“Fug finally!” I cried as we cut through the final barrier betweewo teams. “That took forever.”

  “It’s good to see you again,” Whisperer said as she helped widen the brea the polymer barrier. “Sounds like it was a rough trip.”

  “Dozens of blocked passages, using both polymer and cave-ins, hit and run attacks, and the occasional horde,” I grunted as we finished prying the wall open. I took a moment to catch my breath, then stood up straight. “You know the most annoying thing? Through all this shit, I didn’t feel like they were really trying too hard to kill us, just slow us down.”

  Whisperer frowned. “I was thinking the same thing. It’s not that things are too easy, it’s just…”

  “They’re being annoying,” Tina finished. “I thought they alressed the attatil either we or they were pletely wiped out, but every time we gaihe upper hand, the antithesis backed off again.”

  “The Seventeens definitely seem to be fug with us,” Jesse added from behind me.

  It had taken hours for us to hook up, and the fatigue was starting to build up, so I took a ce to put my back to the wall and sit down. “So what the fuck?” I said, “I inally thought they were probing, looking for openings, but if that was true, they should have struck before we met up. Maybe they’re trying to wear us down?”

  Tina frowned. “That’s possible, but they must have noticed that the bears don’t get tired by now.”

  “But we do,” Whisperer tered.

  Jessie shook his head. “If they really wao wear us down, it would be easier to just keep the pressure up. Based upon what we’ve seen, I don’t think they’re g models, they just don’t want to waste any more than they have to.”

  “Then what the fuck are they doing?” Tina huffed.

  Whisperer and I g each other, trying to e up with an expnation, but it was Jesse that replied. “The only thing I think of is that they’re literally just trying to slow us down and distract us,” he said. “They must know we’re getting stronger with each fight, so they don’t want to it to a prolonged battle, but they don’t want us to make progress either.”

  “Towards what?” Tina demanded, “We were just trying to get together. It’s not like we had a solid objective, we were just expl.”

  “It would have to be a hive,” Whisperer replied, “but we’ve had scouts out on both sides, it seems strahat they’re reag now.”

  “Unless we’re getting close,” I said. “Or something ged in the hive, something they ime to plete,” I added after a few seds.

  “That’s a scary thought…” Tina whispered. “Have your scouts found anythio back that up?”

  I shook my head. “They’ve all been cut off by new polymer walls, and some of them have even been pletely cut off. Sihey don’t have ons, they have no way to free themselves ress.”

  “So we have no way to find out what’s going on or where they’re ing from,” Whisperer finished.

  “Well, if we’re cut off from the hive, then the Seventeens would be too,” Tina said, jumping to her feet. “Which means the antithesis stu this se of the tunnels is finite.”

  “It also means they’ll probably build up rger numbers oher side,” Jesse reminded her. He turned and looked at Whisperer and I. “So, what do we do now?”

  “I don’t know about the rest of you,” I said, pushing myself to my feet, “but the fact that the antithesis wants to keep us away from the hive as long as possible just makes me want to advance as quickly as possible.”

  Whisperer nodded. “If this group of antithesis somehow has e up with a pn, it’s in our best io disrupt it.”

  “Do we have any idea where this hive could possibly be?” Tina asked.

  I paused for a moment, then looked at her. “Deeper?” I said.

  “That covers hundreds, if not thousands, of square kilometers,” Jesse added, “We need some sort of dire.”

  I thought about it for a moment. He was right, havier dires would be useful, but I didn’t have a clue where to start, but I knew who I could ask. “Gimme a mihen,” I said.

  I ected to the squirrel in Jasper and immediately poked Bright-Eye’s model.

  [Hey! We’ve run into some issues and need help!] my squirrel chirped.

  After a moment, Bright-Eyes squirrel lit up, and turowards mine. [Hi! Hi! Sorry, we’ve run into a few barricades over here.]

  [Let me guess, polymer walls and hit and run attacks.]

