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against something dangerous and he’d caught sight of it. Maybe they’d missed it. Besides, the marine commander wouldn’t have been paying enough attention to the ASSAIL team’s data channels to pick up that information, but they might hear about the new threat by listening to Bren’s command channel.
    Meridian broadcast a target signature of the red spider bot it had glimpsed to the other ASSAIL machines and the marine commander, Colonel Henley. Bren toggled his channel to the marine leader so it could send as well as receive.
    “We have an unusual situation shaping up at the pool. There’s a lot of heavy weaponry in use there. I recommend steering clear.”
    “What kind of situation?” Henley’s voice came back. “One of your ASSAIL units just abandoned us in the water systems room. We have opposing security robots starting to arrive.”
    “There’s a robot that’s taken out two of the ASSAILs. If we don’t take it out, you’re going to have more than security robots to worry about.”
    Bren’s voice sounded self-assured, but he felt bad about leaving the marines in danger. He prided himself on his work, and he knew the ASSAIL units could save lives. They were part of the BCP to take the heat for the marines.
    Maladomini’s feed showed the machine backing up, scanning the misty room for movement. The fire retardant spray had ceased, leaving the entire pool area visible. Two dead ASSAIL units marked the battleground.
    Bren noticed the machine’s behavior had changed since the attack began. The ASSAIL machine had started out charging in, believing to be indestructible. Now it retreated, waiting for its fellows to arrive.
    The observation filled him with admiration. The machines showed incredible flexibility and intelligence. That thought brought with it a tinge of the old fear. He checked the mission chronometer. It had been a little more than fifteen minutes now, plenty of time to complete the incursion and get the ASSAIL units back to the Guts.
    The image broke up again. Maladomini fired toward an entranceway across the pool. Bren scanned a summary of the sensory input getting to the machine, but couldn’t see anything that would cause it to shoot. Maladomini backed into the corridor that led to the men’s locker room. With most of its body behind cover, it continued to fire rounds every few seconds toward the entrance it had targeted.
    “Note to self: how does it know there’s a target there?” Bren said to his link. “Is this fire suppressive or is Maladomini trying to hit something?”
    Bren checked the progress of the other machines. Four more ASSAIL units had gathered and advanced to the pool. Maladomini stepped back a few meters to better time its reentrance with the arrival of its teammates.
    The lead unit of the four newcomers burst into the room at the far side of the pool. Bren got his first look at the robot that had killed two of his team. The machine had several long, thin legs spaced around its spherical body. Bren found it hard to believe it packed enough on its small frame to take out two of his ASSAIL units. A large red dot dominated one side of the central body.
    Then Bren’s view became obscured by flying debris as armor-piercing rounds impacted the target. Bren blinked. The spider machine had spun away, impossibly fast, avoiding further hits. Was the debris caused by rounds furrowing through the target or the vaporization of the rounds themselves as they failed against it?
    “Sonofabitch.” The spider bot had taken at least two direct hits and survived. Better than survived, it had bolted away.
    Two more of the ASSAIL feeds dropped. Faster than Bren could follow, a firefight had erupted and concluded. Bren scanned the remaining feeds trying to catch up on events.
    The spider bot had taken out two more of the ASSAIL units, by unknown means, and then disengaged. He selected a couple of close-up images. It looked like the AP rounds had penetrated the enemy machine without