Gate Quest (Star Kingdom Book 5)

by Lindsay Buroker

  Kelsey-Sato and Beaumont scrambled across their submarine toward the dock.

  “Kim,” her mother said. “It is excellent that you are alive.”

  “Thank you, Mother,” Kim said when she reached the dock.

  They looked at each other but didn’t hug, as Qin would have expected. Kim bowed her head slightly. Her mother lifted a hand in a wave of acknowledgment.

  “I’m here to help with the gate,” Kelsey-Sato said.

  “I am the Kingdom-sent official gate expert,” Beaumont said.

  “Meaning the king finds his friends more acceptable than mine,” Kelsey-Sato said, “not that he knows more than I do.”

  Beaumont sniffed. “My memory banks are just as packed with pertinent information as yours, I assure everyone.”

  Kim pointed toward a tunnel in a wall of ice beyond a beach full of unmoving robots on treads. “Casmir, Asger, and the mercenaries went that way.”

  Qin glanced at Bjarke, wondering if he would react at the mention of Asger, but his face was blank in his helmet. Qin wondered if Asger knew Bjarke was coming. She hoped that father and son would have a warmer reunion than Kim and her mother had displayed, but given the disapproval Bjarke had expressed the one time he spoke of Asger, that didn’t seem likely.

  “Let’s go,” was all Bjarke said and strode off.

  It was too hard.

  No, that wasn’t it, but there was too much to learn, too much to study, and in too short a time. Casmir had fixed his chip, since that had been a far more familiar task, and was accessing the files he’d downloaded before coming, known information about the gate and about the technology and programming languages the artificial intelligences on Verloren Moon used.

  There were clues in all of it, but fitting them together to understand the enigma before him was eluding him. He reminded himself that he only had to grasp the security measures and deactivate them, not gain full knowledge of how the gate worked, but that was akin to trying to understand a page in a book without understanding the language it was written in. He felt he had to master the language first.

  How goes it, Professor?

  Moonrazor.

  His fevered body shivered. Would he have to take his chip offline again to avoid some new attack? Why was she speaking with him? Wasn’t she busy? Hadn’t Asger and Rache reached her and started a fresh fight?

  It’s an intriguing problem. Casmir was tempted to ignore her, but her people had been studying the problem already, so it was possible she had useful information. I wish I were examining the gate under other circumstances.

  Such as when your soldiers weren’t obliterating my people?

  Such as when your robots weren’t giving me seizures.

  You are more of a danger than any of the others, she messaged. I would be foolish not to nullify the greatest threat.

  I’m fevered, puking, and dying. I can’t possibly be the greatest threat. Casmir kept working while he spoke to her, combining a program that archaeologists used for deciphering old forgotten languages with another the military used for cryptography and cracking codes.

  You are because you don’t want to steal my gate; you want to share it. Or so you say. Is it odd that I believe you? It could be because two of the ships in orbit have tried to contact us about acquiring a piece of the gate for study, and they offered to trade for it. I suspect your hand at work.

  Huh. Casmir hadn’t spoken to any of those captains or crews up there, but it was possible the message had trickled through to them. But he wasn’t sure what Moonrazor was angling for or if he should confess to his role.

  Two weeks ago, nobody knew it was here. It seems that, in addition to the Kingdom and those mercenaries, an awful lot of scientists are here now, expressing intellectual curiosity.

  Is that something you approve of? Intellectual curiosity?

  Don’t you?

  Of course.

  You don’t belong in the Kingdom, Professor.

  Because I’m curious?

  Because you’d rather make friends with me than put a bullet through my head.

  Casmir didn’t see the conversations they’d been having as indicative of a friendship being forged, but maybe she perceived their sparring in a different light. Then the Kingdom is exactly where I should be. If that’s the perception of it out here, it must need more people like me.

