Nellie and the Nanites - Bk2 - Ch.37

Chapter 37

Yard Work

“What do you mean they are coming back?” Paren asked the flustered Salem.

“The sensors report there is a mix of creatures coming from, well, everywhere.” Salem flicked the scans to Paren’s implant.

“Fuck!” Paren hissed. That was a lot of creatures. “Is it waves again?”

“No,” Salem said. “This is a mix of creatures. Some that never even passed this way.”

“Why?” Paren asked. “Is something attracting them here?”

“No,” Salem said confidently. “They seem to be coming from all directions because they are fleeing from different places. I’m sure lots will miss us.”

“So we have a mix of nasty creatures all heading… somewhere. And us in between them and it?” Paren asked, hoping she was wrong.

“Lots of somewheres actually,” Salem said. “But many will pass by here.”

“How many,” Paren asked.

“Too many,” Salem said flatly. “We will not able to–” They both cut off and looked up, along with everyone outside. The dark clouds lit up with flashes and bursts as something happened far above the clouds.

“What now?” Paren asked, throwing her hands in the air.

“That’s heavy fire and explosions,” Baz said as he wandered up, looking unconcerned. “Outside the atmosphere, but near enough that we still get to watch the lights.”

“Is this something we have to worry about?” Paren asked suspiciously.

“Not unless something falls on us,” Baz confirmed for her.

“Can we do anything if it does?” Paren asked.

“No,” Salem shook her head sadly.

“Then fuck whatever the hell that is,” She ran her hands through her hair in frustration. “Okay. Monsters. How do we defend against them?”

“We can’t,” Salem said flatly. “We just don’t have enough people.”

“Also, we are missing one shuttle,” Baz pointed out.

“Uh, what do we do then?” Paren asked.

“I suggest we boost Centrum numbers as much as we can, but we are still going to be low on numbers…” Salem looked as forlorn as Paren felt.

Fuck this. She was Prime Drone.

Drone?

“Okay, so if I did something really, really stupid but it helped… do you think Nellie would kill me?” Paren asked.

“No, but she would kill me,” Salem said with absolute certainty. “Or Lucy would.”

“How can we help is what she meant to say,” Baz said with a grin.

“Baz!” Salem snapped at him.

“She’s going to do it anyway,” Baz pointed out, “If we help, she might survive it. If we let her die, even Lucy won’t be able to save me.”

“Hold still, Tiny,” Paren said as she opened another of the maintenance plates on its giant chassis. “This might feel weird, but I kind of need to give you an upgrade, okay?”

“This doesn’t seem stupid,” Baz commented idly from where he was leaning on the hangar door.

They had moved Tiny into the hanger, away from prying eyes, while Paren worked on him. Salem was running interference with Grams and the other busybodies. Paren fiddled for a while, waiting for Baz to look away long enough for her to get started properly. After almost ten minutes of waiting, which felt like an entire year to the impatient teen, Baz gave in to the urge to check on Salem.

Paren took a deep breath and shoved her gauntlet into the center of Tiny’s works. Her fingers split and split again as thin fibers of nanites extruded from the tips and began to pour into the giant machine.

Paren felt her eyes roll back as she shifted into the in-between place.

She had found the in-between place while trying to keep Lucy from finding out about Per-Chi. She had been poking at the various connections between her, Nellie, and Lucy for a while. It was only when she did it while also adding a few extra nanites to Per-Chi that everything clicked. She was still not entirely sure what it was; all she knew was that it felt like she flowed out of her body and into the nanites themselves. She was everywhere her nanites were, but nowhere, but still in her body. It was terrifying at first, but Paren had come to love the feeling.

A great side effect of this in-between state was much higher control over the nanites themselves.

She used this state to start making the internal changes to Tiny it would need for her plan to work.

Distantly, she heard Baz swear and call Salem, but she had seen to that. The hangar door wasn’t locked.

It was sealed by nanites; converted into a single piece of metal.

