Mercy turned back to the alpha and shuddered. The alpha queen’s eyes were black, it reached up and pawed at the glass.
“What’s happened to her eyes?” Mercy said, stepping back.
Reyes let out a low whistle, “Mmmm… she definitely likes you. Yes, that’s a new phenomenon, we’ve not encountered the eye thing before. I have a theory… but it’s just a theory at this point—”
“Yes?” Mercy asked.
“Well, when her eyes go black, her pack’s eyes do the same. I think they’re communicating with each other—”
Mercy glanced at the other murky tanks occupying the room.
They must’ve captured her whole pack, brought them in, experimented on them—
“You mean like telepathy?” Mercy said.
The man raised his hand to make a point, “Yes, and no. Telepathy is certainly a possibility but I think they also can read each other’s eyes like we can read emotions. Most communication is non-verbal after all.”
“Where’s she going after you’re done with her?” Mercy asked.
Rose closed in behind Reyes, a hard glint in her eye.
Reyes raised his eyebrows and frowned, “You people were briefed on this a few days ago—”
Mercy flashed a warning look at Rose.
“We’re new, assigned this morning from outside. No doubt we’ll be brought up to speed—” Mercy replied.
Reyes relaxed, “Yes, I heard they had some reinforcements up from Charlottesville. Command are expecting that Constantine woman to make an appearance soon, with her Resistance.” He walked over to a large screen on the wall and flicked a switch. The screen lit up. Mercy blinked, not understanding what she was seeing.
Reyes smiled, “They are beautiful aren’t they? The most efficient killing machines ever produced. Each and every one of them is like a heat seeking missile for human flesh. Constantine’s forces won’t stand a chance—”
Understanding gripped Mercy. The screen was a collection of ten video feeds.
Ten camera links. That’s ten warehouse-sized pens somewhere near here. Christ, it’s like battery farming, there must be thousands of alphas in there—
“Yes,” Reyes continued. “She’s number thirty. Our thirtieth queen. We command the queens and they command the others. It’s a beautiful thing to see. We will destroy Constantine and her forces, it’ll be a righteous harvest that will put the past behind us and at last open up the future. Like the President says: New America can rise once the old America is fully laid to rest. It’s been a long time coming—”
A blur flashed behind Reyes. Rose brought the butt of her pistol down hard on his skull. He crumpled to the floor, unmoving.
“Didn’t think you’d last that long Rose, well done,” Mercy said, her voice flat.
“Bastard was getting on my nerves, I thought he’d made us but you saved it,” Rose bent down and dragged the doctor’s body to the back of the room.
An army of alphas, tens of thousands of them. Jesus—
The alpha queen snapped its head up and stared after Rose. It moved, becoming agitated.
What’s up with her?
Mercy gripped her HK45.
“So basically we’re fucked,” Barnes growled from behind Mercy.
“It’s not over until it’s over. You know that Barnes—” Mercy pointed her pistol at the alpha queen.
“You don’t want to do that. At least not yet. It’s not mission priority. Mission priority is President Mitchell,” Barnes drawled.
His words penetrated Mercy’s thoughts.
Barnes is right. If I shoot this bitch, that’ll bring down the whole place down on us. I’ll come back afterwards and finish her and the rest of her pack off—
Mercy lowered her gun and stepped away from the tank. Rose reappeared.
“Dr Bastard-face is all trussed up, he’s going nowhere. Ready to rock?” Rose avoided looking at the alpha queen. “I need out of here—”
“Good to go,” Mercy turned and made for the door.
They left the laboratory and proceeded along the corridor. They passed a darkened lecture theatre and a number of locked doors. Another window appeared on their right. Mercy slowed and looked through the glass. The room had a high vaulted ceiling and was lit by overhead spotlights. She moved closer to the glass and peered through.
What’s that at the back? There’s a couple of guys in there. It looks like… scaffolding?
An intense light burned for a few seconds and a cascade of sparks fell to the floor from the structure.
They’re welding something—
The welding flashed again, longer this time. The extra light reflected off a large metal shape beneath the scaffolding. Mercy’s eyes widened.
My god, that’s one of those DARPA robots, but this one… it’s huge—
Rose pressed close to the window, her breath fogging the glass. “I figured they’d have some shit like this after I saw the bots in Annapolis. That thing’s fresh out of a Hollywood movie. Some kind of militarised robot, it’ll be tooled up and armoured—”
Hunter killers—
The second man started welding on the other side of the colossus, shedding more sparks. The room extended far back into the distance. Rows of hulking robots stood, unmoving, their arms bristling with weaponry. Small blue LED lights pulsed on the raised sensor arrays on top of the hulking machines.
Barnes swore, “This is what trillions of dollars of government research into new weapon systems can do. This is the legacy of the arms race from before the Fall. That there is the future of warfare, mechanised autonomous soldiers; mechs. No doubt their heads are filled with AI. No… scratch that. The AI will be in the cloud, it’ll control those things from on high… like—”
“God,” Mercy whispered.
“What about power? Those things are only as good as their batteries, and batteries always run out, like bullets,” Rose said.
Barnes looked away and kept silent.
Rose frowned, “How come I’m feeling like I’m clutching at straws? You know something Barnes, level with us—”
Barnes glanced back at the window, “There were rumours back in the day. Rumours that DARPA had discovered a new power system. The holy grail of power generation. It was always laughed at because it was impossible—”
Mercy stared at Barnes, “What are you saying
