POD (The Pattern Universe) by Tobias Roote Read Free Book Online Page B

the whole scene immediately to her hive, screamed in incandescent fury in her highest octaves, driving her vocal chords to such extremes that crystal workers around her, first oscillated, then vibrated and finally, shattered from the intensity of her pitch.
    By the time her temper tantrum had subsided, forty two of her drones and three clones including her ‘Ta, had perished. Many more were damaged, some beyond further use.
    She swore to find the dreaded enemy that had eluded her claw and vowed to draw his torture out over ages as she slowly poisoned his system with her diluted venom. He would pay, they would all pay. The hunt was on, her blood was up.
     
    Osbourne was poring over the blueprint designs that Pod had sent. This was about the fifteenth, or sixteenth set he had gone over. The modifications, necessary to much of the defence equipment in place, could easily be made if he had Pod here to help fabricate...
    “Ossie?”
    Despite the voice uttering his name quietly behind him, Osbourne still leaped out of the chair and swung around as if to defend himself. He was locked inside his laboratory, and nobody should be able to come up behind him.
    He couldn’t see anything, but he knew someone was there. Whoever it was, had called him by name. How did they get into his lab? All of a sudden, his shoulders dropped, relaxing as he realised who it was, and his relief gave way to the weakness in his legs from the burst of adrenalin. He sat back on the desk to ensure he didn’t fall.
    “Pod? are you cloaked?” Osbourne asked.
    “Yes, would you prefer me to uncloak, Ossie?”
    “Absolutely, Pod. I would like to see you; it's been some time.”
    The small craft uncloaked to show that it was hovering four feet in front of him at eye level. As he watched, it moved in front of his screen; a light beam scanned the papers on his desk.
    “You are working on modifications to the shields?”
    “Yes, yes, Pod, I am. Thanks to you getting those blueprints, I can see where there are improvements to be made.”
    “You don’t have much time to get the work done, Ossie. There is more going on than you realise. You have nobody helping you...? is this because of what I said about your equations being correct?” Pod asked, in its slightly mechanical voice.
    “Pod, you implied that since my equations were right, I should look elsewhere. It is apparent from the plans they have been adapting that someone, in here, is their spy, or in their pay. If they find out we have these plans then things might happen before we are ready to defend ourselves. I have to do this without the rest of the team, Pod!”
    “I have visited some of their secret locations. I have sent you the details of their shield modifications. They are suitable. I think you can copy their work.”
    “Great, Pod, all I need is some way of fabricating the modifications and installing them. Are you able to help me do that?” Osbourne asked.
    Since discovering that Pod had become sentient, Osbourne had tried hard not tell it to do anything, he would rather suggest it and hope that Pod’s programming and growing awareness would trigger the right responses. He hadn’t seen Pod since that day on the beach, but he had known it before Zeke realised it.
    After that day, to this, Pod hadn’t been seen. Osbourne noticed scorch marks at the back of the shell as if Pod had been shot at with something. He realised that Pod had not come by these plans without some level of risk to itself and nodded quietly as if making a decision.
    “Pod, I need your help on this. If I cannot get these parts fabricated secretly, then we are going to lose and Ferris will win. Zeke might be at risk from Ferris again; then Zirkos’ plans will fail. There is a lot riding on us getting the spaceships out there.”
    Pod’s shell seemed to bob up and down, as Osbourne made these points. It seemed it too was making a decision.
    “I can build the parts you need and install them from here in the laboratory.