The Synchronicity War Part 3 by Dietmar Wehr Read Free Book Online Page B

groups are being loaded aboard the landing craft."
     
    Shiloh said nothing and watched the screen with dread.
Gradually the other two groups dwindled down to a relatively few dots. The two
landing craft from each group took off. As soon as they left the ground, the
black dots left over from those two groups moved very quickly towards the field
with the colonist children.
     
    "What's happening, Valkyrie?"
     
    "The guards from the adult groups appear to intend to
join the ring around the remaining group."
     
    Shiloh could now see the space between the ring of VLAs and
the group of children. As the last guard from the adult groups joined the ring,
the space between the ring and the group disappeared as the VLAs charged their
prisoners.
     
    "What are they doing?" asked Shiloh. Valkyrie
didn't respond. Shiloh was stunned by Valkyrie's refusal to answer. No A.I. had
ever refused to answer a direct question before. Shiloh was about to ask again
when he noticed that the circle was shrinking.
     
    "Valkyrie! Answer the question! What are those Bugs
doing?" Valkyrie didn't answer right away but just as Shiloh was about to
vent his anger at being ignored, he got his answer.
     
    "CAG … the guards appear to be … consuming the
prisoners."
     
    "Oh God!" Valkyrie didn't respond to Shiloh's
exclamation. The Bridge was dead silent. Shiloh forced himself to watch as the
circle continued to shrink until it was much smaller. At that point it
dissolved into individual dots, some of which returned to the nearest landing
craft while the rest returned to the settlement. The ground where the Wolf
children had been standing now had a distinctly reddish color.
     
    When he felt he could talk again without his voice cracking
with emotion, he said, "Can you tell what the VLAs are doing in the
settlement?"
     
    Valkyrie responded immediately. "They appear to be
demolishing the buildings and gathering the metal components, CAG."
     
    "How much longer until we could expect to get a reply
from our signal?"
     
    "If they respond immediately, we'll know in less than
two minutes, CAG."
     
    Shiloh watched the timer count down the remaining time. It
reached zero and then began to count the seconds again. When ten more seconds
had passed Valkyrie said, "We've just lost telemetry from the contact
drone, CAG. There was no warning of any malfunction. I calculate a 98%
probability that the drone was damaged or destroyed by laser fire from the
VLO."
     
    "At that distance?" asked Shiloh incredulously.
     
    "Affirmative, CAG. Given sufficient power, a laser
burst would still have enough energy density to at least damage an unarmored
target."
     
    "But how could they aim it that accurately across 155
million kilometers?"
     
    "Unknown. If they fired bursts from multiple emitters,
they could then blanket a target area with a laser barrage. The VLAs probably
assumed the signal came from a much larger ship, and the drone may have been
hit by a lucky shot."
     
    Shiloh leaned back in his chair and pondered the
implications of the drone's destruction. The initial signal was of such low
power that it couldn't possibly have been interpreted as a hostile act. Even a
very cursory analysis of the laser burst would have determined that it carried
some kind of message. The fact that the VLAs fired back so quickly strongly
suggested that they weren't remotely interested in peaceful contact. A part of
him was relieved by that result. As much as he hated the wolf people for their
xenophobia, the thought of an alliance with a race of giant, carnivorous ants
made Shiloh's skin crawl with revulsion. And if they weren't going to be
allies, then they very definitely were a threat to the Human colonists on Terra
Nova. At least he and the rest of Humanity knew what they were up against, and
his vision now made sense. If he hadn't seen with his own eyes what the VLAs
were and how they acted, he would have continued to pursue an alliance.
Humanity might not have learned the truth