  She didn’t answer right away, and he waited in anticipation of a biting retort about how he was weak instead of strong, something he’d heard so often from his peers as he’d grown up. One day, he’d learn not to make himself vulnerable in front of his enemies. Or maybe he wouldn’t. People tended to be more receptive to him when he was vulnerable. Maybe later, he’d have a seizure at her feet, and Moonrazor would be moved enough to accept the deal he was offering.

  You are trying to deactivate the security system that spits an undetectable radiation when humans approach? Moonrazor asked, sidestepping his last comment.

  That was better than her mocking him for it.

  Yes. Casmir saw little point in denying it. She was probably watching him through a surveillance camera.

  I lost a whole team of my best people to it before we understood the threat.

  I know. I saw their bodies on that cargo ship. And then I saw what you did to Tork-57. Was that out of anger?

  Frustration at his failure, yes, but also to intrigue your people into taking him aboard. Then the android could destroy you, and you couldn’t come after the gate. It seems I’ve been underestimating you all along. Of course, I did not know of you personally until recently.

  We robotics professors keep a low profile.

  How is it that you are alive? I myself haven’t been able to go through the magnetic field and study the gate since I still have biological elements.

  I’m immune. I have old unaltered genes. The gate doesn’t see me as a threat.

  I wondered if it might be something like that. You were cloned from Admiral Mikita?

  Does everybody outside of the Kingdom know that?

  Everybody who’s opened a history book and seen a picture. Also, I have a file on him. One of his closest officers was wounded horribly in battle, had half his insides replaced with cybernetics, and became an astroshaman leader after the Kingdom finished its conquering.

  I didn’t know that. I would be curious to see that file. As soon as he sent the words, Casmir worried it had been a mistake to admit that, to possibly give her another bargaining chip to use against him in their ongoing dance.

  Deactivate the gate, and I’ll give it to you.

  Now that she knew what he was doing, she might want him to have the opportunity to finish, especially if the androids she’d had working on the problem—or had they been loaded droids?—hadn’t figured it out yet. That potentially gave him a bargaining chip. Maybe the active security system was the only reason the gate was down here in this base instead of already on a ship heading to its destination system.

  I’m doing my best to deactivate it, but it would be easier if your people and robots stopped attacking us.

  Would it? I thought these mercenaries kidnapped you and that I would be doing you a favor to get rid of them.

  Casmir assumed she was being flippant, but he wasn’t positive. Maybe now that he was trying to deactivate the gate, she no longer wished to impede him. Maybe she thought if she got rid of Rache’s men, she could come advise him herself. And be poised to snag the gate as soon as the security system was deactivated…

  One of my friends, who was also kidnapped, is fighting with them because he believes he has no choice, Casmir told her. I would work better if I wasn’t worried about his life.

  Is that so?

  Laughter couldn’t come across the text messages of the chip, but he had the sense of her chuckling.

  I’m afraid I must deal with them, she continued. They have no interest in sharing the gate with me, and in truth, I still hope to retain it all for myself. Do keep me updated on your progress with its defenses, will
you?

  Bring me an orange fizzop, and I’ll show you the checks in my bullet journal.

  You are delightful, Professor. If you want to change your mind and join my side, you’ve got about… three minutes.

  Casmir grimaced, now more worried for Asger instead of less.

  On the other side of the chamber, Rache’s team of men let out a few triumphant whoops—they’d successfully drilled their hole through the ice and would now work on widening it.

  That only made Casmir feel more pressure to figure out his problem. If ships started sending teams down, hoping to snag a piece, and the gate’s security system was still activated, all the people he’d encouraged to come would be in danger of dying.

  21

  Asger walked beside Rache, who insisted that he lead his mercenaries through the tunnel rather than letting them go first. If Asger tried to pull a half a step ahead, that dark mask turned in his direction, conveying a glare as well as eyes could. Asger glared back.

  Their little game did not last long. The tunnel ended at a cavernous atrium full of shrubbery and birds. Asger couldn’t tell if they were mechanical or real, but their chirps sounded programmed as they flew from potted tree to potted tree, trunks reaching up toward an icy ceiling that glowed with simulated sunlight. Here and there, empty tables, some still with cups on them, rested under the branches. At the back of the chamber, a counter with bar seats opened into an empty kitchen.

