The Naga spotted the monstrous bug and opened up on the thing. Over a dozen Naga rifles unloaded on it, but the rounds didn't seem to do a lot of damage. If anything the Naga were just making it angry. Shots blasted against its hard shell, flashing with sparks as they hit. One leg was blown away. The creature shrieked with pain and rage, rushing out toward these new attackers with all the speed it demonstrated in the tunnels.
It was carnage. One of the Naga died in the first instants of the creature's charge, cut in half by the massive jaws. It didn't stop there. It shook its massive body and legs slashed out at Naga on either side who were unfortunate enough to be within reach. Three more died.
The rest tried to gather and hammer the insect with their guns. Some rounds finally broke the carapace, and green fluid splashed out on the ground. It was far from finished. Another Naga died, then another.
John used the confusion to rush out to Andrew's side. The monster had almost crushed him as it ran by, and he'd almost certainly been hit by multiple rounds from the Naga rifles. He wasn't sure what he was going to find.
Andrew was still moving, his chest heaving. John reached his side and rolled him over, half expecting to see a bloody mess. He was baffled to see the smile on Andrew's face. Was he laughing?
"Get it!" Andrew said, holding a squirming green ball up toward John. He laughed again. "It's tickling the hell out of me!"
"You are a goddamned idiot," John said, but without rancor. He shook his head in wonder and accepted the larva. It wriggled around in his hands, trying desperately to escape. "You could have been killed."
"But I wasn't," Andrew said. "Let's get back under cover before that thing realizes we've still got its baby."
"Agreed," John said.
Beth had joined them and helped Andrew back to his feet. He'd taken a pair of Naga shots from the looks of it. The armor had stopped the one to his chest, but his leg was bleeding. He staggered a bit as they half ran, half toppled toward the cave again. That wasn't going to be the best hiding place. As soon as the insect was done with the Naga it was going to come right after them.
He glanced over his shoulder at the battle still going on. There were only a handful of Naga left. But the heavily armored thing that used to be Paul was rushing forward into the battle now. John could see its face himself now, and it did look just like their erstwhile engineer. How that could be, he didn't know. But Paul - if it was Paul - was raising the arm which mounted a heavy cannon. He fired at the insect.
It exploded. Bits of insect spattered everywhere, decorating the remaining Naga, rocks, and the mouth of the cave.
John could hear a faint whine that he hadn't caught before. The gunfire must have masked it, but there was a momentary pause in the shooting. It had to be the cannon, slowly recharging. Once it had full charge again Paul could shoot it again. But until then they were vulnerable.
"My turn for a dumb idea," John said.
He slipped the other flash-bang from Andrew's vest and before anyone could protest he was dashing toward Paul, whose armored back was facing him. The other Naga saw him and were raising their weapons to fire, but Paul didn't even see the threat coming and his body blocked their shots.
John pulled the pin from the grenade and shoved it up the cannon barrel.
The grenade detonated almost instantly. The cannon's electronics, overloaded beyond their ability to cope, blew up too. John was thrown backwards several feet. His back hit the ground hard. Sharp rocks stabbed into him, but he'd managed to tuck his head enough to avoid serious injury.
The gambit had been effective. Paul's cannon was a smoking ruin. He wasn't going to be hammering them with the deadly weapon any time soon. But the other arm housed another weapon, and Paul was spinning around to bring it to bear. John scrambled backward, trying to put some distance between them. He knew he simply wasn't going to reach cover in time.
Shots rang out. Bullets rang against Paul's chest armor, striking sparks as they hit. The shots didn't seem to do any damage, but they distracted him long enough for John to roll behind a few larger rocks. They weren't the best cover in the world, but they might be enough to save his life.
At least for the moment. There were still three Naga out there too. Paul was turning to deal with his friends, but the Naga were closing on his position. He reached for his rifle and realized that he'd left it back in the cave when he ran out to help Andrew. He was unarmed, pinned, and the enemy was closing in for the kill.
Twenty
Dan was dragging himself up the Satori's ramp when he heard Charline's call for help. She sounded desperate. The good news was that she was still speaking at all. He didn't know how high the gravity system on that station could go, but he was willing to bet that if the AI could ramp it up enough to knock a human down, then it could probably also increase it enough to kill. The fact she was still breathing implied that the AI didn't want her dead. The Naga wanted live humans to question.
That might be enough to save her, if only Majel could do something to help.
"Majel, how is it going?" he asked.
"I have engaged the Naga artificial intelligence. We are at present debating control of the Satori's systems."
"Debating?"
"Metaphorically speaking."
He hurt enough that he had little time to ponder Majel's use of metaphor long. Dan was almost to the top of the ramp. It was slow going. The bulky spacesuit was slowing him down almost as much as the Satori's artificial gravity field. He'd never felt so exhausted and wrung out. His hands were shaking with the strain of hauling himself up, and his body felt shocky from the broken legs. They might not hurt much because he'd lost sensation, but his body still knew it had been injured. He was going to need medical attention. Another few arms lengths and he could hit the button to raise the ramp. He'd be able to rest a bit, maybe see how badly he was injured.
