thank you two for what you did at Banikaiyan,” Winger said. “You probably saved a hundred lives in that village, not to mention the rest of the Detachment.”
“All in a day’s work, Skipper,” Deeno said. “I saw the bots erupting out of that poor woman and I just reacted. You know…training and all that.”
“You got the HERF guns up and operating in record time…that was damned heroic. Even Ironpants would have been impressed.”
“Yes, sir,” Deeno said, “it’s not hard to be motivated when the bugs are chewing on your own ass. I can read textbooks and do sims all day long. When your butt’s on the line, you learn your lessons real fast.” D’Nunzio looked across the seat at Barnes. “Now, Corporal Barnes here, she’s got a natural advantage when it comes to being swarmed.”
“Oh yeah, how’s that, Sergeant D’Nunzio?”
“Well, sir, your Corporal Barnes here…she’s small in stature, as you can see. Like under five feet small. So when she curls up like a baby, she presents…shall we say, less surface area to be chewed on. Bugs don’t like that.”
Mighty Mite just stuck her chin out. “So you’re saying that our rally cry ‘small is all,’ is literally true in my case.”
D’Nunzio turned mock serious. “All I’m saying is you don’t have to yell it out…’ cause you’re already there…” here, D’Nunzio broke up in raucous laughter, cracking herself up. Behind them, smiles came to other troopers as they listened in on the exchange.
The rest of Archimede’s approach to the target went on just like that.
Johnny Winger was silent and pensive, as Archimede closed on the Pharmex station. Twin cylinders, rotating about a longer perpendicular tube, the orbiting drug lab spun at a few dozen revolutions per minute, flashing like a strobe in the morning sunrise. The UNISPACE assault ship, carrying the 1st Space Raider Platoon, and a detail from 1st Nano, closed rapidly on the platform and secured itself to the mooring collar in good order.
Winger knew he still had orders to grab any HNRIV he could find. Banikaiyan had turned up a dry hole; the bots were too clever. But Q2 still wanted to know how much Red Hammer knew about ANAD. This time, he was hoping to turn up a master bot.
Captain Domenic Revel ordered his troopers to prepare for entry.
"This is officially an inspection visit," he reminded the soldiers, now lined up outside the airlock chamber. "But the mandate orders say Pharmex is to be seized and secured. I intend to do exactly that. Enable weapons--and Lieutenant--?" Revel nodded toward Winger and the 1st Nano unit. "I'll need a sweep from you before we execute entry."
"Yes, sir." Winger snapped and locked his helmet down, then took Gibby, Mighty Mite Barnes and Deeno D’Nunzio with him and eased past the mustered troops in full battlesuit gear into the airlock. The lock was cycled and depressurized, with the 1st Nano troops preparing ANAD for launch at the same time. When the "EQUAL PRESSURE" red light lit up, they were ready.
"Launch ANAD," Winger ordered.
Gibby hosed down the lock seal with ANAD, letting the rapidly replicating assembler infiltrate the connecting tube and sweep for any mech barriers Pharmex might have set up. In a few minutes, the assembler swarm had penetrated into the Pharmex outpost and was reconnoitering the transfer adapter of the station. Revel wanted ANAD deployed, just in case. On the ride up from Kourou, he had worked out tactics with Winger and Gibby to keep ANAD ready for action, while 1st Space Raiders fanned out around the platform and took over.
"Pharmex is a UNISPACE-sanctioned facility but I don't know what we're getting into," Revel had said to Winger. “I want your buggers to cover my ass while we secure the place."
Winger had re-assured the UNISPACE commander. "Don't worry, Captain. ANAD'll keep the place sanitized."
Moments later, ANAD reported back on the qc-link. "ANAD to Hub…ANAD to Hub…nothing out of the ordinary…biowebs in the alpha compartment forward, level four isolation…a few stray proton clouds near the hull--probably cosmic ray spalling--kind of noisy over there…and some rad barriers in beta compartment, near the habitat--"
Winger saw the areas ANAD was indicating flash on his helmet eyepiece. "Hub to ANAD…no other nanomechs in the environment?"
"ANAD to Hub…none detectable…ANAD dispersing to recon swarm now…."
"Very well," Winger replied. He signaled to Revel. "Captain…ANAD reports no barriers…no hostile swarms. Detachment is cleared for entry."
Revel's voice was gruff. "Keep your formation ready for action, Lieutenant…just in case."
