1n1REzE

Peter Watts 294 Blindsight
I turned in time to see it plunge into his skull.
I froze. The metal proboscis withdrew, dark and slick. Lateral
maxillipeds began nibbling at the base of Sarasti's skull. His
pithed corpse wasn't thrashing now; it only trembled, a sack of
muscles and motor nerves awash in static.
Bates.
Her mutiny was underway. No, their mutiny—Bates and the
Gang. I'd known. I'd imagined it. I'd seen it coming.
He hadn't believed me.
The lights went out again. The alarm fell silent. ConSensus
dwindled to a flickering doodle on the bulkhead and disappeared; I
saw something there in that last instant, and refused to process it. I
heard breath catch in my throat, felt angular monstrosities
advancing through the darkness. Something flared directly ahead,
a bright brief staccato in the void. I glimpsed curves and angles in
silhouette, staggering. The buzzing crackle of shorting circuitry.
Metal objects collided nearby, unseen.
From behind the crinkle of the drum hatch, opening. A sudden
beam of harsh chemical light hit me as I turned, lit the mechanical
ranks behind; they simultaneously unclamped from their
anchorages and floated free. Their joints clicked in unison like an
army stamping to attention
"Keeton!" Bates snapped, sailing through the hatch. "You
okay"
The chemlight shone from her forehead. It turned the interior of
the spine into a high-contrast mosaic, all pale surfaces and sharp
moving shadows. It spilled across the grunt that had killed Sarasti;
the robot bounced down the spine, suddenly, mysteriously inert.
The light washed across Sarasti's body. The corpse turned slowly
on its axis. Spherical crimson beads emerged from its head like
drops of water from a leaky faucet. They spread in a winding,
widening trail, spot-lit by Bates' headlamp: a spiral arm of dark
ruby suns.
I backed away. "You—"
She pushed me to one side. "Stay clear of the hatch, unless you're
going through." Her eyes were fixed on the ranked drones.
"Optical line of sight."