“It looks like the right side is the fastest way to get to engineering,” Jaime said.
“You take point, Sam,” Luanne said.
Sam led Marcia and Tad past the rest of the team and down the right branch of the hallway. Luanne, Ryan and Jaime spread out behind them—weapons at the ready. The team walked for several minutes along the dimly lit corridors, making several turns along the way.
“I wonder why no reception,” Sam asked. “They have to know we’re here.”
“Based on the dozens of sensors we’ve passed I’d say it’s certain they do,” Marcia said.
“Lights ahead,” Tad said.
Luanne used hand signals to order the team to hug the walls. They moved slowly, checking every opening as they went. As they approached the well-lit doorway, she signaled Sam to take the left side, and she took the right, with the other team members falling in behind them.
They stopped just outside the door and allowed Tad's drones to enter first. A quick scan revealed a large storage area, with many crates stacked against the walls and lined up down the center of the room. There was another open door at the opposite end of the room.
Luanne signaled the team to move down the left side of the room. As they approached the halfway mark, a soft, female voice emanated from some unseen source.
“Welcome Peacekeepers, I am Aneni. Please place your weapons on the floor and surrender before anyone gets hurt,” the voice said.
Before anyone could say anything the doors at both ends of the room slammed shut.
“There is nowhere to go,” the voice continued. “And I do not wish to hurt you.”
“We can’t do that,” Luanne said through her suit's external speakers. “We have orders to seize this ship and hold it pending a full review of your cargo and mission plan. No one will get hurt if you will allow us to do our jobs.”
“Your orders are flawed,” Aneni said. “This vessel is operating in Martian space and you do not have authority to seize or even inspect it unless it approaches Earth. In fact, you have already committed several treaty violations by pursuing and illegally boarding my ship.”
“And how many violations did Endeavor accrue when they shot at us?” Sam asked.
“That was unfortunate. I told Adee that violence would not be necessary, but he disagreed.”
“So, since you prefer non-violence, then letting us complete our mission is the most logical solution,” Luanne said.
“I am sorry, Lieutenant Commander Wilkes but surrender is your only option. You have thirty seconds to comply.”
Luanne disabled her suit’s external comm system so that only her team could hear her. “Sam, you take the door we just came through, I’ve got the other one. Back to back, 360 coverage—got it.”
“Hooyah,” the team replied.
“Twenty seconds,” Aneni said.
“We aren’t surrendering, do your worst,” Luanne said.
“Very well, have it your way.”
Both doors slid open simultaneously to reveal a rather large synth standing in each. The lower half of the strange looking androids had four legs, articulated like a spider’s, with a humanoid torso sitting on top. Each of the synth’s two arms wielded a rifle-sized weapon of some kind but they did not open fire right away. Instead, they took several giant steps into the room, closing the distance between them and Alpha team by nearly half.
“Weapons free!” Luanne yelled.
Alpha team opened fire on the synths, showering them with bolt after bolt of bright red light. The synths absorbed the beams for several seconds with no apparent damage. Then the synth closest to Sam’s squad slammed its front feet into the deck, sending an electromagnetic charge rushing through the metal plates. Simultaneously, the synth facing Luanne fired an object from an opening that appeared in its chest. The shell exploded just in front of Alpha team, covering them with a shiny, metallic net.
The team’s mag-boots suddenly disengaged from the deck and they could not stop themselves from floating as the net closed around them. Within seconds all six members of Alpha team were bound tightly together in a floating ball of metallic mesh, unable to move their arms or legs more than a few inches.
“Please do not struggle,” Aneni said. “The net will only tighten more if you do.”
“Well, this sucks,” Sam said.
Luanne activated the modified targeting system Jaime had installed, taking control of her team’s suits and locking on to both synths. She waited until the targeting indicators showed better than 90% lock before activating the electromagnetic pulse generators on all six suits. A burst of invisible electromagnetic energy ripped through the compartment causing the lights to flicker briefly before being extinguished. The synths stopped moving but gave no other indication the pulse had affected them.
“Cut us loose,” Luanne said.
All six team members activated the laser cutting torches mounted on the backs of their gloves. It took only seconds to shred the net into a half-dozen pieces that floated slowly away from the group.
“This way,” Luanne ordered.
The team used their suit thrusters to propel them toward the door on the other end of the compartment, floating just above the synth blocking their path. Once through the doorway, they found themselves in another hallway. They used their thrusters to put more distance between them and the storage room, slowing down only when they approached the next intersection.
A familiar voice sounded from a control panel on the wall. “What do you hope to gain by fighting?” Aneni asked. “You will fail and you will only hurt yourselves or others by trying.”
“Boots,” Luanne said.
The team righted themselves so their feet contacted the floor. Their magnetic boots engaged and held firm.
“Must have been a localized effect,” Jaime said. “Hope they don’t do that again.”
“We should have some gravity once we get a little closer to engineering,” Ryan said.
“Be ready just in case,” Sam added.
“How far Tad?” Luanne asked.
“One hundred and twenty meters that way and two decks up.”
