Nothing she'd written in the dirt mattered anymore. But it couldn't stay there. She couldn't risk the soldiers seeing it and understanding what she'd done.
She dragged her feet across the symbols and made sure every mark was gone. The alien script disappeared under disturbed earth and debris. She kicked dirt over the area and scattered leaves on top. In a minute, it looked like nothing had been there. Just forest floor.
The only thing left in her mind was the sequence. The pattern to activate maintenance mode on the spiders, four eyes in a specific order. That had burned itself into her memory somehow. Everything else was gone and erased.
Beep. Beep. Beep. The sound was continuous and insistent.
She wanted the HUD to appear. Thought about it.
It materialized in front of her face.
The beeping was coming from the screen. Large text flashed in the center:
[MISSION OBJECTIVE: LOCATE PRINTER UNIT WITHIN OPERATIONAL RANGE]
[STATUS: COMPLETE]
A progress bar appeared below the message. Empty at first, then it started filling, 10%, 20%, 30%. The numbers climbed steadily until they stopped.
60%. Sixty percent of what? What happens when it reaches one hundred?
Another message appeared. Different formatting, a notification box in the corner of her vision.
[EVOLUTIONARY SYSTEM INCOMPATIBLE WITH ENGINEER ROLE]
[ADJUSTING EVOLUTION PARAMETERS FOR NON-COMBATANT CLASS]
[MODIFICATIONS IN PROGRESS]
[SIGNED: TERA]
Tera again, the only thing helping her. She still didn't know what it was. Some subsystem? An AI?
She wanted to read everything, understand how the system worked, figure out what the evolution meant. But the timer was still counting.
[2:47]
Two minutes and forty-seven seconds.
No time.
She dismissed the HUD with a thought and turned to her spider.
It stood there on its eight legs. Four red eyes watching her, waiting.
"Okay. Nano threads. What are they? How do I... just tell me what they do."
Her HUD opened immediately. A window expanded across her vision. Technical specifications scrolled past and she read quickly.
[NANO THREADS: Nearly invisible filaments. Thermal cutting on contact. Cuts through most materials. Spider and registered owner are immune.]
Invisible, thermal cutting, and she was immune.
That could work. That could actually work.
"Can you give me your programming information? Software architecture? Internal structure?"
Text appeared.
[NEGATIVE. INFORMATION ACCESS RESTRICTED TO CORE SYSTEM ONLY.]
Damn it.
"What about your other abilities? The other functions I saw?"
[OTHER FUNCTIONALITIES REQUIRE MANUAL ACTIVATION BY OPERATOR. CURRENT ACTIVE FUNCTION: NANO THREADS ONLY.]
She'd wasted time already. Had to move.
"Okay. What do I need to use this ability? How does it work?"
[RAW MATERIAL REQUIRED FOR NANOBOT CONSTRUCTION]
[DESTROYED SPIDER UNITS DETECTED IN VICINITY]
[RECOMMENDATION: COLLECT AVAILABLE MATERIALS]
[OPERATOR MUST REMAIN IN PROXIMITY DURING THREAD CREATION]
She didn't wait. She turned and ran.
Destroyed spiders were everywhere. Scattered across the ground where the soldiers had fought them. She grabbed the first one she saw, palm-sized, white metal body crushed on one side. The moment her fingers closed around it, pain shot through her hand. The legs were sharp, razor-sharp. They cut into her palm and blood welled up immediately.
She ignored it and grabbed another spider. More cuts followed. Her fingers were bleeding now. She reached for a third. A fourth. The edges sliced her skin with every grab. Her hands were covered in blood, dripping. The pain registered somewhere in the back of her mind but she pushed it away.
No time to be careful or wrap them in something.
She looked at the timer.
[1:03]
One minute.
She glanced back toward where she'd left the soldiers. They weren't watching her anymore. They were spread out across the clearing. Practicing. The fighters were striking trees with enhanced speed. Blurs of motion. The tanks were hitting rocks. Cracking stone with bare fists. The two kinetics were levitating objects. Testing their range. Their control.