  The place looked more like a square at a university campus than some underground enemy base.

  “People behind the trees,” Rache warned.

  “Robots in that tunnel over there,” someone added.

  Movement behind one of the trees drew Asger’s eye, and he fired the vial-gun as soon as he glimpsed human hair.

  A grenade whistled through the air toward them. Rache shot it out of its trajectory, and it exploded with a boom that shook the trees.

  Asger thought Qin would be disappointed if she were here, but then mercenaries started streaming past him into the atrium, and there wasn’t time to think of anything but staying alive and picking targets. Even as those targets were targeting him.

  He let the mercenaries take the brunt of their ire and stayed in the mouth of the tunnel. Even if he felt cowardly doing so, he could more easily play the role of sniper if he wasn’t in the middle of the fray.

  The first person he’d shot lay on the ground, twitching. Asger felt triumphant—the liquid-filled darts actually did something. A mercenary ran past and shot the man in the head. He stopped twitching after that, and Asger grimaced, realizing he would only be immobilizing people so they would be easy targets.

  But what choice did he have? He saw far more cyborgs and androids leaning out from behind the trees than there were Rache’s people. And they wanted to kill him.

  More enemies, some in armor and some not, streamed into the atrium. Asger targeted those with necks showing, only realizing after he fired a couple of vials that some were androids. He took more care, trying to spot human—or mostly human—eyes before firing. But with the astroshamans, it was frequently hard to tell what they were.

  One woman pointed a weapon toward Asger that looked more like a slingshot than a pistol. A high-tech mechanical slingshot. When it fired, a ball of blue light whirled toward him.

  Even though his armor should be able to take numerous hits, Asger jumped back into the tunnel to avoid the projectile. But the ball turned in the air like a guided missile and zipped after him. It slammed into his shoulder as he tried to dodge.

  A charge of electricity crackled in the air all around him, more like a stunner nimbus than a DEW-Tek blast. Somehow, it affected him through his armor. Pain lit up every nerve in his body, and he bit back a howl of agony.

  His armor went rigid all over. Asger pitched against the wall, unable to move as his protective suit turned into a tomb.

  Shouts and cries of pain came from the atrium, and Asger could hear the grinding and whirring of robots advancing into the fray. He could see and look around, but his frozen suit allowed no other movement. A stun for his armor. He’d never encountered such a thing, and he feared he was out of the fight permanently.

  An explosion roared in the atrium. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw leaves flutter down. A mercenary in black combat armor skidded across the floor on his butt. He sprang up with a roar and ran back toward some assailant Asger couldn’t see.

  “Get the woman with the slingshot!” someone yelled.

  No kidding.

  Just as Asger was lamenting that this would be his fate, his armor unlocked. He was able to move his fingers, then his arms, and finally his legs.

  He spotted the vial-gun where he’d dropped it and snatched it back up. He loaded more vials and crept back into the mouth of the tunnel.

  He got two shots off, vials bursting against the chests of semi-human foes, before a rumble to the side startled him. A giant robot rolling along the wall almost knocked his head off with an arm holding a built-in circular saw on the end.

  Asger ducked, sprang farther back into the tunnel, and yanked the shell gun off his back. He fired before the robot rolled out of sight. He expected to blow it up, as he had the others, but a tiny red beam shot out of its head. The shell exploded before it reached its target, and the shockwave blew Asger back down the tunnel.

  “Annoying when the enemy learns from its mistakes,” he muttered, jumping back to his feet.

  The robot rolled back across the tunnel exit, as if to taunt him. Asger growled, slung the shell gun back over his shoulder, and pulled out his pertundo. He charged for the exit as the robot rolled out of view, and he leaped after it.

  He dodged a swipe from the whirring saw, darted behind his metal foe, and rammed the point of his weapon into the back of the robot’s carapace. It crunched, sinking in, and lightning similar to what had come from that ball arced around the metal monster.

