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Hours had passed before Jonas received word from Grayson that the robots didn’t have any kill switches or deactivation codes. Grayson didn’t even reply about the strange insects Jonas had mentioned, either.
Did Grayson actually believe Jonas had made up a story about Martian insects?
Jonas found Derek sitting at the side of the infirmary bed when he stopped to visit. “How are you feeling, Derek?”
“Better. But I’ve never known blistered flesh to stop hurting in a short amount of time.”
“Burns are some of the worst injuries ever. So how long before they’ll let you leave?”
“I can go now. Why? Is something wrong?”
Jonas nodded. “Yeah.”
“What?”
“Grayson sent an update about those Chinese robots.”
“And?”
“His informant said that there are no kill switches or codes we can use to deactivate them.”
“I don’t buy it,” Derek said. “Any computerized robot has always been designed so they can be shut down in case of malfunctions.”
“Robots aren’t my specialty. That’s why I came to pass along the information.”
“You busy?”
Jonas shook his head. “No, why?”
“You said that the Chinese robots showed up on the radar?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go to your office and see where they are on the satellite map.”
“Let’s do that.”
***
Carter sat at the edge of a seat across the aisle from where Magnus and Sylvia slept inside their hibernation chambers. He watched them with eyes that appeared to be frozen open in his near trancelike state. He had not slept in days, even though he teetered close every half hour or so. His mind drifted, lingering on the edge of the nightmare of the female alien who constantly whispered inside his mind. He feared allowing sleep to overtake him, for worry that she’d do something.
Magnus was huge, but so helpless while sleeping inside the chamber. His muscled chest and limbs were cramped tightly inside the enclosure. Had he not been sleeping, he’d probably have complained about obvious pain. No claustrophobic individual would have ever allowed himself to be shut inside without resistance. But the giant man slept peacefully.
Sylvia’s face was almost angelic. Her skin was perfect, unblemished, and she slept at peace. Her pouty lips occasionally hinted of smiles during her REM sleep. Little lines tugged at the edges of her mouth, revealing the cute dimples she displayed during her liveliest moments whenever she was a second away from bursting into laughter.
“You do have feelings for her, don’t you?” the alien asked.
The question jarred Carter from his trance. He gazed around, up and down the aisle, but saw no physical sign of the female alien. He hit his forehead with a closed fist, hard. “Would you get out of my head?”
“I cannot.”
“Please!”
For a few minutes, there was silence, followed by a low ringing in his ears. Soon the beeping mechanisms of the hibernation monitors increased. Not that the sounds weren’t there before because they were, but now his mind was no longer zoned into the trance he had endured for several hours. The airflow through the duct system whispered.
Carter sighed, enjoying the moments of her absence. He wondered if she’d stay gone, or if she’d fade from his mind once he carried out his assignment to kill Boyd Grayson? He was almost willing to do anything to stop her intrusion into his mind, even suicide, if it became necessary.
Something soft brushed against this cheek, a gentle unseen caress, which sent chills down his back. He flinched and held his breath.
“You’re still here?” he asked.
“Always,” she replied.
Carter shook his head. Tears burned at the edges of his eyes. “Please go away.”
A gentle soothing laugh echoed near his ear. “Never. I am a part of you now, ever since you gave yourself to me.”
“I wish I had died then.”
“Don’t be . . . harsh. You need me.”
Carter rose to his feet. “I can’t take this anymore. Leave me alone.”
“You are stronger than you think.”
“You’re splitting my mind apart.” Carter walked to the hibernation chamber controls. He tapped his fingers at the edge of the number pad.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m waking them up.”
“No, you cannot.”
“Why not?”
“They will die!”
Carter frowned. “You’re going to kill them?”
“No. You will. Bringing them out this quickly can cause irreparable damage.”
Carter lowered his hand to his side.
“You should set your hibernation chamber,” she whispered. “You need to rest. Ease your mind.”
For several moments, he considered climbing into his chamber to hibernate, but then decided it was best not to. He didn’t trust what she’d do to Magnus and Sylvia if he were unconscious. He wept and returned to his seat.
The alien gently shushed inside his mind. “It’s okay. Relax. Let sleep take you. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Carter closed his eyes. A few seconds later, sleep overtook him.
***
Clark spent over several hours analyzing the metallic components of the dead insects’ chitinous exoskeleton. It was the oddest thing he’d ever studied in a biological laboratory. He had never needed to use a diamond-tipped circular saw blade to dissect through an insect’s thick metal covering before. These were the most amazing, and yet deadly, creatures he had seen.
