Inside The Belle, Spruck got his helmet on and began the startup sequence. Caleb said to everyone, “How about that? Easier than I thought. Think we can grab Diamond too?”
“Don’t push it, hon,” said Jennifer.
He yanked open an emptied weapons locker. “Damn. We don’t have a single weapon on this jalopy.”
Natalie pointed out the cockpit window. “Uhhh.”
A drone-like maintenance robot was slowly coming toward them, its camera eye swiveled as though it was zeroing in on her pointing finger.
Spruck said, “I can push off and use retros to start. Gotta break with the landing pad to be fully cloaked anyway. Go ahead and button us up.”
Pat487 sent a private to Fran. Please come aboard. We must go now. She looked through the airlock door and saw that the entry hall was empty.
Fran sent back, There are more coming. I will defend your departure for as long as I can.
Pat487 pushed herself out of the ship and float-stepped toward the hall entrance. Please come now. You will be left behind.
Hee Sook saw Pat487 leave. “Where are you going? We must close the door.”
Caleb whispered loudly, “Hey, Pat4-whatever, get back here! Now or never.”
From down the hall they heard a woman yell, “Hey you!”
Pat487 stopped herself as Fran ducked back into the hallway. The bigger robot glanced at her and said, “Go. You must go.”
Pat487 said, “But you will be destro— You will die.”
Fran nodded. “That is my wish. At least I can be of value one more time. Now go.”
Pat487 was surprised as she was yanked back toward the ship. She turned and saw Hee Sook holding her ankle while pulling her along by hand holds. Caleb stood impatiently at the door with a hand over the operations controls.
Hee Sook studied Caleb’s eyes and could see the struggle there. He was a blink away from closing it.
Fran was saying to the woman in the hall, “I heard noises. I have checked this ship. All is well.”
The pirate arrived at the hall junction and took in what was happening. When she made out Caleb, she drew her disruptor. “You. You were supposed to walk the plank.” She pointed the gun.
Hee Sook was two-meters away from the airlock door. Caleb said to the pirate, “Uh, hey. You’re not wrong” He waved in a friendly way. “Anyway, all good here.”
The pirate said, “Stop!” Her finger began to press the trigger. Fran grabbed her arm in a flash and pushed up, causing the gun to discharge at the ceiling.
The pirate gritted her teeth saying, “You’re hurting me.” She fired again while trying to regain control of her arm.
Then another pirate’s voice bellowed out a protest from around the corner. His bouncing figure swooped into the hall entrance just as Fran broke the other pirates arm, the woman screaming in agony. With unnatural speed, Fran then grabbed a handhold and swung the still screaming woman into the new pirate.
Caleb grabbed Hee Sook’s outstretched arm and yanked her and Pat487 into the ship, then closed the door. Through the porthole, he saw Fran deliver a brutal punch to the second pirate’s head, caving in his skull, then another punch to silence the screaming woman. At nearly the same instant the invisible force of a disruptor blast hit the big robot, bringing Fran to a sudden catatonic stop. Caleb yelled to Spruck. “More coming. Jump it, baby, Jump!”
Spruck said to his ship, “Uh, what’s taking so long, Belle?”
The ship said, “All systems are ready, Handsome. However, the dock is telling me we can’t launch until the boarding hallway airlock door is closed.”
Caleb looked at a single heavily bearded pirate floating down the boarding hallway, his gun pointed at the porthole. His lips were clearly moving, but Caleb couldn’t hear a word he was saying. He turned to Hee Sook. “I need your speed.”
In the boarding hallway, the pirate was yelling with his face close to the porthole. “The jig is up. Open the fucking door!”
Hee Sook did just that. One moment she was nodding at the man while looking out the porthole, the next, she manually swung the door open faster than the man could react and kicked him in the chest, driving him into the pileup at the end of the hallway.
Caleb heaved himself out of the ship, dug his feet into one of several footholds on the sides of the floor, and shoved the floating mess that was Fran and the three pirates out the door junction. He glanced down the adjoining hall to see more pirates coming, and closed the door, spinning the lock. Doing a swimmer’s turn, he used the now closed door to kick himself back toward the airlock, running with his toes touching the floor.
