scroungers go out looking for old sites to loot, come here, and get themselves shot up by xinti energy weapons? I thought they were supposed to have been wiped out by then.’
‘The Herosians claim there are still pockets of them out there,’ Monkey said. ‘No one has actually claimed to see a live one in over two centuries, but back then there were possibly still one or two enclaves still operating.’ He shrugged. ‘Though if they were here when these looters arrived, I’d expect them to still be here.’
‘Initial planetary survey is complete.’ Drake’s voice came from the speakers around the room. The ship crew were there in spirit if not physically. ‘The only evidence we’ve found of structures is the town you’re at and what looks like a mine entrance about a mile to the north.’
‘Any indication of indigenous life?’ Aneka asked.
‘Not on land, but we haven’t run the high-def scans yet,’ Patton replied. ‘We have found some evidence of life in the oceans. Nothing bigger than about a metre though. Several large algal blooms in the open ocean and I saw fish of some sort feeding on them.’
‘Nothing to explain those track ways you found,’ Drake added. ‘Maybe the next sweeps will find something. We’ll run the continent you’re on as a priority.’ There was a pause and then, ‘Oh, Bash, could you run diagnostics on the shuttle’s systems?’ Bashford immediately started for the cockpit. ‘We’ve picked up some random EM bursts. Just noise, no longer than a second at a time, but I don’t want to find out we’ve ignored a possible comm-system failure we could prevent.’
‘On it,’ Bashford said from the front of the shuttle. Aneka’s eyes flicked left as one of the security sensors fuzzed out for a fraction of a second. Maybe the diagnostic run was a good idea if they were getting dropouts on the cameras.
~~~
When Aneka had said she wanted to fire off her pistol at something she had been expecting Bashford and Monkey to want to watch. What she got was everyone, along with five high-definition multi-spectral cameras trained on her, her make-shift firing range, and the target.
‘I just wanted to find out what firing it on full power was like,’ Aneka almost whined as she had to wait while various sensors were trained on her and the unfortunate tree which was going to get shot for science.
‘And how often do you think we’ve been able to apply modern sensor equipment to a xinti anti-particle beam weapon?’ Gilroy replied. She glanced across at Ella who was walking back from setting up the two target sensors. ‘When you’re ready.’
Pulling her pistol, Aneka checked the setting was lethal and lined up on her target, bracing the pistol’s grip in her left palm. She took aim and Al indicated the target point she was about to hit, about four feet up the trunk, and the target’s range, fifty metres. She squeezed the trigger. A pulse of blue-white light left the barrel and hit the tree a fraction of a second later. There was a loud thud, which Aneka felt as a pressure pulse in her chest not unlike a hand grenade going off, and wood splinters flew in all directions. The bushes near the tree thrashed, dropping leaves. When the dust cleared they could see the huge hole which had ripped the side of the trunk out. They could see daylight through it.
Aneka set the safety and slipped the pistol back into its holster, blinking at the damage. ‘Well fuck me sideways,’ she muttered.
‘Yeah,’ Monkey said. ‘That’s why people still worry about meeting up with a xinti.’
~~~
Aneka watched her own diagnostics rippling past over the inside of her eyelids, happy to see that everything was in the green. Her time display suggested that she had barely had four hours sleep; enough, but meagre. However, she decided she was going to get up anyway since she had woken up from a dream of being strapped to a frame in the xinti ship they had found her in while strange aliens and robots
‘The Herosians claim there are still pockets of them out there,’ Monkey said. ‘No one has actually claimed to see a live one in over two centuries, but back then there were possibly still one or two enclaves still operating.’ He shrugged. ‘Though if they were here when these looters arrived, I’d expect them to still be here.’
‘Initial planetary survey is complete.’ Drake’s voice came from the speakers around the room. The ship crew were there in spirit if not physically. ‘The only evidence we’ve found of structures is the town you’re at and what looks like a mine entrance about a mile to the north.’
‘Any indication of indigenous life?’ Aneka asked.
‘Not on land, but we haven’t run the high-def scans yet,’ Patton replied. ‘We have found some evidence of life in the oceans. Nothing bigger than about a metre though. Several large algal blooms in the open ocean and I saw fish of some sort feeding on them.’
‘Nothing to explain those track ways you found,’ Drake added. ‘Maybe the next sweeps will find something. We’ll run the continent you’re on as a priority.’ There was a pause and then, ‘Oh, Bash, could you run diagnostics on the shuttle’s systems?’ Bashford immediately started for the cockpit. ‘We’ve picked up some random EM bursts. Just noise, no longer than a second at a time, but I don’t want to find out we’ve ignored a possible comm-system failure we could prevent.’
‘On it,’ Bashford said from the front of the shuttle. Aneka’s eyes flicked left as one of the security sensors fuzzed out for a fraction of a second. Maybe the diagnostic run was a good idea if they were getting dropouts on the cameras.
~~~
When Aneka had said she wanted to fire off her pistol at something she had been expecting Bashford and Monkey to want to watch. What she got was everyone, along with five high-definition multi-spectral cameras trained on her, her make-shift firing range, and the target.
‘I just wanted to find out what firing it on full power was like,’ Aneka almost whined as she had to wait while various sensors were trained on her and the unfortunate tree which was going to get shot for science.
‘And how often do you think we’ve been able to apply modern sensor equipment to a xinti anti-particle beam weapon?’ Gilroy replied. She glanced across at Ella who was walking back from setting up the two target sensors. ‘When you’re ready.’
Pulling her pistol, Aneka checked the setting was lethal and lined up on her target, bracing the pistol’s grip in her left palm. She took aim and Al indicated the target point she was about to hit, about four feet up the trunk, and the target’s range, fifty metres. She squeezed the trigger. A pulse of blue-white light left the barrel and hit the tree a fraction of a second later. There was a loud thud, which Aneka felt as a pressure pulse in her chest not unlike a hand grenade going off, and wood splinters flew in all directions. The bushes near the tree thrashed, dropping leaves. When the dust cleared they could see the huge hole which had ripped the side of the trunk out. They could see daylight through it.
Aneka set the safety and slipped the pistol back into its holster, blinking at the damage. ‘Well fuck me sideways,’ she muttered.
‘Yeah,’ Monkey said. ‘That’s why people still worry about meeting up with a xinti.’
~~~
Aneka watched her own diagnostics rippling past over the inside of her eyelids, happy to see that everything was in the green. Her time display suggested that she had barely had four hours sleep; enough, but meagre. However, she decided she was going to get up anyway since she had woken up from a dream of being strapped to a frame in the xinti ship they had found her in while strange aliens and robots
Similar Books