Paren danced through the nanites, changing a line of code here, reforming a resistor there, and then something else clicked, and she laughed.

Silly, why hadn’t she thought of this before?

Her mind flowed out of tiny and into the air, surfing on the wireless transmissions to the cameras and sensors in the hangar. She found them, but they were not capable of what she wanted.

Well, she could change that, right?”

A hair-thin line of nanites shot out of Tiny and connected with the sensor. Nanites flowed into it, and she started to reconfigure it.

She saw Baz running toward where her body was hanging limply from Tiny’s chest and assumed he was going to try and pull her out.

Can’t have that, Paren decided and commanded Tiny to stand. The giant robot lifted and twisted, pressed against the hangar ceiling as Baz leaped fruitlessly below to try and get to Paren.

Paren laughed as he swore and was shocked when her laughter echoed from the speakers.

The sensors finished reconfiguring, and she scanned the frantic Baz as he started to scramble up one of Tiny’s legs.

Carefully using one of the giant pincers that Tiny used as hands, Paren scooped him up and held him clear of her.

There, the power core. That was the missing part.

She didn’t have what she needed for the conversion….

Her focus shifted to the pod in the far corner of the hangar…

Paren heard her laughter echoing around the hangar again as she moved Tiny over to it.

Tendrils of nanites dripped like a fine mesh onto the pod.

Nellie would be pissed, but she might as well be pissed about everything.

Right?

===<<<>>>===

“Make it make sense,” Nellie said as they lumbered through the skies toward the yard once more. They had the bay doors open, the engine half in and half out of the shuttle as it struggled under the immense weight. The two mostly complete Centrum units were pressed up against the sides of the stuffed cargo bay while Weasel hung from the ceiling and hissed occasionally.

The long-distance scans were a mish-mash of creatures, some she knew, others she only knew from her database. They were all moving, all constantly attempting to hunt each other. It made zero sense whatsoever. Animals did not act like this.

Ever.

“I can only assume we are seeing several waves overlapping and rebounding,” Lucy said. “That is just a guess.”

“We only saw two waves,” Nellie pointed out.

“Only two waves passed us,” Lucy corrected. “There must have been dozens of others that missed us by miles.”

“So why are they everywhere now?” Nellie insisted.

“The cities must have bounced a few waves away,” Lucy said. “Plus, some would have met and mixed or been pushed by others.”

“So we have a bunch of panicked animals all stampeding, but why?” Nellie shook her head. “All the waves and whatever must have passed by now.”

They had already discussed the seawater everywhere. Tidal waves made sense, especially with the volcanic ash in the clouds obscuring the planet.

“At this point?” Lucy shrugged. “They will move constantly until new territories are established. The constant dark is probably not helping much. Plus, food is scarce with the cold.”

“Damn,” Nellie said. “We really need to get back to the yard.”

“Going as fast as I can,” Lucy replied with a frown.

They came into range of Duke’s place a half hour later, their comm line lighting immediately.

“Is that you, Bea?” Duke called. “You made it!”

“Just,” Nellie admitted, “But yes.”

“Glad you are back,” Duke said tensely, “Things are getting worse by the hour now. I think you should move your people here. Our walls should hold even against all this. I don’t think yours will.”

“We’ll bring anyone who wants to come,” Nellie promised. “But I am not giving up on my yard just yet.”

“Damn it, Bea!” Duke rarely swore. “This is not something you can just push through. Not this time.”

“Don’t plan to,” Nellie said. “We just need to last long enough to get ourselves off the ground for good.”

“You won’t make it,” Duke insisted. “No matter how good you are at this, Bea. Just come with us. I promise I will make sure you end up with your own ship in the end.”

Lucy shook her head silently.

“I’ll bring anyone that wants to come, Duke,” Nellie said again. “Stay safe.”

“You too, Bea. I hope you make it.” Duke said sadly.

They flew in silence for a few minutes.

