Read Online Annihilation (Star Force Series) by B. V. Larson - Free Book Online Page A

underwater cities, and were the ones firing the missiles, perhaps it was their math I was witnessing in its perfection.
    The Macros had a treaty with the Crustaceans, we knew that. Just as they’d had a treaty with several other races. Of course, the first thing these machines always did when they signed a new treaty was try to find a way to break it. It was like making a deal with the proverbial wolf at the doorstep: it never stopped seeking a way in, a way to devour those it has bargained with.
    The Macros might have suckered us in, then launched this late attack to provoke our response. That way, the Lobsters would suffer mass casualties, we would lose a fleet, and the machines would be smiling as they presided over our collective funerals. They’d achieved the deaths of millions of fools at the cost of a few missiles and transmissions.
    “Answer me!” I roared. “Are those missiles piloted by Macros or not?”
    “No, sir,” Marvin said. He sounded as calm and unruffled as he always did.
    “No? Confirm that. The missiles are from Crustacean bases?”
    “Yes, Colonel,” he said. “Every indication is that the Crustaceans have launched this attack.”
    “I have no choice then. Commanders, target their civilian populations. Input special order Z.”
    “Do we have to, Kyle?” Sandra asked me on a private channel.
    I ignored her. I stared at the blue, blue world below me. I wondered what it would be like to sail a ship on that glass-like sea. The water was warm—hot now, even. The skies would be cloudy. But on a clear day, the world would be an endless perfect expanse of blue. The tides were very large due to the gravitational tug of the gas giant in the sky, but I knew that even tidal waves back on Earth were small bumps in the road when out in the open ocean. They only became deadly when they washed up on shores. Those seas had to be idyllic. And I was about to turn them into radioactive soup.
    Two minutes left. Everyone was waiting for my final order to fire.
    “Is that channel to the Crustaceans still open, Marvin?” I asked.
    “Yes, Colonel.”
    “Okay, transmit this: we do not understand your actions. Possibly, we never will. We are different from you, but not without compassion. It is very possible the make-up of your brain structure does not allow for compassion. In that case, there can probably never be peace between our two peoples—not until one of us is wiped out.”
    I paused, then continued on. “We came here to help you. We came here because you called us. We know your oceans are draining. We know they’re heating up. We suspect that the machines have opened a ring under the sea and the water is escaping from your world. Worse, this is causing the temperature to heat up, due to the hot-ice in the deepest—”
     “Where did you come by this information?” a voice asked.
    I blinked in surprise. I’d been in the middle of a death speech, a haiku that was to lead to the annihilation of a world at the end—and quite possibly my own death. It took me a precious second to realize the enemy had at last responded.
    “Where did we get this information?” I repeated. “We figured it out on our own! You said you needed help, and we came to give it. Along the way out here, we deduced what your problem was. We aren’t stupid.”
    “Congratulations. You’ve achieved civilization. Please stop firing at our missiles. They have been deactivated. We have lost a fair number, and we need the rest.”
    “Marvin, mute the channel for a second.”
    “Done.”
    “Are they telling the truth? Are the missiles deactivated?”
    “Yes—apparently. They are no longer powered. Many have deviated course.”
    “Don’t trust them Kyle!” Sandra said with vehemence. “They are just playing yet another trick. Melt their cities! It’s all we have left.”
    I was surprised she’d been listening in. I shouldn’t have been, but I was. I didn’t have time to try to kick her off the line now, so I tried to