by Israel Keats
Lobo went down the row and flipped every switch. The room went black, but he ran his hand down the panel to find and flip more switches until he’d hit them all. He heard more alien voices from the room outside.
He crept out of the room into absolute blackness. Then he made his way along the wall toward the next door. He crashed into an alien, but simply shoved it out of the way.
Can’t stun me in the dark, Snake-face.
He found the next room and entered.
“Anyone in here?” he asked the darkness.
“What’s going on?” came a woman’s voice. “Who’s there?”
A human! “It’s me, Lobo—er, Solo_Lobo,” he said. “Come on, we have to hurry.”
“Do I need to remind you who’s the leader of this unit?” the woman answered sternly.
Jalea. He remembered the woman from the prologue. She’s my commander. But she’s an NPC. I don’t really have to take orders from her, just keep her from getting killed.
“Sorry, Commander, but we really are in a hurry,” he said. “Once they get the lights back on we’re screwed.” He turned back to the door when a light shone in his face. He squinted against it and saw Spec aiming a beam at him.
His eyes focused in the harsh light a bit more, and he could see slight differences in this robot. No. Not Spec. A robot that looks like Spec.
A panel opened on its front and a laser blaster emerged.
Chapter 11
The robot wavered in the air, widening its beam to cover both him and Jalea. It moved its blaster back and forth to keep aim on both of them. Then it started making a high-pitched noise.
It’s calling for help, Lobo guessed. It doesn’t want to kill us, but it needs reinforcements.
He still had the gravity wand tucked in the crook of his arm. While the robot was looking at Jalea, Lobo shifted the gravity wand and grasped the handle. The robot turned back, its lens telescoping and searching him. He froze in exactly the same posture as before, hoping it wouldn’t notice the difference.
“Hey, robot!” Jalea shouted. The robot shifted its attention back to her. With one gesture, Lobo raised the gravity wand and pushed the button on the handle. He grabbed the robot with the wand’s force and hurled it as quickly as he could. The sphere crashed against the hard wall and fell to the floor.
“You forgot to anchor yourself,” he said.
“Let’s go!” Jalea ordered, but Lobo didn’t need to be told. He was already kicking the door open and running through the dark along the wall.
“Follow me!” he shouted. “I know the way.”
“Remember who’s commander here,” Jaela snapped, but she did stay with him. Lobo body-checked another guard aside and opened the gate. The light from the hallway spilled into the dark room.
I’m at a high risk for getting disanimated right about now, Lobo realized. He used the wand to toss a nearby crate at the closest tower. The tower toppled, colliding with another tower. That one fell and hit a third. Soon crates were crashing like a row of dominoes. Lobo ran through the hall with Jalea hot on his heels. He waved the key at the first door he saw and ducked inside, pulling Jalea after him. A moment later a troop of aliens stormed by.
He’d almost forgotten about the levels of the game until the familiar words appeared:
Third achievement unlocked: Rescued commander
Chapter 12
“Good work, Solo_Lobo,” Jalea said. Apparently she didn’t hear the announcement.
“Thanks. You too. You distracted the robot, and I was able to take it out.” He realized the wand had a strap he could pull out, so he used it to drape the wand over one shoulder. It was nice to have his hands free.
“Now we have to find a way off this space station.”
“But first we have to find the rest of the crew,” he said.
“No,” she said. “By now there should be a rescue craft looking for us. If we can let them know our location, we can get out of here within the next hour.”
Lobo frowned. “But we can’t leave the others behind!”
“Our priority is to relay information to the home base,” Jalea said sternly. “The Orionans are planning to invade our star system. I wasn’t able to figure out much of their language, but it seems like they’re preparing to take our people captive and build their own empire. We must get this information back to our station. Don’t you remember the debriefing?”
Not really, he thought. I tried listening, but . . . it’s hard to remember it all.
“Do you know how we can send a message to our rescue ship?” Jalea asked.
“I know there’s a control room,” Lobo told her. “They have radio equipment that intercepts our signals. The Orionans have been using it to spy on us. We should be able to use it to send our own messages.”
“So take me to this control room,” Jalea ordered.
“I don’t know where it is. But it must be in one of the gray areas on this map.” He pulled out the mapping device.
“Let me see it.” His commander held out her hand, and he reluctantly handed it over.
“We have to go to the hub first,” Lobo explained, pointing to the map. “That’s the big area in the middle.”
Jalea stared intently at the map. “It looks like we have to go to this central area to access other parts of the space station.” She tapped the screen. “We should go there.”
You think? Lobo had to make a real effort to avoid making the comment out loud. Instead, he simply said, “Good idea, Commander.”
“In line, Lieutenant Lobo.” Jalea marched out of the room, carrying the mapping device. Lobo hurried after her.
Is she going to keep my map? he wondered. Never mind. At least I still have the gravity wand.
They hurried down the hallway, staying close to the wall, until they came to the hub. Jalea crouched at the entrance and watched all the activity.
“You can’t let any of them see you,” Lobo whispered.
“I know that,” she said crossly.
But do you know about their disanimating eyes? he wondered.
