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They were done setting the nets by the time he arrived. A series of wires crisscrossed the space to a large bank of batteries anchored to the far wall, where Victor was making final adjustments.
"Oh sure," said Deen. "Mazer shows up when half the work is done. Slick move, kiwi."
Mazer smiled but said nothing. The team was gathering at the wall where they would expose the pipes. Benyawe was marking off the area with spray paint.
Mazer had been assigned to stand watch. He picked a spot high up on the wall opposite the shafts and anchored his feet. He scanned the shafts back and forth looking for any signs of movement. The plates came away faster than Mazer had expected. The lasers cut quickly and accurately, and it was easy to simply push the cut pieces away in zero-G.
They were three-fourths of the way finished when Mazer saw the first Formics. "Victor, I've got movement in shaft thirteen." The team had spray painted numbers above each shaft. Mazer zoomed in with his visor and put his rifle to his shoulder. "It's one of the large carts. Filled with wall plating. Repair crew."
Victor's voice came over the radio. He was positioned at the batteries and switches. "How many?"
"Can't tell. The shaft is dark. I can only make out vague shapes. At least five. Maybe more."
Mazer checked his HUD. The cutting crew had stopped and taken cover.
"Are they on the netting?" Wit asked.
"Not yet," said Mazer. "They're probing it."
They knew something was different. They weren't animals, baited into a simple trap. They're too intelligent to fall for this, thought Mazer. They're as smart as us. If not smarter.
One of the Formics stepped tentatively onto the mesh, approaching the end of the shaft. Then another one came forward. Then a third.
"Not yet," said Mazer.
A fourth. A fifth. Was that all of them?
They pulled the cart forward. It was close to the lip of the shaft.
"Now," said Mazer.
Victor triggered the juice, and the Formics were seized by the electricity. Mazer launched across the space toward them. He had attached his laser cutter to the barrel of his assault rifle. He sliced through the first two Formics before he had landed, cutting them in half. A stream of blood oozed from the top halves of as they slipped away from the bottom half.
Mazer came to rest to the right of the shaft. He twisted, bent forward, and cut through the others. It was gruesome work. One moment they're shaking, seized by the electricity. The next moment they're in pieces seeping droplets of blood into the air.
"Cut the power," said Mazer.
"It's cut. You're clear."
Mazer swung down into the shaft and shined his light into the darkness to see if he had missed any. The shaft was empty.
"Clear," he said.
"We need to move quickly," said Victor. "If they can speak mind to mind, they might have gotten off a message."
The crew returned to cutting, moving fast.
Mazer grabbed the pieces of sliced Formics and tossed them toward the floating debris in the cargo bay in case any others came down this same shaft. Then he shot back to his position on the opposite wall. The front of his suit and his right hand were slick with blood. He tried wiping his hand on the wall to get rid of it, but it didn't help. He put his rifle back to his shoulder and scanned back and forth, watching for movement. The shafts remained still and dark. The cutting team cut away large squares of wall. Oth
ers were already busy rotating the nozzles of the exposed pipes. Mazer had worried that the nozzles would prove stubborn or the pipes would pinch, but Benyawe led the effort and was giving careful instruction that seemed to be working.
A Formic launched from shaft twenty-five, heading straight for the cutting crew. Mazer hadn't even seen it approach the shaft entrance. Caruso, who was also on watch and perched far to Mazer's left, saw the Formic first and sliced it in the air with his laser cutter before Mazer had time to react. Four sections of the Formic separated and continued their flight to the opposite wall. The severed bloody pieces smacked into the pipes, leaking fluid.
A Formic shot from shaft fifteen. Two more from shaft thirty.
"Victor, turn on the power!" said Mazer. "All shafts."
Victor acknowledged and cranked up the juice as Mazer and Caruso sliced the Formics soaring across the space. Formic body parts spun and bled and ricocheted off the walls.
