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Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Febuary 1st, 2158 (station time) 

The loud noise from the audio clip brought several people into the room.  One of the first was Taavi, who looked concerned at first, but then saw Josh, Manuel and Logan and his expression changed.  The new look was one that might be found on a parent who realized their troubled child caused the issue.

Not trying to hold back his frustration Taavi asked, "What was that sound?"

Josh was quick to speak, "we have a new sound being picked up from Chuck's mech.  It is hard to hear, but it is there."

"A new sound?"  Taavi asked slightly confused.  "I thought we couldn't get any sound other than the static from the wind.  What is this new sound?"

There was a pause as neither Josh, Manuel, nor Logan had any real idea.  Finally it was Manuel who spoke, "It was a bark, or maybe a howl sound.  It was really deep and hard to hear.  My guess, which is only a guess, is that it's from a Goliath.  Probably some form of communication."

"Gantulga," Taavi commanded, "do we have any satellite coverage?"

Gantulga rapidly entered a few commands into his DNAC, "no, Sir.  Not for another three hours."

A scowl covered Taavi's face, "OK, get the drone in the air over the mech.  We need to find out if there are any Goliaths out there."

Taavi turned back to Josh, Manuel and Logan.  "For the record, I don't appreciate being woken up in such a manor."

Manuel and Logan nervously looked at each other.  Josh on the other hand worked on his DNAC and didn't give any sign that he had heard Taavi.

Taavi removed the audio files from the holo in the center of the room.  He replaced it with the three-dimensional augmented view around the mech.  The mech was not picking up any signs of the Goliaths.

"Drone's ETA," Gantulga said, "is approximately two minutes."

Everyone stared at the holo in the center of the room.  Cameras from the mech picked up a three hundred and sixty degree view and projected it back to the base.  The view of the holo was from a third person perspective with a slight birds eye view.  As the drone got closer to the mech the image began to sharpen and clear.  The audio quality remained poor, as the audio was currently turned off on the drone.  It was flying high and would only pick up wind noises if turned on.

"There," Josh said from behind everyone.

Everyone turned to look at him wondering what he had seen that they had not.

"There it is again," Josh said.

"What," Logan asked, "the sound?  You heard it again?"

"Yes, ur no, I saw the audio spikes again," Josh responded.  "Twice more, the second one had a slightly different audio signature, it was probably a response from a different Goliath."

"I have eyes on one Goliath," Gantulga said from the other side of the room.  He entered a quick command into his DNAC and the mech in the holo began to shrink.  The view began to widen around the mech giving a wider range to the view.  A red mark appeared on the holo marking the Goliath that the drone had spotted.  As the drone approached even closer the dot changed to become a highlight around the Goliath.

A second dot appeared on the holo, followed by a third.  "We have multiple confirmed targets," Gantulga announced.

"Two more audio spikes," Josh said, "they are occurring more frequently.  I believe they are getting ready."