“We could go with them if you want,” Lucy offered, “I would understand.”

“You say we have a ship, right?” Nellie asked.

“Yes,” Lucy said. “I can get us off this planet. I promise.”

“Good enough for me,” Nellie said as she sat back in her chair.

===<<<>>>===

“All done!” Paren said, pulling her hand out of Tiny and fighting a wave of vertigo as she settled back into her body. “He should be a big help now.”

“Is he a drone?” Baz asked, arms crossed stiffly in front of him.

“No!” Paren snapped. “What do you think I am?”

Baz looked down at the clamp still holding him several feet off the floor.

“Oops, sorry.” She asked Tiny to put Baz down.

“No way we can hide this,” Baz said as he looked over the transformed Tiny. “No one will believe you did all this in a few hours.”

“How much longer do we have?” Paren asked.

“About twenty minutes,” Baz said as he bounced from foot to foot. “This is going to get nasty, you know?”

“I know,” Paren said, her previous joy washing away as the fear bit into her again.

“Just in case I don’t make it,” Baz said with a sad smile. “Tell Lucy I was really grateful for what she did for me. Also, that I died a hero or something like that. Okay?”

Paren gaped at the man, not knowing what to say. When the silence began to become uncomfortable, she just swallowed and nodded.

“Let’s get these doors open before everything goes to hell, yeah?” Baz pointed at the sealed doors.

Paren sent the command to her nanites, and they started to open the hangar doors.

They didn’t have a lot of time.

The next twenty minutes were the most overwhelming of her short life. Everyone was on the move. The Facilities building was fully staffed and running at maximum. The workers had refused to go and hide in one of the hangars. They intended to keep working, come what may. Just in case one more Centrum made the difference.

It was kind of inspiring in a terrifyingly real way.

What armor and weapons they had were distributed, and everyone not on the wall was safely in a hangar, with the doors welded shut and the runners fused. A line of guards and five centrum stood behind the doors. The last line of defense for those inside.

Paren and the others ran back and forth, setting up what turrets she had built on the towers with the widest firing arcs they could get. Still, everyone had this look in their eye.

It wasn’t hopelessness. It was a certainty. They were going to die, but it was for something. No one looked sad, just… driven.

The sensors pinged constantly, and some of the readings were BIG. It seemed the planet had more horrors than she had ever known, and they all seemed to be on the way here.

As the last few minutes ticked down, Paren hurried down the slope hidden in her shed and feverishly assembled her custom armor. It was a complicated piece of kit, but she needed it now more than ever.

When she was finished, she was completely unable to move it. She had known this would happen, so she took a deep breath and let the nanites push out of her and into the suit. Connections were made, pieces fused together, and finally, she stood.

Two feet taller, Paren grinned as she stomped up the slope and kicked her way out of the shed.

The first shots were coming from the walls as she broke into a lumbering run…

All or nothing.

===<<<>>>===

Danforth looked down at the message that was even now playing across the squares and holo-vids of all three cities. Ahern’s angry face replaced the recording of the attack as he pompously delivered his judgment and his false promises. It made Danforth want to puke just looking at the sanctimonious bastard.

“I managed to take out the spy, but I was not able to recover the recordings, sir,” Prit-Mal said stiffly.

“You were busy leading one hell of a raid,” Danforth said plainly. “This was inevitable, I suppose.” He sighed and turned away from the window. “I just didn’t expect it so soon.”

“No plan survives contact with the enemy, sir,” Prit-Mal replied.

“I suppose not,” Danforth tapped his fingers on the desk. “I expect we will be attacked quite shortly. We need to consider the best option for the civilians.”

“Sir?” Prit-Mal asked.

“I don’t want them killed in the crossfire,” Danforth said simply. “We may be forced to surrender.”

“Well,” Prit-Mal growled. “If that is your decision…”

“You have another option?” Danforth asked.

“They won’t attack if they can’t be sure of victory,” Prit-Mal insisted. “Commandant Ahern wants to look good more than anything. A failed attack would be a blemish.”

