Read Online Earth Awakens (The First Formic War) by Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston - Free Book Online Page B

get to one of them—”
    “You can’t,” said Imala. “It’s too bright in here. You’ll be exposed. There are at least twenty Formics who could see you. You’d never reach the shaft. And even if you did, you have no idea where it leads. Also, they’re eviscerating people in there. So, I’d say it’s a lost cause.”
    Victor poked his head out of the shaft and looked down. A few meters below him a Formic pulled a cart to the right, heading toward the distant shafts. “I could hitch a ride, Imala. I could grab on to a cart, use it as a shield, and let the Formic pull me to the shaft. I’m weightless. The Formic wouldn’t notice.”
    “Listen to me, Vico. We did our best here. We got some intel, and now it’s time to take it to those who can use it. We’ve gone as far as we can.”
    “We’ve got nothing, Imala. We found some glow bugs and the cargo bay. That’s strategically useless. We need intel with military significance, something that a strike team can use to disable the ship.”
    “I thought we were the strike team.”
    “We are. But if we fail—”
    “We won’t fail if we survive. Now turn your butt around and get to the shuttle before you’re seen.”
    He looked below him again. The Formic and its cart were almost past him. His window of opportunity was closing. “I’m going for it, Imala.” He muted her audio before she could object, then he scanned the debris in front of him. The Formics were busy at their tasks, not looking in his direction.
    Victor took two quick breaths, found his courage, and then crawled out of the shaft and down toward the cart like a spider, clinging to the wall with his toe and glove magnets. For one terrifying moment, the duffel bag on this back caught up with him and shifted his momentum just as he was reaching out with his hand and foot. He instinctively blinked out a command to increase the magnet’s power, and his hand and foot slammed into the wall with a deafening clang. He clung there a moment, his heart hammering, not moving, praying that no one had heard. If so, all was lost. He was in plain sight, a sitting duck.
    He relaxed the power to the magnets and got moving again, scurrying now, eager for the partial concealment of the cart.
    Seconds later he reached it. He grabbed the front of it on the right side and then brought his knees up to his chest in a fetal position to make himself as small as possible. It wasn’t enough, though. The cart was only two thirds his size, and his shoulder and buttocks and the top of his helmet were sticking out for all to see. The duffel bag on his back wasn’t helping, jutting out behind him like a turtle’s shell. If seen from the other side of the cart, he might go unnoticed, but if anyone looked in his direction from a high angle, it was over. They would come for him—cutters out, maws open, hands bloody.
    The Formic pulling the cart paused, and for a terrifying heartbeat Victor thought it had detected him. Then it lowered its head and pulled harder, as if adjusting to the nearly imperceptible increase in mass of its cargo.
    It was not a fast Formic, Victor soon discovered. Each step was deliberate and labored. Victor’s eyes traced the track in front of him, calculating the distance to the shaft far ahead. At this rate, they wouldn’t reach it for another ten minutes or more. That was too much time. He wouldn’t go unnoticed for that long.
    A light on his HUD was flashing. It was Imala, trying to get his attention. He debated keeping her muted until he reached the shaft, but the flashing light became more insistent, and eventually he gave in and reopened her audio.
    She was yelling, frantic, midsentence “—extended all the way! They’ve all extended!”
    “Imala, slow down. What’s extended?”
    “The cannons! I see eight of them extended. No, nine.”
    “Cannons?”
    “Formic cannons, Vico. Outside the ship. The one over the hole, it’s extended, too. Something is coming. I’ve got movement on my