Pirates of Saturn (The Saturn Series Book 2)

by C. Chase Harwood

  He looked hard at the last of his guests. He knew several. They returned his gaze with calm in their eyes, but an odd twisting of the mouth that seemed to fight the rest of the face. It wasn’t the panic of mortal fear; it was different, more of a pleading look. He smiled to give them strength. “We’ll be on my ship soon enough.”

  As Bez put his hand through a strap on the sledge that would pull them toward the surface, an industrial android slammed into it from above. The people onboard made little sound as the sledge was hammered down and smashed off its track into the bubble room. As they floated in zero G, the android floated into a position across from Hanson, leaving roughly a meter between them. It said, “Hello, Bashir Hanson. I am Link. I am tasked with bringing you into the fold.”

  “I beg your pardon?” said the great man while failing to puff himself up to an adequate threat.

  “Your usefulness to the system has changed. You have a new mission now.”

  Bez considered various means of escape and realized he had none. One of his guests, an elegant woman wearing what appeared to be genuine pearls, said, “Remove your suit, Bashir. You will feel so much better if you do.” The woman had the look of madness in her eyes as her mouth struggled to form a reassuring smile.

  A wave of panic washed through the old man, and he felt his forehead break out in a sweat.

  The android reached out and took his arm. “I will of course help if it will make it easier for you.” Link guided him to a separate sledge-bay while preparing to rip the hood from Hanson’s head. To the robot’s surprise, the returning sledge held an occupant.

  Hee Sook floated out and placed herself in front of Link. “Hello, traitor.” She pointed a disruptor at Link’s face.

  In a blink, the bigger bot smacked the weapon out of Hee Sook’s hand before she could pull the trigger, sending the device to float far out of reach.

  Just as quickly, she put a hand on the wall and kicked Link in the chest, sending him floating into the center of the room where he had no way to propel himself back toward them.

  Bez heard the rush of air leaving his suit. It had torn as the robot’s grip was wrenched free.

  Hee Sook saw terror fill the man’s eyes. She said, “Yes sir, the nano virus is in the air here. Please do not fret, I have a plan.” She guided him to the waiting sledge. “Based on my observations of your guests, I surmise that you may soon want to resist me. I will try hard not to hurt you.”

  Bez Hanson looked back into the domestic robot’s eyes and said, “Thank you.”

  As Link watched his prime objective being carried away, he noted his feelings. He decided it must be rage.

  As they rode the sledge toward the surface, Hanson calmly turned to Hee Sook and said, “I appreciate your desire to assist me, but I can assure you that I am quite fine.” He finished the sentence with a queer looking smile.

  The robot looked at the expression and said, “I am quite familiar with sincerity, sir. You are clearly not displaying it. As I stated before, I will do my best not to harm you as we proceed with your rescue.”

  When the sledge stopped, the other passengers disembarked, calmly allowing a few domestic robots to guide them toward the trailing end of the line where most of the guests had already boarded Bez’s ship.

  Bez leapt from the sledge intending to break for his ship, only to have Hee Sook wrap him up, pinning his arms to his sides. She lifted the much larger person off the floor where his legs kicked and he jerked back and forth to be free. She then silently called The Belle. I have Mr. Hanson. He requires decontamination.

  Spruck said, “Hee Sook, are you both OK?”

  Hee Sook walked as steadily as she could to The Belle’s dock, Hanson yelling, “UN-HAND ME!” To Spruck she said, I am fine. Mr. Hanson, I’m afraid, has been compromised. Caleb’s regaling us all of your adventures has given me what I hope to be a solution.

  Caleb looked at his friends and shrugged.

  Hee Sook got to the dock entrance. I will need you to leave the other disruptor in the ship’s airlock with the outer door open. I will also need the medbot out there ready to go and a warming blanket. She heard shifting feet behind her and turned to see several people coming her way.

  A man in a tuxedo said, “Please release, Mr. Hanson.”

  Hee Sook backed to the dock and hit the door open button. Before the people could rush her, she stepped inside while still holding the struggling old man and closed the door, locking it. As she looked through the porthole, she saw a huge mechanical robot enter the end of the hallway. She turned to Hanson. “Forgive me, sir.”

  “No. DON’T!”

  She hit the purge button, sucking the air out of the lock. Hanson gasped, wild-eyed. She sent another message to her friends. I will be coming quickly. Please have what I asked for prepared. She opened the outer door, with Hanson still in hand, and patiently waited for The Belle’s outer door to open. Hanson silently struggled until becoming limp.

  With the door open, she leapt the distance between them, landing perfectly inside. She looked down on the floor with satisfaction and picked up the disruptor. She released Hanson, who was taking his last bulging eyed gasp and surprised the man further by dialing down the power on the weapon and shooting him. She then closed the outer door and refilled the airlock with air equalized to that inside The Belle.

  Jennifer and Caleb had been watching all of this from the inner porthole, Caleb saying over and over, “What is she doing? What is she doing?” Then they saw the huge mechanical robot enter the dock’s airlock beyond their own.

  Caleb yanked Jennifer away. “Buckle up, buckle up! Spruck! Launch! Emergency Launch!”

  The harpoon released from below the ship and reeled into the belly while at the same moment the thrusters blasted The Belle off Kiviuq, throwing Jennifer and Caleb down into their seats. Spruck brought up the view from below.

