Free Infinity Squad by Shuvom Ghose

these things ALL THE TIME?"
    "Because you'd die of the awesome," I replied as we entered the hangar. "Now be quiet for a second." I whispered into my mike, "Zaz, did Three-Spot mention any restrictions on taking helicopters this time?"
    The Heavies technician had also tuned our four implants to a private channel since Grimmy wasn't there to do it this time. I wanted Grimstone in the barracks analyzing Ridley's band non-stop until he figured out what had happened to him. What really happened. So far each new piece of data had conflicted with every previous one.
    "No restrictions," Zaz replied. "In fact, the distance requires that we take them. And Oakley ordered us to do so at the main gate, if you remember."
    "Yeah, I remember," I growled, waving the Hangar Master over.
    She pointed us to two idling helos at the front of the flightline. But as I ran up to the first cockpit to talk to the pilot, there wasn't one there. There weren't even seats to have pilots. Just a metal box the size of a Rottweiler with blinking lights and cables stretching from it.
    No. Hell no. I backed away and waved the Hangar Master over again.
    "Where are the human pilots?" I yelled over the noise of rotors.
    She shrugged. "Only use them for emergencies! The auto-pilots are safer; they'll get you where you want to go!"
    And report right back to Oakley where we did or did not go, with electronic precision.
    "No!" I yelled back, shaking my head. "Where are the humans ?"
    She looked kind of angry and pointed to the far corner of the hangar where four guys were playing cards.
     
     
    Zazlu helped me pick our pilot out. We wanted someone who could be bought by us, but not bought by Oakley. Someone loyal to soldiers, not to orders. Jinx thanked us all through his pre-flight check.
    "Damn boxes are taking all our work," he yelled back to us while spinning up the rotors. "Flight Control loves 'em because they never deviate from course and never crash. But you'll never be able to remove the human element, I say. Thanks for picking me again, sir."
    "No problem," I said, strapping in. "What kind of pilot name is 'Jinx' anyway?"
    He grinned at me through the gap between the cockpit and the open cabin. "An old and sacred one. You all set?"
    I looked; Ann-Marie was seated and belted in next to me, Zazlu and Juan were standing in their Heavies on opposite skids of the helo, hard points harnessed to the frame. "Yep, let's fly."
    "No one else?" Jinx asked. "Most squads take at least five. The Immortal boys don't travel in less than packs of ten."
    "Only one else I'd want is a medic," I replied. "And ours is already hurt."
    Jinx gave me a wise and meaningful look. "Should I be wearing a buffering band for this mission, sir?"
    I smiled. "It wouldn't be a bad idea."
     
     
    We took off and headed north and west, right towards Hell-Spot's valley where the spider sightings were the most numerous. After we had gotten past the Night Hunting Grounds mountain, Jinx dropped to fly just above the tree line.
    "The mass of the mountain blocks the base radar," he said into the intercom. "I've heard the Flight Control guys bitching about it all the time. They'll assume we kept on going to one of the usual patrol drops."
    "Good," Ann-Marie said, then leaned forward to show Jinx a rarity in these modern times, a paper map. "Because here's where we're really going."
     
     
    Jinx hovered the helo fifty feet over the desert. There were some stretches of sand, but also rocks and some light scrub bushes for as far as I could see. I turned to Zazlu skeptically.
    "It looks pretty hot down there."
    "Yes sir, but this is where Three-Spot directed us to go. As close as we can guess. Hell-Spiders think in landmarks, not 2D maps. The translation was...challenging."
    "Lightning snakes love hot weather."
    "Three-Spot says no snakes in this area. I inquired specifically."
    "They need water to survive," Ann-Marie added. "This area doesn't have flowing water for lightning snakes to lay their