“True,” He thought for a moment. “What do you have in mind?”

“I suggest we strike first,” Prit-Mal said with a grim smile. “Take out his ships in orbit, and he won’t dare attack, or he would be risking reprisals from above his own cities.”

“That would escalate things, unfortunately,” Danforth said. “Perhaps we can reach an accor–”

The office door was flung open as a panicked aide rushed in.

“Sir, message from the fleet. Ahern’s command is moving to engage them.” The aide gasped the words out, white-faced and shaking.

Danforth opened his mouth and found no words to say. Everything had spun out of control so fast. Only a couple of weeks ago, the two of them were hand in hand… what had happened?

“Orders, sir?” The aide pressed. “They will engage in minutes!”

Danforth tried to think past the haze of shock. He had never intended it to go this far. All he wanted was to distance himself from Ahern and protect his men, and now…

“Order all ships to move into formation and prepare for contact,” Prit-Mal said firmly. “All weapons are cleared for use; all ships not loyal to Danforth are to be marked as hostile and attacked as soon as they are in range.”

“Ma’am!” The aide saluted and rushed out.

“How did this happen?” Danforth asked. “How?”

“Ahern did this, Danforth,” Prit-Mal said kindly. “Not you.”

“This is madness!” He protested. “Pure madness!”

“Why don’t you take some time to rest, sir?” Prit-Mal offered. “It has been a hectic few weeks, and the lack of sleep may be clouding things. I will oversee our ships’ defense.”

Danforth walked into the command center a few minutes later, having refused to sleep while his people fought for their lives. Prit-Mal had tried to insist, but that had simply made him more determined. He did accept the HyperDrive she got him before they entered however. He was tired.

“Situation?” Danforth asked as he took his place in the center of the room, Prit-Mal in place behind and to the left of him.

“Three ships coming into range, two more circling around the far side of the planet. Estimated twenty minutes until they enter range.” Despite the situation, the efficient woman was calm as she relayed messages from his ship in orbit.

“Open a comm line to the three attacking ships,” Danforth ordered. “My code.”

There was a tense few seconds before a skinny man in his early fifties with close-cropped white hair filled the viewer.

“Danforth,” The man nodded. “A sad day indeed.”

“Very,” Danforth agreed. “Look, Bob, this is madness. Call off this attack.”

“That is Commander Lasper to you,” The man sniffed. “Simply order your ship to surrender. We will not kill them if they do not resist. Other than the bridge officers, of course. They will have to pay for your treachery.”

“Spare my crew, and I will surrender myself to Ahern today,” Danforth said sadly. “I never intended any of this.”

“I’m glad to see you haven’t lost your honor completely,” Lasper sneered. “Very well, I will only execute the Captain and first Officer.”

“Then I will–” Danforth started to say.

“Sir!” The captain of his command ship cut into the transmission. “Don’t do this.”

Danforth stumbled over his words as he tried to reply, causing the captains of both ships to frown. Danforth felt dizzy, his eyes fighting to close as he forced himself to remain upright.

“Sir?” Prit-Mal asked, her hand going to his shoulder.

Danforth looked at her dumbly. His vision was swimming as the room began to tilt around him. “Take over, Prit,” Danforth said as he started to sag.

A couple of aides helped him to a seat, and he watched Prit-Mal step into the center.

“Captain Lasper, may I have a private word with the ship command for two minutes?” Prit-Mal asked respectfully. “I wish to avoid conflict if I can.”

“Ahern said you were a good officer,” Lasper smiled. “Two minutes.” The comm line cut.

“I will not turn my ship over to that man,” The Captain said instantly.

“Nor should you,” Prit-Mal said. “He would surely kill most of your command, no matter what promises he makes.”

“I agree,” The captain looked somewhat shocked. “What do you advise?”

“I think I have a solution,” Prit-Mal said as Danforth passed out completely.