“It is not technically a coup,” OX pointed out. “King Peter never abdicated his throne. I can cite numerous precedents in Hansa law, as well as historical comparisons.”

“It’s true, Peter,” Estarra said. “The people need you.”

It felt good to be making clear decisions again, moving forward on a plan. Peter kissed her. “I’ll take OX with me, but you should stay here with Sarein. If anything happens to me, the Confederation will need its Queen.” He could see that she was torn by this, but understood the political necessity.

“I’m leading this operation personally,” Willis said, leaving no room for argument. “Commodore Brindle can hold down the fort.”

Peter followed her to the lift, glancing one last time at the looming swarmships on the main screen. “For everyone’s sake, I hope this isn’t the shortest comeback in human history.”

140

Sirix

The eleven swarmships had halted outside the rubble zone of the broken Moon. Sirix could not understand why the Klikiss simply didn’t open fire upon the pathetic-looking group of EDF and Confederation vessels; it was not like a breedex to show any sort of restraint.

The hive mind was meeting with the treacherous Hansa Chairman — almost certainly planning the annihilation of the black robots. Sirix needed to take advantage of every second of delay to launch his retreat.

After receiving his command burst, the black robots swiftly accomplished the massacre on all fourteen flightworthy EDF ships. Every Hansa engineer, quality-control inspector, tactical expert, and ship designer had been hunted down and killed. Only one man managed to reach a transmitting station in time. In a squawking voice he called out to warn the rest of the EDF. “The robots are turning on us again! They’re killing — ” And then nothing more. The robots had crushed his larynx before he could continue. In the fear and confusion caused by the Klikiss arrival, Sirix hoped the human military would not respond swiftly to the alarm.

Nevertheless, he and his black robots had to move.

Meanwhile, commandeering the construction pods that had been used by the human inspectors, robots raced to their open-framed battleships. More than ten thousand robots — mostly new arrivals from the compy factories — went to their posts and fired up the starship engines. All together, the black robots prepared for a mass exodus.

Sirix swiveled his angular head to PD and QT, who waited with him on the Manta’s bridge. The two compies had wet red smears on their polymer skins from helping to haul away the mangled bodies of the two dead human inspectors. “Both of you, stand ready at our weapons stations.”

“Yes, Sirix,” they said in unison.

While the eleven swarmships made no overt moves either toward Earth or toward the robot ships, Sirix’s sensors did detect a flurry of smaller component ships spreading out. Klikiss scout vessels had separated from the primary masses to scan the activity in space, studying the numerous vessels that still combed the Earth-Moon neighborhood in search of deadly lunar fragments.

Three of the Klikiss scouts streaked toward the highly distinctive open-framework vessels in the orbital repair docks. They would easily recognize the fundamental design and conclude that the black robots were here. They would know. He shouted orders to PD and QT. “Destroy those ships.”

The two compies, well practiced in using EDF weapons, opened fire using jazer blasts, but now he feared it was already too late. The scouts would have immediately noted the black robot infestation — and what they knew, the breedex knew.

Sirix sent his command for an immediate and complete withdrawal, and the entire group of ships under his control — forty-two robot ships and fourteen stolen EDF vessels — accelerated away. He would leave the humans to face the Klikiss alone.

However, the breedex must have seen through the eyes of the scoutship pilots. The enormous swarmships began to move.

141

Chairman Basil Wenceslas

Once swallowed up by the incredible swarmship, the diplomatic shuttle jolted, then began to accelerate toward the core — a large, organic-looking lump of convolutions composed both of metals and glistening polymer secretions. The central mass reminded Basil of an electrified, resin-coated brain.

The pilot lifted his hands from the controls, helpless. “A tractor beam is pulling us along. There’s nothing I can do.”

“Obviously, that is where we’re supposed to go.” Basil stared forward, trying to glean any sort of information. “Your advice would be most helpful right now, Dr. Colicos.”

“At the moment, my best advice is to wait. The breedex will make the first move, and I’ve given you as much preparation as I can.”

The tractor beam drew them into a cavernous opening within the core mass of the swarmship. The shuttle dropped heavily onto the floor inside a vaulted, slick-walled landing bay, and more than a hundred Klikiss warriors marched out to meet them.

Once the ship came to a rest, Margaret went to the shuttle’s hatch, unsealed it, and casually stepped out among the Klikiss. She called over her shoulder, “Mr. Chairman, you have to see the breedex. Come.”

She looked annoyingly calm before the monstrous insects, and Basil did not like someone else taking the initiative. He instructed the pilot to remain inside to protect the craft (if such a thing were possible) and followed Margaret through the hatch, with Anton close behind him. The chamber’s stale but breathable air was filled with a bitter alkaline stench.

The spiny chitinous bodies looked like armored tanks. The ones Margaret identified as domates had silvery armor slashed with black stripes; their faces were mosaics of small bony plates that shifted into skeletal, almost-human visages.

He faced the nearest domate — one with a horned head-crest — as if he were addressing a formal ambassador. “I am the Chairman of the Terran Hanseatic League. I have an appointment to meet with your breedex.”

Margaret said in a quiet voice, “They have no individuality. When you speak to any of them, youare speaking to the breedex. The hive mind is listening to all of our conversations.”

“Then why didn’t they just send an emissary to us?” Basil grumbled.

Margaret cocked her head at him. “Because the impact isn’t the same. Follow me.”

The towering domates and spiny warriors guided them with a swift and clicking gait along strangely intestinal corridors. Basil saw so many Klikiss crowding the passages that he felt certain the hive mind had no intention of letting them out of this hellish place.

When they finally reached a central chamber, Basil stared at a festering, shifting horror of mucus, broken pieces of slaughtered Klikiss, bits of debris, shiny pieces of metal, shattered glass, and grubs. many, many grubs. He reeled, and his ears rang with a constant deafening buzz that penetrated to subsonic levels, making his bones vibrate. All of his schemes, negotiating skills, and confidence wilted in an instant.