Borne On Wings of Steel Page 38

  Mother's optics watched as the robot froze in mid-motion after Minstrel disappeared inside it.

  Three long seconds passed.

  The robot suddenly stood erect, the cable still in its grasp. But now a nervous twitch shook the robot's head. The strange jerking motion continued from one appendage and quickly spread to the entire robot.

  Mother watched, fascinated.

  She realized Minstrel was disabling the robot from the inside.

  From the far wall of the docking bay, a heavy blaster weapon fired.

  The bolt of pure energy leaped from its deadly barrel straight for the robot.

  Mother's sensors watched with horror as the beam reached the robot a fraction of a second later.

  “No!” Mother cried.

  * * * *

  “OKAY. KYLE, YOU and Inaha and Qata lay down a covering fire when the Destructors attack.” Qirn stared at the trio with a stern expression. “Hold them as long as you can."

  “Got it,” Kyle said with a determined look. “Give us some extra blasters."

  Rok and the others unstrapped their extra weapons and quickly handed them over to the trio.

  “I don't know how long we'll be able to hold them before we have to fall back,” Kyle said as he inspected two more blasters handed him, making sure they were fully charged, as was his original.

  “The rest of us are going to make a run for the elevator. Once we secure it, we'll call for you,” Qirn said.

  “How many strobe devices left?” Krinia asked.

  “I have one,” Qirn answered. He took it out of his belt and handed it to Kyle. “You'll need this. And Jaric has the last one."

  “Better use them only when we have to,” Kyle said, echoing their one thought.

  “Wait until their attack has begun, then set it off and take out as many as you can with your first bursts,” Rok advised. “The debris from the ones you take out may slow the others."

  “Not if they crawl along the walls and ceiling,” Elise pointed out.

  “One of you needs to watch the ceiling. The other two must watch the floor and walls.” Rok nodded at Kyle.

  Kyle now had three fully loaded assault blasters while Inaha and Qata each had two. The trio also had two blaster pistols each stuffed inside their belts, all ready for the Destructors.

  “Let's go,” Qirn said with a commanding tone.

  Rok and Qirn moved down the tunnel.

  “I don't like this plan,” Jaric said with a sneer.

  “Me either,” Elise added.

  “You're going to have your own hands full, if there are Destructors between us and the turbo-elevator.” Kyle looked from Jaric to Elise. “We'll hold them here, falling back a little at a time. But if you guys don't secure that elevator, we're trapped."

  “Let's move,” Qirn ordered tersely. “The longer we wait, the more time it gives the Destructors."

  Elise walked up to Kyle, a concerned look in her eyes. “Kyle, please be careful."

  “Hey, you too.” Kyle flashed a momentary smile.

  “She's right, Big K,” Jaric stood close Kyle. “If you get into trouble, I'm coming back for you."

  “And you're the man I'd want coming to help.” Kyle rested his hand on Jaric's shoulder. “Now, you two get a move on."

  Rok took the lead, his blaster at the ready, as he began making his way deeper into the tunnel. Qirn and Jerr trotted right behind him followed by Jysar, his eyes ever on his sensor unit. Krinia followed Jysar.

  Jaric and Elise brought up the rear.

  Jaric took a last glance over his shoulder and saw Kyle wave back at him.

  “I don't like it,” Jaric whispered to Elise as they hurried ahead to catch up with the others.

  “Let's hold back a bit then,” Elise suggested.

  “Yeah,” Jaric said with another glance back. “Keep your blaster ready. We'll keep Kyle and the others in sight to make sure they make their retreat."

  * * * *

  A SPLIT MILLISECOND BEFORE the Paum's robot disintegrated in a ball of fire, a glowing streak of twinkling lights leapt out and back inside Mother's hull via the opened access panel and its connector.

  “Minstrel! Are you okay?"

  Mother felt a surge of relief inside her circuits as her anti-rogue code annihilated a big chunk of the attacking code. But she felt more relief due to the fact that she detected Minstrel alive inside the protective confines of her superstructure.