He had a friend on Earth who kept poisonous snakes, cobras and Taipans, which are some of the world’s most venomous reptiles. If bitten, his friend could easily die before receiving antivenin. Once he had asked him why he’d kept something so deadly? The best answer he had received was how they thrived on the thrill and rush of owning a noxious creature capable of killing dozens of people. All that separated them was a thin layer of glass. One mistake in feeding or cleaning the cage meant instant death. Tempting fate brought a similar high, much like an opiate drug.
And now Clark understood why. He was experiencing the same sensation when he held the box with the three insects inside. He had seen what they were capable of doing, and yet he trusted these three not to attack him. He questioned his own blind faith. Because of their intelligence he had lowered his guard, but these creatures were no more tamable than a reptile. Snakes were never pets. They didn’t respond to human affection like a dog or cat or other mammals. They responded to the need to eat or self-defense. The reptile occasionally viewed a hand as food entering a cage, which was why many herpetologists were bitten due to their own carelessness. Such pets were unpredictable.
Clark, however, had never opened the box of insects. He didn’t know that he ever could. He had sketched a larger cage outline for the techs to build so the creatures could be allowed more room, but a larger environment might give them better opportunity for escape, depending upon how secure the new cage was constructed.
Anna brought a printout of the toxin spectrometer reading and other datasheets. “You were right.”
“About what?” he asked.
“Those creatures could kill all of us in a matter of hours.”
“What did you find out?”
She spread the datasheets and the reading onto the tabletop. “Based upon the readings, their toxins contain a vast amount of cnidarian proteins like what the box jellyfish on Earth has.”
“How does it numb a person’s body?”
“The body goes into shock. From the high levels of these proteins though, I’m surprised that Gary has survived this long.”
“Why?”
“What these proteins do is cause the red blood cells to rupture, which floods the bloodstream with high levels of potassium, and too much potassium can—”
“Stop the heart.”
Anna nodded. “Exactly. Now, I know you’re fond of your bugs over there, but honey, I’d suggest you throw them into an incinerator ‘cause I don’t believe I can counteract what their toxins do.”
“Seriously?”
“On Earth, there’s little that can be done, and they have almost any type of antitoxin you can think of. But us? We’re far more limited.”
Clark nodded. “I understand. So we don’t have any way to help Gary?”
“’Fraid not. All he has is hope, but I don’t think there’s even enough of that.”
“Thanks for analyzing it.”
Anna forced a smile. “Glad I did. Now we know what we’re dealing with. What we need to figure out is how to get our asses on a shuttle back to Earth. I don’t like the idea of living anywhere near them.”
“You mind if I keep this data to show Jonas?”
“Help yourself.”
“Thanks.”
She placed her hands on her hips. “And when you talk to him, ask him if we’re going to get a chance to shuttle back to Earth before things get even worse around here.”
Clark gathered up the datasheets and nodded. “I will.”
He walked toward the door.
“And don’t forget your bugs. I’m no bug-sitter.”
***
Jonas, Boony, and Derek stared at the satellite map on the large screen. Four dots were visible.
“I thought there were eight of them?” Boony said.
“They have stealth technology,” Derek replied.
“Meaning they can turn invisible?”
Derek nodded.
“Shit,” she said in a near whisper.
Jonas pointed to the four robots’ position. “They are less than a few hundred yards away.”
“I know,” Derek said. “They seem to be following my path back here.”
“Then they will be here in less than an hour or so?” Boony asked.
“At their current pace,” Jonas said. “Yes.”
Derek stared at Jonas. “Grayson actually said that there are no kill switches?”
Jonas nodded. “And no deactivation codes.”
Derek sighed. “There has to be something we can do. Our laser rifles and plasma pistols won’t harm them.”
“You’re certain?” Jonas asked.
“Quite sure. And regular guns . . . bullets will flick right off the robots’ armor. It’s a shame we don’t have a tank.”
Jonas offered a slight grin.
Boony frowned. “You think that’s what it would require? That kind of force?”
Derek shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. They’re powerfully structured with the hardest metals. I imagine it will take something incredibly strong to destroy them.”
“We don’t have a lot of time,” Jonas said.
“I know. I’ll head to the engineering department and do some brainstorming. Maybe I can figure out what else can be done before it’s too late.”