“That’s a lot of dead Antithesis,” Amy whispered as the Kodiak descended upon the first hive.

  The area was absolutely littered with corpses. It looked like hundreds of antithesis had surged out of the hive, looking to ravage the area, only to be cut down by someone.

  Whoever it was had left quite a mess, slicing most of the antithesis into pieces as they advanced, leaving a wide swath of destruction behind them. Based upon the destruction, it looked like they probably made it into the hive, but based upon the fact that there were a number of antithesis wandering around the surface, eating the remains, they probably weren’t able to finish the job.

  “You think this is Saber’s work?” Nora asked quietly.

  “Probably. I don’t know Twilight Trencher or Psychosis, but I doubt they’re the ‘slice you into a million pieces’ types based upon their names,” I replied as I stepped back from the monitor. “I take it you still haven’t been able to get a hold of any of them yet.”

  “They’ve gone completely dark,” Nora confirmed. “I’ll admit, I was hoping their comms were just getting disrupted by that ECM field that Model Twelves, or Model Fourteens, give off, but they’ve been out of contact for far too long now. I would have expected one of them to have dealt with the offending Antithesis by now if that was the case.”

  Amy nervously shifted from one foot to the other. “So we have absolutely no idea what happened to them?”

  “And we probably won’t until we get inside that hive,” I grumbled.

  “I don’t suppose you have a plan…” Nora asked. “Because walking straight into that hive, after losing three samurai, seems like a bad idea.”

  “I’ve got a basic one,” I admitted. “Since we’ve got no clue what happened, I want to send a couple bears in first as a scouting force. We’ll follow a minute or so later, close enough to support them in trouble, but not close enough to be caught in any ambushes. I’ll also have a handful of bears following behind us, so we’ll have plenty of warning if something tries to sneak up on us.”

  “Why do we have to follow? Wouldn’t it be safer just to send the bears?” Amy asked hesitantly.

  “It would be, but as powerful as the bears are, they’re kind of limited without someone directing them. Plus, if they happen to wander across Silent Saber, or any of the other samurai down there, I’d like to be close enough to provide them with support,” I replied.

  “Honestly? I think you just like to be next to the action,” Nora declared. “You could probably command the bears from the safety of that bunker of yours and never have to put yourself in danger. But instead, you wander around near the frontlines, like some sort of adrenaline junky.”

  “I don’t necessarily like being next to the action,” I huffed, “I just find it easier to command when I can see the fight with my own two eyes, instead of relying on everything through a bear.”

  Nora smirked. “Really? Are you sure that’s all it is?”

  “How can you two stand around bantering like that?” Amy moaned. “Shouldn’t you be more concerned about what’s in the hive?”

  “We are concerned, but getting all stressed about the situation won’t help,” Nora replied calmly. “We’ve both been in some bad scraps with the antithesis, and learned that the best thing you can do is keep a calm head. The antithesis can change so quickly that you can’t plan for every contingency; all you can do is adapt in the moment.”

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  “If you say so…” Amy muttered. “I’m not sure.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll understand eventually,” I said as I stepped towards the back of the vehicle and slammed my fist against the button to open the ramp. “Just stick close to us, and we’ll look after you.”

  When we touched down a second later, the bears surged out, sweeping the area and dispatching the scattered antithesis. The aliens were so busy collecting the scattered biomass that most of them didn’t even notice the bears approach until it was too late.

  They were so quick that they managed to completely secure the surface before I even stepped out of the vehicle.

  The hive entrance must have been well hidden before, since the complex went undetected for so long, but it wasn’t hidden anymore. After the hive went active, the Antithesis wasted no time expanding the entrance and turning the surrounding area into a relative wasteland. They’d wasted no time tearing down anything even remotely edible and dragging their ill-gotten gains back to the hive. Although they hadn’t gotten around to digging up the grass, they’d managed to harvest everything else in the surrounding area. There wasn't a single bush or tree left standing.

  While I was surveying the damage, Nora strode right over to the tunnel entrance. “There are some pretty deep gouges on the tunnel walls. I think it’s safe to say whoever was here before continued their assault into the tunnels.”

  “I don’t suppose that you can see the hive from there?” I asked hopefully.

  Nora shook her head. “Not a chance. I actually expect it to be buried pretty deep. That’s the only way I can see this many antithesis going undetected for so long.”

  “Wonderful,” I grumbled as I started walking over.

  “At least the tunnel isn’t that steep,” Amy remarked. “It doesn’t seem that hard to traverse.”

  “I suspect the antithesis dug their tunnels that way to future-proof them,” I explained. “Although the early models are very agile, many of the later models are more akin to walking tanks. They wouldn’t do that well with steep slopes and narrow tunnels.”

  “You think they’d go that far on a brand new tunnel?” Amy asked.

  “I’d prefer that to the idea that this hive is capable of creating the low Twenty models, and beyond,” I muttered under my breath. “It’s probably this size to let the Model Twelves out.”

  Amy nodded slowly, but it was obvious she wasn’t quite convinced.

  With a wave of my hand and a subconscious command, I sent Deadbeat scurrying into the cave with a pair of unnamed bears. The little squad moved quickly through the darkness, carefully checking each angle, before stopping about a hundred meters down just short of the first blind corner.

  “They haven’t found anything yet, but that shouldn’t be a huge surprise considering there’s no offshoots yet,” I reported, hefting my rifle. “Are you two ready to follow?”

  “As ready as I’m going to be,” Amy replied hesitantly.

  “Just stick close and you’ll be fine,” I said as I stepped into the gloom. “Your helmet has night vision, so you can use that to help navigate.”

  The girl didn’t reply, but I heard her step into the tunnel after me.

  “Bob, take the lead,” I whispered over my shoulder. “I want you to keep an eye on the towns, but figuring out what happened to the samurai that came before us and clearing the hive takes priority.”

  “You got it, boss!” the bear bellowed way louder than necessary. At least he had enough sense to look sheepish when I twirled around and shot him a disapproving look.

  “Is this what all hives look like?” Amy whispered as we slowly advanced down the tunnel.

  “The antithesis do seem to prefer subterranean hives,” I replied quietly. “But I think that’s just because they’re easier to hide, and many models are efficient diggers. From what I understand, the hives themselves can take on many shapes and sizes, pretty much any plant-based structure you can think of.”

  “If they’re so different, how will we know when we find the main structure? And how will we know when we’ve cleared up the entire thing?”

  “Trust me, you’ll know the main structure when you see it. As sneaky as the antithesis can be, the hives themselves aren’t exactly subtle. All the ones I’ve encountered before were massive interconnected complexes with birthing pods everywhere,” I explained. “As for making sure we get everything… don’t worry about that. We’ll get as much as we can, but the Family has teams that’ll come in and sweep the area for any remains after we’re done. That way we can keep moving and dealing with the problems without having to worry about getting every trace.”

  Amy nodded again. She was starting to look a little more confident, maybe not her regular hotshot self, but not completely spooked anymore.

  Up ahead, Deadbeat stopped. I could feel his confusion through the link as he twisted his head around, looking at the walls and ceilings. I sent a silent query to him, trying to figure out what he was doing, but before I got a reply, hundreds of tendril-like roots shot through the left wall, engulfing the small squad and yanking them through the wall.

  The entire assault took mere seconds, and when it was over, I couldn’t even tell anything had happened. The wall was pristine.

  What was even worse is that I completely lost contact with Deadbeat. No locator, no comms, no command network, nothing. The bear was just… gone.

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