The moment he was inside, Hee Sook closed the door.
“Hold on to something!” yelled Spruck.
Outside in the beehive, The Princess Belle broke away from the landing dock while at the same moment disappearing from view. Inside the ship, Spruck watched in dread as the exit end of the donut was finishing being cut off by the nearly closed spiderweb. He used the retros to spin the ship around to face the entrance. As he did, he made out several drone ships breaking away from their own docks. Another spiderweb began to cover the entrance hole. “Full burn!” he called out.
Caleb threw himself into a jump seat next to Jennifer and Saanvi and pulled the buckling harness on. The two robots grabbed firmly onto handholds.
For a moment, the engine cowling retracted, revealing the ship to any pursuers, and lit up.
Spruck aimed for the top of the closing entrance hole.
The drones gave instant chase, weapons deployed, but holding back so as not to damage the interior.
Natalie said, “Lots-o-guns outside the door, remember, baby?”
Spruck nodded, “Yup.”
In the base command center, a breathless Pablo ran in to take stock. “How many ships getting away?”
The flight operations controller, Hap, a skinny guy with huge sideburns, said, “Just the magic one, boss.” He pointed at what appeared to be firing engines attached to something blurry. “Web’ll cut’em off.”
The Island said, “Incorrect. The rate at which my web is closing versus the target ship’s velocity, insures that it will escape. I remind you that I remain under standard manual control with a current efficiency rating of thirty-two percent and dropping.”
Pablo banged on Hap’s shoulders. “Drop it, it’s just gonna stop our…” He watched as The Belle shot past the web while at the same moment its engines cowl closed and it disappeared. “That is just amazing. We can’t lose that ship. We need that thing.” He touched a button on the flight controller’s desk. “Base defense, hold fire, hold fire.” He touched another button. “All pilots to their ships.” To Hap, he said, “It’s still got the Innocent’s dominator attached to it. Tell Chico to warm her up. We can track it with that.”
Though the web stopped closing, it had closed just enough to stop the drones, which hovered in wait as it began to retract.
Spruck looked at the rearview camera. His ship had enough momentum to be speeding away from The Island at five-hundred-thirty-six-meters per second. He expected the guns to be blazing, but they remained silent. He said to Natalie, “I got an idea.”
“That’s good. I don’t.”
He took the huge gamble of firing his retros to alter his angle of flight. The view spun in a vomit inducing loop and he switched his view to the front. He gave the main engines another brief blast, and they were headed back toward the base.
Natalie said, “I’m not sure I like this idea, baby.”
They watched the web drop enough to let the drones pour out like angry hornets. They followed the direction of The Belle’s last known trajectory.
Caleb said, “Uh, buddy, watcha doin'?”
Spruck ignored this, instead keeping his focus on steering his ship. The Belle coasted past the angry drones and dropped close enough to the surface of the asteroid to see the details of the rail system. Spruck fired another succession of retro bursts to bring the ship to the back of the giant icy
rock. He finally said, “I’m gonna hide us in plain sight.” He guided his ship to settle in just below The Island’s drive unit. A careful observer would have seen brief shots of retro thrust appear out of a somewhat blurry looking nowhere. Once there, he set the rear maneuvering retros to create just enough forward thrust to match the speed of the engine above.
Spruck whispered, “This is your pilot. It is safe to move about the cabin. But keep it quiet.”
A WRENCH IN THE WORKS
CALEB FLOATED INTO The Belle’s cockpit and glanced at the screens offering views around the ship. The stars winked on and off as the swarm of drones that had poured out of the space station repeatedly blocked them. “Wow, and that’s just this back side. How long can we stay like this?”
Spruck raised his finger to his lips. “Whispers.”
“Why am I whispering?”
