He nodded at Patters again, and she closed the channel.
"There," said Mouse, pointing at the tactical display.
A red dot had turned grey, and it was slowing to a stop. Patters grinned at Neep, but he shook his head sadly. The dot vanished.
"What happened," asked Mouse.
"They killed their own ship," said Neep.
The battle went on.
Warspite had come half way into the remains of the pincer fleet, and now was turning back. A half dozen ships remained chasing Seasprite's fleet.
"Commence turn," ordered Gruff. "Let's take these stragglers."
As one, the fleet turned, and began firing again.
The battle lasted another half hour. The beetles lost another ship to good gunnery and really bad luck, and the crew of the damaged bear ship lost their battle with internal damage, and were forced to abandon ship. Seasprite's SR droid launched with two salvage droids to collect the escape pods, and make sure those in them were safe.
Tranquil's ships looked bad. There were small holes in the hull almost everywhere. Had the ships been crewed, the crews would now be dead. Only Tranquil was aboard each, and the AI bodies didn’t need life support. The only real casualties, were cargo containers in the cargo decks. Repair droids were already moving along the hulls, plugging holes. The three ships formed up around Seasprite.
Warspite had suffered no damage, but had finished the battle on the other side of the furthest debris field, having had to chase down several fleeing ships.
The enemy fleets had been reduced to debris. SR and salvage droids from Warspite were out looking for survivors.
Seasprite had never been in any real danger, but this was in large part due to having a fleet around her, and the enemy targeting them first because they didn’t have her shielding. Patters was acutely aware her life had been spared at the cost of beetle and bear lives. As the ship headed back to the planet, she began meditating, going through her rituals for honouring the dead. Neep also meditated, leaving Mouse to watch as the clean-up operations began.
On the navmap, a single red dot appeared from behind the moon which had hid the pincer fleet. It was heading out into the system directly away from the battle zone, at a speed which was faster than any previously seen ship.
"Admiral Warspite, sir?" said Mouse tentatively into the fleet channel, which was still open.
"I see it," came the reply. "I bet that’s Paulus. I'll see to it. He can't escape me."
Eighty Three
Snark's pulse rifle was almost drained. He'd been standing there for what felt like eternity with a snarl on his face, both outside hands on the end of the gun, middle hand pulling the trigger as fast as it recharged, sending pulses wherever a head appeared. The combat droids were doing the same, without the snarl. There'd been a few casualties on both sides, but the stalemate was continuing.
Up on top of the cliff though, it was a different story.
Warspite was enjoying himself. This version of himself had been long cooped up in an unused bedroom on Seasprite, monitoring everything around him, and what his other selves were doing, which was only marginally less boring. One self was directing construction droids on HR4, another was still at the blockade point into owl space, ensuring no owl warships left their space, and another one was supervising AI combat training for ships like Seasprite had been, where the AI had never had to actually fight a battle by themselves. This included most of the Pocket Battleships, and all the other ships which had previously had crews, and now didn't. All in all though, until the battle had started here, he'd been bored.
He'd taken direct control of the combat droids Snark no longer was able to control directly. He'd had room to move, and executed a pincer manoeuvre on the enemy soldiers, coming in on them from two different directions unexpectedly. The remaining troops had been killed quickly.
Warspite stood on the top of the cliff, and looked down. He took in the battlefield below.
Snark was easy to pick out. A small shape behind a gun bigger than he was, behaving like a berserker unfortunate enough to be glued to one spot.
If Warspite could smile, he would have smiled, but these droids didn’t have the ability.
The enemy position was quickly mapped, and the remaining droids ran along the cliff top to a better position, and measured their lengths on the ground.
Almost ready to fire again, he saw Snark take a hit on his gun followed by several to his person, the suit he was wearing snapping tight over his face to protect it, and the little cat went cartwheeling backwards, to land in the water.
Warspite opened fire again, each droid targeting an enemy soldier below. At the same time, he took control of all the remaining combat droids, and with the benefit of a top down view, their fire became an order of magnitude more effective.
He saw a face looking up at him. He zoomed in, and spotted insignia which he assumed made this the commanding officer, confirmed a second later when orders were issued to pull back. Before the figure could move, Warspite shot him down.
Five minutes later, and the battle was over.
Eighty Four
Anna slowly regained consciousness. She'd been dreaming about her mother when she was little, putting her to bed with stories and nursery rhymes. Her cradle songs had been the most likely to get her to sleep.
Dream became sudden reality.
"Jamie," she said, and looked around.
He wasn’t there. She could feel his absence like a stone in her stomach. There was nothing but darkness surrounding her.
She screamed his name.
Slowly a multitude of stars came out surrounding her in light. Tiny pin-pricks of greenish light. She marvelled at them, and then remembered.
"Glow-worms," she breathed, and then burst into tears.
Finally, she stopped crying, and pulled herself together. Her suit was still clothing her, the missing weapons were back, and she still had her backpack. Inside, everything seemed to be there. And something else. She reached in, and pulled out the Stone.
The Destiny Stone.
It glowed.
She gasped at the power she felt. She quickly put it back in a pocket of her backpack.