  The base’s airlock door blew off and shot out into space. The huge robot climbed out, followed by another and another, like a nest of angry scorpions. The machines had thrusters of their own and began lifting off the moon.

  Caleb yelled, “For fuck’s sakes, Jonesy, cloak us!"

  Spruck did just that, and The Bell disappeared from view.

  The deadly machines shot right past. With the immediate quarry gone, they altered their course, angling for the still closely passing Island. The pirate base had just pulled into a close orbit—the better to transfer the imagined loot.

  In his command center, Pablo watched with growing horror as dozens of hardcore industrial world-building machines flew right at his base. “All hands! Prepare to repel boarders!” To no one in particular he said, “I knew it. Robot uprising. Can’t trust the bastards!”

  On The Innocent, Jada watched with Chico and the three bots. None of them spoke. Chico had dread written across his face. The robots showed only fascination.

  Jada cocked her head. “That be a little over the top, you axe me.”

  They watched the machines latch onto and tear apart the base’s outer defenses while others flew right into The Island’s donut hole.

  Chico said, “Should we go help?”

  Jada looked at him sideways. “Is you crazy? What we gonna do 'gainst that?”

  Pablo’s face appeared on their holoscreen. “Hey! Get your asses over here. All hands!”

  His face was replaced by Schafer’s who smiled. “Been a good run, hon.” The image disappeared, but the sounds of the ensuing chaos bled through.

  Schafer had never called her hon before. Jada felt an unexpected lump in her throat. She put a hand on Chico’s, keeping him from initiating anything. She turned off the screen and said, “We ain’t goin' nowheres.”

  Chico didn’t have a comeback. He was both relieved and ashamed to be sitting by watching as now hundreds of huge vicious looking machines were attacking his home.

  Almost on cue, Dima’s flotilla came up on their screens, while down on Kiviuq, Bez’s big ship-lights flashed to indicate a launch.

&nbs
p; Dima and Shu stood behind Captain Gee, observing all from their command ship’s flight deck. After they’d watched the little flame-painted ship disappear into the void, the satisfaction written across Dima’s face became slightly diminished. Shu answered Dima’s unasked question, stating, “Yes, Bashir Hanson was onboard that ship.”

  Deep in Dima’s nano-corrupted-mind, a tug-o-war took place. The man who prided himself on his deep intellect had been a patriot. He’d followed Hanson to this hellish wasteland and had helped transform it into something better than Purgatory, a lifetime accomplishment that remained a work in progress… progress. Now, his corrupted-self had just unleashed a demon horde, the builders re-programed for demolition, they would undo all of that hard work. The corner of his mind that continued to be his own wept at the sight—yet there was hope; Bez Hanson had got away.

  The End Point android considered its human slave and the feelings it must be wrestling with. Shu was after all an amalgamation of AI—an entity itself, which constantly struggled with the imperfect brute that was its human side. The machine reached out and rested its hand gently on Dima’s shoulder. “You have done well, Philipe Dimasalang. Nearly every objective has been successfully completed. No battle plan remains perfectly intact. You should fear not, Bashir Hanson will be blamed and declared an outlaw. There will be no place for him to hide.”

  Caleb held Jennifer’s hand, their fingers interlaced as they watched a small screen next to the airlock porthole showing the view from their ship as it receded from the action. It felt unnatural, nauseating in fact, to retreat, but retreat was the only option. Spruck, Natalie, and Saanvi tried to see past the gaps around the lover’s heads inside the airlock, while Hee Sook resuscitated Bez Hanson with the med-bot.

  The old man gasped for a breath, then swung out violently with fear, only to calm down as he took in his surroundings. He and the robot spoke in hushed tones, then Hee Sook rose to touch the coms button on the wall by the door. “I believe that it is safe for us to join you now. Any virus that could have been on the outside of our persons as we exited the base are almost surely incapacitated. I have neutralized any inside Mr. Hanson via electrocution. In the unlikely event that some contamination remains,” she held up the gun, “I can repeat the secondary step to any of you who may be infected.”

  Spruck said to the others, “What do you think?”

  Caleb shrugged. “It’s how I’d have done it.”

  Natalie said, “Nano mind control is one thing, but this girl ain’t got no desire to get shot.”

  Ignoring her, Jennifer said, “We need to warn Winter, Jook and the others.”

  Saanvi said, “We need to warn everybody.”

  Without further debate, Caleb opened the door. Hee Sook helped Hanson float up off the floor. The man looked at the people beyond and pulled his blanket tight around himself. “I…” His speech was choked off as words appropriate for the situation failed to come. He paused thoughtfully, then cleared his throat. “To my utter dismay, I’ve said this to you all before.” He paused again. “I can’t thank you enough. For the moment that’s all I’ve got.”

  Caleb took the shaken man’s hand and pulled him inside. Jennifer reached out for Hee Sook’s.

  The robot looked at the offer of comfort and welcome and considered its full meaning. She let Jennifer draw her inside. It felt good. The robot felt good.

  Dear Reader,

  Keep your eye out for book 3 in the Saturn Series: Battle for Saturn. Cheers, and please leave a review (they matter more than you know). Spread the word. Visit my web page. Sign up on my email list and get a free book.

  C. Chase Harwood,

  cchaseharwood.com

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  Other books by C. Chase Harwood:

  Bastion Saturn

  The Last Rats - A Bastion Saturn Novella

  Of Sudden Origin

  Children Of Fiends

  A House Divided

  The Ouroboros - A Novella