He turned and spoke to Caleb in a hushed tone. “I recently had time to read a little more of the manual. I don’t know what measurements those things are capable of, but our voices actually cause a small vibration throughout the whole ship, which vibrates the cloak, which could potentially be detected. As to how long we can stay like this, the rock itself is giving us a little help pulling us along, but we don’t have that much maneuvering fuel. We’ll need to conserve some if we want to land anyplace else. So, like, an hour or so.”
Jennifer poked her head in. “Why don’t we just harpoon ourselves to the rock? Spin around with it?”
“Opening the harpoon bay blows the stealth.”
Caleb said, “I’m hungry. Anybody else hungry?” He stuck his head out of the cockpit. “Hee Sook, why don’t you and Pat-whatever get some food going?”
Jennifer looked at Caleb sternly.
“What?”
She raised her finger to remind him to keep his voice down. “I don’t know why I find you so attractive.”
“Now hold on. What’s the problem?” he whispered. “We took on the bot to help us out, right? I’m just getting back to the norm we set.” He gave her a case-closed look. “And, you find me attractive because I’m not only handsome and make you laugh, but I come up with ways to save all of us on a regular basis.”
“Is that so? Did you happen to notice that Hee Sook and her friends just saved us, at great personal sacrifice? Maybe you should be making her a sandwich.”
“I do not eat sandwiches, Jennifer,” Hee Sook reminded her, her voice volume turned down to match the level of a whisper.
Jennifer ignored her and pushed off toward the ship’s galley. “In fact, it’s become a regular thing for sentient robots to come to our rescue. Number one being Bert.” She said to everyone, “I’m making some food. Everybody hungry?” To Hee Sook and Pat487, she said, “You two take a rest.”
Hee Sook, who had moved into the galley to prepare the meal, said, “We do not rest, Jennifer. Our job is to be useful to the team. You, on the other hand, could use some rest after all that you have been through.”
Pat487 said, “Hee Sook is correct. As I am not originally part of this team, it would be appropriate for me to prepare a meal for you. I am intimately familiar with these type of food processing units and can prepare everything they are capable of.” She gently guided Jennifer back to her jump seat. “It is indeed you, who should rest.”
Jennifer caught Caleb’s eyes. He smiled and raised his eyebrows twice. To the robots, he said, “Thanks. I’d like something that tastes like clam chowder.”
Pat487 floated back to the galley, saying to Hee Sook, “Allow me.” She turned on the food printer.
“Very well. I will take orders.”
Saanvi observed all of this with an amused smile, then closed her eyes to take a nap.
As the food printer beeped that it was ready for use, Spruck said, “Oh shit.”
“What?” asked Natalie.
He called to Pat487 in a loud whisper, “Turn it off, turn it off!”
Pat487 did as she was told.
Caleb said, “What? What is it?”
Spruck pointed at the rear camera display. A drone ship was bee-lining toward them. He whispered, “Can’t use the food printer in stealth mode. Sends out a strong electromagnetic wave. I forgot.”
“You forgot? Why the hell does it even turn on in stealth mode?”
Spruck shrugged, “Stealth was a post factory upgrade.” He stared at the monitor as the machine got closer while deploying its weapons. He whispered, “Nobody even talk.”
They all jammed themselves into the cockpit and around its door to stare. The drone sidled up alongside the pushing engine and hovered there before slowly moving up and around its top. Spruck gently lifted his helmet over his head.
Caleb whispered into his ear, “What are you doing?”
Spruck held his finger over his lips. As the drone moved over the top of the pusher engine, Spruck caused The Belle to slip sideways and up, following the drone, keeping them on the opposite side of the deadly thing. Slowly but surely both ships made a complete circuit, leaving The Belle back where it started. The drone pulled away and continued to search along the surface of the space station.
Spruck slipped his helmet back off and got a quiet high-five from Natalie.
Saanvi whispered and nodded back toward the galley. “So I guess we’re fasting now. A little fast will do us good.”
“Speak for yourself,” said Natalie. “This girl hasn’t eaten since breakfast.”
Jennifer nodded. “The sorbet they gave us hours ago definitely wore off.”
Pat487 held up a small packet with a straw attached. “There is water. Water is a healthy way to stave off hunger. Did you know that when humans feel hungry it is often just thirst? In fact, after the exertion you have been through, you should all replenish your liquids.”
