“The scout drones have found something. Lots of traces. Seismic sensors seem to be picking up something but Rax has dug himself in deep.”
I called up the maps. Our drones had surveyed a huge area and there were traces of Raximander everywhere. The redder the tunnels, the more recent the traces. I started with a 3-D map and then called up the individual sections. There were a lot of blood red worms tunneling beneath Sternheim. There were places marked in green where traces of prisoners had been found. They had obviously been moved. It seemed like Raximander was herding a lot of people underground.
I called up some images of cocoons on the walls where some of Rax’s newer toys had hatched. The horrible thing was that he had had the time to do that. If things had been following a normal timetable I would have expected all sorts of bizarre organic weaponry to have emerged from beneath the bowels of the earth. Fortunately for us, it seemed as if Raximander was not too interested in accelerating the timetable.
“Is it possible he has been damaged?” I asked Medico Mark over Grid. “Raximander, I mean.”
“The traces are absolutely normal,” Mark replied. “Which is to say bizarre as far as normal cell replication patterns are concerned but absolutely standard for an Assimilator. It’s not that he’s having trouble reproducing and it’s not that there’s any native organisms that are countering his progress.”
“The infection patterns still running slowly, no signs of acceleration?” I asked.
“There has been a slight uptick but that’s what you’d expect. It’s almost as if Raximander is trying to replace casualties.”
I called up a map of his attacks. “You think it’s possible that he’s attacking us to bleed off some excess host forms? That might explain the pattern of his attacks.”
“What are you suggesting?” the Colonel asked.
“Look at the way he has been coming at us—at random intervals, with frontal attacks mostly, unless he has a specific objective like picking up the Ishtarian weaponry. That attack was made with a bit more subtlety.”
“I can see what you are saying but I can’t understand why he might be doing it.”
“What if he wasn’t lying? What if he really was trying to keep his nodes of consciousness below a certain level?”
Mark said, “It does not fit any previous pattern for an Assimilator attack.”
I repeated, “What if he was not lying when he first talked to me?”
“You don’t really believe that?” the Colonel said.
“I am starting to wonder about it. I don’t see what he gains by making the claim.”
“He gets us second guessing ourselves.”
“There’s that.”
I gave the order for my force to head underground. The time for talk had passed.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I stepped down into the tunnels again. More than fifty robogrunts surrounded me along with a cloud of surveillance drones. We’d had some reinforcements dropped from orbit and members of other squads had been reassigned to me. They were already on the move deeper underground.
As we passed through the tunnels, we dropped relays behind us, a thread of grid-carrier-beams to let me find my way back through the labyrinth, and more importantly let me stay in touch with the surface.
I followed the heat map of Rax’s tracks, heading for the most recent. No surprises. He’d found his way back to the Jihad’s bunker. Maybe he had a nostalgic fondness for it. I sent surveillance drones scouting ahead, moving in pairs with instructions to keep distance between them. When one went round a corner another stayed behind until it got the all clear.
If Raximander was digging deeper and deeper below the earth, it was going to be tricky to get him out. We’d need to scour every inch where he had been to make sure all traces of his biomass were removed. Crawling fields of clearance nanites were doing that. Something was fighting back against them. Rax’s viral components had that ability. But sooner or later we were bound to get him unless he did something.
Ahead of me loomed a section of corridor where the ceiling had collapsed.
“That’s new,” I said. “Raximander must have bred himself some diggers.”
I’ve never liked that particular brand of biomachine, an unholy hybrid of worm and leech, built to burrow through the earth and create tunnels and undermine structures. Some of them could grow very large indeed.
“Maybe Raximander plans on undermining the city,” said the Colonel. “Create a small earthquake, collapse Sternheim in on itself.”
“He’ll need to do a lot more than this,” I said.
“You’re right. Maybe he’s just trying to slow down our countermeasures and stop our patrols.”
“Seems more likely,” I agreed, as I sent the drones to check out other routes. “Or maybe he is creating a funnel with choke points.”
“That’s a disturbing thought.”
“Just one of many,” I said. The lead drone showed something moving through the gloom ahead. Assimilator biomass. Massive, hunched and armored, with huge beetle-like jaws. It had primitive militia assault weapons implanted in its flesh where you would have expected claws to be. Smaller creatures swarmed around it, all teeth and claws and jaws. They rolled toward the grunt in a dark chitinous tide.
The robogrunt retreated and Rax’s monsters flowed after it. I set my grunts on either side of the corridor and prepared an ambush. I heard the tide of Assimilator flesh moving ever closer. When they were within range the war drones opened fire.
They tore through Raximander’s hosts, reapers pulsing. Some of the smaller Brood scuttled forward and detonated. Pulse grenades had been embedded within their flesh. Raximander was getting more cunning. Several of my robogrunts went down. The rest backed away laying down a carpet of fire as they went.