He looked over her shoulder. “We need to find a way across the hub without being noticed.”
Keeping her gaze on the aliens moving through the hub, Jalea snapped, “I’ll tell you when I need advice, Lieutenant. For now you can keep silent.”
Lobo narrowed his eyes and stepped back. I miss Spec, he thought.
One of the cargo scooters rolled by. It was piled with canisters.
“I’ve got this,” he said without explaining or waiting for Jalea’s response. He drew his gravity wand and pushed the button, aiming it at the canisters on the rear of the cart. They bounced and rolled down the ramp. Aliens leaped out of the way.
Lobo ran up the ramp toward the next landing. He looked back and saw that Jalea was keeping up with him. She nearly crashed into him as he entered the passageway. “Why did you do that, Lieutenant?” she asked. “I did not give you an order!”
“Sorry, I had to act fast.”
“Well, you did get us here,” she admitted. She looked at the map. “This area isn’t charted. Maybe the control room is here.”
“It might be,” he agreed, knowing it would be easier to work around her if he let her think she was in charge. But hopefully we’ll find our crewmates before we find the control room.
The passageway split off into several narrow hallways, making him think of a squid with tentacles. In his mind he named it The Squid.
“I can’t read any of this,” Jalea muttered to herself, tapping at the map.
Lobo studied the symbols at the beginning of each hall, hoping they might give him a clue to where they led. One symbol was made of two interlocking squares. Another was a triangle on top of a V shape. A third looked like a backward D inside a circle. He had no idea what they might mean.
But humans actually designed this whole space station, he reminded himself, because this is a game. How can I keep forgetting that? That’s never happened to me before.
&nb
sp; But this wasn’t the time to reflect on that, and he knew it. He brought his attention back to his mission. There must be a clue to the correct hall, but what is it? And why does that one with the squares look so familiar?
“We need to figure out what the symbols mean,” he said to Jalea, who was still poking around on the map.
“Thank you, Lieutenant Obvious,” she said.
No need to be rude, he thought. Then he felt a pang of guilt as he realized this was exactly how he’d first treated Spec.
But suddenly he noticed: Jalea had the same interlocking squares on her prison jumpsuit! He glanced at his chest and saw that he did as well. If the symbol was on prisoner clothes, the symbol on the wall must point the way to the prison itself. And the rest of the crew would be there. Spec had told him they’d only separated him and Jalea.
That’s where we have to go, but Jalea can’t know why.
“Let’s just take one at a time and see where it goes,” he suggested. “Process of elimination. Might as well try this one first.”
Jalea opened her mouth. He thought she was going to argue, but no sound came out. She was gazing at something over his head. He turned around and saw one of the hovering robots had appeared behind him.
“I found the control room,” the robot said in a familiar voice.
Lobo grinned. “Spec!” Then he felt the gravity wand being pulled off of his shoulder.
“Hey!” he whirled around and saw Jalea aiming the wand at Spec. “She’s an ally!” he shouted. “Don’t hurt her!”
Spec’s blaster emerged from her front panel. She took aim at Jalea.
“Don’t shoot!” he shouted at Spec.
Spec fired at the same moment Jalea found the button on the gravity wand and flung Spec toward the wall.
Chapter 13
The force of the gravity wand bent the laser beam, keeping it from hitting Jalea. Spec wobbled and flew toward the wall but stopped herself before crashing.
“Spec, put your blaster away,” Lobo urged. “Jalea, put the wand down.”
Spec let out a low beep and slid the blaster back into its panel. Jalea slowly lowered the gravity wand.
I’m guessing I won’t get that back either, Lobo thought, rolling his eyes. He turned back to Spec. “How did you get away?”
“I escaped from the repair facility. But I think it would be wise to get off the station as soon as possible.”
“Yes,” Jalea agreed. “And you know the way to the control room?”
“It is down this hallway.” Spec pointed with one of her arms. “I will lead the way and watch for Orionans.”
Jalea gave Lobo a sidelong look. “Are you sure we can trust this thing? What if it leads us right into a nest of aliens?”
Lobo crossed his arms. “If she wanted me captured, she wouldn’t have helped me escape in the first place.”
Jalea clicked her tongue. She still seemed suspicious.
“You go with her. I’m going to go find the others,” Lobo said.
“You are not,” Jalea said. “Our mission was to gather as much information as we could. Now that we know the aliens are planning to attack, it’s urgent that we return to our station. We should not endanger ourselves further.”
“But we can’t just leave them here!” Lobo insisted. “If there really is an invasion coming, then our crew will be in danger as hostages.”
Jalea narrowed her eyes and squared her shoulders. “Lieutenant, this is a direct order.”
“I’ll be back ASAP.” He started down the hallway with the overlapping squares.
“If you get caught, there will be no rescue,” Jalea shouted after him.
“I don’t expect one,” he called back.
Spec zoomed after him. “I forbid this,” she said, opening her front panel and aiming the blaster at him. “Follow your commander’s orders and go to the control room.”
Lobo froze his steps. Is this for real? Spec is threatening me?
“Why are you doing this?” he asked.
