Read Online The Phantom in the Deep (Rook's Song) by Chad Huskins - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Chad Huskins
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technical and dynamic entries, guns facing out. Wordlessly, the Leader commands his two operatives to take separate walls—without gravity, every way is up. The Leader takes the ceiling, clings to it magnetically, the o ther two take the floor and one of the walls. They crouch, and proceed down the corridor, two guns facing forward while one of them remains behind, “covering their six” in human parlance.
Then, all at onc e, artificial gravity reasserts itself. And it is several g ’s too strong. The Leader feels himself pulled straight down. His magnetic boots aren’t strong enough to keep him clamped. If not for his jets catching on quickly, he might’ve smacked hard against the perforated steel floor. The Leader expected such a ploy. His people were linear thinkers, not stupid. Far from it. And deception isn’t something they are entirely unfamiliar with, but whereas most species learned it early on as a survival mechanism, Cerebs learned about it mostly late in their existence, by hunting and destroying those species who reveled in tricks.
The cultures, customs, and indeed the very DNA of Earth’s creatures were saturated with deception. The chameleon that changed its colors. The insect that disguised itself as a leaf or a stick in order to evade predators. The puffer fish which swelled its body to look more intimidating than it actually was. Constant deceptions. The various government agencies were always spying on each other, which made no sense to Cerebs, who have always been uniform in their goals. They are single-minded, and thus share information freely.
Behind them, a thick, compristeel door quickly lowers from the ceiling, sealing off the hall behind them. A hissing sound. The Leader’s interface tells him that atmosphere is being restored. Then, the door ahead of them opens. What is this? An invitation? Is it a surrender? No, if that were the case, he would present himself for surrender . Remembering his training on humans, he thinks, It’s a lure . Something the Cerebs had only used to catch their food, but never on other sentient creatures. It’s so unnatural .
He doesn’t move. Neither does his team. Maybe that’s what he wants us to do . Sit here and over think it . Difficult to say with a creature from Earth.
Using his interface, the Leader commands his men to use a single-line corridor approach. This technique is the most logical and efficient when passing through such a narrow corridor that is aggressively held. The operatives walk in a single-file line, the one in the front in a low crouch, aiming his weapon forward, while the operative directly behind him stands straight up with his weapon also aimed forward, and the operative bringing up the rear checks their tail. Should they encounter heavy resistance, the operative in the lead drops flat on his belly, the operative behind him takes a kneeling position, and the third operative stands straight up—this way, all three operatives could use maximum firepower, and could fire directly over each other’s head without risking hitting each other. A tactic also once used by Earth SWAT teams for such narrow passages, incidentally. (Humans had logic skills, too.)
They progress slowly down the hall, their retinal enhancers alternating between standard, infrared, and EMF vision. As the Leader slowly scans his gun by the closed doors on all sides, the sensor at the end of his barrel detects, via X-rays, what is inside each room, and a three-dimensional display is projected against the back of his cornea. Mostly storage. Lots of compristeel cases stacked in corners, lots of discarded weapons and food packages. It’s obvious the Phantom has been subsisting off the barest essentials, but he’s at his limits.
The Leader continues guiding his team forward. He is familiar with the Sidewinder ship series. He therefore knows that the cockpit is directly ahead.
There
Then, all at onc e, artificial gravity reasserts itself. And it is several g ’s too strong. The Leader feels himself pulled straight down. His magnetic boots aren’t strong enough to keep him clamped. If not for his jets catching on quickly, he might’ve smacked hard against the perforated steel floor. The Leader expected such a ploy. His people were linear thinkers, not stupid. Far from it. And deception isn’t something they are entirely unfamiliar with, but whereas most species learned it early on as a survival mechanism, Cerebs learned about it mostly late in their existence, by hunting and destroying those species who reveled in tricks.
The cultures, customs, and indeed the very DNA of Earth’s creatures were saturated with deception. The chameleon that changed its colors. The insect that disguised itself as a leaf or a stick in order to evade predators. The puffer fish which swelled its body to look more intimidating than it actually was. Constant deceptions. The various government agencies were always spying on each other, which made no sense to Cerebs, who have always been uniform in their goals. They are single-minded, and thus share information freely.
Behind them, a thick, compristeel door quickly lowers from the ceiling, sealing off the hall behind them. A hissing sound. The Leader’s interface tells him that atmosphere is being restored. Then, the door ahead of them opens. What is this? An invitation? Is it a surrender? No, if that were the case, he would present himself for surrender . Remembering his training on humans, he thinks, It’s a lure . Something the Cerebs had only used to catch their food, but never on other sentient creatures. It’s so unnatural .
He doesn’t move. Neither does his team. Maybe that’s what he wants us to do . Sit here and over think it . Difficult to say with a creature from Earth.
Using his interface, the Leader commands his men to use a single-line corridor approach. This technique is the most logical and efficient when passing through such a narrow corridor that is aggressively held. The operatives walk in a single-file line, the one in the front in a low crouch, aiming his weapon forward, while the operative directly behind him stands straight up with his weapon also aimed forward, and the operative bringing up the rear checks their tail. Should they encounter heavy resistance, the operative in the lead drops flat on his belly, the operative behind him takes a kneeling position, and the third operative stands straight up—this way, all three operatives could use maximum firepower, and could fire directly over each other’s head without risking hitting each other. A tactic also once used by Earth SWAT teams for such narrow passages, incidentally. (Humans had logic skills, too.)
They progress slowly down the hall, their retinal enhancers alternating between standard, infrared, and EMF vision. As the Leader slowly scans his gun by the closed doors on all sides, the sensor at the end of his barrel detects, via X-rays, what is inside each room, and a three-dimensional display is projected against the back of his cornea. Mostly storage. Lots of compristeel cases stacked in corners, lots of discarded weapons and food packages. It’s obvious the Phantom has been subsisting off the barest essentials, but he’s at his limits.
The Leader continues guiding his team forward. He is familiar with the Sidewinder ship series. He therefore knows that the cockpit is directly ahead.
There
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