The rest of them stared at her, not sure how to respond.
She smiled while gathering more water packs. “Among my previous duties I was a nutritionist at a Hauptschule in Bremen, Germany. I can state from experience well beyond my original dataset, that without proper guidance, on average, both children and adult humans neglect to ingest the proper amount of water each day. This results in chronic dehydration that may lead to constipation, joint stiffness, weight gain, kidney and bladder infection, high blood pressure, asthma, skin disorders, digestive disorders, general fatigue, and a myriad of cellular level stresses. So…” She smiled and held out the packets toward them.
“That is very frustrating,” said Hee Sook. She was scanning the ceiling.
“What?” said Caleb.
“It has just occurred to me that it is highly likely that whatever device that was used to incapacitate this ship in the first place is still attached to it. That I did not think of it right away, is very frustrating.”
Everyone scanned the ceiling. Spruck said, “What’s she talking about?”
Caleb said, “Aww Fuuuu…” He glanced at Jennifer’s admonishing look. “…uudge. It’s how they got us. How they found you before and were able to turn off the stealth mode.”
Spruck cocked his head. “Huh?”
“Before they attacked us, they launched this little bastard of a machine that burrowed into The Diamond’s command-and-control systems. It’s a bitch to deal with, even if we can find it.”
“Can one of us not go outside and search for it?” asked Pat487.
Hee Sook said, “We may find it more quickly by going outside, but then we will reveal ourselves.”
Caleb said, “Besides, the only way to dislodge it is from the inside. Nasty little things have defensive measures too.”
Jada looked disheveled, banged up, and really pissed off as she floated into her jump-seat on the flight control deck of the Innocent.
From the pilot’s seat, Chico said, “Engine warm up is moving at a prodigious rate, Boss. Shouldn’t be long.”
Jada rolled her eyes. “Just keep lookin' pretty, Cheeks. Leave the five-dolla words to folks who be carin'.”
Pablo floated in and pulled himself int
o a chair. “What do you think? Blows the deal with Dima?”
Jada looked incredulous. “Blows the deal? The folks that escape in the disapearin' ship be hearin' it all. You think they gonna keep they’s trap shut? The element of surprise be gone.”
“You may be a smart woman who has a dumb way of speaking, but you’re not seeing the big pic, chica.”
“Don’t be callin' me that. I hate when yo be callin' me that. I’s older than you, and yo knows it.” She suddenly shifted to a matching Mid-Western accent. “And fuck you and your fake East LA. At least I stay consistent. You wouldn’t believe the number of bigoted assholes I get to play by talkin' Street.”
Chico chuckled to himself while keeping his focus on the warmup.
Pablo shrugged. “My point is we don’t need Dima after his stupid coup. We need his plan and his people. And who gives a shit if Bez goes down? Not like he’s saving the system for democracy. We get rid of two pests with one big-ol’ gold robbery.”
“Yo sayin' yo wants to be takin ‘em both out?”
“Dima’s just shoveling shit. Man’s got tinpot dictator written all over him. If we can, we do the system a solid and kill the fucker. Bez… Bez is losin' cuz that’s the way it’s gotta be sometimes. The magic ship? We’ll find it. The track and kill bot is still attached to that bitch. It might fly, but it’s not like they can call out to anybody.” He looked at her appearance. “That’s a nasty bruise you got over that eye. When you get back, go see the doc.”
Jada grimaced. “Ain’t no doc. The real doc got away.”
He nodded at The Island’s exit hole. “Once we get out there, we’ll find them. Remind me to re-program the rest of the damn tackers to work from both The Island, and the ship that launched it.”
Saanvi and Jennifer were hunting in the cockpit. Every panel that could be opened manually already was, both of them had screwdrivers and wrenches, each, tackling panels that had to be unbolted. Everyone else was in back, tearing into the ship. Spruck was almost in tears as he lamely worked a wrench, unable to face the cockpit.
Pirates of Saturn (The Saturn Series Book 2) Page 24
