The Mothership (11 page)

“Yeah, that’ll work,” Beckman said dryly.

Dr McInness removed the Geiger counter from
his pack and aimed the sensor at the wrecked machine. When the machine only
registered a faint ticking, he looked surprised. “Nothing but background
radiation. I guess its power source isn’t radioactive.”

Dr McInness returned the Geiger counter to
his pack, then grabbed one of the surveyor’s legs and tried to pull it away
from the crocodile’s corpse. The scientist tugged feebly on the machine,
groaning from the effort but unable to budge it. Beckman watched amused for a
moment, then took the surveyor’s leg from the scientist and dragged the machine
away from the crocodile’s corpse, and the swarm of insects.

“Thanks,” Dr McInness said appreciatively.

“You need to eat more spinach.”

Dr McInness looked at him strangely.
“Really? Does spinach have an enzyme that repels insects?”

Beckman scowled. “Spinach, as in Popeye.”

Dr McInness gave him a blank look, then
turned his attention to the surveyor, peering through the torn outer casing at
the solid metal cubes inside and the ruptured specimen compartments. “The
crocodile must have mistaken it for food.”

“Yeah, kind of looks like a giant
frankfurter.”

Dr McInness retrieved the damaged cube,
torn from its mount by the force of the explosion, and turned it over in his
hand. “This could be the power supply.”

Markus paced around the far side of the lab
toward the dead reptile, deep in thought. “Part of its jaw is over that way,
near the trees.”

Dr McInness turned his attention to the
dull metal strip running along the machine’s underside, rolling the surveyor on
its side for a better look.

“Do you recognize the technology?” Beckman
asked.

“No, but we need to get it back to Groom
for analysis.”

“We’ll pick it up on the way out.”

Dr McInness pointed to the exposed
compartments. “It was obviously collecting samples. It proves they’re
scientists, not invaders.”

“Depends what they’re collecting samples
for,” Markus said suspiciously.

“Look around, Doc, something sure hit this
place hard,” Beckman added.

Dr McInness glanced at the remains of the
six shattered buildings uncomfortably. “The tremor from the ship’s impact could
have caused it.”

Markus looked doubtful. “These buildings
have survived tropical cyclones. Do you really think a little tremor would
knock them down?”

Dr McInness looked pensively about him,
then returned his attention to the surveyor.

Hooper completed a circuit of the compound
and stopped alongside Beckman. “No bodies, no vehicles, no sign of a fight.
They might have driven out. The fires smell of gasoline. Looks deliberate.”

“You think they torched their own
buildings?” Beckman asked as he ran his eyes over the charred remains of the
garage and the machine shed. “Why burn only two buildings? Why burn any of
them?”

Hooper shrugged uncertainly.

Markus wandered toward the collapsed
laboratory, studying the debris, clearly puzzled by what he saw.

“Search the surrounding area,” Beckman
ordered. “Ten meters beyond the tree line, in case someone’s out there
wounded.”

Hooper gave a curt nod, then headed off to
organize a search.

“What’s wrong with this picture?” Markus
asked, staring thoughtfully at the twisted remains of the laboratory.

Beckman glanced at the collapsed building
and shrugged. “You mean apart from the fact that it’s been smashed to pieces?”

“The nails are gone.”

Beckman blinked. He’d completely missed it.
Now everywhere he looked, he saw small empty nail holes. “Damn! You’re right.”

Markus studied the other buildings with the
eye of a professional observer. “There’s no metal anywhere.” He turned to the
burned out remains of the garage, trying to piece the clues together. “They
didn’t drive out.”

Beckman thumbed his mike. “Can anyone see
metal, any kind of metal, anywhere?”

There was a long pause, then Hooper’s voice
sounded in their earpieces. “Nothing. This place has been picked clean.”

“What could have done this?” Beckman asked.

“A very powerful electro magnet,” Dr
McInness replied. “They would have had computers here, communications,
electronics, all kinds of samples of our technology. They’ve obviously taken it
all, for study.” He held up the metal cube. “Just like I’m taking this!”

