Free Lacuna: The Sands of Karathi by David Adams

watching Saara stare at the device as though it were filled with molten lava. [“A Bevra defense drone!”]
    Liao blinked in surprise and pulled herself to her feet, regarding the Toralii woman with a curious glance. “Bevra? What’s that?”
    [“Bevra means, uhh, it is an animal. Hard to describe.It lives in the jungle and is a fast moving predator, but in this case it is also the name of an automated defense system. The Toralii sometimes leave them to defend unmanned installations. They are programmed to attack and destroy any biological life signs that are detected unless certain friend-or-foe criteria are met, such as a passphrase, or a biological marker.”]
    Liao looked down at the immobile hunk of metal. Upon its back was a small twin-barrelled turret, partially covered in sand.
    “Is it active?”
    Saara shook her head. [“No, Captain. It would have attacked us the moment we entered its airspace. Their energy cannons have a range of seven kilometres.They do not differentiate between terrestrial and airborne targets, and their sensors are very precise. When activated, they usually spend a portion of their first few hours hunting down and destroying any wildlife in the area.”]
    “Mmm. Greenpeace would have a field day with that .”
    [“I do not understand.”]
    Liao managed a smile, reaching out and clapping the much taller Toralii woman on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s pick it up and put it in the Broadsword. We can study it later.”
    [“Of course, Captain.”]
    Saara began digging out the last of the metal creature, and Liao left the Toralii to her task. Moving back with the rest of the Marines, the Chinese woman reached up and wiped her sweat-stained forehead with her sleeve. Reaching down for her radio, she pressed the talk key.
    “Liao to Summer.”
    Summer’s voice came through the radio, slightly distorted as though she had her mouth too close to the microphone, which Liao had noticed happened when she was annoyed or frightened. “Summer here! Well, golly gee and fuck, Captain. I found a bunch of sand . You want some of it? I can take a sample! One for you and one for me.Stack them in my cupboard and make a little fucking collection! How about that, huh?”
    Liao opened her mouth to let her know about the drone, but a faint hissing indicated that Summer still had her talk key down.
    For a moment there was just hissing, then Rowe’s voice came through. “What the fuck is that ? Hey, Captain, I actually think I found someth—”
    The radio was cut off by a rumble-crash nearby, followed by a shriek and a large cloud of dust billowing from the other side of the dune Summer had wandered over.
    “Summer!”
    Liao, Saara, and the Marines ran towards the cloud. As Liao crested the ridge, she drew in her breath in an audible gasp.The whole other side of the dune had collapsed, exposing a large cavern braced by the thick, black metal struts of a ship’s hull.
    Summer lay at the bottom of the collapsed area, crumpled in a heap and immobile.
----
    In the wreckage of the Giralan
    Surface of Karathi
     
     
    One of the Marines threw down a rope, and Cheung disappeared over the edge, rappelling down to the same level Summer lay on. She appeared to have fallen onto a clump of sand, which had fallen with her through a rusted area of the ancient structure's hull. On all sides of the redheaded woman, alien computers—silent and grey—were half-buried in silt. The walls were black metal pitted with rust.Judging by the sand leaking in from all sides it was terribly unsound.
    Liao watched anxiously as the Marine approached Rowe’s unmoving form, reaching out for her neck.Pausing for a moment, he gave a reassuring nod upwards. “Got a pulse!”
    That was something, at least. Liao called down to Cheung, leaning over the collapsed area as far as she dared. “How’s her head?”
    “Bleeding, Captain, but not too badly. I think she’s just stunned.”
    Liao shook her head. “A headwound is a