  However, only silence answered.

  Mother focused her sensors on the life form swirling inside the cargo hold near the access panel. To her horror, she detected Minstrel's life-signs vibrating wildly—pulsing with a quickening ebb-and-flow of power and light.

  It almost seemed as if the alien made of plasma and light were fighting to stay on—or alive.

  “Minstrel!” Mother cried again.

  “I-I am hurt,” Minstrel whispered in the softest, most fragile of voices.

  “Please, don't be hurt,” Mother pleaded.

  “I-I will be f-fine."

  “You must not go outside again."

  “I will do...” Minstrel's body suddenly grew dark.

  In the next second it exploded with a burst of color. A wave of twinkling lights swirled again as Minstrel's body took on a more normal appearance.

  Almost.

  “I w-will do what I m-must,” Minstrel finished.

  “How badly are you hurt?"

  “Not bad. Not-t t-too much."

  “You can't risk your life like that again. You can't!"

  “The Paum sends more robots even as we speak,” Minstrel said with an electrical hoarseness.

  Mother's sensors detected the three robots as they approached. They quickly and efficiently headed for the fallen cable next to the still smoldering debris of the former droid.

  Inside her circuits, Mother felt her mind beginning to clear at long last. Her anti-rogue code was finally getting the upper hand and cleansing her systems.

  Still, she felt damage to her near-term memories.

  Mother began initiating repairs.

  “I have reached—” Mother began, just as Minstrel swirled into action and leapt back through her hull.

  On the outside, as the first robot picked up the cable and reached toward the opened access panel and the connector inside, Minstrel flashed and spilled itself inside it.

  The Paum's blaster erupted again.

  Just before the bolt intersected with the robot, Minstrel rushed out.

  And poured itself into the second robot.

  Another blaster cannon roared.

  Again, Minstrel rushed out bare milliseconds before the beam struck and destroyed the second robot.

  “Minstrel!” Mother shouted as a third blaster cannon belched death.

  But Minstrel did not pour itself into the third robot. Like a waterfall, Minstrel poured its body at a right angle and leapt back inside Mother's hull.

  The third robot disintegrated in a ball of destruction.

  “Minstrel,” Mother said breathlessly.

  “I-I am fine. The second blast was a little too close—I got a little scorched. But I'm okay."

  “It's a wonder!"

  “I counted on the Paum being one step ahead of me, so I used that against it.” Minstrel's body glowed with a million, tiny starbursts.

  “But you barely made it."

  “It was difficult. I simply poured in and straight out as quickly as I could. I figured he would fire almost immediately, thinking I was going to morph and destroy the robot from the inside as I did the first time."

  “You didn't even enter the last one."

  “No, I felt the heat from the second blaster cannon on my hind quarters. He was getting too close. So I flowed ninety degrees back to you, just ahead of the blast."

  “Bravo, my wise little friend."

  “You sound like your old self,” Minstrel said with a glow of color.

  “Indeed, I've just raised shields,” Mother advised Minstrel with renewed
confidence. “And I've just rid myself of the last of the Paum's rogue virus code."

  Minstrel sensed the power surge through Mother's systems.

  “Cool,” Minstrel crooned.

  “I am now charging my weapons—all of them."

  At that very moment, the Paum fired all seven of the blaster cannons in the dock area directly at Mother.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  * * *

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  UP AHEAD, ROK took point.

  He heard noises—some of them seemed to be coming from the darkness before him. But some seemed to be coming from other directions, even directly above his head. He hated these Destructors, almost invisible and as dangerous as anything he'd ever run into before.

  Another scraping noise, like metal claws on metal, came to his ears.

  The scratching sound grew closer.

  But he couldn't see anything except darkness.

  Unsure, he dropped down to the floor and waited for the two Iraxx to reach him.

  He gripped his blaster, his forefinger resting lightly on the firing button.

