Under A Winter Sun by Johan Dahlgren (ink ebook reader txt) 📕

“Thanks.” I stuff the mags in my pockets. “You too, Jagr. And you, Rivera.”

“Get out Perez,” the priest calls from somewhere above Jagr. “Let God guide your steps.”

“I think I'm better off guiding my own steps, but thanks.”

I let go of the ledge and slide back down the chute and shoot out into the passageway with the Goliaths.

“Hello, big ones.”

Finn grunts.

Hildr looks happy to see me. “How do we get out of here, little man?”

“We don't.”

“What?”

“We don't get out. We go in.”

I've got a plan. A plan that hinges on the crucial point that the construct is no simple construct. Which is a long shot, but still.

“What do you mean, in?”

Finn looks at me under his bushy brows. “Are you crazy, Perez?” It's not like him to worry. Both he and Hildr are gasping. Their immense bodies need more oxygen than mine, and they are already experiencing oxygen deprivation.

“Not more than usual. Here.”

I give Jagr's rifle to Finn. “Fill up.”

I hand them an extra magazine each and take one for myself.

Finn grunts, turns around and starts walking down the passage while he loads his rifle.

I hurry after him and Hildr tags along.

“What about those robot things?” Hildr inquires. “They might be a problem.”

“They might. But I hope not.”

From out of the darkness comes the sound of a thousand little metal feet scratching on steel. I slap in the full magazine and pull the bolt. Seconds later, they come.

The robot centipedes cover the floor.

“What now, Perez?” Hildr turns to me with fear in her emerald eyes. “Get us out, Perez. You're a survivor. That's what you do. You survive.”

She puts her hands on my shoulders from behind. “Right?”

In places, the centipedes come three layers thick, clambering over each other in their haste to reach us and kill us.

“Perez?”

“Wait for it.” I slip the backpack from my shoulder, open it, and reach inside.

“Perez?” Hildr sounds worried. The centipedes are now five metres off and closing in fast.

“Back away,” I call to her and Finn, as I pull the backpack away to show what's in my hand. A thin layer of frost covers the slick metal of the tactical nuke. “Look what I found.” I hold it out to the approaching bugs. “Is this a thermonuclear device I see before me?” My sweaty fingers clasp the dead man's switch as I pull the safety out and hope I don't slip. Even the nanites would have a hard time patching me up after a nuclear whiteout.

“What?” Hildr asks. “This is your plan?”

I keep my eyes on the centipedes. My rapid breath steams in the freezing air.

The approaching bugs falter. Then they stop altogether and start milling about on the floor, as if unsure what to do.

The air reverberates as the deep sonic rumble we heard earlier echoes around the old ship once more.

“Well now.” The sonorous voice of the entity fills the passage. “It seems we are at something of an impasse.”

“It would seem that way.”

“And now you desire to barter for your lives, human?”

“Something like that.”

A crackle in my earpiece and Braden comes online. “There is the mother of all comms-spikes going on. Shit. It's almost frying my systems. What are you people doing down there?”

I ignore her.

The centipedes scurry about, climbing on top of each other to leave a clear passage back to the bridge.

“Come then,” echoes the construct's voice through the empty passageways of the ancient ship.

I look at my giant companions. Hildr doesn't like it one bit, I can tell. Finn has had worse.

Then Hildr sighs. “After you, little man.”

I go first, holding the nuke well out of reach of the centipedes. It would be an anticlimax if it got snatched out of my hands.

We reach the door where Skallagrim died. There's not a trace of his body, but several of the centipedes are gory around the mouthparts. I hope Hildr doesn't notice.

Three centipedes mill around the busted controls for the door. Are they trying to repair it?

The door rumbles open as we approach. That answers my question.

Apart from the spinning globe, the bridge is empty. I walk into the vast chamber and stop in front of the grisly shrine.

“Reveal yourself,” I command the darkness.

Two tiny blue pinpricks of light turn on, like tiny eyes. Without a reference, it's impossible to tell how big or far away they are. I hope they are small and far away.

“So, there you are.” I turn to face the lights, and another pair turns on at the edge of my field of vision. I look over and another pair ignites across the cavernous room.

Then another set. And then another and another. Faster and faster, they switch on until the chamber looks like a starlit sky, and I realise they are the lights on the centipedes. Neat trick.

“So, you are legion, huh?”

All Gods Are One

There's no response from the construct.

We move into a tight formation, back-to-back with our guns pointed out.

“Your weapons amount to nothing, humans,” comes the voice from the walls. It has taken on the timbre of a chorus, a thousand voices strong. I'm sure it's meant to scare us, but it's not working. If the thing had sounded like a child, I would have freaked out.

Finn and Hildr lower their guns but keep them at the ready. Not much else they can do.

“Not all our weapons. This one amounts to something, or we would be dead,” I point at the nuke in my hand. It weighs a good ten kilos and has the power to level a city block. The EMP alone would fry the circuits of the AI.

“Don't overestimate your bargaining position, human. You are here because I'm intrigued.”

Another burst of static and Braden is back. “Still spiking, girls. There's an insane amount of data streaming off-world. Had to shut down my sensors because they were overloading.”

What the hell could that be? And why is it transmitting now? We need to stall this thing until we can figure out what is going on.

“Yeah, right,” I call. “You're afraid I'll smoke