Read Machines of Eden for Free Online Page B

vines that draped down over a fork in the main
trunk. It prepared to fire.
    John dropped down from directly above the
Arachnyd , tearing a sharp branch with him
as he went . An attack from an elevation
above a bot’s approach vector had been a favorite of his during the
war, and the banyan had a branch perfect for the job. He landed
directly on top of its torso, his weight slamming the spidery body
onto the ground.
    Instantly he was off,
thrusting at its sensory sockets with his
tree branch. A leg flailed at him, and he
leaned out of its reach. The socket caved in and sparked, and the
legs ceased flailing. He couldn’t destroy the bot entirely without
a better weapon or tools to pry off its armored carapace, but it
would be unable to hunt him now unless repaired.
    The problem now was the
other bot. He heard it coming in response to the distress signal
the Arachnyd had sent the instant he attacked. Now the Koyuki unit
was descending the slope toward them , its
pincer arms swatting branches aside as it came . He ran for the river, knowing that the Arachnyd had already
transmitted all information of his attack to the Koyuki, along with
modified attack suggestions based on his movements.
    The bots always learn from
their mistakes, screamed the
Sergeant. Adapt and keep
moving!
    He launched himself out
into the river as far as he could, and went deep. Even underwater
he could hear the hiss of the flechettes as they peppered the
surface. He surfaced midstream and risked a glance back just in
time to see the Koyuki launch a small projectile with a puff of
smoke.
    Grenade .
    He dived.
    The concussion drove the
air from his lungs and hammered an intense pain through his ears.
He surfaced again, barely in time, and gulped air. The
current picked up and took him around a
bend beyond effective grenade range . H e watched the Koyuki disappear and continued downstream for five
more minutes , swimming to speed himself
away. Then he clawed his way past a
boulder and grabbed a handful of riverbank foliage. He hauled
himself up onto the bank and crawled quickly into the
brush.
    They would be coming soon.
The Koyuki was capable of performing rapid field maintenance on
other bots, sort of a battlefield medic for machines, and although
he didn’t know if this unit had been programmed that way, he had to
assume both bots would be on his trail within minutes. He had to
find a weapon. They’d be ready for sticks and stones next
time.
    John exited the river on the same side he’d entered it, but almost
half a kilometer ahead of the ambush site. If he kept up a good
pace, he’d stay ahead of the bots. He ran through the jungle at a
right angle to the river until he hit the road, then continued
uphill on the far side. He’d just run straight up until he reached
the antenna on top. The Arachnyd might follow, but the grade was
too steep for the Koyuki, and it would be forced to follow the
road.
    The ground shook as a
grenade detonated a few meters to his right. A sudden sharp pain in
his shoulder made him gasp. Another explosion fountained dirt and
broken trees to his left.
    How’d they find me so
fast?
    He ran back downhill
toward the road but another grenade cratered the ground just ahead.
He was knocked to the ground, ears ringing. He could barely
think. Where are they shooting from? Which
one is shooting? Others. It had to be
others. The first two couldn’t have arrived so soon. They must have
called ahead.
    He lunged to his feet and
stumbled south along the slope, keeping to cover whenever possible.
Behind him came more explosions; they were still trying to
triangulate him. John hoped they wouldn’t see his movement until he could get
around the far side of the hill. He crossed a small clearing in
seconds and slid to a stop on the far side. He lay still, panting
and listening, river water still dripping from his hair down his
face.
    He stood to get moving
again, and a strange sound came from off to his left. Two darts hit
the tree in front