  “What have you got?” Qirn asked as he and Jerr caught up to him.

  “I hear movement up ahead,” Rok replied.

  Jerr put his blaster down and tuned his sensor.

  Qirn and Rok kept their guns pointing steady into the darkness beyond.

  “There is something,” Jerr began. “Close..."

  Suddenly, the blaster in Rok's hand was ripped away.

  He fell backwards as Qirn fired.

  Movement was everywhere in the dense darkness.

  Rok felt talons reaching for him as he slapped at them with his fists and fought to get away.

  Qirn's blaster fired non-stop, first in one direction and then another.

  Jerr screamed.

  “Get down!” a female voice shouted.

  Rok hit the deck, recognizing Krinia's voice from behind.

  Lying flat on the floor, he felt the heat from a hail of blaster bolts warm his back as the Mewiis hammered the Destructors. In another moment, the heavy weight of a metallic body pressed against his back.

  Rok began flailing away with both his arms as he fought to dislodge the Destructor.

  But the Destructor was motionless; Krinia's weapon had cut it in two and made it lifeless.

  Qirn scrambled back beside Rok in the next moment. The Iraxx reloaded his blaster while Rok pulled his last blaster pistol from its holster.

  “Where's Jerr?” Krinia asked as she joined them.

  “Over there,” Qirn motioned with his blaster.

  In the half-light, they all looked.

  But Jerr was nowhere to be seen.

  Krinia pulled out her sensor while the other two aimed their blasters toward the darkness. Her fingers danced over its controls until suddenly they went still. She stared at it a moment longer in silence.

  “They're dragging him away from us, there's some sort of access corridor above our ceiling. They must've pulled him up through it and..."

  “He's gone,” Qirn said without emotion.

  “If there's a passage above this tunnel, they could drop down on us at any time. Anywhere,” Rok's voice grew somber.

  “Every fifteen meters there's an access door in the ceiling.” Krinia's tone was matter-of-fact. “I'll set this unit to watch for any of them opening. It may give us enough notice."

  “Jysar, get up here. Fast!” Qirn whispered urgently into his Comm.

  “Almost there,” the Hrono replied breathlessly.

  * * * *

  MOTHER SHUDDERED FROM direct hits of the Paum's blaster cannons.

  “You must lower your shields, or I will destroy you.” the Paum's deep voice growled.

  “I think it's about time you knew my full capabilities, Paum-bozo.” Mother said, using the children's favorite derogatory term.

  “You will stop. I have just ordered every Destructor within my core complex to attack your children and their friends."

  Mother's systems froze.

  As her twelve main guns emerged from their turrets, she checked her hybrid weapon and realized it was still only half charged. Mother reached out with her sensors, searching frantically for the life-signs of her children in order to locate their exact positions—in order to try and protect them.

  Somehow.

  But the Paum's jamming effectively prevented her.

  “Order the Destructors away from my children. Or I will destroy you,” Mother stated with a deadly tone.

  “I still hold you fast with my tractor beams. My blaster cannons are still aimed directly for you. I still hold all the cards."

  Mother fired her twelve main guns.

  The beams blossomed over the shields that protected the Paum's weapons.

  Still, Mother detected that the shield strength protecting the docking area fell by six percent.

  The Paum was vulnerable.

  Mother focused and directed more power to charging her hybrid weapon.

  “My Destructors will be on your children in minutes. Then, it will be too late."

  “You better not make Mother mad,” Minstrel warned.

  Mother's processors burned with super-activity as she calculated her options. She had to keep the Paum talking, keep it distracted.

  “I will spare your life, Paum, if you call back the Destructors now."

  “You overestimate your power,” the Paum sneered. “Besides, I've just sent the command to kill them all."

  * * * *

  KYLE GLANCED DOWN at the sensor in his left hand while he pointed his assault blaster with his right.

  “They're coming."

  Inaha moved his huge body closer to Kyle while Qata hugged the opposite wall.

