I opened up on the nearest Thirteen, blowing huge chunks out of the nearest body. The eyes and tentacles on that section spasmed, but it had little effect on the other two cores. They reared back, lifted the crippled body, and swung it like a wrecking ball.

  Something clicked in my mind, and as the limb came down, I simply stepped forward, between the other bodies. Even though the attack was unbelievably powerful—it was enough to crush the stone where I stood a moment before—it also seemed laughably slow.

  This was the first time I’d engaged the Antithesis since my synthetic upgrades, and it surprised me how much of a difference they made. My body was so fast and light that I could effortlessly dodge these heavy blows.

  The eyes on the two remaining bodies swiveled, following my movement, but before they could react, I unloaded into the left mass, completely destroying it. With its other two bodies crippled, all the third mass could do was swat at me with its tentacles. I skipped away, bouncing out of range of the flailing limbs before targeting the third body and finishing the job.

  I finished the first Thirteen so quickly that the others hadn’t even had a chance to close on my forces, so I immediately switched to the next nearest alien and started methodically picking it apart.

  I was still getting used to my new rifle and the fact that it didn’t auto-track my opponents, so I missed as many shots as I hit. Thankfully, what the weapon lacked in accuracy, it more than made up for in power. The rounds didn’t just embed themselves in the Model Thirteen’s spongy flesh it blew huge chunks out of them. It actually wasn’t uncommon for a round to punch through multiple of the creatures before embedding itself in the wall.

  Once the bears opened up, adding their firepower to my own, the remaining Thirteens fell apart. What I thought would be a difficult fight ended in seconds.

  “That was disappointing,” I muttered.

  You’ve been engaging Models in the Twenties and Thirties on a regular basis. Did you really think that these would challenge you?

  “You never know,” I replied, poking the nearest Antithesis. “The lower models can surprise you sometimes, and there were quite a few Thirteens here…”

  While I appreciate your caution, maybe you should focus your attention on the nutrient storage vats instead of your fallen foes.

  I stopped poking and looked at the massive cauldrons full of viscous green liquid. “Nutrient storage?”

  It looks like the hive has been hoarding biomass, waiting until it found a good target for it.

  “And it’s trying to tap those reserves now? Yeah, I’m not going to let that happen. Give me an axe,” I said, extending a hand.

  As soon as the heavy weapon fell into my hand, I flicked the switch on the handle, engaging the thermal coils in the head, and the weapon started to glow white hot. I jogged over to the nearest fleshy conduit and brought the superheated weapon down right into the middle of it. The tube split cleanly in two, the sides sizzling and smoking, as the nutrient slush gushed out, flooding the area.

  Well, it would have if the conduit hadn’t clamped down, preventing all the precious liquid from being lost.

  With the active conduit severed, a second one opened up across the room, slowly draining another vat.

  “Ugh… I really wish you assholes would just give up and make things easy for me for once,” I grumbled as I jogged over and severed that conduit as well.

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  I spent the next minute skipping around the room, cutting off the nutrient supply lines, until there was only one left. Just before I brought the axe down on this last conduit, I paused.

  “Hey Nyx… You know those remote-activated nanites? How much biomass could they break down? Could they break down a full tank of nutrient slush?” I asked.

  Easily. Why?

  “I think I just had a brainstorm. Could you cook up a double-strength batch on another triggering frequency and maybe add some sort of tracker to it?”

  You want to poison the nutrient supply and track it down to the birthing chamber.

  “Bingo. Would it work?” I asked.

  In theory. If the Antithesis discover the nutrient supply has been spoiled and they represent a threat to the hive, they won’t hesitate to purge them.

  “Could they tell before they’re activated?”

  Unsure. It depends on how thick the nanites are and how far the hive has advanced.

  “Well, it’s worth a try. Give me enough nanites to cause some serious damage to the birthing chamber, without being thick enough to be easily detectable,” I said. “You’ve probably got a better idea of what we can get away with than I do.”

  Done.

  The canister that materialized at my feet was far larger than I expected. It was about the same size as one of those acetylene welding tanks that I’d seen some of the scrappers wheeling around on carts. I considered leaning down and trying to lift it myself but decided against it. Instead, I called one of the badgers over.

  “Carry that over to that pool, and hold it over the edge,” I ordered. The bot scooped up the giant tank in a single large paw and carried it over before holding it over the slush.

  I sighed when I saw how it was holding the tank, with the rounded end above the pool and the valve above the floor. “The other way around.”

  The badger looked at the tank for a moment, confused, then flipped it around the right way. Once it was in place, I reached out and opened the valve, allowing the silvery dust to flow down and mix with the green goo.

  I waited a moment to see if the hive would react to the addition, either cut off the flow or redirect it to another outlet, but it didn’t; we seemed to be clear.

  “Alright, Nyx, how long until we can start tracking the signal?” I asked, leaving the badger to finish emptying the container.

  The first nanites are already being swept through the system. The signal will become clearer as more of the nanites are sucked through the system, but it’s enough to give you a general direction.

  “Can you route the information to the visor in my helmet?” Before I’d even finished making the request, I was already receiving a real-time, 3D mapping of the piping system as the nanites flowed through. I grinned. “Thanks, Nyx.”

  Anytime.

  “Everyone form up and follow me,” I shouted, causing the bots to jump to action. They formed ranks behind me, prepared for combat.

  I took a moment to glance around the room. The pipe flowed into the middle of the wall, and none of the corridors were especially close, so I chose the closest one and did my best to follow it.

  After another wet, pulsing corridor I emerged into another room full of nutrient containers. One of them was already drained, and two more were emptying. This time I actually thought to look up before wandering into the room and, sure enough, the roof was full of Model Thirteens.

  I sent the badgers in first, and when the Thirteens dropped they immediately got a face full of plasma. I stepped into the room, trying to avoid the screeching noise erupting from the creatures as their juices evaporated, and shot out of every possible orifice.

  “Nyx… how many nutrient gathering rooms does the typical hive have?” I asked.

  There is no typical. It depends on how aggressive the hive is, and how long it takes it to discover a decent target.

  “And how far would you say this hive would have to go to find a valid target?”

  There are minor pockets of vegetation around the area, but in order to find a juicy enough target it would have to go over a hundred kilometers.

  “So this place could have been storing biomass for a long time…”

  A very long time.

  I suddenly had a sinking feeling in my stomach.

  “Badgers, sever the conduits, then follow," I shouted before sprinting to the next corridor. The next room had a handful of withered digestion pools. Most of them were withered, emptied of their acidic contents and only a single one seemed to be active.

  Since there didn’t appear to be any defenders I just rushed through. I could see the nanites had been moved into the next room, but that’s where the signal got faint. They weren’t able to provide a clear image of the area.

  I pushed through the last corridor, my instincts split between sprinting into the next room and approaching cautiously to avoid being ambushed. I managed a mix, jogging forward while staying alert.

  When I emerged on the far side and my visor adapted to the low light, I stopped dead. I was standing at the top of some sort of silo, which went down so deep that I couldn’t see the bottom in the gloom. Across from me, in the middle of the space, was something that looked like a massive tree, with branches stretching across and attaching to the exterior wall at regular intervals. I would have caused the sight awe inspiring, if it wasn’t for the birthing pods.

  There were hundreds of them, thousands. The outer walls were covered with them, packed together in groups, like bundles of grapes.

  As I watched, nutrient fluid flowed into the room in several dozen locations before feeding into the pods. I could already see several of the pods in the upper levels writhing, the shadows within struggling to escape their prisons.

  After a few seconds I connected to the command network. [I think we may have a problem.]

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