Why would the ‘gods’ give her the Stone, but take away Jamie? She had chosen. It made no sense.
She took out her torch, and shone it around, blinding out the light of the glow-worms.
She was in a cave. She didn’t recognise it from before. She shone her torch over the walls, looking for an opening, a way out. As she moved the torchlight over the rock walls, she noticed something, and moved the torchlight quickly back. A symbol like the ones they’d used to find the Hall of Truth. She moved closer, taking off her backpack, and looked carefully at the wall. Another symbol was there, a different one, and what was that?
A star chart, and some text.
She took out her pad, and took images.
She shone her torch carefully over the walls, in case there was something else, but there was nothing, apart from a tunnel entrance to the cave.
Perhaps the ‘gods’ had left her the next clue, this time to find the amulet? She didn’t know, and strangely, felt completely empty. She didn’t care.
With tears in her eyes, she followed the tunnel which led steadily upwards. At length, she came to a dead-end wall. She flashed her torch on the wall, and found the heart symbol, placed her hand on it, and pushed. A section of the wall opened, and she found herself in the cavern behind the waterfall. She stepped through, and the wall closed behind her.
She wondered where Sissness was. The poor cat had been left all on her own. Anna hoped she was making her way back from where they'd last seen her.
Her torchlight picked out Brindle, who had a weapon raised.
"It’s alright, it’s me!" Anna called to her.
Brindle smiled as she saw Anna, and lowered the weapon.
"What’s been happening?" asked Anna.
Brindle came towards her.
"Did you find the Sto
ne?" she asked.
Anna was a bit disoriented, and repeated her question.
"What’s the news?"
Brindle hesitated, and recounted what she knew. Snark’s forces were checking over the battlefield outside, and the space battle appeared to be over, but they were waiting to find out how it went.
"And the Stone?" asked Brindle.
Anna was emotionally and physically exhausted. Why did the Stone matter so much to Brindle? Brindle had gone along with things, but hadn’t been much use to them.
Brindle brought up her weapon.
"Give it to me."
"What?" Anna blinked.
"The Stone."
Brindle was looking at her, and didn’t seem to be her usual ditzy character.
"I know you’re wearing a protective suit, but if I fire often enough at the same place I can hurt you, even kill you."
Anna tried to move forward towards Brindle, but seemed locked in place.
Brindle fired, and kept on firing. Anna rolled, and got to her feet, staggering to get away. Brindle came closer and kept firing.
Anna was thrown back against the wall, and as she moved, for a few moments, the shots coming from Brindle's gun raked across the ceiling. It collapsed on top of Anna, and she blacked out.
Eighty Five
Sissness had been left behind in the lighted room. She waited, but nothing happened, apart from the lights finally going out. It was then she moved. She went back to the ladder, and inched her way back up to the top. She was glad Jamie had left the rope hanging from the top rung, as at one point, the handrail had given out, and she'd needed the rope to steady herself. She went back up the tunnel to the door in the wall, and found there was a mechanism on the other side of the door to open it the other way. Back into the smaller cavern. It was at this point, her torch faded, and went out.
Sissness was dismayed. It was supposed to be fully charged. And Jamie had the chargers. She waited in the dark. Where was the tunnel? She had to find her way back. She tried not to panic. Perhaps her eyes would adjust enough so she could make out the tunnel entrance?
As she clamped down on her panic, she saw a glimmering of stars appear on the walls. Tiny pinpricks of greenish light. The glow-worms.
As she waited, her eyes adjusted, and she could see more and more of them appearing. The light enabled her to scan the walls of the cavern to locate the tunnel leading upwards, and out to the main cave. She made her way steadily along the tunnel. She was almost done-in, but continued as fast as she could.
Suddenly she heard gunfire echoing into the tunnel. It sounded louder given the tight space where it reverberated back and forth.
Were they under attack in the cave?
Finally, the tunnel gave way to the entrance of the larger cavern, and she thanked the glowing pin pricks of light for her deliverance. She peeked her head around the edge of the tunnel, and saw Brindle leaning over a figure on the ground, seemingly just pulled out of a cave in. What was going on?
Brindle straightened up, and looked around. Sissness came out of the tunnel, and Brindle started.
"Oh, it’s you! Quickly! Anna’s been hurt!"
"Anna?" said Sissness. "She’s here?"
"Yes, but there was a Valderian! He shot her, and the ceiling collapsed on her, but I killed him." Brindle gestured towards Sissness. "Quickly, help me!"
Sissness started towards Brindle, but felt for her weapon. It was there. She pulled it out, and braced herself by standing with feet apart, as she’d been taught by Snark.
"What are you doing?" asked Brindle. "Quickly. Anna’s hurt, help me."
"There’s no one here. No Valderians."
"He was coming into the cave. When I shot him, he fell out into the pool."
"Move away from Anna, and drop your gun," said Sissness evenly.
"What is this? Sissness, it’s me, Brindle!"
"Move away, or I aim for your head. It won’t penetrate the suit, but it will leave you with a nasty bruise."
Brindle stopped arguing, dropped her gun, and moved away from Anna. She put her hands in the air, and laughed innocently.