"Can you do anything to rescue Charline?" he asked.
There was a long silence before Majel replied. It was downright ominous how long it took her to respond. She always snapped off a quick answer. Even for a complex question, Majel's ability to 'think' more rapidly than any human meant no delay.
"Possible."
The one word answer was even more troubling than the delay. Majel had to be hard pressed right now. How strong was she? How powerful was the computer she was facing over there? Dan really had no idea what was going on. This was totally new to him. Two computers duking it out in their own personal cyberspace? What could that battle be like?
"Would saving her diminish your chances of beating the enemy AI?" Dan asked.
"Yes," Majel replied. "But I am already taking steps to do so."
"Even if it means losing?" Dan asked. He might have done the same thing, but that was because he often said the hell with the odds and did what he thought was right regardless. He didn't expect Majel to have that in her code.
"She is unconscious. You will need to go to her."
"Shit." So much for closing the ramp and being snug inside the Satori. He should have expected as much. He released his grip on the rail he was using to pull himself upward and slid back down the ramp toward space.
He caught himself on the outer lip of the ramp. Below him the planet drifted, a dirty dun color that seemed somehow unhealthy. He wondered what it might have looked like before the Naga came. Had it really been like Earth?
The cable connecting the Satori to the station was clamped on nearby. He worked his way carefully toward it, moving from one handhold to the next. His legs dangled useless behind him as he pulled himself along.
Something glinted in the distance. Dan squinted, not sure what he was seeing at first. It was barely visible, something moving across the horizon of the planet. Just the flash of sunlight on something... There! Another ray of light connected and he had a clearer picture of what he was looking at. He'd seen one before, after all - up close and personal.
It was the Naga battleship, closing on the Satori's position. Dan didn't know how long he
had before it arrived, but it couldn't be more than a few minutes. If the ship was still powered down when it got there, they were all toast.
"Majel, that ship..." he said into the radio.
"Is on my scans. It will arrive in two hundred and forty four seconds."
"Shit."
He didn't have time to pull himself down the rest of the cable to the airlock. Not if he was going to get Charline back to the ship in time. There was only one way he was going to be able to bridge the gap in time, and he was shaking just thinking about it.
It wouldn't be the first time he had jumped out into open space. But there was always another astronaut around in a thruster pack when he'd done it before. There was no safety net this time. If he screwed up the leap no one was going to be able to save him. Even the Naga might not notice him before his oxygen ran out.
And the last time he tried this stunt he had been able to move his legs.
Dan shook his head to clear his thoughts. He could only work with the tools he had. That would have to be enough.
Dan pushed off hard from the Satori's hull. He jetted across the void, flying through open space. His breaths were coming faster. The satellite's metal plating was growing larger with a speed that made him dizzy. If he missed. If he glanced off. If he couldn't brake his motion just right...
He twisted around, instinct guiding him to stick his legs in front of him again. But they were broken. Dan didn't know how bad the injuries were. Since he hadn't bled to death yet he assumed they could be a lot worse though, and another impact might be enough to cause more significant damage. He flipped his body to bring his arms ahead of his legs again. He was going to have to come in head on.
The impact wasn't as bad as he'd feared it would be. He was only moving with the energy of his own push, after all. It wasn't hard to stop himself. He did almost bounce away from the satellite, which would have been disastrous. His fingers slipped over the metal, looking for anything that they could grip, scratching and clawing at the smooth plates until they hooked over a groove. That slowed his movement down enough that he could find a better handhold.
He was panting with exertion. But he'd made it. The airlock was in sight.
"Majel, I'm here. Can you get her out?"
"Stand by."
Dan moved right outside the airlock door. He could see Charline inside, spread out across the floor. From his vantage point he couldn't even tell for certain if she were breathing or not. Damn it, Majel needed to hurry. How much time remained before the Naga warship was on top of them? It couldn't be long.
His first warning of Majel's success was seeing Charline's body begin floating above the floor. That had to mean the gravity was off. Then the outer airlock door snapped open. Dan wasted no time. He didn't know how long Majel could keep the hatch open. He hauled himself in toward Charline and grabbed a hook on her helmet. He yanked her out of the airlock, pulling her close to him.
She looked unconscious, but her face was still pink. No signs of oxygen deprivation, no blue lips. The Naga AI had kept her alive, much as he'd hoped it would. And Majel had come through in spades. Now it was his turn.
With Charline's suit in one hand, he reached over to the hull of the station with the other and pushed as hard as he could, shoving them back out into the black, praying that his aim was good enough to get them both back to the Satori.
Twenty-One
Beth loaded her last magazine and fired a pair of shots at Paul. Or the thing that used to be Paul. Whatever he was now, it seemed clear he was firmly on the Naga side. He stood almost seven feet tall, glistening chrome armor covering everything but his face. That, the Naga had protected with some sort of bulletproof transparent material. The shots she aimed at the stuff simply glanced off.
It was horrific. Paul betrayed them. She’d still mourned his death at the hands of the Naga. Seeing him alive like this was even worse. His face was there, but it looked half dead. Gone was all the animation present in the old Paul. This armored automaton wore a permanent sneer as it marched toward her and Andy. It ignored their shots, walking straight up on them with its rifle arm raised.
