by Tony Healey
"Well, what about that Gatling gun?" Kort said. "That thing's got to be more powerful than all our weapons put together."
"Sure, but it's not exactly discrete, now is it?" Pazo said. "I can't conceal it because it takes two hands to wield that bad boy. They'll see me coming a mile away."
"Fair enough." Kort folded the map and tucked it inside his jacket. "I guess we'll just have to wing it."
Pazo laughed in his loud, obnoxious way. "That’s what I do best."
___***___
The team pressed on toward the mining facility on foot, sticking to the rocky cliffs to avoid detection. Hovering patrol droids swept the area every ten minutes, but had been easy to outmaneuver so far. Kort checked his holographic watch, noting that the next sweep would commence in less than two minutes. Not far ahead, a pillar-like slab of rock made an attractive spot to hide and wait for the patrol to pass by.
"Let's pick up the pace," Kort said. "We need to get behind that rock before the drones come back around."
With thirty seconds to spare, the group reached the pillar and lie in wait. The patrol droids floated by right on schedule. Kort pushed a button on his watch to reset the countdown timer, but it didn't take. The timer reached zero, and a notification chime sounded. Kort cupped his hand around the watch until the noise stopped.
The patrol droids halted, and turned toward the pillar. LED screens on their white armor displayed red sound waves playing back the sound of Kort's watch. A yellow light volleyed back and forth across one of the droid's glass-domed head. It broke formation and drifted in the direction of the group.
Pazo unholstered his minicrossbow, but Kort put up his hand and mouthed "Wait." The patrol droid replicated the tone from Kort's watch, using echolocation to bounce the signal around the area. Pazo's biceps twitched as the droid neared their hiding spot.
After failing to find the audio source, the patrol droid rejoined its formation and continued sweeping the area. Kort breathed a sigh of relief.
"They're leaving," Pazo said. "With any luck, that blip on their scan will translate as a glitch – some type of audio interference."
"In any case, we can't wait around." Kort stepped out from behind the pillar. "We've only got nine minutes, twenty-two seconds till those things come around again."
___***___
Kort peeked out between two bushy tree limbs. Only a few feet remained between them and the lumberyard. Although the grounds were unoccupied, a tech-armored mercenary manned the tower, as expected.
Pazo nudged Kort. "See the size of that rifle? If we're spotted, these guys aren't going to ask questions. Catch my drift?"
Kort nodded. "I also see that pair of high-optic binoculars around his neck."
"Still got expensive tastes, do ya?" Pazo chuckled. "Agreed. Now all we gotta do is get them from him."
"Any suggestions?" Kort asked.
"Let's ask him nicely." Pazo crept around behind the tower and took position against one of its support legs. Once settled, he waved over the rest of the team. Pazo banged his claw against the tower's steel access ladder. The sound reverberated far and wide.
"What the hell are you doing?" Kort said.
Pazo shrugged. "Getting ya an early Christmas present."
Seconds later, the mercenary's boots clanged against the ladder rungs. As soon as his feet came into view, Pazo pounced, clamping his claw around the ankle and yanking the guard to the ground. A snow bank cushioned the fall, making minimal noise.
Pazo wasted no time in blanketing the mercenary, and pinning down one side, covering the guard's mouth to muffle the shouts. Kort jumped in and held down the other side. The mercenary kicked his legs in futility. Max scooped up the loose rifle and slid the strap over his shoulder.
Kort looked at Pazo. "Now what?"
Pazo struck the mercenary with his claw, knocking him out. "How's that?"
"That'll do." Kort stood up and brushed snow off his clothing. "Think anyone noticed?"
Pazo glanced in the direction of the mining facility. "Nah, that was clean and quiet."
"What happens to him?" Max asked, looking down at the mercenary.
Pazo reached into a pack on his belt and pulled out a garrote: a thin strip of nylon with grips at either end.
Max gasped.
"Relax," Pazo said. "I'm gonna use this to bind him to one of these support legs. Jeez, I'm not an animal."
K1R-B cocked its head to the side. "But . . ."
