Lair by Carl Stubblefield (recommended reading TXT) 📕

headed to the Foundry to get the scanning pylons. Each one was the same size as a beefy thermos, which Gus stuffed into the backpack. He was only able to fit eight inside. He carried the remaining four in his arms, carrying the new naginata in the crook of his hands until he got to the forest’s edge and dropped three of the sensors.

“Dag yo! Real life has worse inventory problems than Fallout 76!” Gus complained. Not wanting to be without a weapon, Gus held the naginata in his left, dominant hand, and a sensor in his right. He dashed in two-hundred-fifty feet, then moved off the path to the left ten feet.

Since the sensors had a scanning diameter of two-hundred-fifty feet, he wanted to place them as tactically as possible to get maximum coverage with their scanning radius. He was tired of being surprised. And lured into traps. And volcanos, but that’s another story. Since the forest quickly got difficult to penetrate farther away from the path, he was confident that at least initially he would not need to monitor areas too deep in the dense undergrowth.

“Nick, can you place markers indicating the optimal placement of these?”

Orange plumes of light appeared on his display. Gus easily found the first recommended site. Placing the first sensor on the ground, he pressed the button on the top. Something shot out from the bottom of the device, anchoring it, and the top telescoped into a metal cylinder the thickness of a broom handle. Gus could see the reflective mesh panels on the sides of the device that collected solar energy to power it. After a few seconds, a red light on the top winked green, which indicated it was activated and synced with the manor.

Gus returned to the path and continued on, alternating to the right this time and placing another sensor. After placing the third, he retrieved the other sensors from the forest entry and continued placing the remainder of the sensors ever farther down the path. Occasionally he had to move a bit because of thick roots, or being in the center of a dense clump of plants. He would also have to see if he could make or access some sort of device that could give him some feedback with these new sensors.

“Um, boss? Why don’t you just have it update the minimap? I’m all for maximum effort though, so if you really want to get your crafting on, it’s all good.”

Gus facepalmed. Keep it simple, stupid. He zoomed out and found that he could see much more all around the entire manor. Fortunately, only the jungle had the fog of war; everything else was visible from the beach to the large hill the manor was embedded into. The coastline also had much better resolution, especially in the last part of his survey. Evaluating his results, he contemplated placing some sensors in the more sparse forest to the south of the manor where he first approached.

From where Gus ended less than half a mile away from the forest entry, he could see that he had vastly underestimated the number of sensors necessary to blanket the path. Standing where he finished, Gus listened to the trill of birds and the chittering of some kind of frog, or was that a monkey? As he worked, Gus composed three fight song playlists, not wanting to get caught flat-footed again.

“You could put some more 80’s songs in there, you know,” Nick offered.

“I think I’m fine, thanks.”

“Suit yourself,” Nick said petulantly.

Gus vowed that if the animals ever got quiet again, he was not venturing any farther. He had forgotten how many sensors could be made per hour. If possible, he wanted to get some of the remaining sensors in place before it got too dark.

“Nick, can you figure out how many more sensors I’ll need to cover the entire path?”

“I gave you too much credit with the math thing earlier, didn’t I?” Nick snapped.

“Just do it.”

“Twenty-six in intelligence, going to waste…” Nick muttered.

After all the sensors were in place, he would place the turrets. The plan was to give him a comfortable zone where he could retreat and the turrets could cover him while he made it to safety. He urgently wanted those turrets, but he needed to know what was happening so he could plan his responses, in case the Dark Nth made a move. They were already demonstrating that they were more organized than a bunch of hungry, mindless creatures.

Unseen on a high branch, another blob-like creature sat observing Gus as he retreated down the path. After the defeat yesterday, Methiochos pulled his troops back instead of letting them be sacrificed unnecessarily. The attacks made when the Dark was in control had been uncoordinated and weak. Methiochos was a general and the past attacks without a strategy galled him.

If the invader hadn’t interrupted his Mantids in the process of organizing his next attack, his forces wouldn’t have been routed. To effectively plan his attack, Methiochos needed to see whom he was dealing with, and how they fought in battle. He would place observers all along the path in strategic places. Because their amped stat was intelligence, they could create fields around them that masked their presence, and the unnerving effects other Dark Nth radiated that set wildlife on edge. They could even influence the unprepared. The tradeoff was that their agility and strength were reduced to almost zero, losing all capacity to move, save for the ability to rotate the many eyes that studded their jiggly hide. Once they were in position, they could transmit what they saw to Methiochos and also to the other Dark Nth, vastly aiding in ambushes and attacks.

The observers also liked to mentally share their information with each other, and collaborated much as they had done in their lives before, when they were scientists and researchers, though this life was forgotten. They would observe this intruder and their council would mentally convene and analyze. This was the