| |
SEVENTEEN UNITS.
There were seventeen additional units at last count. The Tracker couldn’t explain why the number kept resurfacing in its processors, nor why awareness of the number would stir an emotional response.
Seventeen—or one hundred seventeen—the number should have no significance. It was irrelevant. A distraction from the meticulous focus demanded by the Quest. The Givers were generous but they were not to be denied.
Still, in the past few hours, it had marked seventeen additional units, each doggedly pursuing its own Quest. Or, as the Tracker began to suspect, were all seventeen seeking the same targets? Why would the Givers need more than one unit for this particular Quest?
Fear escaped its inner vault, rising magma-like from within. Doubt was swift to join, with anxiety following hard on its heels.
No. Inaccurate. All emotions were irrelevant. Nothing could interfere with the Quest. The Givers would not be denied.
This unit is reliable. Its target would be found, the Harvest executed, and the Implant offered to its gods.
The Tracker was unaware its pace had quickened. Adrenaline coursed through its veins, augmented by the chemical enhancements. It ruthlessly subdued the distracting emotions, vaguely remembered from long ago. From the time before the Givers.
It drowned out any questions arising from the sight of additional units. Nothing would interfere with the Quest. This unit is reliable.
But despite its efforts, fear would not retreat. Doubt clamored to be heard, and from an inner recess, paranoia seeped like poison into its synapses. Why did the Givers send so many?
Kilometer after kilometer passed under its imperious gait. Scan left and right, back and forth, up and down. Widen the concentric pattern when no Implants were detected. Scan. Scan again. Widen the search pattern. Scan again.
Its pace increased. It felt the heat growing around its left eye. Fear exploded into full fire in its belly. Fear was all it had left. That, and the Quest.
And the galvanizing knowledge the Givers had deployed seventeen additional units.