"Ya got something ya wanna say to me, tin can?" Pazo sneered. "Go on. Say I look like shellfish. I dare ya."
Max covered his mouth to hide an impish smile.
"Alright, if you two are done clowning around, we've got work to do," Kort said.
___***___
Kort adjusted the magnification on the binoculars. The sensors identified objects in view, and calculated their distance. Two sets of three mercenaries guarded the mining facility’s east and west access points.
Kort handed the binoculars to Pazo. "Security seems much lighter than I expected. Only six guards posted out front? You think the rest are inside?"
Pazo peered through the lens, zooming in and scanning the perimeter. At full magnification, he could see individual stones on a path leading up to the facility. Orange hexagons highlighted unremarkable sections of terrain.
"That's strange," Pazo said. "The binoculars are detecting objects in the snow, but I can't see any – oh, crap."
"What is it?" Kort asked.
Pazo lowered the binoculars and rubbed his eyes. "It's a damn mine field. No wonder there aren't more guards out front. There's no way to reach them."
"Are the mines spaced that close together?" Max asked. "Couldn't we use the binoculars to mark the locations and slip between them?"
"Sounds good in theory, sport, but Wils has access to Union requisitions," Pazo said. "These babies are Union-issued proximity mines. Ya don't even have to step on one to make it go all ‘splodey."
"Oh . . . so, there's nothing we can do?" Max said.
Pazo sighed. "Our options are somewhat limited here. Even if we could somehow manage to navigate through the mind field, the mercs would pick us off before we made it to the front door."
"The cruiser is heavily-armored." Kort took the binoculars back. "We'd lose the element of surprise, but could it withstand the blasts?"
"Some, sure, but not an entire minefield full of those things," Pazo said. "Besides, we'd lose too much time doubling back to get it. The researchers don't have much longer." Pazo pounded his thick cranium. "Come on, Pazo! Think! Think!"
"You're awfully quiet back there, Kirby?" Kort leaned on the tower railing. "Got any ideas?"
Max looked around, not seeing the droid on the platform with them. "Where'd he go?"
"He came up here with us, didn't he?" Pazo checked the bottom of the ladder. "Or am I losing my mind?"
Kort viewed their surroundings through the binoculars. "No, no, no! What the heck are you doing?"
"What is it?" Max said.
"It's Kirby." Kort set the binoculars down on the railing. "He's headed for the mine field."
"What?" Max smacked his forehead. "Why would he do that?"
"I don't mean to be grim, fellas," Pazo said. "But that droid's not plated with high-durability armor. Those mines will tear him to shreds."
"Come on." Max latched onto the sides of the ladder and slid down, bypassing the individual rungs. "We've got to stop him!"
Kort and Pazo looked at each other, and followed Max down.
___***___
Snow clumped under K1R-B's feet as it trampled through the dense banks. As it neared the path leading to the mining facility, it heard a group of people laughing and talking loud, exchanging stories of completed jobs. The level of complexity increased with each tale, reminding K1R-B of how humans often embellished stories of triumph. Although the claim could never be disproven, K1R-B remained steadfast in its belief that Kort never caught an eighty-two pound Siegfried Marlin at his ‘private fishin
g dock' on Aquine.
A mercenary guard made eye contact with the droid. "Hey!"
"I hope this works," K1R-B said to no one.
A tube-shaped, metallic single coil jutted out from K1R-B's shoulder. The droid spread its arms out at either side and marched forward. Clicks and high frequency whines sounded off as the coil emitted an ultrasonic frequency, allowing K1R-B to pass safely through the minefield.
"Light that thing up!" a guard yelled.
Blaster fire pummeled the front of the mining facility. One guard dropped, then another.
"We're under attack!" a mercenary shouted.
"Take cover!" another instructed.
A plasma bolt stuck to the facility's exterior, beeped three times, and exploded. Two guards within the blast radius were shot several feet through the air before landing in the minefield. Upon impact, a mine triggered, detonating a cluster of four others.
K1R-B turned, seeing Kort, Max, and Pazo weaving in and out of the trees and providing cover fire. The droid continued forward, distributing an electromagnetic pulse to decommission the remaining mines.