“Because my own rescue depends on your cooperation,” she said. “You still think I am a friend. I am not. I am merely helping you so I can achieve my own goals. And your rescue plan puts us all at risk.”
“That’s not true,” said Lobo. “You risked yourself back on the hub to save me.”
She paused before saying, “I calculated that it was the best risk.”
“Come on,” he said. “You like me at least a little.”
The robot said nothing.
“Don’t you have . . . others?” Lobo asked. They didn’t have time for this, but he needed to convince her to see things his way. “People . . . I mean, robots that you want to rescue? Like, family?”
“I am a robot,” she said. “I have a serial number, not a family.”
“Friends, then. You said you have a highly-evolved intelligence with thoughts and feelings, so if there are other robots like you, you must have ones you care about.”
Finally Spec said, “Yes. There are robots I care about. Most of them are in storage. You dumped some of them on the floor, if you recall.”
Lobo felt his stomach drop, remembering the strange way Spec had reacted when he’d tipped that shelf. That data center—she said it was a storage facility for processing cores. Those canisters were basically the souls of her robot friends.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know.”
“Never mind. My point is that I am leaving them behind too.” Her voice was even. Either Spec was unable to sound sad, or she had an iron will. “It is every bot for itself.”
“But you would save them if you could,” he pushed. “Right?”
The robot hovered quietly for a moment.
“Right?” Lobo repeated.
“Follow the hallway with the intersecting squares to find your crewmates.”
“I already figured that out. But it’s nice to have confirmation.”
“There is an emergency portal near the control room,” Spec continued. “After you get the others, come back and follow the far left hallway all the way to the end. If the rescue ship arrives before you do, we will leave you behind.”
“Got it. If I don’t win—I mean, if I don’t succeed, uh . . . thanks for everything. And good luck.”
“Hurry,” the robot said, and then flew off down the hallway.
Did I just treat an NPC like a person? Lobo wondered as he hurried down the hall. But she does feel like a person. More of a person than a lot of people I know. She’s been a better friend to me than most of the people I hang out with.
In the middle of the hall, he saw a sign with a message in bold alien script. Lobo paused. He had no idea what that could mean. It probably says “Beware!” Or “Do Not Enter!” Or “Only Authorized Personnel Beyond This Point!”
From farther down the tunnel he heard a whistling noise. He hid behind the sign as a fleet of hover-scooters sped by. These Orionans were wearing padded outfits that made them look almost—but not quite—like humans. They carried weapons that looked like blasters.
That must be armor, Lobo thought. They’re going into battle. Hope they aren’t going to the control room.
He glanced down the hall again. There were no other places to hide. He would have to make a run for it.
He sprinted down the hallway, which seemed to go on forever. No wonder they use those scooters. It’s a long way to the prison.
Another whistling noise sounded, meaning another scooter was coming toward him. He glanced back. There was no time to get back to the sign.
They always keep their eyes straight forward, he remembered. He lay on the floor near the wall. The scooter zoomed on with no sign of slowing. As he hoped, the alien kept looking forward without a single sideways glance. Lobo rolled, kicked at the scooter, and sent it crashing into the wall. The alien jolted forward and banged its head, then collapsed on the ground. The scooter bounced back and came to a stop, upright, next to Lobo.
Lobo crouched over the unconscious alien. He remove
d its helmet and peeled off its armor, placing it on his own body. He expected it to be too long and too tight, but the stretchy armor conformed to his own body.
Another awesome alien technology. One size truly fits all.
The exception was the helmet, which was too big side to side and a tight squeeze front to back, especially on the nose.
It wasn’t designed for things with noses, he realized. At least I can see through these big eyeholes.
Lobo stepped onto the scooter, glancing down to look at the buttons and a lever. He tapped on a button and the scooter jolted backward.
Okay, that’s what that does.
He hit the lever and rotated left. He kept turning until the scooter was facing down the hall, and then tapped a third button hard. The scooter took off like a rocket.
Fourth achievement unlocked: Started rescue mission
Chapter 14
The hallway was even longer than he expected, twisting and turning for what must have been miles. It passed long series of windows that looked out at the stars or revealed the bigger part of the space station, which was now far away. He had to be careful and use quick reflexes to keep the scooter from crashing, but it was a fun ride.
He passed what looked like security cameras and came to a stop in front of a gate. He waved his key and it opened.
At least Jalea didn’t take my key too.
This new space was brightly lit. Guards stood to the left and right of the gate, but he just cruised right by them. They barely acknowledged him.
Glad these guys aren’t much for small talk.
The hallway ended at a Y-shaped junction. On the left was a long, low counter. On the right was a tightly guarded gate. In between the two paths was a row of parked scooters. Lobo parked his and glanced at the gate. There were three guards standing in front. He would have to walk by them to unlock the gate.
I don’t want to risk it, he thought. Maybe I can find another way past that gate.
Behind the counter on the left was a bustling office. He guessed it was some kind of station for the guards. He marched in like he knew exactly where he was going. A dozen aliens were at work. Some talked to each other in low voices, while others looked at monitors and tapped on touch screens.
