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Chapter 16

Our wandering now led us back to the central building, the interior dark as the Mole People rested after a long day of hard work in the fields or supervising the construction mechanicals. There had been no sign of the Skitterbugs or Bo Sung-Tae's gangers in the tunnels around the Burrow and everyone was beginning to relax.

"Did you manage to get through to Deep Below?" I enquired of my companion as we came up to the dormitory.

"Eventually" Matron King replied. "Mister Ferchow was apparently able to lock the Redback net diver out of the power grid, so we could send messages again. He has advised that Deep Below is secure once more and I was able to let him know of your arrival"

"That's good news, however we'll need to find another method of communicating between our two settlements. Now that the Redbacks have discovered the current system they can easily attack it again, or even send false messages via the power line"

"Agreed, Sheriff" the Matron responded wearily. "Now , if will forgive me it is very late and I am still human enough to require some sleep"

We parted ways after I told her I would do another patrol of their perimeter to which she expressed her gratitude. I waited until she had vanished into the dormitory before striding purposefully towards the same airlock I had entered by earlier that day.

As I approached the two Mole People on guard duty gave me relieved smiles, their weapons slung over their shoulders, drinking coffee from a shared thermos. My own rifle was on one shoulder, my weapons having been returned some hours previously.

The shock rod at my hip thrummed into life as I swept it out of its restraining clip, jamming it hard into the chest of the first sentry. They collapsed in a shuddering heap at my feet while I spun towards the second guard.

"What the hell?" she cried out and her confusion perfectly echoed my own incomprehension. I tried to stop my arm moving, to pull back from the surprised woman.

<< SECONDARY CORE ISOLATED. PRIMARY CORE ACTIVATED >>

I had no control over my body. My arms and legs moved of their own accord, striding past the fallen sentries to the control panel next to the airlock hatch. My metal fingers punched in the unlocking sequence and the door swung open.

There was no response to my repeated commands to abort, to shut down the primary core. I was completely isolated from every system except for the sensory feed. It was a cruel exception as I watched with mounting horror as my body moved smoothly into the airlock chamber.

My hands unfastened the manual locking mechanism and pulled the hatch open wide.

The air in the tunnel beyond shimmered as if some invisibility cloak was being removed and then two figures were revealed, grinning at me with malicious intent.

"I told you my plan would work, Sung-Tae" Rachel MacPhee said to the man at her side.

=====

The fall of the Burrow was quick and ruthless.

As soon as Rachel MacPhee and Bo Sung-Tae stepped into the main hall, their followers swarmed in from the outer tunnels. Nearly two dozen Redbacks overwhelmed the sleeping Mole People while Skitterbugs of all shapes and sizes flooded the fields, seeking out the farm mechanicals for subversion and cannibalising of key components.

Matron King was hauled from her bed and dragged before a gloating Bo Sung-Tae, his ally Rachel watching from the sidelines, sitting on the back of a red-eyed crop harvester as some kind of improvised throne.

The dormitory was filled with stunned and uncomprehending Mole People, their faces revealing the disbelief they felt as their Matron was forced to her knees in front of their conquerors. Oscar Haynes and another Redback I didn't recognise held humming shock rods close to her body, the woman wearing only a thin shift that barely covered her body.