"Oh, no you don't." A female mercenary with an activated cloaking device grabbed K1R-B from behind. "You're not the only one with a few tricks up their sleeve."
She unsheathed an energy blade dagger from her waistband, glowing bright red with heat. K1R-B's plating liquefied and bubbled as she sunk the tip into the back of his neck.
"Kirby!" Max called out.
The mercenary spun the droid around, using it as a shield. "Just stay right where you are, boy. One more step, and I'll sever this talking scrap heap's core processor."
Max set his blaster down. "Okay, please don't – "
Pazo fired an armor-piercing bolt from his crossbow. The bolt passed through K1R-B's midsection plating with ease, embedding itself in the mercenary's gut. She gurgled and fell to the ground. K1R-B inspected the hole. A clean shot – through and through.
"Are you insane?" Max shouted. "You could have hit his memory core, and we'd have lost him forever!"
Pazo stared down the sights of his crossbow and targeted the lone, remaining guard. "I don't miss, kiddo."
The mercenary scanned the chaos around him, and raised his arms in surrender.
Kort pulled Max along behind him. "Come on, let's go have a look at him."
Pazo subdued the last mercenary and gave the team a thumbs up. "Clear."
Max knelt down and evaluated the damage to K1R-B's plating. "I don't see anything major. How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, all things considered," K1R-B replied. "That lunatic did shoot me, after all."
"Ah, quit your whining." Pazo collected the mercenary's blaster. "It's a flesh wound . . . or whatever the droid equivalent is called. Metal wound?"
"Kirby, run a quick diagnostic," Max said.
K1R-B's optical receptors flashed. "Sensors: Okay. Computing: Okay. Actuators: Okay. Processors: Okay. All systems green, Max."
"Good." Max stood up. "I can repair all the surface damage. Although, I may need to do a complete overhaul of your software. What were you thinking running off on your own like that?"
"I had to, Max," K1R-B said. "Innocent people are going to die if we don't help them."
Pazo scratched his brow ridge. "Armor wound, maybe?"
Max smiled and patted K1R-B's head. "Thinking more human every day."
"Heavens help us," Kort muttered under his breath.
"Kirby, what was that tech you used to deactivate the mines?" Max asked. "I didn't install that."
"It was a present from Juke," K1R-B said.
"Of course it was." Kort shook his head. "I swear, you take your eye off of that Alpor for one second, and he's up to something."
"Robot boo-boo?" Pazo said, massaging his shoulder.
"Well, it worked out in our favor." Max slid the heavy rifle off his shoulder and moved it to the other side. "I'm glad Juke's on our side."
"Yeah, you can say that again," Kort said. "We should regroup before proceeding inside. No telling what we'll be up against in there."
"Good idea." Pazo counted the weapons he'd collected from fallen foes. "We should gather as much hardware as we can carry."
"Oh, we're looting corpses now?" Kort said.
Pazo scowled. "Better theirs than ours."
Max picked up the energy blade dagger. With the press of a button, its searing blade lengthened. Max pressed the handle a second time to retract the edge, and put it in his pocket.
15
K1R-B hacked into the mining facility's security lock, reprogrammed the parameters, and opened the main entrance.
Pazo whistled. "Guess I was wrong about ya, tin can. Ya ended up pulling your weight after all."
"Thanks . . . I think," K1R-B said. "If I could smile, I would."
A white, sterile environment welcomed the team on the other side of the door. As they walked down the central corridor, glass windows provided views into the facility's various rooms. Rather than the mining tools and machinery they expected to find, the rooms were stocked with equipment more akin to research laboratories.
Towering shelves from floor to ceiling housed labeled specimen jars. Microscopes, spot plates, and beakers sat upon blacktopped, granite counters. Beside a set of volumetric flasks, a powdered concoction filled a mortar and pestle.
"What the hell is going on here?" Pazo said.
"I was hoping you could tell us." Kort pressed his hands against the glass and peered in one of the rooms. "Weren't you here before?"