As they did so I threw reinforcements into the fray, cutting the body of Rax’s troops in two. They laid down grenades, just to show the Assimilator he was not the only one who could use them. The corridor flickered in the light of their detonations. Smoke billowed where flesh burned.
Much to my surprise, a white flag appeared round the corner. What now? I thought, but I ordered the grunts to hold fire.
A head poked around the corner. It belonged to Beecher, or at least once it had. There was no way he could have been among that crowd of host bodies and not been infected.
“What is it, Raximander?” I asked. “What do you want?”
“Well this is interesting,” said Beecher’s voice. “I was wondering when you would come down here.”
“What do you have to say, Raximander?”
“Actually, it is me, Beecher.”
“Yeah, Raximander would never dream of infecting a man like you. He fears your god too much.”
“Oh, he has integrated me all right but it is not what you think. I find much to my surprise that I am still myself.”
“That’s much to my surprise as well.”
“I am part of the gestalt mind and yet I remain conscious of myself as an individual too. It is not what I expected at all. I am just as self-aware as you are.”
“Then there are some who would say you are not self-aware at all.”
“Always you joke, but you know this is a serious thing. We stand at a crossroads, you and I.”
“How so?”
“You fear the Assimilators.”
“Yes, and you know why.”
“So does Raximander. He does not want to go back to being a mere component of the Brood Overmind. He wants to remain himself.”
“Don’t we all.”
“Not particularly. It is a wonderful thing to be part of the great collective intellect, to share its memories to look down its path and recall all the places it’s been. To know you are not alone and yet at the same time remain yourself.”
“This is a new approach,” I said. “It sounds as if you have just experienced a religious conversion.”
“I am far closer to the mind of God now than I once was.”
&nbs
p; “I am pretty sure that Raximander is not God, nor was his progenitor.”
“That is not what I meant.”
“Well, thank God for that. What did you mean?” I wanted to keep Beecher talking. I was curious to see if he would give anything away.
“I feel a oneness with everything, even the things that are not part of the Brood mind. I have a sense of how all of creation, all of life, is interlinked.”
“It certainly will be once you infect it.”
“I can’t blame you for being cynical. I was once so myself.”
“But no longer. Not since you joined the Assimilation.”
“It is not what you think it is. We seek only to preserve all life.”
“By devouring it.”
“Life always consumes life. Even vegetarian creatures consume plants.”
“And your point is?”
“I have no point. I am merely trying to share with you what I have learned.”
“Would you care to share with me what you hope to gain by what you are doing. We know you are not infecting things as fast as you normally would.”
“Not things. People. Raximander already explained it to you. He seeks to keep the number of nodes of his consciousness below the threshold at which his progenitor will reemerge and take control. The Overmind needs many thousands of nodes to sustain its consciousness. Perhaps five thousand in total. Raximander needs far less. And I need far less than him. One body is enough for me currently, although I am learning to control more.”
“Good for you. You think this will give you the secret of immortality?”
“It has given me immortality. There is no secret. If you were to shoot me now, my consciousness would still exist within the Brood mind. I would be able to control another body, perhaps even grow an exactly similar one with the right genetic material.”
“I thought that was against your religion.”
“I am reconsidering many things in the light of the knowledge I have recently gained.”
“Good for you. An open-minded alien conqueror. Who would have thought it?”
“You are determined to interpret everything in the darkest possible way, aren’t you?”
“I am talking to a component of a hive mind I have seen consume entire worlds, so you will forgive my cynicism.”
“That is not the plan here,” said Beecher.
“What is, then?”
“We have a mission to perform. Once it is accomplished, we will see. Long term, we propose to find a way to let us live in harmony with your Federal Government, and all of the other human systems. That is why I am talking to you now. So you can take that message back with you.”
“What?”
“You heard me. We propose to find a way to live and let live.”
“And you are doing this by attacking one of our worlds and consuming our citizens.”
“We don’t have a lot of choice. At the moment.”
“I think that you are stringing me along, Raximander. I think this is just one more of your Overmind’s clever plans.”
“I understand why you would think like that. But believe me, we are sincere in this.”
“Then prove it by calling off your attack.”
“I regret that I have other obligations that prevent me from doing so.”
“How convenient.”
“I would have done things differently if I could but I have undertaken to do this thing and I will fulfill my obligations. I don’t have much choice in the matter. Contracts have been exchanged. Even if only verbally. Raximander always keeps his word.”
I felt a growing sense of unreality, which no doubt was what Raximander intended. “You are playing mind games again.”
“You are simply unwilling to take my words at face value.”
“Do you blame me?”
“No. From your point of view what I am saying must look unbelievable. The fact that I know differently will not alter that.”
“Damn right.”
“Ah well, it was worth trying. Perhaps at some future date you will remember this conversation and think differently. That might be the start of a new beginning for both our species.”
“Said the fox to the chicken.”
Beecher laughed. He sounded exactly like he had back in our meetings. It was hard to believe that he was no longer there. That he was merely a finger puppet on the end of one of Raximander’s tentacles. “You don’t understand yet. But you will.”