"You’re being an idiot Sissness."
Sissness crossed to Anna, while keeping Brindle in her sights, and also making sure her footing was sure. She kept the gun levelled at Brindle and looked down at Anna, whose suit had returned to her previous clothes. She was very pale, and had several face bruises.
Brindle took the opportunity of Sissness’ lack of concentration, to jump across the space, and launch herself at Sissness. Sissness fired, and although the shot hit Brindle’s suit, it bounced off.
The two cats fought, and rolled on the ground, Brindle trying to get the gun from Sissness. Sissness bared her claws, her suit letting them through, and tried to rake Brindle across the face, but Brindle's suit prevented her doing any damage. The gun went off once, twice, and then fired rapidly for nearly half a minute, until it stopped when the charge ran out.
The two cats lay, as if in an embrace. Finally, Sissness pushed herself away from Brindle, and got to her feet, holstering the gun. She wiped her face, which was already bruising, and stepped back from the inert form.
She went over to Anna, and checked for the pulse she knew would be at the human’s neck. It was faint but there.
Brindle was out cold, but alive. She took the rope out of her backpack, tied her up, took Brindle's backpack from her, and returned to Anna.
She found there was still a little water in her water bottle, and moistened Anna’s lips with it. She didn’t know what else to do, apart from putting the backpack under her head, and elevating her feet with a large rock.
Eighty Six
Snark limped into the cavern, and found Sissness crouched over Anna, and Brindle tied up.
"What the?"
Sissness saw Snark, jumped over the rocks of the cavern floor, and pounced on him.
"Snark, thank heavens, you’re alright!"
Snark unfolded himself from Sissness’ arms, and held her back from him.
"A little worse for wear, but otherwise ok." He looked around him. "What’s been going on?"
Sissness scowled, and waved towards Anna.
"I came back through the tunnel, and found Anna here, almost dead, and Brindle leaning over her."
"Wait, Anna was here, and you were coming back through the tunnel?"
"Yes. I was separated from the others. Brindle tried to kill Anna, and then me!"
"Brindle did this?"
"Yes. It looks like she tried to breach Anna's suit, but only succeeded in knocking her against the wall, and bring the ceiling down on her. Anna’s unconscious. Looks like even the suit can't stop that from happening when big rocks fall on you. But at least she's alive."
"And then?"
"Brindle attacked me, and tried to get my gun."
"And?"
"I shot Brindle repeatedly in the same place until my gun ran out of charge. She’s also unconscious. I had to tie her up in case she attacked me again."
Snark was trying to get a sense of what was happening. A cat fight in all senses of the word. He knew Sissness didn’t really like Brindle, but take it this far? But Anna was unconscious. Wait a minute.
"Where’s Jamie?" he asked.
Sissness looked confused.
"I don’t know!" she exclaimed.
Snark pulled Sissness towards him, and shook her so she was looking at him.
"Tell me what happened."
She started on the story, and stopped when she got to being left alone in the room, and in the dark. She then got herself together, and completed the story.
"Did they find the Stone?" asked Snark.
"I don’t know," she said again.
He needed a drink. But one thing nagged at his mind.
"Hang on, you must have missed something out, since you've been in here for over twelve hours."
"No we haven't. Two, maybe three. No longer than that."
Snark looked at her, confusion on his face.
/>
"It's definitely been over twelve hours. Show me your tablet."
She handed hers over, and Snark compared them. They each showed a substantially different time.
"How?" asked Sissness.
"You tell me when you figure it out."
He paused, looking around.
"Ok. The ships are on their way back from the battle, and we need to get both Anna and Brindle back on Seasprite." He paused. "And we need to look for Jamie."
They searched all of the tunnels leading out from the cavern. Fortunately they were cautious in the semi-dark, as the power tunnel had booby traps. The first had triggered by accident when Snark had kicked a stone forward accidently, and they'd found the others and avoided them. However, they came to dead ends in each tunnel. No Jamie.
Anna had come around by the time they returned. The contents of Brindle's backpack was in a heap on the ground, and she was clutching something in her hand, holding it close to her chest.
"Is that the Stone?" asked Sissness.
Anna opened her hand, and held it out towards them. The Stone was glowing, and they could feel its power. Snark reached out to touch it, but stopped with an effort. It felt like a giant magnet, and he was a nail. Sissness stood there in awe.
Anna closed her hand again, and the other two felt like they had been released. She put it away in a pocket of her backpack.
"What happened?" Snark asked her. "And where's Jamie?"
Anna told them, choking on the words about not knowing where he was. She was obviously upset, so Snark believed her. She also confirmed Brindle had tried to kill her.
Snark was annoyed. Jamie had gone missing. Anna had been knocked out. Sissness had used a gun successfully. Brindle was unconscious, and tied up. And no-one was praising him for defeating a goddamned army of Valderians.
Once conscious, Brindle was unapologetic once she knew she was found out.
"You’re a Brotherhood agent, aren’t you?" accused Snark.
Brindle shrugged. Snark was beyond angry. She had taken him in completely. What an idiot he’d been.
Destiny Stone (A.I. Destiny Book 4) Page 32
