Death Has No Shadow

When a military accident releases swarms of microscopic robots called forger nanites into the environment, science intern Kutisha finds that her lab is their target. As three swarms head her way, the military dispatches hover-tanks carrying human sized robotic mechs. Alone, late at night, she places her faith in the mechs, watching the battle between the big and little machines unfold on her doorstep. The question may not be who will win, but who to trust.

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~ by RachelRS in an Amazon review

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Vantu Gravimetric Research Facility

Mt. Karthala, Grande Comore Island
June 4, 2143

 

     The stark light from a small flashlight that Kutisha held in her mouth was at just the wrong angle. Everything else was dark in the cramped access tube above the deep space graviton detector. Pinned between two pipes and on her back, her arms straining with the fatigue of their own weight, she gathered her thoughts. If I were a socket, where would I be hiding? All she saw was the bright array of gray cables, white pipes, and multicolored wires mere centimeters from her nose. There was no empty socket. She brushed a lock of ebony hair from her forehead, smudging her dark skin with grease. Her black hair had been neatly pulled back but all this crawling around had fretted it lose. She held her chin up, looked down the bridge of her nose, and shifted her jaw. There. The beam fell on the empty socket behind a cable back to the right. Her hand, small and dexterous, grease-covered and holding the errant cable, should be able to slide through and plug it in. If she could just…

     The flashlight flickered off. Reflexively she opened her mouth to curse. The flashlight slid into her mouth; she gagged and spit it out. In the total darkness, she heard it roll down the access tube and hit the corridor floor. Then it turned back on. She closed her eyes, imagining the electrical panel before her, slid her hand in, and felt the pleasant connection of plug and socket. It clicked…