I could not decide whether that was a deliberate threat or merely sounded ominous. While I was debating it, Beecher said, “I don’t think we have anything further to discuss.”
A cloud of biomaterial filled the air, momentarily confusing my sensors. I let off a burst at where he had been standing anyway. When the cloud cleared Beecher was not there, nor were any of his surviving pawns. He had not attacked me, which rather surprised me.
“You get that?” I asked the Colonel.
“All of it,” she said. “He’s strangely plausible, isn’t he?”
“Yes. But it’s just the usual Assimilator mind game.”
“You sound as if you hope it’s not.”
“I would be nice to resolve this without losing any more civilians.”
“I don’t think that’s likely. Whatever it was Raximander is proposing, it’s in the future. He’s made it clear, he’s not going to stop whatever it is he’s doing now.”
“It will always be in the future,” I said. “And he’ll always keep on attacking unless we stop him.”
“I’m glad you said that. I was starting to think you agreed with him.”
“There’s something going on here that we are missing and it bugs me.”
“He’s talking about having a mission to fulfill, as if he has a contract with somebody.”
“It’s another of his lies.”
“What if it’s not? What if he’s working for someone on this planet?”
“What if he’s just trying to get us suspicious of each other.”
“We are already suspicious of them.”
“He might be trying to make it worse.”
“I suppose.”
“In any case, we have enough on our plates just now,” I reminded her. “We need to get the population evacuated. All we’re doing is containing Raximander. He could step up his assimilating any time.”
“What do you think of this mission of his?”
“It’s another fairy tale.”
“What if it’s not? Who could he be working for and what could he be doing for them?”
“Who would be crazy enough to employ Raximander?” I almost laughed at the idea. “They would be just asking to be devoured.”
“I am thinking the Ishtarians. They’re our most likely candidates.”
“If I was inclined to take the idea seriously, I would agree with you. They’re also the most likely candidates for bringing him here.” There was a brief silence and I knew the Colonel, like me, was giving the idea serious consideration. Some of the facts fit, but they still did not make sense. No one in their right minds would employ Raximander. The Brood was just too dangerous to any form of organic life.
That was it. “A.I.s,” I said eventually.
“What?”
“The Ascendants are not afraid of the Brood. They can’t be assimilated and they are curious.”
The Colonel was skeptical, and I couldn’t really blame her. “You’re not suggesting that one of the God Minds might be behind this.”
“What do we know about who really owns the Weapon Ships? Who really runs them?”
“They are a coalition of humans, post-humans and lesser A.I.s. Everybody knows that.”
“Doesn’t mean it’s true. There are plenty who claim it’s the God Minds who run the Federal Republic not the politicos. It might be the same on the Weapon Ships. We know their vessels are sentient, the same as Orbital and all the rest of the Fleet.”
“You think it might be the Weapon Ship’s Intelligence that is behind Rax
imander?”
“It’s the only thing I can think of that would have nothing to lose by dealing with him.”
“Except it’s a ship. If the crew are assimilated, they would have the override codes. We all know what happened in the past when the Brood took over starships.”
“Maybe the Weapon Ships don’t have over-rides.”
“Now you’re just speculating.”
Of course I was. “You know what worries me? He has us taking this seriously. I mean we’ve stopped assuming this is a basic Assimilator invasion and we’re starting to think along the lines he wants us to.”
“He’s always been clever. The Assimilators have always been that.”
We fell silent. I was worried because I was starting to take him seriously.
“Looks like you’re needed back on the surface,” the Colonel said. “While Raximander was chatting with you, he moved more forces into position. Another attack is incoming.”
This was more like it. This was the Raximander I was used to. A friendly chat was cover for a new attack. What could a claim about wanting long term peace with humanity mean to him? Probably genocide.
The video feed in my HUD showed me the attack on the surface. Bat-winged humanoids wheeled in the skies overhead like great gargoyles, supporting ground troops below by dropping grenades and firing assault rifles and rockets. They were smashing the positions of the Orthodox. It looked as if they meant business.
“You offered ground support to the Orthodox?” I asked. “Rax has helldivers now, I see. Want me to head up to the surface that way?”
“It might not be a bad idea,” the Colonel said. “The Orthodox say they don’t want our help but I’ve a feeling that is going to change in the not too distant future.”
I could see what she meant. More and more corpse warriors were emerging from the tunnel mouths onto the surface. They swarmed across Orthodox territory like an army of ants supported by an air force of locusts.
“I’m going to enjoy killing you again,” I said aloud just in case Rax could hear me.
Chapter Thirty
On the surface, the Assimilator horde advanced on all fronts. Raximander had commandeered some armored cars and his hosts were using their chainguns. His winged mutants swooped and dove from the hulls of gunships. As I watched an Orthodox anti-aircraft rocket hit one and it exploded. A rain of flesh and blood descended from the sky.