Then he remembered: Keanu’s systems didn’t always work properly! That had been the problem when the HBs first arrived . . . dead passageways, failed equipment.
And since then . . . the dormant Beehive!
What if the stress of the de-orbit burn had damaged Keanu’s ability to communicate with its human links? Obviously the NEO was saying nothing to Dale. Suppose Sanjay on the vesicle was out of comm, too?
Then what? A missing tweak of Keanu’s trajectory at this moment could be disastrous!
One option was to run back to the human habitat, to see if the Temple node was online.
But that would take an hour . . . and if Jaidev and the others were in touch with Sanjay, or Keanu itself, then Dale’s efforts were not needed.
If not, though, he would have wasted precious time—
He went looking for his communion site.
The scooped-out depression was as Dale had left it. He peeled off his raggedy clothes and lay down, closing his eyes, regulating his breathing . . . all the yogalike techniques he had learned over the years.
Time passed, minutes at most.
Then he felt it—the connection was right there, begging to be made! He opened his mind, reached out, felt it all wash over him, ten or a hundred times more powerful than any link he had previously experienced.
It made him afraid. And it hurt . . . everywhere, chest, brain, legs, arms.
Too much—
Then everything went cold, silent, and dead.
(U) MSG NUMBER 51118-47308 (00217) USSTRATCOM/J36
(U) FLASH SBSS UPDATE 23APR2040 1811ZULU
(S) KEYWORDS “KEANU” “ORBIT” “MANEUVER” “THREAT”
(S) Orbital and Earth-based systems recorded propulsive events on NEO Keanu this hour resulting in change-of-orbit maneuver. Delta-V suggests close approach to Earth resulting in threat.
(SCI) Impact imminent within forty hours.
INTERNAL COMMUNICATION, U.S. STRATEGIC COMMAND,
FREE NATION U.S., APRIL 22, 2040, 11:12 MST
ZEDS
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Xavier Toutant said.
“I don’t understand the restriction,” Zeds said.
“I meant, try not to kill or injure anyone. At least, not until I tell you.”
Zeds and Xavier had been separated from Rachel and the others within moments of their arrival at Site A, hustled into a vehicle, and driven deep inside the long, broad building behind the administration center and its helipad. Their guards were human, not just a THE trio but armed military—and de la Vega.
Zeds barely had time to register the surroundings: the backs of giant mirror towers to the north, part of a ring that extended a long way east and west, then appearing to curve. Also the giant mound that blocked a portion of the view north.
Then they were in a tunnel, and within moments through several doors and into a factory floor filled with Reivers working under dim lights.
Xavier was first to comment, when it became obvious that he and Zeds were going to be working here, too. “We can’t see shit.”
“We’ll fix that in a minute,” de la Vega said.
He went off to issue more orders. Only then did Zeds realize that he was surrounded by Reivers of what the humans called the anteater variety, all of them busy at devices that emitted a low, rumbling hum and accomplished nothing Zeds could understand. (His sense of smell told him the walls were crawling with several of the smaller templates, too. His vision was not good enough to confirm this, however.)
He must have reacted in a visible or audible way to prompt Xavier’s comment. “It won’t be easy,” he said.
Xavier slapped him halfway up his back. “Don’t worry, this will all be over soon.”
“And we may be dead.”
“Oh, I know.”
Compared to other sentient races, Sentries, Zeds had been told, were fiery by nature, freakishly quick to take action. These traits had recommended them to the Architects as allies in their war against the Reivers.
They had also been their downfall, as their often-blind attacks—so valuable in early battles—eventually allowed the Reivers to develop strategies that defeated them. The colony within the Keanu habitat had ultimately been marginalized, supplanted . . . held as a reserve for that long-off day when the ultimate battle loomed, but used since then as guards or security.
And given the few new races gathered by Keanu, not often then.
The one constant in Sentry existence, however, was hatred of the Reivers—which was reciprocated. It went beyond their encounters with the half-carbon, half-organic beings in the Architect war; it was something in their nature, dry versus wet, aggregate versus individual, small versus large. They had, in fact, nothing in common, and everything in opposition.
DSA, Zeds’s direct connate, suggested that the mutual hatred might have roots in an earlier conflict, when some form of the Reivers invaded the watery Sentry world. “We used to live on land as much as water,” DSA had said, itself a troubling thought. Zeds found it impossible to think of his people living on land by choice; certainly his experiences of the past few days had not caused him to think better of that idea.
This also suggested that the Reiver-Sentry conflict was far older than even the ancient Reiver-Architect war.
All of it made Zeds eager for a fight. Instead, he was locked inside this increasingly uncomfortable environment suit and forced to accomplish tasks better suited to humans.
As Xavier began setting up the proteus, doors kept opening and other vehicles arriving with pieces of equipment, some of them blackened and burned.
Other humans were brought hard copies of documents, something Zeds had only heard about.
Still other humans arrived and began setting up data displays and a communication link.
De la Vega directed all this activity with precision and threats of violence. He was almost Sentry-like in his methods.
And he left Zeds alone, freeing the Sentry to take small steps in each direction, his natural way of judging the size and nature of his environment.
From somewhere nearby he smelled salty water. The mere idea of being freed from the suit and able to submerge for even a short time was maddening. He looked at the many doors—one of them obviously led to that water.
“Hey, I need you,” Xavier said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do and you may have noticed, we have unpleasant supervisors.”
Zeds was ordinarily fond of the rotund, smart-mouthed man, but prolonged exposure had reduced his affection, at least for Xavier’s dogged methods. Laboring with the proteus printer was not fit work for a Sentry.
Killing Reivers was better.
In the next hour, several good things happened. He and Xavier made direct contact with Keanu, specifically with Jaidev Mahabala. After several moments devoted to pleasantries and catch-up (as well as veiled forebodings), they had uploaded schematics, imagery, and documents to Keanu. “Even after twenty years, I can’t predict what or when something will emerge,” Jaidev reported. “But I’ll ping you the instant we have it.”
For a moment, then, Zeds and Xavier were alone and unmolested. De la Vega had departed some time earlier, no doubt to exercise his particular form of leadership on other humans.
A signal sounded within the factory; the machines stopped, and the ranks of Reiver Aggregates separated from them, formed up, and marched out.
Zeds and Xavier were kept company by a THE trio and as many human guards. “Hey,” Xavier shouted, “since we’re waiting and you’re giving the aliens a coffee break, how about some nourishment?”