  In the dim light, they saw shadowy movement all around the entrance to the tunnel.

  Three assault blasters roared in unison.

  Flying debris from broken Destructors flew past their heads as the robots continued relentlessly onward in spite of the hail of fire. They could see—as if in a haze—the metallic monsters charging as one amid the flicking red light of their blasters.

  But though many of them shuddered and broke apart, even more leapt up and took their place.

  “Back!” Kyle shouted.

  Inaha's blaster went silent as he began edging backwards. He threw it away, pulled up another and fired away.

  The three began a slow, steady retreat from before the almost seen enemy, firing volley after volley at the darkness and the movement that filled it.

  “I can't see them!” Qata shouted.

  “Neither can I. But they're coming. Retreat faster!” Kyle shouted back. He reached inside his shirt and pulled out the strobe device.

  Suddenly, the blaster in Qata's hand was slapped away by an invisible talon from above.

  The Iraxx turned and ran.

  “Go!” Kyle shouted to Inaha as he aimed his blaster and fired, first at the ceiling and then at the mass of shadowy forms scurrying towards him.

  But the big alien stood his ground beside Kyle as both continued stepping backward at a slow and steady pace, firing their blasters non-stop. Inaha would not leave his human friend to face the monsters alone.

  Kyle and Inaha kept up a steady fire, the assault blasters rocking their upper bodies. They aimed and fired at anything that moved, even movements that were half-seen, half-felt. Still, they could only see the Destructors when their bolts found their mark and a broken part fell useless to the floor.

  And yet, they could hear the Destructors drawing closer with each passing second.

  “Cover your eyes, Inaha!” Kyle shouted as he continued firing, while with his free hand he activated the timer on the strobe device.

  But still he held onto it.

  Suddenly, they heard Qata cry out behind them.

  With a certain dread, Kyle and Inaha knew Qata was gone.

  And that Destructors were behind them as well.

  * * * *

  MOTHER FIRED ALL
her guns simultaneously, targeting one of the tractor beams that held her fast. As the explosions ripped into the shields, she felt the beam falter.

  She sent a signal to her engines, and they roared to life.

  But she only moved a few centimeters before the other tractor beams increased their power and stopped her.

  “See, you are—” the Paum began.

  Mother now launched a full spread of torpedoes at point-blank range while she fired her guns again. Huge chunks of metal and debris exploded out in all directions as the shields failed under the dual attack.

  Again, Mother revved her engines. This time she moved a few meters more.

  And once again the other three tractor beams increased their power and held her fast in their invisible grip.

  Mother checked her hybrid-weapon—almost fully charged.

  “...still in my power,” the AI finished as the sound of the explosions died away. “I am invincible."

  “Seems like I've heard that term used before,” Minstrel chimed. “And every time, it was proved untrue."

  The Paum's electronic laughter echoed over the speakers.

  Mother reached out with her sensors again, trying to find a way between the ever-present jamming of the Paum. She could make out her immediate surroundings, but nothing beyond that.

  But as she tuned and readjusted the sensors, trying to get around it, she came upon a new target—a main power generator in the nearest substation and a tractor beam emplacement with it. Even better, the direction of both led back to the center of the Paum's inner core, straight to the heart of its essence—its mind.

  Mother felt her hybrid weapon come ready.

  “What is that energy surge I detect inside you?” the Paum asked with rising interest.

  * * * *

  JARIC AND ELISE stopped as they heard the blaster fire erupt behind them. They both knew the Destructors were attacking Kyle and the others with him. Seconds earlier, blaster fire ahead of them indicated Rok and the others had just fought off other Destructors up toward the turbo-elevator.

  They realized with a sickening dread that Destructors were now attacking them from both directions.

  “What do we do?” Elise asked Jaric.

  The blaster fire behind them intensified.

  And it began to draw closer.

  “They're retreating,” Jaric surmised correctly. “Let's wait here. We can lay down a covering fire when they..."