They looked relaxed. Confident. Almost casual.
They think I'm already dead. Think there's no possible way I survive this.
She grabbed more spiders. Her hands screamed in protest. Every movement opened new cuts. Five spiders, six, seven, eight, nine. She pushed through the pain and grabbed a tenth.
That was all she could carry without dropping them.
She ran back to her spider and fell to her knees. Set the broken units on the ground.
"Printing material. Ready."
Her spider moved forward. Its mouth opened. White threads shot out, organic-looking. They wrapped around the destroyed spiders rapidly and encased them completely in seconds. A cocoon formed, seamless. The spider gripped the cocoon with its back legs, lifted it, and secured it against its abdomen.
Text appeared in her HUD.
[PRINTING MATERIAL: LOADED]
[NANOBOT SYNTHESIS: READY]
[AWAITING INSTRUCTIONS]
She stood and looked around, analyzing the terrain with new eyes.
The forest was incredibly dense. Like a rainforest. Trees packed so close together their branches intertwined overhead. Undergrowth everywhere, ferns, vines, bushes with thorns. Rocks jutted from the ground at irregular intervals. Uneven terrain with roots creating natural obstacles.
Where she'd woken up, where the Giant had been, that was open ground. A massive clearing, flat with nothing to hide behind.
This was different, the border where open ground met forest, where the trees started.
[0:48]
Forty-eight seconds left.
Set the traps. Work fast. Figure it out as I go. At least the spider's small. Maybe they won't notice it.
She looked at the spider. Its red eyes stared back.
If we survive this, I'm giving you a proper name.
"I need to see a demonstration. Show me what the threads can do. I need to know they'll work."
The spider's mouth opened. A single thread extruded, about two feet long. She could barely see it, just a faint shimmer like heat distortion in air.
Her HUD updated.
[SAFE FOR OPERATOR CONTACT. NANOBOTS RECOGNIZE REGISTERED OWNER.]
She reached out and grabbed the thread carefully. It felt strange, solid but incredibly thin, like holding a wire made of something that didn't quite exist in three dimensions. The nanobots didn't activate camouflage against her skin. She could see the thread clearly where it touched her fingers.
There was a rock nearby. Roughly the size of her fist and dense. She walked over, kicked it first, and tested its solidity. It didn't budge, real stone, hard.
She wrapped one end of the thread around her right hand, the other end around her left, pulled it taut, and brought it down against the rock in a smooth motion.
The thread passed through without resistance.
Like cutting through warm butter with a hot knife, less than that, like the rock wasn't even there.
The stone fell in two perfect halves. The cut surface was completely smooth and glassy. The heat had fused the minerals and melted them slightly. She could see faint orange glow along the edge. Already cooling.
Perfect. This is perfect.
She didn't have time. She wrapped the test thread around her left wrist, might need a weapon later.
The trees were close together here. Good, that would work in her favor.
"Listen. I need nano thread traps. Set them up at the forest entrance. Span twenty meters along the treeline. Between pairs of trees. Understand?"
The spider didn't vocalize, just stood there waiting.
"Three threads per pair of trees. One at ankle height. One at mid-torso. One at head height. About five feet eight inches. Make them invisible. Camouflage active."
The spider moved.
Fast.
She could barely track it. The speed was inhuman and mechanical. It shot toward the first pair of trees. Its mouth opened and three threads emerged simultaneously. They stretched between the trunks, secured at exact heights. The threads vanished. Camouflage activated.
The spider was already at the next pair. Working. Two seconds, that's all it took per pair.
She watched the timer.
[0:32]
Thirty-two seconds.
Her mind raced. Tactical analysis. The fighters were the priority, seven of them with enhanced speed and enhanced reflexes. They'd reach her first and be the hardest to escape.
She needed them dead fast, before they could adapt.
One gap. Leave one pair of trees without threads. Make it look safe. Position it where I can see but far from where I'll be standing.
"Fourth pair from the left. Skip it. No threads there."