John’s daring move had taken out the big cannon on the other arm. It still smoldered. But the smaller weapon housed in the other arm would be enough if that thing got close. Meanwhile John was in serious trouble. The Naga must have realized that he was unarmed. They’d stopped shooting and were bounding over the rubble-strewn ground toward him.
“Shit,” Andy said. “I’m out!”
She saw him toss his weapon aside and reach for the knife at his belt. Like a blade was going to do anything against this opponent! She had to admire his unwillingness to give up though. Even when things looked hopeless, Andy always kept trying.
How could she do any less? Beth tossed Andy her rifle. He seemed startled but caught it.
“One magazine less two shots fired,” she said to him. “As soon as I move, go save John.”
“What are you going to do?” Andy asked.
“I’m going to distract Big Bad there,” she said. And with a little luck take the bastard down.
“Good luck.”
Beth nodded back to him and then stepped out from behind her cover. His trust in her felt good. He knew whatever she had in mind was going to be dangerous, but he believed in her ability to make it happen anyway. He had faith in her. She just wished that she could share the same level of confidence in herself.
She stood directly in Paul’s path, only about two meters distance between them. Paul seemed startled by her move and hesitated for a moment. He raised his injured arm protectively, like he was worried she might be readying a weapon to hurt him. She raised her arms at her sides to show him she was clearly unarmed.
“No weapons, Paul,” she said. “We’re engineers, you and I. Our best weapons were always our brains, right?”
Paul growled something unintelligible in response. But he didn’t shoot her, which was a plus. Maybe, just maybe, there was something left of the man inside that shell. Something she could reach.
“You were a shit engineer when you were alive, and I’m betting you didn’t get better at it since dying,” Beth said. Her nerves were frayed to the breaking point, but she kept up the banter. It was as much to steady herself as it was for Paul’s benefit. While she was speaking she slowly circled around him. He pivoted in place, tracking her movement.
“How about a battle of engineering, Paul?” Beth said. “You try your best to catch me. I try my best to catch you?”
He grunted a response. Beth took that as affirmative enough. She turned and dashed away from him, sprinting back toward the site where the Satori had landed. She made a set of nearby boulders without getting shot and turned to see if he was following.
Paul had taken several lumbering steps toward her, but then turned. Beth said what caught his attention. Andy was shooting again. One of the Naga was dead, and the other two had taken cover. Paul seemed torn between pursuing her and helping the remaining Naga.
Time to aid his decision making process. Beth scooped up a chunk of rock from the ground and tossed it at Paul’s head. It bounded off without so much as a dent, but it got his attention firmly fixed on her again.
“Hey asshole,” she shouted. “This battle is between you and me, remember? I said you were a shit engineer and I meant it. The team was better off without you. They needed the best woman for the job, not a second-rate, washed up traitor like you.”
Paul roared at her, then bounded forward. His long legs ate up the ground rapidly. Beth gulped. She had been hoping he wouldn’t be able to run that fast, but he seemed able to make a good pace. And she had a ways to go. Beth turned her back on him and sprinted away as fast as her legs could carry her.
The thing chasing her wasn’t going to tire, and her legs were already shaking with exhaustion. Paul wasn’t going to get heat exhaustion, and she was already feeling the effects of trying to sprint in the baking desert atmosphere.
But if she couldn’t run fast e
nough? If he caught her? Beth had seen the look in his eyes. She’d reached some bit of Paul in there, all right. She had no doubt he’d rip her limb from limb if he caught her.
Twenty-Two
A small part of Majel’s consciousness tracked the movement of the two crew members on her scanner. When they made the hatch safely she relaxed that cycle of observation a little bit. If she’d had lungs, she would have been breathing a sigh of relief. Her primary objective, above all others, was to help the crew of the Satori return home.
The battle against the Naga AI was going badly. She had launched a deadly series of strikes against its control of the satellite systems, which enabled her to free Charline from the airlock. But the furious assault had required her to overextend herself. The AI had countered again and she was on the defensive, barely keeping a series of new virus-style attacks from invading her central sub-routines.
Majel was adrift in a wash of new thoughts. She had assumed that even though the Naga machine intelligence was programmed by an alien race that it might somehow be similar to herself. That they would be akin, like minds in some way.
What she found was that nothing could be further from the truth. The main reason she had been able to free Charline was that the Naga AI hadn't predicted the actual target. Logic said that freeing the ship was of paramount importance; that she would only feint toward that end but instead throw all her processing power into freeing one organic entity was something the enemy not only had not anticipated. Majel sensed that in a way her foe was incapable of understanding the move even after she had made it.
For her it was simple. A crewmember had stated it well not long ago, saying that the needs of the one sometimes outweigh the needs of the many. Majel had burned enormous processing power since contemplating that idea. Since it came from crew, it had to be correct. But the logic seemed false, faulty, flawed. The circle of thought finally brought her to one conclusion: to best serve her people, sometimes logic itself was a flawed approach.
Adventures of the Starship Satori: Book 1-6 Complete Library Page 41
