TBoB - Book 7 - Chapter 70 - Multitasking (Patreon)

“Does this feel a little too easy to anyone else?” I asked as we trudged through the murky depths.

Well, Depthcharge and I trudged; the rest of our party zipped around the area like hyperactive water puppies. 

“Why do you say things like that?” Sharron asked, settling down on the ocean floor next to me. “You’re tempting fate.”

“You know I don’t believe in that shit,” I replied. “Besides, it’s the truth, isn’t it? The Antithesis aren’t putting up much of a fight without the Snake-Head thing to back them up. They don’t even seem to be throwing the oversized crab things at us anymore; it’s just waves of small stuff.”“It’s not actually that surprising,” Mako said as she swam past. “Even if this area had bountiful sea-life before the Antithesis showed up, they couldn’t have roamed far while hunting because we would have detected them, so the hive can’t have a ton of biomass to work with.”

“Have you seen how many Antithesis have been running around?” I asked. “They seemed to have an excess since they detonated one of their own leviathans, then still had enough to press the attack afterwards.”“Yeah, but to be fair, the second attack was pretty pitiful. The only reason why we had any trouble at all was because of that oversized monster,” Mako replied. “I’ve never seen an Antithesis regenerate like that.” 

“It makes sense if it was connected directly to the hive,” Sharron said. “Regeneration requires a lot of energy, but if it was tethered directly to the center mass, the Antithesis could feed it extra energy and mass to keep it fighting. The Antithesis used that tactic a lot on Mars to protect their biomass farms and central hives. We usually had to rely upon orbital strikes to remove them.”“We would have too, if it wasn’t for this disruption shit,” I said, waving my hand at the particles floating a couple feet away. “I can’t believe the Antithesis had something that not only blocked both conventional and quantum-based communications, but also disrupted sensors so no one could see what was happening inside this mess.”“The Gene Tender has access to a higher tier of evolutions than the incursions do,” Sharron said. “It’s no surprise that we’re having trouble dealing with the things it cooks up.”“We may be having trouble, but we ARE dealing with them,” I said. “And soon I’ll deal with that Gene Tender too. I still need to pay it back for taking off my arm.”“Didn’t you take it’s arm off in return?” Sharron asked.

“Yeah… so?” I said. “The fucker took my arm! I’m not content with a trade, only victory.”

“Sorry to interrupt this… fascinating conversation, but in case you forgot, we’re deep in enemy territory and currently under siege. Should you really be having a chat right now?” Depthcharge asked.

“Oh, don’t worry. Although I may appear to be completely distracted, the truth is I’m completely aware of everything that’s going on. I have a couple of brain upgrades that let me connect with all my troops and monitor the situation,” I said, tapping the side of my head. “Without the snake-head to back them up, the Antithesis don’t have the firepower to assault our position without being gunned down by the moose. If a situation were to arise, I’ll warn everyone before it becomes a problem. Besides, Heavy’s been cooped up on the Stratocarrier for a couple days; I’m sure he appreciates the exercise.”“I’ve been working to make sure that production has been balanced so you had troops to deploy when you need them,” Heavy yelled over his shoulder. “Now, because I’m down here, Spooky needed to take over!”“Well… if we finish off the Gene Tender, I won’t need to perform hour-to-hour adjustments to production,” I said. “So this benefits us both.”“You just don’t want to be on the frontline,” the bear snarled.

“You’re right, I fucking don’t. Fighting down here is miserable. I feel like I’m moving through molasses while everything else moves super quickly, and if I get unlucky and damage my helmet I’ll probably drown before I can get to the surface. I hate it down here,” I said, before glancing back at the rest of my party. “No offence.”“It’s fine. We already knew that you hated it down here,” Mako replied before flashing a cheeky grin.

“Getting back on track…” Depthcharge muttered. “Has anyone been able to get a hold of Warspite yet, or seen any sign of the hive? I haven’t seen any light flashes for awhile, and I’m a little concerned we may have gotten off track.”“Well, I doubt that,” Mako replied. “The numerous blast craters and chunks of Antithesis are pretty clear indicators that the Retribution came through here. We just need to follow the path of carnage, and we’ll find the Retribution eventually.”

“That’s true, but now that you mention it, I’m a little concerned about the lack of light flashes,” I muttered. “The only two reasons I can think of that Warspite would stop firing is he either ran out of targets, or ran into a situation where he couldn’t fire the main cannons.”

“You don’t think there’s a chance the ship could have been damaged, or sunk?” Sharron asked.

“You saw that thing,” I replied, waving my hand at the devastated sea floor. “I doubt anything that we’ve faced over the last few days would even scratch the Retribution. I find it far more likely that Warspite just lost track of the snake-head, or found an even higher priority target, than that ship was damaged.”“So, how does that help us in this situation?” Mako asked. 

“It doesn’t really. I just think we really don’t need to be worried about the Retribution sinking, is all,” I said. “Why it stopped firing, on the other hand…”

“Anyone know when it stopped firing?” Sharron asked.

I checked the command network. “Three minutes, twenty-two seconds ago,” I replied. “And, to be honest, it didn’t seem like we were that far behind. We should be approaching the last area the Retribution shelled. It should be over the next ridge.”

“I’ll go scout it out!” Mako volunteered, and before anyone could say anything she took off, traveling way too fast for any of us to catch her.

“We really shouldn’t have allowed her to do that,” Depthcharge said.“I’m not sure how we would have stopped her,” I said. “You think she would have learned not to rush directly into the chaff by now.”

“At least we can still see her,” Sharron said. “She paused above the ridge.”“We should hurry and try to catch up,” Depthcharge said. “Even if she’s an accomplished fighter, I don’t like the idea of anyone running around alone out here. Who knows what other surprises the Antithesis have lined up for us.”

“Yeah, sure, hurry,” I muttered as I did my best to pick up the pace. Somehow Heavy and the moose seemed to be having less of a problem with the water than I was, and when we started to rush forward they managed to stay at the forefront, taking care of the sporadic Antithesis attacks as we pushed forward. 

When we finally arrived at the ridge, I used my grapple to pull myself up to where Mako was floating.

“Hey, why did you stop? What’s going on?” I asked, peeking over the top of the mound. When I did, I froze, just like Mako. “What the fuck is this?”Just beyond our position was a mass of dead coral which the Antithesis had claimed and turned into a hive. Normally I’d be a little cautious about making such a firm statement; however, there were thousands of Model One and Model Three-Os pouring out of every hole and crevice in the area. The massive swarm seemed to be completely unaware of our presence, and was pouring upwards towards the surface. 

The horde was so thick I couldn’t even make out what they were attacking, but I could make a decent guess on what it was.

“Well, I guess that explains why the Retribution stopped shelling. I think they have a slightly bigger problem to deal with right now,” I said. “I hope Warspite has good anti-intrusion tech.”“I’m pretty sure he does, we talked about all the tech he has crammed into the Retribution, but I’m still worried,” Mako said. “That’s a lot of Antithesis. What do you think we should do?”

I glanced back at the group coming up behind us and smiled. “Against a swarm like that? I’ll do what I always do. Throw bears at it. Sit back, and prepare to be amazed.”