The spider adjusted instantly and continued working on the other pairs.
[0:20]
The spider finished, fifteen meters of invisible death spanning the treeline.
She positioned herself carefully. Five meters back from the entrance, off to the side, not directly behind the gap, but with clear line of sight to it.
Two trees stood right in front of her position. Close together, about three feet apart, perfect cover.
"These two trees. Right here. Five threads between them. All different heights. Ankle to head. Overlap them."
The spider worked. Threads appeared, secured, and vanished.
"Material status. How much left?"
[PRINTING MATERIAL: 65% DEPLETED]
[REMAINING CAPACITY: 35%]
[0:10]
Ten seconds.
She looked deeper into the forest and considered more traps further back, but the terrain was too open with too many routes. The soldiers could split up, take different paths, circle around. The threads would be wasted.
No, better to hit them hard at the start. When they were overconfident. When they thought killing her would be easy.
She'd seen it in their eyes back at the clearing and felt it in how they moved. They were drunk on their new power, wanted to test it, prove themselves. They'd seen her role. Engineer. Non-combatant. Level zero.
They thought she was prey.
Let them think that. Let them come.
The timer reached zero.
Everything changed.
Explosions erupted around the forest perimeter. Distant but close enough to hear clearly. Booms echoed across the trees. She saw flashes of light through the canopy, north, east, south. Different factions breaking through the barrier or fighting each other for position, she couldn't tell.
Then she heard running.
The seven fighters coming straight at her at full sprint, enhanced speed faster than should be possible.
The five tanks were behind them. Slower and more cautious. The two kinetics brought up the rear, the leader and the thin man moving at a controlled pace.
But the fighters were coming fast.
Oh god. They're really coming. This is happening.
She was terrified. Her heart hammered and her hands shook. An engineer, a level zero non-combatant, about to face seven trained soldiers with enhanced abilities and weapons.
The fighters got closer. Forty meters, thirty. She could see their faces now. They'd spotted her and they were competing, racing, trying to be first to reach her, first to make the kill.
Five were grouped together at the front. Running neck and neck.
Two had fallen behind. Slower or maybe more careful.
"Spider. Hide. Stay next to me. Don't let them see you."
The spider pressed against her leg and disappeared into the ferns.
Twenty-five meters. Twenty.
The fighters drew weapons. All seven drew daggers from their belts, blades gleaming.
Fifteen meters.
This is it. Live or die. Right now.
Ten meters.
Time seemed to slow down. Her perception sharpened and she could see every detail.
The five fighters in front reached the treeline.
Four of them split off immediately. Different routes. The forest was dense here with lots of options and lots of paths.
She watched.
The five fighters at the front reached the treeline almost simultaneously.
They spread out. Racing and competing, each one trying to find the fastest route to her, the quickest path to claim the kill.
The leader stayed center and took the direct path in a straight line toward where she stood.
The other four broke left and right. Looking for advantages, shortcuts through the trees, anything to beat him to the target.
Four of them picked routes with nano threads.
The first fighter came through on the far left. Weaving between trees, running full speed, maybe thirty-five miles per hour. His dagger raised, face eager.
He didn't see the threads.
He hit all three.
The nano threads activated on contact. Heat bloomed instantly, white-hot, two thousand degrees concentrated in lines thinner than hair.
Three cuts. Ankle. Mid-torso. Neck.
Instant death, brain disconnected, spine severed, nervous system destroyed in three places at once.
His forward momentum carried him another foot before gravity and separation took over.
His feet came off and tumbled forward across the moss.
His lower body dropped straight down. The cut at his waist left nothing connecting the pieces. His hips and legs hit the dirt hard.
His upper torso fell forward, arms going limp. The dagger dropped from his hand as he crashed face-first into the ground.
His head separated clean, spun through the air, hit a tree trunk, bounced, and landed face-up.
No blood. The thermal cuts sealed everything instantly. The edges glowed faint orange, cooling to black.
His face was frozen, eyes wide, mouth open, dead before he understood.