  Bight-eye’s avatar frowned. [Guess you’ve entered them too? They’re annoying, but easy-ish to deal with, right?]

  [Yeah, but my group has started to suspect this is just to distrad dey us, so we want to move towards the hive but have no idea where to go. Any ideas?]

  [Send me your most current map data] she requested [I came up with a theory earlier and I want to test it,] Bright-Eyes answered.

  I immediately shot over the data, and after a few seds Bright-eye’s squirrel let out a massive squeal. [I k! There IS a pattern.]

  I stared for a moment. [Want to share?]

  [Even though the tunnels aren’t straight, there is a pattern. As we go deeper, the tunnels seem to take on a more uniform structure. They’re spaced more evenly, despite the twists and turns, like a search grid and, more importantly, they appear to be be dug in tric circles]

  [Soooo… that’s good?] I asked.

  Her squirrel huffed. [Yes, that’s good. Rather than walking you through the math, which I know you’d zo o me send you a location. The ter of the formation should be in that area]

  [Thanks! That’s all I needed,] I said before quickly f that information to my team. [What are your pns going forward?] I asked.

  [Go forward, what else?] Bright-eyes chirped. [That’s where the points are, and we t let the pnts run rampant, we?]

  [Right… well, I guess we’ll see you there. Careful out there, those Seventeens are likely to get more vicious the closer we get.]

  [Roger that,] Bright-Eyes’ squirrel saluted. [Talk to you soon.]

  [Later] I replied, as I disected.

  A moment ter, my full awareness returo the tunnel, where the rest of my team was waiting for me.

  “How did the other team determihis should be the target?” Whisperer asked as soon as she was sure I was back.

  “Ummm… grids and circles? Look, Bright-eyes tried to expin it, but I didn’t uand any of it. Nyx?”

  Spooky slowly turowards the group. “The iunnels not only have a faint grid system, but appear to be dug in tric circles. This indicates that early excavation efforts were pnned out,” my AI expined.

  “But why? A search grid would indicate they’re looking for something. What would the antithesis want from the middle of a mountain? Usually they only care about biomass,” Tina asked.

  “Your AIs and I have had a lengthy discussion, and, although we’ve made millions of hypotheses, we're vihere’s only two realistic reasons for this behaviour,” Nyx ied.

  “By all means, enlighten us,” Jesse said, ing closer to the bear.

  “First, there might have been a massive incursion in this area, either iionally or uionally, and the antithesis had to locate and ect the lost pods to the work. Although most incursions nd directly upon targets of opportunity, it’s not unheard of them nding in barren areas or even underground.”

  “And the sed hypothesis?” Tina asked.

  “This is a mining operation, and they’re gathering rare earth minerals in order to birth stronger models.”

  “Fuck… how strong?” I asked quietly.

  “Starting with the Model Forty, most models require some sort of advanced mineral po. In exceptionally rge hives, these minerals are typically slowly accumuted by ing thousands of tons of biomass, but if that’s not an option, the antithesis are able to leach minerals out of the p.”

  “Fuck…” Tina said, eg my earlier expletive. “Let’s hope that’s not what’s happening, yeah?”

  “I hate to burst your bubble, but I ’t think of another reason for them to try to dey us,” Whisperer said. Even though she was trying to appear calm, the hand that etting her giant wolf, Red, was tense.

  “How long do we have?” Jesse asked.

  “I ot ahat. Usually, a hive o granically, and o reaches a specific size, it gains the ability to birth stronger models. A hive that mature would have breached the surfad would have tendrils traveling hundreds of miles. A weaker hive would have to trate all avaible nutrients and spend aended period f the embryo. Days, or weeks, of preparation for a single model.”

  “Well, at least that’s something,” I muttered. I only thought about it for a moment before hefting my LCARS. “Let's not waste any time. If this hive IS trying to birth a te model, I want to do my best to kill it before it has a ce to do any damage.”

  Although Tina looked uhe other two just nodded. It was time to go monster hunting.