I Am The Swarm-Chapter 645: The Proposal

The four Z-2Q-15 spider-shaped robots had been itching to move. Upon receiving the order, they extended their long metallic limbs and rushed forward at high speed.

The metal joints of these large spiders were incredibly flexible. If not for the reflective metallic sheen of their bodies, they could easily be mistaken for real spiders from a distance.

“Activate the scanners!” A probe extended from the abdomen of each Z-2 robot. Standing over three meters tall, these probes allowed the robots to scan a large area.

A soft green light sprayed out, sweeping across the ground and collecting various data. The AI, Gwendolyn, provided remote computational support, quickly converting this data into 3D models and marking anomalies in red.

“Nothing useful here.”

“No choice. This is a zero-gravity zone. If it weren’t, the weight of the B-3 would have left drag marks.”

“Forget about the repair robot. Do another thorough sweep and see if you can find any traces of the Swarm. Even though their threat level hasn’t been determined yet, we need to eliminate them as soon as possible.”

“Roger that. I don’t want to share a ship with the Swarm either. They’re not exactly my type.”

“Heh, don’t speak too soon. I heard the Swarm’s empress is quite something.”

“Really?… Got a picture?”

“Shut up! If you keep spouting nonsense, it’s extra training in the gym for everyone after this mission!”

“…” Based on the earlier footage, the Swarm unit that had infiltrated the ship wasn’t very large, which made sense. A larger size would mean greater destructive power. If the invading Swarm unit had been larger, it would have caused much more commotion by now, eliminating the need for stealth.

The remote-controlled mechanical squad was confident in their abilities. With their setup, they believed eliminating a few invading Swarm units would be a simple task. As a result, they were relaxed, bantering with each other as if it were just another training exercise.

However, as the squad leader, Knox couldn’t afford to join in the casual banter. He knew that high-ranking officials, possibly even the captain himself, were watching their performance. They needed to remain professional and demonstrate their competence.

“Strange. We’ve been here for a while now. Why haven’t we been hit by an electromagnetic pulse?” Gale, the operator of the Z-1 unit providing aerial surveillance, was the only female in the squad. As such, she was usually assigned the easier task of staying airborne and monitoring the situation.

Because her job was relatively simple, she had more time to focus on details. Now, she suddenly realized that both the in-cabin repair robot and the B-3 space-grade repair robot had been attacked almost immediately upon entering this area, lasting only a few seconds.

Yet, they had been here for several minutes without any attacks. Noticing this anomaly, she immediately reported it.

“This means it wasn’t a machine malfunction earlier. The energy generator wasn’t the problem. It was the Swarm causing trouble all along.”

“If it can use electromagnetic attacks, the invading Swarm unit might be stronger than we thought. Everyone, stay alert,” Knox warned.

“Where did it go?”

“Maybe it got scared and ran away.”

“If it knows to avoid danger, that means it’s capable of thought. That’s troublesome. If it escapes…”

“Gwendolyn, any anomalies in the surrounding surveillance?”

“No anomalies,” a crisp female voice responded over the comms.

“I love Gwendolyn’s voice. The captain really knows what I like.”

“Shut up, Kari! Gwendolyn, any new instances of surveillance going offline?”

“None.”

“Everyone, be careful. That Swarm unit might still be here!”

“Not necessarily. There are blind spots in the surveillance. If it managed to hide for so long without being detected, it must know our surveillance layout and blind spots very well.”

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“Could there be a traitor?” a voice of suspicion chimed in.

Ships typically had two surveillance systems: one overt and one covert. The overt cameras were placed in plain sight, albeit disguised. With some training, they were easy to spot.

However, the covert cameras were much more hidden. Without access to the ship’s blueprints, it would be nearly impossible to locate them through observation or experience alone.

“Shut up! That’s impossible!” Knox snapped.

Betraying one’s own race to side with the Swarm offered no benefits. Moreover, many of the covert cameras were installed later, with the work done in separate phases. Combined with numerous customizations, there was no standardized template for the covert surveillance system.

Using the blueprints from another ship to crack the covert surveillance on this one was pure nonsense. If there were a traitor, they would have to be on this very ship.

And due to clearance levels, the only ones on the ship who could know the locations of all the covert cameras were the AI, Gwendolyn, and the captain himself.

The AI couldn’t possibly betray the Swarm, which left only one suspect. But how could that be?

“It doesn’t have to be a traitor. Don’t forget, the Swarm’s stealth technology is incredibly advanced. Our in-cabin surveillance isn’t equipped with gravitational detectors.”

“This is troublesome. If we can’t eliminate them here, finding them again will be extremely difficult.”

“True. If it can bypass our surveillance system, we’ll only know its location the next time it attacks.”

“Damn it! I’ve never been good at hide-and-seek!”

“Shut up, Kari!”

“Be careful. It might not have left. If it can truly ignore our surveillance, why would it run away? It might be hiding in a corner right now.”

“Right. All Z1 units, ascend and activate gravitational detectors.” Although the Z1 units were equipped with gravitational detectors, their limited size meant the detectors were only marginally effective—better than nothing, but not by much.

The complex structure of the ship’s interior, combined with the presence of large instruments, interfered with the gravitational detectors’ functionality. Additionally, with only a few Z1 units, a full-scale sweep of the ship was impossible. However, scanning the battlefield should still be feasible.

“Try using ultrasonic detection. Even if the Swarm has true invisibility, it shouldn’t be able to evade ultrasonic waves, right?”

This proposal was quickly approved. The Confederation had limited data on fighting the Swarm inside ships. Such battles were rare, and ships infiltrated by the Swarm often ended up destroyed. Since they usually lost these battles, they rarely had the chance to salvage the battlefield. As a result, critical data on these encounters was scarce.