful he will be to us now.”
“And how did you convince him that your victory is achievable? You didn’t tell him you were in contact with the Empire before you sent him behind enemy lines.”
“No, of course not, but your camouflage fields, which I gave away as our design, made the required impression on the toad. He already knew we had a hyperportal, and yet another technology that surpassed our overall scientific and technological level did not surprise him, but it led him to believe that our chances of victory were real.”
“Aren’t you afraid that once the toad is in the enemy’s position, he’ll immediately forget all your arrangements?”
“Anything is possible, but I think he still values his life above everything else. The simple technical device attached to his body will protect us from his reckless actions. I think he’s making a good assessment of his chances of surviving an explosion of 300 grams of OKFOL. ”