Beckman looked doubtful. “It’s an extreme
way to collect samples.”

“It would have appeared to be a treasure
trove of our civilization’s artifacts,” Dr McInness replied, “Especially if the
people here had abandoned it after the earthquake.”

“Or they kidnapped the people who lived
here as specimens,” Beckman said coldly.

Dr McInness winced uncomfortably. “If
they’re really far ahead of us, I mean millions of years, they may not consider
us an intelligent species.”

“If they’re so damn smart,” Beckman
snapped, “How come that big lizard ate one of their toys?”

“Because it’s a scientific instrument, not
a weapon! It wasn’t designed to–”

“Major!” Vamp’s voice sounded urgently in
their headsets, her eyes riveted to the crystal ball. “Incoming! Very fast,
from the west.”

He thumbed his mike. “Is it airborne?”

“Can’t tell, but it’s almost on top of us.”

Beckman flicked his M16’s safety off as he
turned to the west where the harsh yellow sun still filled the sky. A silver metallic
flash caught his eye just above the tree tops. It moved with astonishing speed,
landing in front of the marsupial house.

It was a machine composed of four sections
threaded by a central black spine. The sensor disk at the top of the spine was
a glassy black metallic mirror, providing three hundred and sixty degree vision
across the EM spectrum, while the three lower sections were made of a highly
reflective silver metal. The two sections below the sensor disk were thin
cylinders, stacked horizontally on top of each other. Each cylinder was fitted
with a pair of long multijointed arms equipped with spherical hands, each hand
with four flexible digits. The two cylinders could rotate independently around
the spine, giving the arms complete freedom of movement. Below the arms, the
spine terminated in a downward pointing, conical hip section, which was
attached to two slender, multijointed legs ending in feet equipped with three
claw-like toes. The machine’s skeletal appearance gave the impression of thin
fragility, yet it moved more gracefully than the finest athlete. When it hit
the ground, it didn’t slow. Its legs bent to absorb the shock, then it ran
forward so fast it became a silver blur.

Beckman’s rifle was pointed straight at the
robotic seeker. For a fraction of a second, he knew he could make the shot, but
Dr McInness’ insistence that these aliens were scientists, not invaders, made
him hesitate

“Hold your fire unless it attacks!” he
bellowed, wondering whether a bullet could even catch the super-fast machine.

The seeker charged straight towards
Beckman. He switched his weapon to full auto, but kept his finger off the
trigger. He braced, expecting it to knock him down, but at the last moment it
swerved to the right and came to an instant stop beside the destroyed surveyor.
The way it stopped surprised them all. There was no skidding, no slowing, just
one minute it was moving at blurring speed, next it was at a complete
standstill. One of its multijointed metal arms scooped up the wrecked surveyor,
then sprayed a milky white “fluid” over the surveyor from the palm of its
“hand”. The substance ran up and over surfaces as if it was alive, completely
enveloping the wrecked machine.

“Amazing!” Dr McInness declared,
recognizing the substance was following preprogrammed instructions.

“What is?” Beckman asked.

“Nano technology! Machines functioning at a
molecular level!”

The seeker dashed forward again, carrying
the surveyor with it, now fully wrapped in a white membrane. It darted around
the area retrieving pieces of the surveyor, which it slid into the nano
membrane. When the seeker scooped up the last piece of wreckage, it raced back
to the dead crocodile. In a single fluid motion, its free hand flashed down and
cut away a slice of the reptile’s flesh, then added it to the nano membrane.

“See that, Major?” Dr McInness said
excitedly. “It’s taking a sample of what destroyed the other machine!”

Beckman’s instincts told him there was
another explanation.
Threat assessment
.