  Asger had a split second to wonder if the astroshamans had stolen the knights’ technology—or vice versa. Then the robot reversed its treads and roared back toward him, bringing the saws to bear again.

  He yanked his weapon free, readjusted his grip in an oft-practiced move, and slammed the blade down on the saw arm. It cleaved through with another burst of blue electricity. The robot seemed impervious to the energy attack but not to the blade itself, and the end of its arm sheared off.

  The saw spun away, almost clipping his armor before cutting into the ice wall and sticking there. Asger cleaved off the second saw arm before the robot could attack him again, then slammed his blade into the thing’s torso, hoping to find some vital motor that would stop its charge.

  Something slammed into Asger’s back, knocking him into the robot. He recovered and sprang free, keeping his pertundo in hand. Two huge men who appeared more machine than human had him surrounded. Worse, the robot rotated and kept coming, trying to run him over even though he’d deprived it of its weapons.

  Asger rammed the shaft of his pertundo backward to take one foe in the armored chest and keep him from getting close. He kicked toward the other one, but the big man was far faster than he looked. He caught Asger’s foot before he retracted it. Asger’s leg was pulled back and shoved upward with muscle-tearing force. He would have been flipped onto his back, but Asger spun in the air, jerking his leg free, and came down on his feet.

  Unfortunately, he landed hard and off-balance. The robot slammed into him before he could recover.

  Asger skidded sideways, again struggling to keep his feet under him. That didn’t keep him from stabbing and slashing with his pertundo. He managed to keep his attackers back, but two more charged in.

  One fired a rifle, and Asger had nowhere to dodge. The bolt ricocheted off his armor, but more followed it. An alarm flashed on his heads-up display, warning of a possible resource overload as his liquid armor shifted and morphed, trying to keep a breach from forming.

  Asger roared and tried to spring out of the fray—how had he let himself get surrounded
?—but one of the impossibly fast cyborgs lunged in and wrapped an arm around his neck from behind. Asger twisted and rammed the point of his pertundo at his assailant. It caught and tore into metal and flesh, but the grip around his neck didn’t loosen. Whatever held him was more machine than man and didn’t seem to feel pain.

  More bolts fired into his back, and his armor struggled to compensate, to bounce them away instead of letting them through. Asger twisted further and jerked his helmet out of the man’s grip. Finally.

  But the cursed robot rammed into him again, shoving him toward another enhanced assailant.

  A punch like a railgun crashed into the side of his helmet. Asger saw stars as the hard material crunched, but he didn’t let himself fall down. He channeled his pain into anger and whirled, swinging his pertundo with all of his strength.

  He clipped another enemy with his backswing, but it barely slowed the momentum of the blade. It cleaved through the cybernetic neck of his assailant, and the cyborg’s helmet and head flew off. They clattered across the ice, the banging of the head sounding more machine than human.

  A roar came from a few feet away. Asger spun, expecting another attack, but a giant foe looming nearby was hefted into the air and hurled into a potted tree. The pot cracked, and the tree pitched down on top of the cyborg.

  A black-armored mercenary stood where he’d been and barked, “Look out!”

  Asger’s rear camera caught the threat at the same time, and he flipped his pertundo, jamming the point behind him. His attacker impaled himself on it.

  The mercenary—that had been Rache’s voice—rolled a grenade across the floor toward the robot, the metal behemoth still trying to roll over Asger and crush him.

  “Out of the way,” Rache said and ran to the side.

  Asger expected the robot’s beam to shoot out again, but maybe it had taken too much damage. As he ran, the grenade blew up, taking the robot with it.

  “Shoot the humans with the vials.” Rache waved a hand at two cyborgs rushing toward them, then rolled a second grenade across the floor at another robot rumbling in their direction. This one also didn’t shoot the incoming threat. Rache must have discovered that they didn’t recognize projectiles that came at them from the floor.