“Okay, let’s keep moving.”
“There is a maintenance tunnel in thirty meters that will take us up a deck,” Tad said.
The team continued down the hallway with Sam taking up the rear to make sure they weren’t followed. The hatch covering the maintenance tunnel opened easily, and the team floated up the short passage between decks. They emerged in a small compartment that looked like some kind of junction for the myriad of tubes and wires running along the walls and ceiling. There was another maintenance hatch in the opposite wall.
“Tad, Marcia—check it out,” Luanne said.
Marcia opened the hatch and Tad sent his drones through to scan ahead. As expected, there was another hallway leading away from them in both directions.
“We go right,” Tad said.
Luanne pushed herself through the hatch into the hallway. “On me,” she said.
The team followed her through and lined up behind her on the right-hand wall.
“According to the schematic we have to pass through this area here,” Tad said—highlighting a large room on the map each team member saw projected on his or her left eye.
“It looks like heavy equipment storage,” he added.
“Any way around?” Sam asked.
“Not unless you want to go this way, which takes us to the other side of the ship.”
He highlighted the alternate route for his teammates.
“Let’s stick with the direct route,” Luanne said. “Aneni could have just as many surprises for us that way as this one.”
The team continued down the meandering hallway until it ended in a large, closed door.
“This is it,” Sam said.
Jaime searched next to the door for a control console. “Let me see if I can open it,” he said.
Several minutes passed while Jaime attempted to bypass the doors locking mecha
nism, to no avail.
“Let’s blow it,” Sam finally said.
“Okay, Marcia, thermite first,” Luanne said.
Marcia reached behind her and removed a roll of black, rope-like material from a compartment on the back of her suit. She un-spooled the material and stuck it to the door, creating an outline of a smaller door.
“Stand back,” she said.
A few seconds later the black rope glowed bright red, sending globs of molten metal flying away in all directions. The team did their best to avoid them but some contact was inevitable with so much material floating through the air.
Thankfully, the SHAS suits were constructed with a graphene-titanium alloy covered in heat-resistant ceramic. The heat from the molten metal bits left small singe marks where they hit but did no damage. Once the reaction ceased Marcia gave the door a firm shove with her shoulder and the cut-out section fell into the cargo bay.
Tad sent his drones into the room to scout ahead. As suspected, the room contained giant containers packed with heavy equipment. A multi-spectrum scan revealed an earth mover, several tracked vehicles with various attachments, two six-wheeled rovers and an assortment of other construction equipment.
“No hostiles detected,” he said.
“Stay frosty,” Sam said. “Those synths could show up at any time.”
The team entered the room and moved swiftly toward the opposite side. As the team approached their intended exit, Aneni’s voice sounded from the control console next to the door.
“I’m sorry but I cannot let you proceed further. I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this but you leave me no choice,” she said.
The thermite damaged door behind them slid open, allowing the two spider synths from before to charge into the room. They took up positions on either side of the team as four more synths poured into the room through the door in front of them. The four newcomers were more humanoid in appearance, with two legs and two arms but they had thick bodies and limbs and moved slower than the spider synths. They were designed for combat and their armor and armaments appeared equal to Alpha team's.
“You will not survive,” Aneni said. “I have you surrounded and I will use lethal force if you do not surrender. This is your last chance.”
Alpha team split up and dove for cover behind two stacks of crates near the doorway.
“Kinetic rounds, fire!” Luanne yelled.
Six rifles belched out dozens of rounds of magnetically accelerated metal, with many finding their targets. The kinetic rounds were more effective than energy blasts but the synths readily absorbed the hits as they maneuvered to get better shots at Alpha team.
The synths opened fire with kinetic rounds of their own, shredding the cargo containers and gouging giant holes in the walls behind the Peacekeepers. Alpha team exchanged fire with them for several minutes, with neither side doing much damage to the other. The nimble spider synths took cover behind an earth mover and a tractor and the heavily armored synths took up positions behind the rovers.
“Missiles!” Sam yelled.
The six Peacekeepers stopped firing their rifles as one-meter long tubes extended from the back of their suits and rotated into position over their right shoulders.
“Fire!” Luanne said once the missile launchers were in position.
Each team member selected a different target, helped by their onboard AIs and synchronized targeting systems and fired. The missiles streaked across the cargo bay, flying over and around any objects between them and their targets. Six violent explosions ripped through the cargo bay one after another. The room filled with smoke and visibility dropped to just a few meters. Neither the Peacekeepers nor their drones were affected by the diminished visibility, however, as they quickly switched their optical systems to the infrared and ultraviolet spectrums.
“Two targets damaged, all still operational,” Tad said.
The two spider synths had each lost a leg but were still mobile. The other four appeared to have suffered no damage.
“Incoming!” Tad yelled.
Four grenades flew past the Peacekeepers, sticking to the walls behind them before detonating. The explosions blew the piles of containers over and sent the Peacekeepers flying. Their suits absorbed most of the blast but the force lifted them off of their feet and sent them flying across the low gravity compartment—bouncing off the ceiling, floor and several cargo containers as they went.