The seeker turned and sprinted past
Beckman, so close he felt the press of air as it passed. It charged straight at
the scientist who, taken by surprise, stumbled backwards and fell. Before any
of them could react, the seeker snatched the metal cube from Dr McInness’ hand
without touching him. The sleek metal robot added the cube to its membrane
container, then dashed away at high speed toward the crumpled marsupial house.
Just before it reached the shattered wood pile, it leapt into the air, toward
the tree tops. For several seconds, they saw a metallic blur glinting in the
brilliant afternoon sunshine, then it vanished beyond the trees.

“What the hell was that?” Nuke declared,
slowly rising from behind the ruins of the lab.

“Man!” Timer exclaimed beside him. “That
mother can run!”

From beside the ruins of Laura’s house,
Tucker switched his machine gun’s safety on. He glanced at Steamer, who lay a
few meters away with his M16 ready. “I had it! I could have taken it any time.”

Steamer grinned, “Argh, you always say
that!”

“It’s ‘cause it’s true!” Tucker said with a
grin.

From her hiding position behind the burnt
out machine shed, Vamp watched the marker representing the seeker slide across
the crystal ball’s tiny view area. Each leap swallowed hundreds of meters,
forcing her to keep scrolling the scale until she reached maximum resolution,
and the seeker slid of the edge of the view area. “It’s out of range!”

Dr McInness climbed to his feet, his cheeks
flushed with embarrassment as he dusted himself off. “Sorry,” he said meekly,
“Its speed surprised me. I thought it was–”

“Forget it,” Beckman cut in. “You were
right. It wasn’t an attack, just a cleanup.”

“They don’t want us seeing their
technology,” Markus observed dryly.

“Can you blame them?” Beckman asked.

“Imagine fighting an army of those things,”
Timer said as he started toward the aviary, continuing his sweep of the left
side of the sanctuary.

Nuke scanned the trees beside him,
remembering the speed of the seeker. “How the hell are we supposed to shoot
something that’s faster than a freaking bullet?”

“You wait until it takes a crap,” Hooper
barked, “Then you shoot it in the ass!”

“Those things don’t take craps, Sarge!”
Nuke said, “They’re machines!”

Hooper exchanged a knowing look with
Beckman. They’d both encountered extraterrestrial technology in the field
before, back when they were still in Delta. They’d been sent in to recover a
short range scout craft that had gone down in the Andes. The pilot had been
wounded, protected in the wreck by a single automated weapon. It held them off
for two days, until other craft arrived to rescue the pilot and remove the
wreckage. Thirty men had gone in, only two had walked out. It was why Beckman
and Hooper had been selected for this duty. They’d been there before, and
survived.

Xeno’s voice sounded in Beckman’s earpiece.
She and Virus had worked their way around to the northwest side of the
compound, just inside the tree line. “Someone walked out of here, Major,
heading west.”

Beckman clicked his mike, “How long ago?”

“The tracks are fresh. Maybe a few hours
old.”

 Dr McInness spread his hands in triumph.
“Looks like these aliens don’t take human specimens after all.”

Markus thumbed his mike, “How many tracks?”

“One set,” Vamp replied.

“One specimen, one survivor,” Markus
corrected.

“We’ll follow the tracks while they’re
heading west, see if we can catch whoever it is, and find out what happened
here.” When Beckman clicked off his mike, he noticed Markus was staring
thoughtfully toward the western sky apprehensively.

When he sensed Beckman’s gaze, he said,
“They know we’re here now. They’ll be waiting for us.”

“I know.”

“So what’s going to happen when we get
close to their ship?”

Beckman rested his hand on his recovered
weapon. “They’ll underestimate us.”

* * * *

The team hiked
along an overgrown track toward a rocky escarpment until the light began to
fail. They camped near the foot of the cliffs, ate cold rations and cleaned
their weapons, finding little relief from the heat, even at night. After
eating, Virus listened to the signals his recovered communicator was picking
up. His headphones were connected to a tiny crescent shaped device too small
for the human ear. The engineers at Groom Lake had mounted the device in a
small rectangular housing which fed the communicator’s output into the headphones,
and provided a means of operating the device’s tiny control surface.