Knock, Knock

[Ethan Neufeld 0]

Ethan took his multi-tool with a frown and briefly regarded the Luminox watch he held in his other hand. He flipped the face over and lightly applied the flat driver into one of six notches, pressing counterclockwise until the threads broke free. Twisting and pulling the back cover of his watch off, he casually popped out the power cell and stuffed it into the zippered thigh pocket of his fatigues. He replaced the cover and studied the watch again. The gas-cells on its face and unmoving hands would still glow. But the watch's warranty was probably shot along with its renowned water resistance and EVA suitability.

 

He returned the inert watch to his wrist and tipped his head back against the wall with a private sigh. His hands lay draped over raised knees and held the closed multi-tool between them. His rifle was propped next to him still in its disquietingly 'dead' state. He sat looking at the doorway from the corner of his field of view, feeling combat ineffective. Lot of good the night vision was doing in his bag. The darkness didn't even the playing field as much as it tipped the scales against them. Zap – the only member capable of unpowered night vision by virtue of his Caitian physiology – was standing watch out there alone. They didn't have a choice.

 

 

"Sal, Zaph, Ethan... you three in particular may have been pushing it. If I'm interpreting the drone lingo correctly, they just said 'We are watching you.' Let's assume they know we are here. They are starting to know us as individuals. They are keeping score. You three have ticked 'em off, while Chris and I haven't yet. We don't know the score keeping system. I'm assuming getting to close to certain secrets could easily count as a score against us, either as a group, or as individuals.

 

"If you are considering powering something up, talk about it first. If you are considering deliberately drawing attention, talk about it first. If you are considering going close to an artifact of some sort, I'd suggest not only fully powering down, but leaving anything with a power supply well clear of the artifact. If you disagree, let's talk about it first. And remember, if the drones are in the immediate area, no talking. Got it?

 

"If you really and truly disagree, I'm going to take a big risk by powering up my pain stick and applying it to various parts of your anatomy. The drones seem pretty smart. I'm guessing they would understand."

 

Pher turned to Nickles. "You with me, Luv?"

 

 

Damn, that was annoying. The team member most experienced in special recon chastised by an individual whose tactical experience amounted to chaperoning sex addicts and horizontal tangos.

 

Still, she had a point and her concerns echoed his. The drones were rapidly adapting to the team's presence. There was no doubt in Ethan's mind that the drones would test them again and soon gain the upper hand if they hadn't already. He'd run the last incident over and over in his mind trying to make sense of it. He'd thought his training effectively hid his presence before. He couldn't recall anything the team did that could have attracted the second contact. They'd maintained better intervals, checked their volume and kept their chatter to a minimum. They were careful how much dust they kicked up as they walked. They'd moved slowly, smoothly and immediately paused after first sighting the drone. Their space hats should have filled in the rest, but the drone still changed direction and moved in on their position. Only one thing seemed to clearly account for what provoked their second encounter or its result.

 

Ethan had instinctively turned off his radio once the drone moved in, but the damage was done. The drone sighted him and lingered on his position the longest in spite of his training and efforts to remain concealed. It was probably looking for the lost power signature. The attractor must have been his radio. It was the only conclusion he could reach that didn't create more doubts than it did answers. He was responsible for attracting the drone's attention and endangering the team. The rest was all a matter of common sense. It'd scanned Zap and Rosetto because they'd been the closest to Ethan at the time. It'd ignored Pher and Chris simply for the reason that it hadn't seen them.

 

Knowing he couldn't use it to transmit, he'd left his PAC set on to monitor the traffic he might pick up from the surface or orbit. He'd thought the drones couldn't detect the negligible power signature through the radio's EM shielding or that they were at least ignoring it. It hadn't taken much to convince Ethan he might have been wrong. Their second encounter gave him every reason to believe he was wrong. That the drone had left without engaging them after he turned off his radio reinforced it to some extent. He hadn't turned his radio back on or turned on another device after that. Burned once, you do everything you can not to get burned twice. That he had attracted the drone when the odds should have been in his favor spelled bad news. The drones had finally surprised him.

 

He hadn't objected to what Pher said and he hadn't made much of a reply. It wasn't out of any fear of Pher's pain stick. Maybe there were other explanations that he wasn't seeing and more improbable, obscure things really were at work. Maybe he was right; maybe he was wrong. Maybe he should have spoken up. And if it wasn't his radio that had attracted the drone, then they were doing a bang up job of hiding. All bets that they couldn't be seen would be off at any rate.

 

But weigh the probable consequences of sharing his theories about priorities and sensor thresholds and what did he get? The risk that their caution would relax, they'd all turn on their devices and suddenly a mechanical army was knocking at the door demanding utility overheads. He decided early on it was better to keep quiet than float potentially harmful guesswork.

 

That was before they learned the shelter they'd taken for the night was one of many maintenance sheds and network hubs for the drones. The place had already added to Ethan's unease the moment he saw it. Save for a fine layer of dust, everything inside was tidy. The exterior was well-manicured for at least twenty meters in each direction and then the wilderness took over. All evidence said the residents had left suddenly or intended to return, but the drones were keeping it up while they were gone. That meant it wasn't completely abandoned. Was it wise to stay there? It left the lingering question of why the people had vanished in such a hurry. Or, maybe, what had made them disappear.

 

Ethan held no small suspicion of the drones and the part they might have played in it. He'd incredulously shaken his head as Sal related what he'd learned on his tricorder prior to Pher's energy ban. They couldn't move once night had fallen and were stuck in that shed. It didn't matter if Ethan or anyone else was familiar with moving under the cover of darkness and they'd decided not to stay. They couldn't use the powered night vision they had and Zoalus couldn't provide moonlight without a moon. The team was effectively blind. So they might not attract attention with their 'dead' gear, but if a drone got curious, alerted or needed a recharge during the night? Knock, knock.

 

Though he couldn't use it as designed, Ethan grabbed his rifle and stood to walk the interior perimeter for the third time since Sal had fallen asleep. He'd gone four or five days on mission without sleep before. He wasn't apt to sleep until he reboarded the Qob and he didn't sleep that night, not for one second.

Edited July 16, 2011 by Ethan Neufeld