Half a second later, the second fighter hit his threads at a different pair of trees on the right flank.
He took one more step, then his body stopped agreeing with itself. Armor and limbs hit the ground in separate sounds.
The third fighter was right behind him.He saw his companion come apart. His eyes went wide and his mouth opened.
The scream never came. His body just dropped mid-stride, lifeless before he hit the ground.
The smell reached her. Burned flesh and seared meat. The thermal effect had cooked the tissue at every cut, thick and heavy in the air.
The fourth fighter saw all three die. He saw the pieces and saw the pattern.
Something invisible between the trees.
He twisted mid-stride. Tried to throw himself away from the gap he'd been heading through.
Too late. His right side passed between the trees.
The threads caught him sideways. Angle was wrong.
He jerked to the side and the invisible lines punished the move. He landed in chunks, still steaming.
Four dead in three seconds.
The fighter that ran faster, saw none of it.
He'd taken the center path. Direct route with no threads, no obstacles, just clear forest floor between the trees.
Enhanced speed carried him forward. Fast, faster than the others.
Ten meters from her position. Eight. Six.
He was grinning, confident, the kill was his.
Four meters out he launched himself.
He jumped hard, both legs driving him up and forward. Airborne three feet off the ground, dagger raised overhead, arms extended, ready to bring it down into her skull.
He flew between the two trees directly in front of her.
The ones with five threads at different heights.
His face changed mid-flight. The grin faltered. Peripheral vision caught something, bodies behind him, pieces on the ground.
Realization started.
Too slow.
The threads hit him while he was in the air.
He flew straight into the layered threads. For a split second he was whole. Then momentum carried fragments forward instead of a body.
The jump carried him forward anyway. The parts landed around her like thrown meat.
The pieces continued their trajectories. Each one following the momentum he'd had, scattering as they fell and landing within two meters of her position.
Still hot with smoke rising, the cuts glowing orange and fading.
His face landed closest. One meter away. It hit, rolled once, and settled.
Facing her.
The eyes were open. For a brief moment his eyes still moved. Still aware.
His expression completed its change, shock and total comprehension flooding in.
His mouth was open. He'd been smiling three seconds before.
Now he was pieces and his face showed he knew it.
The light left his eyes.
She stared at him.
Couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.
The pieces were right there. At her feet, body parts scattered like debris.
I killed him.
The thought hit her like a physical blow to the chest.
I killed him. I killed all of them.
Five men dead because of her. Because of the trap she'd designed. Set. Activated.
She knew, absolutely knew, this was the first time. She'd never killed anyone before. Not in any life she could remember. The knowledge was fundamental. Undeniable.
And now five men were dead.
She could see the results. The bodies, the pieces, the precision of the cuts, the fused flesh, the faces frozen in their final expressions.
The man at her feet. His surprised eyes, his open mouth, that look of realization.
Her stomach lurched. She wanted to vomit, wanted to look away, run, scream.
But she couldn't move.
Couldn't do anything but stare.
The two fighters who hadn't entered the forest stood frozen at the treeline. Twenty meters back. They'd watched their companions die and come apart, but they didn't understand how. Couldn't see the threads, just saw bodies separating into pieces for no visible reason.
Their faces showed pure shock, terror, and confusion.
The kinetics were running up behind them. The leader and the thin man. Their expressions were different, calculating and analyzing.
The leader's eyes swept the treeline, looking for the trap, trying to understand.
Move. I have to move. They're confused now. Scared. But they'll figure it out. And then they'll be careful. Methodical. They'll hunt me properly.
She forced herself to turn away from the bodies and from the face with the surprised expression.
She started running deeper into the forest, away from the death, away from what she'd done.
The spider followed, silent and invisible in the undergrowth.
A beep sounded. Continuous and urgent, different from before.
She activated her HUD while running, stumbling over roots and pushing through ferns.
The progress bar filled her vision.
100%.
Complete.
Below it, text pulsed bright and insistent.
[EVOLUTION TO LEVEL 1 AVAILABLE]
[ACTIVATE: YES / NO]