“So you think the entrance will be able to hold if we all ehe mines?” Whisperer asked, as she came and sat dowo me. “I don’t want to leave Tina and Jesse alone, but I’m ed that if there’s a swarm, a squad or two of bears won't be able to ha,” she told me.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I replied with a slight smile. “I’ve already arranged for the wave of reinforts. They’ll be bringing both the self replig mines and the Aerosolized Sulfuric acid sprayers. Those should be enough t down the big models, while the ser grids take care of the small stuff,” I expined. “It won’t st forever, but it should st long enough for one of us to e bad help deal with the horde.”

  “Why didn’t y all that with you in the first pce?” she asked.

  “Because I fot I had it all! I bought most of it to deal with the Shrimp, or Model Twenty-Threes, then never used them again. They’ve been sitting in the er of my garage since I got back,” I replied defensively.

  “You haven’t fotten anything else, have you?” she asked pyfully.

  I flinched. “The shit coating the tunnels might have Model Seven eggs in it, so we o make sure that everyoakes their pills before we go in.”

  Whisperer paused when she heard my admission and sighed. “Why didn’t y this up at the meeting?”

  “Because I fot, okay? At least I remembered before we went inside,” I grumbled.

  “That’s true,” she said, shooting me a disappointed look. “But sidering how dangerous Model Sevens be, you should have remembered.” Whisperer pushed herself to her feet and looked down at me. “I’ll go make sure the kids have pills before we go. I noticed that Jesse finally purchased some equipment, so I think we’re pretty much ready. you have the st of your defensive prep ready in about half an hour?”

  I sent a quick query to my bears, making sure that they’d had all the information required to set up the remaining defenses without my diretervention. An instant ter, I was bombarded with status updates. “No problem,” I told her with a smile. “The bears handle stru on their own. I’ll grab my equipment a you at the entran half an hour.”

  I quickly made my final checks, and ged into my armor, before meeting everyone by the entrao the tunnel work. Jesse had indeed bought new gear, but from what I could tell, he didn’t buy much more than a light armor vest and a pair of goggles. He still had the rifle he’d brought from Edmonton, and he was wearing his oversized backpack.

  “You sure you don’t want to purchase anything else? I’m not sure if your setup will do much if we run into a Model Fourteen,” I said as I looked him over.

  “Mynerva and I spent a lot of time going over my options, and ns for all the most on enters. Once we actually enter the enemy, I’ll purchase something,” he replied with a shrug.

  “If that’s what you want to do… That’s fine, I guess,” I said. “We’re going to be down there for awhile, so feel free to give your pack to one of the bears. They don’t get tired, and it would be better if you weren’t encumbered whe into bat.” Jesse nodded and started shug his pack, so I turned my attention to Tina.

  Her armor was pletely bd had a half dozen meical arms mouo the back. Unlike Sharron’s armor, these were mostly ridged, and only one seemed to be onized. Her spiders were running around, apparently expl but raying too far from the girl.

  “Are you okay in there?” I asked. “It looked quite heavy earlier.”

  “I’m fine!” she decred fidently. “It’s a kind of light power armor, so the servo motors are doing most of the work.”

  “Good!” I said, as I stepped back from Tina and addressed the entire group. ”I have an updated map for you all. Unfortunately, my scouts still haven’t found any sign of the antithesis, they appear to have retreated further into the mountain. Although walking blindly into the mines might appear foolish, Whisperer and I both have the ability to tratithesis through smell. Thankfully, the polymer doesn’t have much of a smell, otherwise, we’d be pletely fucked.”

  “Anyways…” Whisperer said, interrupting me while shooting me a disapproving gnce. “Our job will be to look for antithesis traces, and follow them deeper into the mountain. If we get a lead, we o share it with the team in Jasper, so we coordinate.” She paused for a moment. “I suggest we split into two groups in order to cover mround. We’ll push in for twelve hours, looking for traces, and if we ’t find anything, we’ll back out and re-assess. If either team locates antithesis, we’ll verge on that location.”

  Everyone nodded, so I decided to add a little bit more. “Each person will have a full squad of bears assigo them. They should be able to handle most minor threats, but they’re there as a backup. You should be prepared to ehe antithesis on your own.” I said, trying not to look directly at Jesse. “Any questions?”

  Tina’s hand shot into the air. “You don’t have to raise your hand,” I told her.

  “How will the teams be decided? Vote?” she asked excitedly.

  Whisperer and I exged gnces. “I was thinking that since you have a on to deal with the heavier models and Whisperer ’t use her stro creatures in such a restricted space, I’d take Jesse,” I said. Whisperer nodded in agreement.

  Jesse’s head shot up, and Tina looked over at me, slightly disappointed. “You wao e with you?” Jesse asked. “I thought you didn’t like me.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, you’re not one of my favorite people, but I don’t hate you. I just have better options for dealing with the big stuff,” I replied. I silently prompted one of the bears standing by to hand me one of their railguns, and then slung it over my shoulder to emphasize the point. “Any other questions?”

  “Is this really a good idea?” Jesse asked.

  “Excellent question,” I replied. “No, no, it isn’t. It would be much safer for us to wait at the entrance of the mines while the squirrels keep scouting, but that’s pretty ineffit. Even if the antithesis have been hiding here for months or longer, leaving them alone for even a few extra days is typically a bad idea. They build armies in hours and monstrosities in days. It may not be a ‘good’ idea, but it’s better than sitting around waiting.”

  “I guess that makes sense… sort of,” Jesse replied. It didn’t really look like he fully believed what I was saying was true, but at least he didn’t argue.

  Sineither he nor Tina had any questions, I summohe escort bears, who crowded around the area. “Sihe goo interferes with grourating radar, it may interfere with unications too. If you o tact me, just talk to the bears,” I informed Whisperer and Tina. “I don’t kly what kind of work the bears and I are ected to, but so far the polymer hasn’t affected it.” I started to turn away, then remembered something, and turned back. “Oh, and I’ll make sure Nyx sends your AIs the location and trol codes for the traps, so you shut them down without me.”

  Whisperer winced. “Please do. I’d prefer to avoid gettied on the way back.”

  “Melted?” Tina asked, suddenly more ied in the versation.

  “My bears are setting up defe the exit, which should only activate when they seithesis, I’m just being cautious. Don’t worry about it,” I told her.

  “You know what they say, ‘If someoells you not to worry about something, worry,’” Jesse said with a smile.

  “That’s why I’m sending you the information,” I replied with a huff. “I already fot important information ooday, I wasn’t going to do it again.”

  “Fine, reciate it,” Whisperer said, in an attempt to pcate me. “You want to take Jesse to the caverhe model three otted, or do you want Tina and I to go?” she asked.

  “I think I’ll let you head there,” I replied. “I suspect Red is better at trag, and I suspect we’ll be able to find other traces at one of the other caverns.”

  She hen turowards the tunnel. Her massive wolf quickly ran over from the opposite side of the yard, and fell in behind her. “e on, Tina, time to go hunting.”

  “Right!” she decred. She waved at Jesse and I before turning and chasing Whisperer. “Stay safe!” she yelled over her shoulder.

  “You too!” I replied, as the pair disappeared into the darkness. Ohey were gone, I grabbed my helmet from one of the bears, and pulled it on. As visor illumihe interior of the tunnel, chasing away the gloom, I turo Jesse. “Let’s get to work.”