Half an hour later, 1st Space Raiders had occupied the entire Pharmex lab, securing all critical areas in both compartments.
Nominally limited to a crew of six, the platform currently hosted ten technicians. Johnny Winger was moderately surprised to recognize one of them: the Thai neurotraficante Theo Souvranamh. A lifetime member of Q2’s most wanted list. He could hardly believe their good fortune.
Souvranamh was florid and furious at the unannounced visit. He seethed at Winger.
"Quantum Corps seems to have a bad habit of interrupting vital work, Lieutenant. First, Bangkok…now up here. Maybe we should just hire you on…you spend enough time snooping around, don't you?"
Winger bounded past Souvranamh in the half-g gravity and slipped into the central passageway of Alpha compartment, one end of the dumbbell-shaped station. "Don't blame Quantum Corps for this one, pal. We're just along for the ride." He checked with Gibby, who was right behind him, monitoring ANAD status. Gibby gave him a thumbs up. "UNISPACE and Captain Revel are running the show."
Souvranamh found Revel just inside Alpha Compartment, studying the controls of a containment chamber inside one of the labs.
Revel snapped a finger and four space raiders instantly appeared. "Take this man into custody." He waggled a finger at two Pharmex techs tending some equipment nearby. "These two as well."
Souvranamh protested, resisting the efforts of the raider troops and pulled free.
"What is the meaning of this out--"
Revel cut him off. "By authority of the United Nations Security Affairs Commissioner, I am taking control of this facility. This lab is in probable violation of public health protocols and mandates on harboring dangerous organisms. Search the rest of the compartment--" he directed two of the soldiers. They spun about and shoved their way past Souvranamh into the central passageway.
The station commander was a Norwegian named Rolf Holweg. Holweg was incredulous. "You can't be serious…we're doing critical research here…we're already working with WHO…and others…to combat HNRIV infections.”
Souvranamh was adamant. "This lab is fully licensed by WHO--check the files, Captain. We've complied with all mandates. This is nothing but harassment…a fishing expedition."
Revel was unmoved. "I have my orders." Before Souvranamh and Holweg could argue any further, they were restrained and hustled out of the compartment, then taken back to Archimede under guard.
The Captain issued orders in rapid sequence. "Secure all manufacturing operations. Furnaces, bioreactors, growth tanks, everything. Shutdown this containment chamber too…I want it capped so nothing can go in or out. Engles--" he snapped at a nearby corporal, "secure all comm links. And I mean all. Nothing goes out of here without permission. Put two men on it now."
Engles saluted and bounded off to the Operations pod in Beta compartment.
"Lieutenant?" Revel called Winger over.
"Yes, sir?"
Revel ticked off more orders. "There may be others hiding aboard. Take your men forward to the Level Four pod. I want a thorough search of this lab…samples, files, cultures, templates, everything. Start with this containment chamber. If there's anything out of the ordinary--like HNRIV fragments, that sort of thing--secure it."
Winger acknowledged and motioned Gibby, Barnes and D’Nunzio into action. The nanowarriors deployed throughout the lab, Winger and Gibby in Alpha, the others in Beta, looking for evide
nce of HNRIV mechs they could scoop up.
It was ANAD itself who discovered the most damning data of all. Gibby had ordered a penetration of Pharmex's computer storage, with the ANAD swarm systematically reading nanobit impressions on each disk inside the servers. An hour later, ANAD signaled Gibby that it had found something. The raw data was imaged and sent back to the interface controls.
Gibbs hhmmm'ed as he studied the image ANAD had recorded.
"What is it?" Winger asked, looking over his shoulder at the IC readout.
Gibby stroked his goatee thoughtfully. "Well, Lieutenant…I can't be sure but these patterns sure look like control algorithms for something."
Barnes took a look herself, calling up basic replication routines on the IC for comparison. "Bingo, Lieutenant. I'd say Gibby's nailed it. These patterns are like mirror images of ANAD's own basic replication instruction."
Winger had hoped and prayed they would find something like this.
"Are you sure? Rep routines look alike…maybe this is HNRIV stuff…you know: viral growth patterns, or something."
But Gibby was more and more certain. Before long, ANAD's scan had turned up electronic maps, maps of human brain architecture, maps of the limbic system, and maps of swarm dispersal and effectiveness. Nanobotic swarms.
He pored over the data, shaking his head. "Looks like we hit the mother lode, Lieutenant. I'd bet a month's wages Pharmex does more than just make vaccines for