An excerpt:

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“Oh, foolish mortal, the Swarm awakens.  Prepare!”

 

George moved to the side of the entrance while Max had begun to dig at the scrabble, kicking loose gravel against Bi1l's coat.  “What's he talking about?  Is this the swarm Rock told me about?”

 

Bi1l moved to the other side of the door, either to reduce the threat from the Khan, or just to avoid Maxie's flying endeavors.

 

“A swarm is a group, usually in the thousands or millions, of semi-autonomous small machines that have not much life individually, but with their patterned responses create a sophisticated suite of actions that hard to distinguish from intelligent behavior. 

 

“Sometimes the swarm behavior is belligerent, and some swarms can be controlled by a central mind, in this case, Khan.  Think of it as a smart hornet's nest, but larger, meaner, faster, and more deadly, both as individuals and as a group. This particular Swarm has a reputation for violence.”

 

“OK, now I see why you aren't worried about disturbing this guy, a puppy dog.”

 

Turning back to the door, Bi1l yelled “One last chance Khan, come out with your hands up, all of them!  You been the big frog in a small pond for too long!  You have an exaggerated opinion of yourself!  Standby!”

 

George really was wondering where this was leading, was it one of Bi1l's silly plays, or a serious show down?  “Now what?”

 

“Now we use that little jewel I picked up from TOP and SP205.  When we go in, you need to keep an eye out for Bear scat, she looks...”  Just then the door swung open, but as it did fifty feet of the entire frontage just fell back to crash into the interior of the shop. 

 

An incredible noise of crickets and snapping shrimp rose up from a wall as high as George's head of black mechanical scorpions, crabs and spiders that filled the exposed space which began to wash towards them as a wave of evil, each with a small points of deep violet lights sweeping around their crowns.

 

“Fall back!”  Bi1l screamed as Max and George jumped clear.  The mechanical detective dug desperately into the deep pockets of his coat for his gadget.  While backing up, George pointed his left hand and began to sweep his arm back and forth like a magician creating an incantation towards the creatures as they fought their way towards him, and everywhere he pointed, the mechs twisted and glowed, being burned into a blackened misshapen mess.  But for every mech destroyed, five took its place.  Max was fiercely barking immediately behind George's legs, snapping at the advanced guard that started to break through.  Bill continued to flap and pat his jacket furiously, trying to dislodge an object.

 

George was now sweeping both hands towards the evil wave, his fingertips smoking. Just as the swarm began to overwhelm them, the wall of death just feet away, Bi1l finally yanked his arm from the coat and with a roundhouse sweep he up and threw something the size of a hand grenade against the ground in front of George with enormous force. 

 

It let go with a weak pop, a small flash of light, and an ugly whizz of smoke like a wet black powder firecracker. As he looked down, George thought That's it? ….... We're pooked.  He slowly raised his head, uncertain of his next action.  Max had become silent next to him.