Chương 443: Book 7 - Chapter 39 - Sharktapus

[Hey, I saw the message. Is there anything I can do?] I asked the chat channel. I briefly considered calling Alise and Claire directly, but considering they had just sent that message, I figured they might be a little busy. Best to leave a message and wait until they had time to respond. Surprisingly enough, I received an immediate reply. [I don't think so. Moray managed to deal with the pack of Antithesis that ambushed him. They appear to be an adapted version of the Model Four Sharktapus with much better camouflage and far stronger stealth capabilities,] Claire replied. [What? Like the leviathan that the Gene Tender has been using as a base of operations?] I asked. [Maybe. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to take a look at them yet. Although the team that rushed over to support Moray has arrived at his position, he hasn't surfaced yet. Apparently, he's been busy cutting all the Antithesis apart, trying to find what's left of his leg,] Claire explained. [Wait. He fought off a pack of them alone, after losing a leg, and instead of going up to the surface to recover, he's cutting them apart to find the limb they took from him?] I asked. [That's kind of hardcore.] [I may not be a fan of Moray. In fact, every single time I've met him, he's been a complete asshole, but I have to admit that he can be one hell of a scrapper when pushed into a corner. From what I've heard, he's vehemently opposed to the use of cybernetics, which is probably why he's still down there looking for his limb,] she said. [Do you think we could convince him to keep one of the corpses intact?] Mako asked, butting into the conversation and making me start. I'd almost completely forgotten that we were in a semi-public chat room. [Maybe, why?] Claire replied. [Because if they do have a similar mutation to the leviathan, as Teddy asked earlier, maybe we can use them to perform some tests. If we determine which scanning methods work on them and which don't, we may be able to use that information to help track down the Tender,] Mako said. [Even if we can't use that information to help find the Tender, we can use it to detect the hunter-killers before they strike.] [Fine, I'll ask him,] Claire relented. [Even if he's unwilling to provide us with samples, he's not the only one who encountered the hunter-killers. There was another team, which was searching an area southeast of his location, which was also attacked.] [Do we know what direction the Antithesis came from? Maybe we can use their attack patterns to help triangulate the Gene Tender's location,] Sharron suggested. [That was one of the first things I considered,] Claire said. [The Antithesis that attacked Moray came from the west, while the ones that attacked the second group came from the northeast. It seems they're just searching the area for targets of opportunity.] [Even if we can't use their headings, we may be able to use the locations we encountered them,] I said. [Although we haven't saturated the area, there are quite a few samurai in the area. Considering these two groups were attacked so close together, I think it's likely the Tender is hiding somewhere in that general area.] If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

[Assuming it's not trying to mislead us again,] Sharron added. [The bears have finished setting up the last of the static defenses,] I said. [I think I'll leave some forces here to patrol the area, then move Bear Force One closer to where Moray was attacked. I was already planning to move to a more central location anyway, so both my forces and the samurai on my ship could respond to threats much faster.] [Works for me,] Claire replied.

[The main fleet is still moving up slowly, sweeping the area thoroughly before advancing. We're not taking any chances.] [Can you share the location of all the other teams in the area?] Mako asked. [Since we're not needed to keep the reinforcements from penetrating the perimeter anymore, we're planning to return to the search. I'd rather not go over the areas that have already been searched.] [Of course, there's a collective feed available. Not everyone contributes to it, but enough people do to have a decent idea of where most people are,] Claire said. [I can provide you with a list of the people who don't contribute so that you can check where they are. I'll warn you ahead of time, most of those people are like Moray; They're… difficult to work with.] [Yeah, well, who isn't?] I replied. No one seemed to want to reply to my little quip, so I quickly glossed it over. [Any other developments I should know about?] I asked.

[I haven't really been keeping track of everything while setting up our defenses.] [Nothing important,] Claire replied. [Both we and the fleet from Vancouver have advanced about a dozen kilometers in the last two hours. At our current rate we should be able to finish sweeping the entire cordon in about two days. That fucking thing won't be able to hide forever.] [That fast?] I asked. [It's not exactly fast…] Claire said. [It's more that we have a ton of samurai within the area right now. Two full fleets, your battleship, and numerous other independent samurai. Since we're not sure how the Tender is staying hidden, we're being incredibly thorough by double and triple checking an area before moving on. Normally we can perform our sweeps at full speed, covering forty or fifty kilometers per hour.] [Okay, so maybe it's not as fast as usual, but it's still pretty good. I'd rather we take our time and make sure we don't miss anything than give the thing even the slightest chance for it to sneak through,] I replied. [Hopefully, once we study the hunter-killers, we'll have a better idea of how they're evading detection, we can determine countermeasures, and use them to accelerate the search,] Mako said. [Even if we did find a countermeasure, I'm not sure if we should try and accelerate our plan,] Claire replied. [There's no guarantee that the Gene Tender is using the same technique.] [Well, although I agree that we should be methodical, I think we should take every chance we can to accelerate this search. When I was defending Great Falls, the Gene Tender was not only able to make significant upgrades to the common models and create several new models, but it was also able to create a massive EMP, which I assume was to directly counter both my forces and the massive tanks Dial-Up and Lag were using to push in from the other direction. It's not stupid, and the longer we leave it running loose, the more dangerous it will become,] I said. [We've already had two groups of Antithesis penetrate the perimeter, one of which EMPed our detection grid, and now we have an entirely new breed of Antithesis trying to hunt us down. Who knows what it'll cook up if we give it enough time.] [We won't let that happen,] Mako replied. [Although I'll integrate any techniques we find, I won't accelerate the search any more than necessary. Even though it may give the Tender a chance to create new models, I don't want to give it even the slightest chance to slip through our net. If it's capable of creating and adapting the local models in order to try and counter us in a matter of days, then I shudder to think what I could do if it managed to get loose, disappear into the depths of the ocean, and be able to perform its adjustments over months or even years. It would be a complete disaster,] Claire said.

[It wouldn't take that long for that thing to start pumping out new nightmares. Back on Mars, the Tenders were able to completely change the Antithesis lineup in a matter of days, based upon what they considered to be the biggest samurai threats. There may have been dozens of them up there, but I shudder to think what one could do if it were let loose,] Sharron said. [We won't let that happen,] I declared. [Claire is right. We play it safe, deal with whatever shit the creature cooks up, corner it, and kill it before it has a chance to become a real threat.] [Well, if that's what you guys think is best… I just hope we don't regret that decision,] Mako said. [Things might get dicey, but we'll deal with whatever the fucking Tender cooks up. Just stick to the plan,] I said. [We'll get through this together.]