"Yeah, but it’s all different now," Pazo said. "I don’t like this, Kort. We need to hurry."
A pair of elevators awaited at the end of the corridor. Between them, an access panel flashed a purple light. A pin-sized rod ejected from K1R-B's finger, and the droid inserted it into a thin slot below the panel. The purple light turned solid blue, followed by a pleasant, low-volume chime. A soft blue, downward-facing arrow icon appeared above the elevator on the left.
"I guess we go down?" Kort said.
"Seems that way," Pazo agreed.
Max grimaced, and adjusted the rifle strap on his shoulder.
"Here, kiddo." Pazo took the rifle from Max. "Let me carry that beast for ya."
Max rubbed his shoulder. "Thanks. The thing's got to weigh fifty pounds, at least."
Pazo laughed in his loud, obnoxious way. "Pure tungsten right here. Ya don't leave survivors when ya fire this bad boy, so ya better be sure ya know what you're aiming at."
"Speaking of which, we should prepare ourselves." Kort took aim at the sealed elevator doors. "We might have company."
A series of five soft tones played just before the doors opened: empty. Max exhaled, and wiped a trickle of sweat off his brow.
"Let's move out," Pazo said.
"Wait." Max stepped in front and blocked the entrance. "Are we sure about this? Doesn't it seem a bit convenient?"
"What're ya thinking?" Pazo asked.
"I'm not sure," Max said. "I expected more security. Where's all the guards?"
"He has a point." K1R-B faced the group with its finger raised. "It almost feels as though someone wanted us to see all this."
"Well, maybe that's Mayday's research team working on our behalf," Pazo said. "Maybe they got the drop on Wils's henchmen and cleared us a path."
Max rubbed his lips. "Maybe."
"Let's just take it nice and easy," Kort said. "If we catch a whiff of anything fishy, we retreat. Everyone good with that?"
The team nodded.
Max stood aside and let everyone into the elevator before following them in. The control panel had three options: Main, B1, and B2. Pazo pressed B2, and the doors closed. The elevator's gears murmured as it descended below Quaris' crust.
___***___
When the doors opened, the bright, clinical look of the main floor had been replaced with dank, moist rock walls. Support beams braced the passage from collapsing, and strings of LED lighting illuminated the downward spiraling path ahead. The s
tink of sulfur on the air made Max's mouth sour.
Pazo groaned and plugged his nose. "What is that?"
"I'm not sure I want to know," Kort said.
Kort led the way with his hand firmly cinched around his blaster. Wooden planks fastened together with steel winch cable allowed passage over a gaping maw. Although rickety, the beams supported the weight of the four team members without much bowing. The creaking noise unsettled Max, though.
Don't look down . . . don't look down, he thought.
An eight-inch long cave mantis scurried along the rocks in pursuit of a fluttering Herald moth. Max rubbed the back of his neck and shivered, thinking about his earlier experience with thornchiggers. Still sore to the touch, but he no longer felt any lasting effects from the toxin.
"Max, I've just completed a research query on cave mantises, and am delighted to report that they're harmless to humans," K1R-B said. "In fact, I suspect it will be in for a rude awakening if it manages to catch up to that moth."
K1R-B's reassurance comforted Max, although he doubted the entomology lesson would do much to cure his budding arachnophobia. He never saw the thornchigger that bit him, but in his mind, it was a ten pound, flesh-eating mutant hybrid of a standard garden spider. K1R-B had tried to assuage his wild imagination by displaying photos of the miniature critters, but Max refused to look. He felt better off not knowing.
Kort stopped. "You hear that?"
Pazo leaned forward. "Voices."
"Okay, remember the plan. We go in slow and steady," Kort said. "We find out where they're keeping the research team, and we get them out. Don't engage any mercs unless absolutely necessary. You see anything that looks even the slightest bit off, abort."
Pazo grunted. "I'm so looking forward to this."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Kort said.
___***___
Kort peeked around the corner, and waved the rest of the team on. Pazo held his crossbow down at his side and took position across from Kort. On the cavern floor, four mining drills spun at an upward angle, chiseling away the rocky ceiling.
