142 - Let's Hope There Are Enough

The bug-out city that the Hive had created at what looked like a moment's notice, near the bottom of the canyon was dark and hot and packed full of people and their belongings, their own bundles and the occasional draft animal. The featherspitters on their warbirds and the 'kulu directed the traffic, desert whistles cutting through the din like a pin through an oyuck.

Stepped on oyucks and smashed glass bugs added their pong to the warbird guano already starting to make the rock floor slippery.  I'll have to set the Hive on that, Kyrus thought. Before someone gets hurt or the fumes kill us.

Kyrus turned with the Amir, into their assigned hall, already full of Milari zon and -- strung all along the wall, Nadu lying in coded trance, already extending their senses.

“No no no! Don't put that there it'll get stepped on, knocked over and make a mess--”

“--less lip flapping and more carrying!”

“Put that code-dog on that Nadu... she needs it! There's security attacking her!”

“Over HERE! His Radiance...ZON! Deemander! SOMEBODY... This zardukar is too young to be doing this, she's failing!”

The Amir dropped cross-legged next to the youngster. “I'll crack her out of it,” he said. “Siwion, I suggest you find your father and prepare for the attack we know is coming.”

Kyrus nodded sharply. “Wer--- oh you're right here.”

“'Course, wingbrother.” He nodded to the weird things tucked right in the back, the giant warbug?? was that what it was? It certainly carried people – next to the pit in the floor where Hara's burning pet coiled safe in the stone where its flames couldn't hurt anyone. Above, the entire Great Hive clustered, bees fanning the air, struggling to keep the overheated air cool, recording the history, ensuring Hara's connection with her Firedrake.

She was standing on the edge of the pit apparently yelling at part of her dragon. “I don't care if you cannot in good conscience be prepared to kill yourself! You aren't. Firedrake 1 will have your coding and will be connected and recording right up to the moment you explode!”

Her face set as she listened. “Of course it will still be you when we upload that part again. You are effectively immortal, mirrored through Drake!”

Even as she argued, behind her, Elemfias called up a mist-curtain and suddenly they could hear the drakes, floating in their shoals in a long, thin line down the river, sheltered by the water until the moment they were asked to ignite themselves and go up in a blaze of glory.

“It'll be fun, 52. You know... like when I flew into the side of the rim just to find out what it felt like? And when 12 and 167 and 43 did that three-way thing? It was just awesome! And nobody needed that butte anyway.”

“Eight, you are mad. Those experiments were just the tip-rock of this avalanche!” 52's voice sounded quite prim. “It's YOUR fault we're going to have to blow ourselves up in the first place. I object. I won't go. It's crazy.”

“All right, 52,” Hara said. “You don't have to be part of this. Shut dow---”

“--WAIT!” The firedrake interrupted her. “I didn't say I didn't want to be part of this, I just don't want to blow myself up again.”

“It could...” there was a hiss of like a leaking kettle as the other crazy, young firedrakes tried to come up with something.

“Let 52 protect me,” another voice said. The young man, Terry, from Xanadu, in his grubby shirt-sleeves, with his weird hat and veiling crusted yellow shot up from under a table where he'd been setting up some kind of equipment. 

Kyrus tried hard not to feel jealous of him. There were sort of higher priorities for him to think about right now. He held out his hand flat and sparkling on his hand his dragonfly materialized, and the bees whose pieces he had carefully saved out of the desert.

“Mom! You aren't a war machine! You'd be in danger of permanent shut down!”

“Which is why I shall connect with FireDrake 1 to preserve my core programming and I shall have 52 to protect the physical me that maintains that connection.” It was the litter-bug that was speaking. “I am an emergency evacuation vehicle.” It said. “Should anyone be injured Eshmaeel and I will be ready to get injured people out of harm's way.”

The Terry fellow put his hand down. “All right, Mom. Your call.”

“52 are you willing to be a guard for M.O.M?”

“Oh, sure! I'll burn stuff for M.O.M. Just not go bang." Eight 249, 444, 23, and 3 chimed in with a plaintive 'But I love going bang.', and 52 ignored them. "I love M.O.M.”

Hara stared up into her dragon's face. “Oh. Drake... how many do we have?”

“Five hundred forty-f--- I adjust my calculations, forty-six.”

“I hope that's enough.”

Terry and Ilax spoke almost at the same time, stopped, looked at each other. Terry shrugged and popped back under the table. “For a first battle, we can hope that's enough,” Ilax said.

Archie's voice echoed through the hall. “Head confirms! Ninety-minute warning! Ninety-minutes before first strike!”

Tizrav crawled up Kyrus's back as he settled into code. Myboy. We fight. Fight fight. She draped herself around his neck.