"Drone Wars"

[Joe Manning 0]

"What the jyke is happening on this planet?" Joe wondered aloud. Before him, a display of the activity on Zoalus IV's surface was shown on Qob's viewscreen. It was a small-scale depiction of a large-scale battle between frenzied drones -- a war of the machines. He looked over his shoulder at the red-eyed engineer manning the sensor station. "Are we recording all of this?"

 

"We are recording it," the engineer answered lazily.

 

All hell had broken loose on Zoalus, and it was hard to tell if the ground team had had anything to do with it. A small army of drones within the nearby port city suddenly stopped their patrol routines and advanced on the team's position outside the city, firing wildly on the small structure they'd taken refuge within. In obvious response, a larger army of drones from various surrounding areas closed in to begin firing on the first group of drones.

 

The events that followed were total surprises, having never been described in any records of previous expeditions or raids on Zoalus. Massive energy fields were erected in domes around the port city and two other cities within twenty miles. The laser turrets in the region erupted from their alcoves, and sensor beams began furiously sweeping over the continent, focusing especially on the coast. Then the weapons platform emerged; a massive hatch in the center of the port city slid open, and from the hangar beneath, a gravity defying flat slab of alloyed metal arose, its surface covered with weapons not too unlike those carried by the drones. Predictably enough, the craft moved toward the scene of the battle. It glided through the energy field like it was a sheet of water, though Joe was certain that no external weapons fire could penetrate that barrier.

 

What was powering all of this?

 

The ground team wisely made a break for it when the fighting started. Their escape was a temporary respite, however. From the initial group of drones, a smaller detachment numbering some two dozen broke away to pursue the team. They were not interested in the fighting taking place all around them; they were interested only in the team. Even when the hovering weapons platform began unloading its batteries on the surrounded drones, that smaller group continued into the ravine that was sheltering the team.

 

It was two distinctly separate scenes that Joe observed on the viewscreen. One, a furious battle between drones around a small structure outside the port city. Two, a small group of drones discreetly slipping away to pursue a band of explorers, all doing nothing to draw a great deal of attention. The drone army that had initially opened fire on the team had seemed like overkill for whatever purpose they were pursuing. Now the purpose was becoming clearer to Joe -- smoke the team out of the building, then leave behind a skirmish to keep the planetary defenders occupied.

 

The battle was a distraction.

 

There was an intelligent design to all of this that disturbed Joe. Why were the drones even fighting each other? And what guiding hand (or wiry mechanical appendage) was shrewd and resourceful enough to exploit the conflict to its advantage? There was more going on here than ancient machines defending their planet against some unknown invaders. It was not lost on Joe that Qob had not once been targeted or even so much as scanned by any of the planet's defenses; all of the activity was on or close to the surface.

 

It might be time to change that, Joe thought. He opened a comm channel to Troy, who was riding a turbolift to Capricorn's Bridge. "Time is short, Troy. If you can't get me transporters quickly, I might have to do something desperate ... "