The Debt Collectors War

Chapter 63

Ellie reached another gap, where two more buildings met. She threw a smoke grenade over the nearest building, throwing it as far as she could, several buildings away, hoping that by now some of the militia had realized she and Sameh were hiding behind the smoke and using it as cover, and so would go in the wrong direction looking for them.

Behind her, Sameh’s sidearm suddenly fired twice, and then Sameh said, “Clear.”

That was all, just clear.

Ellie didn’t look around. Someone must have come up behind them, and Sameh had taken care of the problem. Ellie didn’t need to check, not once Sameh had said clear. She and Sameh trusted one another, and knew one another, and didn’t need to waste time or risk further distractions by checking on each other, not any more. Sameh had dealt with the problem, whatever it was, and had then told Ellie they were clear, so Ellie kept looking where she was meant to be looking, covering their straight ahead, maintaining their perimeter, so no-one else got a chance to sneak up while she was looking the other way.

It was important, that trust, as important as anything else at making them effective in combat. Sameh watched Ellie’s back, and Ellie watched Sameh’s front, and they could both rely on that being so. They each knew the other would be where they ought to be, doing what they ought to do, and that mattered a lot.

It stopped them both being distracted, and wasting time.

Ellie watched ahead of them, where Sameh was walking, and she also watched all around them whenever Sameh stopped to fiddle with her tablet.

That happened quite often. It was probably happening behind her right now.

“I’m moving,” Ellie said, without looking back.

“Yep,” Sameh said. “Hold on.”

Then, Ellie glanced back. Sameh was doing something with the tablet, guiding the sensor drones as they built their networks, Ellie assumed.

“Do you need us to stop?” Ellie said.

Sameh shook her head, but didn’t look up from the tablet. “Not yet. It’s fine. Just go slow.”

“Are we close?” Ellie said, meaning was the sensor net ready. “Is it nearly working?”

“Not long,” Sameh said.

By now, the tiny sensor drones Sameh had deployed a few minutes ago would have spread out through the compound and formed a floating, drifting grid of tiny data-gathering pinpricks. If Ellie squinted upwards, carefully, she would probably see some glinting as they caught the sunlight.

Ellie didn’t look up. She kept covering windows, covering corners.

“Soon?” she said, hopefully.

Sameh grinned. “Close. Soon. Not yet.”

“How close?”

“Soon. It’s the wind.”

Ellie sighed. Wind was always a problem.

The sensor drones were small and very light, so small that several thousand of them fit into a hand-sized package, and delicate enough that, once they unfurled themselves, they floated in the air like dandelion seeds, drifting in the wind, pushing themselves about with only their tiny propellers.

That lightness made deployment slow, though, because the drones moved extremely erratically in breezes. As well, many got broken by being bumped against things, and many more ended up in places that weren’t very useful, too high or low or behind obstructions. As the drones spread out, the network had to keep rebuilding itself around the damage it incurred. Taking that damage was designed in, though. There were a great many drones, and many could fail before the actual sensor net did as well.

The initial deployment still took time, though.

The sensor drones were spreading out, hovering in the air, or anchoring themselves onto walls and roofs, clinging to the surfaces using tiny magnets or a static charge. They were floating over the battlefield, settling onto the battlefield, preparing to watch over Ellie and Sameh, and begin feeding them data.

There were several different types of drones. The mix was what made them especially useful. Some drones captured thermal data, others visual video, or millimetre-wavelength radar images, or audio, or wireless and radio signals. The radio drones captured signals, and also performed basic counter-intelligence and jamming too, attempting to block the communications of any unfriendly drones they found, and also to mask the location of Ellie and Sameh as much as was possible. As well, the drones completely jammed unfriendly macro-electronic signals, entirely blocking enemy tactical radio communications, and also outbound internet and phone links too, preventing anyone hostile within the sensor net calling for help or using satellite or drone data themselves.

The drones were positioning themselves carefully, moving into different places in the overall network depending on the different model each was, and the role each had. Each drone was just smart enough to work out what types of drones its neighbours were and organize itself accordingly. All had infrared laser and wireless comms links as well, links to one another and to Sameh and Ellie’s tablets too, so once positioned they would begin building data links, through each other, constantly re-routing as Ellie and Sameh moved about.

The drones were positioning themselves as was needed, each for their different roles. Then, once they had, they would begin feeding Ellie and Sameh tactical data, which their tablets would model into actual useful information and display.

It was a beautiful, intricate, complicated system, and Ellie was so used to it she hardly noticed, and simply became impatient when it wasn’t ready to use right away.

That was just people were, she supposed. It was actually a good system. Sometimes her impatience made her feel ungrateful.

She made herself be patient, and not pester Sameh. She kept covering windows, and kept moving, as Sameh fiddled with her tablet and glanced around.