"I am sure they are," Pan replied.
Bryn tried to concentrate as the talk turned to the failure of the Hyperion explorer. ES had poured billions into that project. It was intended to be the first mass-production low-budget robotic explorer, but it had failed spectacularly.
"We know the failure of Hyperion was a major embarrassment for ES," Wolf said. His voice was silky-smooth, but it was dangerous somehow.
"Not to mention financially ruinous," Lars added.
"Not ruinous," Kerr objected. "We got a lot of useful data we can use to debug the system."
Wolf smiled. "Nevertheless, the probe was a failure. And we understand that those who were poised to place orders for Hyperion have gone mysteriously silent. You're in a fix, Mr, Nevan, and we can help you out of that fix."
"What do you mean?" Torr asked.
Lars smiled, and Bryn felt afraid. It was the smile of a predator about to pounce on its prey.
"We can offer you a contract," Wolf said. "A very lucrative contract. Exoterra has need of robotic explorers now. We're interested in the Panthera and Arachnis EnviroScouts. They'd be perfect for exploring the world we have in mind,"
Lars leaned forward and held Kerr's eyes in a stare that made Bryn shiver. "Of course, we'll need some modifications to their programming. We'll require weapons fitting..."
Panthera : Death Spiral is available as an ebook and paperback from Amazon.
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