The synths moved in unison as the Peacekeepers desperately tried to stabilize themselves using their suit thrusters. Each spider synth deployed a metallic net, capturing Ryan in one and Sam and Marcia in another. The combat synths raised their arms and fired spiked grapples trailing long, thin cables.
One glanced off of Luanne’s left leg but the other punctured the back of her suit, piercing a storage compartment but not the suit's protective inner lining. Tad also took a spike to the back with similar effect but the spike that hit Jaime went through a flexible joint in his suit and stuck in his pelvis—a lucky shot only made possible by the weird angle of his rotation through the air relative to the synth that fired it.
The synths reeled the captured Peacekeepers in, relieving them of their rifles when they were close enough.
“This is most unfortunate,” the one holding Luanne said in Aneni’s voice. “One of your crewman is severely injured and will die if you keep resisting. Will you surrender now?”
Luanne checked her TacNet interface and confirmed that Jaime was bleeding badly inside his suit.
“Emma, transmit log now. Mission failed,” she said to her onboard AI before responding to Aneni. “Yes, we surrender.”
“Good, I will ask you to each exit your combat suits one at a time. Once you are disarmed, I will take you and your injured colleague to our medical bay for treatment. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Luanne said.
Five minutes later, the members of Epsilon Six Alpha were being escorted through the ship by Aneni’s synths. Five minutes after that, they found themselves inside a small, well-lit room with three medical pods lined up along the back wall.
A tall, dark-skinned man stepped forward as they entered.
“Lieutenant Commander Wilkes, I presume? Adekunle Gbadamosi, it’s nice to meet you. Although I am sorry that it is under these circumstances…but no hard feelings. Let’s get your team patched up and back to your ship, shall we?”
CHAPTER 43
APRIL 7, 2075 05:12 AM GST
Galileo Colony Ship Kutanga
Kuiper Belt, Outer Solar System
Aubrey opened the large door with a wave of her hand. Yin and Adee stood near the middle of the cargo bay, watching six of Aneni’s synths scurry around as they stacked crates and made repairs. Adee waived as Aubrey approached, her mag-boots clanking against the deck with each step.
“What are you doing up this early?” Yin asked.
“I couldn’t sleep,” Aubrey replied. “How are the repairs coming?”
“The door has been replaced, and the damaged power conduit repaired. Thankfully, the cargo containers absorbed most of the damage and all the equipment appears to be functional,” Adee said.
“We got lucky,” Yin said.
“Where are Lily and Dylan?” Adee asked.
“Still sleeping, I guess,” Aubrey replied. “I’ve been up for an hour and felt like taking a walk.”
“You shouldn’t wander out to the low gravity areas by yourself,” Adee said. “There are occasional fluctuations that can be very disorienting if you aren’t expecting them.”
“Yeah, I know. Aneni told me you were here, and I just wanted to see how things were going.”
“Well,” Yin replied. “We are almost done here and were thinking about getting something to eat if you’d care to join us.”
“That sounds good, can you make coffee?” Aubrey asked.
“Oh, I suppose,” Adee said. “We might as well splurge a little before…well, before we decide.”
“What’s the hurry, is another day or two reall
y going to hurt anything?” Aubrey asked.
“No but the sooner we decide the better. Every day we are up and about is a day spent consuming resources meant for the colony.”
“I wonder what it will be like when we get there?”
“Hopefully, better than where we just came from,” Yin answered.
* * *
“Great breakfast, Adee, you’re a heck of a cook,” Dylan said.
“Thanks but the meal synthesizer gets all the credit…I just told it what to make.”
“So,” Lily said, “now that most of the repairs are complete I think we should have a vote.”
“I am fine with either option,” Chen said. “It’s up to you all.”
“What did Aneni recommend?” Dylan asked.
“Aneni thinks we should update our archives and nano-wipe these bodies,” Adee replied. “She already has our DNA and keeping these bodies in suspension just consumes more energy.”
“But,” Aubrey said, “creating new clones for us will take at least three years. If we are in cryo, she can resuscitate us in about three hours—that’s a big difference.”
“What about Evan?” Dylan asked. “Do we leave him in cryo or do we update his archive and wipe him too?”
“I’d hate to put him through another restoration if we don’t have to,” Lily answered.
“But if Aneni can’t isolate the mutation-causing gene sequences, won’t our DNA be useless?” Yin asked. “Wouldn’t it be safer to update our archives and let Aneni manage the rest?”
“Which, I’ll remind you, was the plan,” Adee added.
“Would leaving Evan in his pod have a significant impact on Aneni’s fuel reserves?” Lily asked.
Aneni’s voice echoed from a nearby control console. “Leaving Evan in cryogenic suspension for the duration of the voyage would reduce my fuel reserves by 1.26 percent.”
“So, not a huge hit then,” Lily replied.
“No, it’s not,” Adee said. “But we never know what she is going to encounter out there and that one percent could be the difference between success and failure.”
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