by James Axler
“You can try,” Ryan grunted as he chopped more plastic away. Once the hole was large enough, he tore the insulation out and climbed through. As he did, the lights went out, and red hazard lights came on in the bedroom.
“Alert! Alert! Alert! Poseidon Base is under attack by subversive crew members who are engaging in acts of sabotage. All security personnel are to report to the living quarters section immediately!”
While the computer sounded the alarm, Ryan scooped Doc up into a fireman’s carry, draping the skinny old man across his shoulders. He maneuvered through the hole again and came out to hear Mildred’s voice.
“They’re coming, Ryan!”
He looked down the hallway to see several of the cyborgs shuffling toward them.
Chapter Nineteen
Handing Mildred his panga, Ryan drew his SIG Sauer. “No choice. Go through them!”
Taking aim at the first one, a former man with red, replaced eyes and a buzz-cut that was growing more lichen than hair, he put two bullets into its face, shattering an eye and blowing the back of its skull onto the one behind it. Even so, the man-machine tried to keep walking forward, sinking to its knees as its legs still churned on the floor. It fell over, its legs still moving as discolored brain matter leaked out of its shattered skull.
“Wrong place!” Mildred said. “Disable and move, don’t try to put them down!” To illustrate her words, she stepped forward and swung the blade at the knee of a tall, skinny, bald ’borg that was trying to reach for her shoulders. The blade bit deep into the joint, smashing the kneecap, and severing the muscles and ligaments. It folded as if in sections, at the knees and waist. Stepping over it, she waded into the others, with Ryan following.
These cyborgs definitely seemed to be the second-string. They moved more slowly than the others, and their weapons weren’t as advanced, mainly melee weapons grafted onto limbs. But they had numbers on their side, and they might get a lucky shot in if given the opportunity.
Spotting one of the little silver balls rolling toward him, Ryan put two shots into it before it could start launching anything from its bag of tricks. The bullets smashed into its housing, breaking off a large chunk. Still rolling forward, the sphere hit the missing piece and stopped on it, little puffs of air vainly trying to push it around. Ryan put one more shot into it, just in case. His last bullet mangled it enough that it stopped moving altogether.
“Little help over here!” Mildred was holding off two of the reanimated things with the panga. Both of them kept trying to flank her, but determined swings of the blade kept them at bay.
Holding Doc in place with his arm, Ryan stepped up and shot out the knee of one of them. The bullet, however, ricocheted off with a tink of lead hitting metal. “Fireblast—metal leg!” The only good news about finding that out was that the ’borg turned its attention from Mildred to Ryan.
“Dammit—hold still!” Mildred panted as she tried to take out the second one, which moved almost as fast as a human. It had a hook on the end of one of its arms, which it was trying to use to catch Mildred and bring her closer to it.
Borrowing a move she’d seen Jak do with ease, she ducked under one of its swings, grabbed the wrist of the hook arm and pushed it up. At the same time, she stepped closer to the cyborg and brought the panga blade down on its shoulder, fracturing the collarbone and breaking the shoulder blade. The arm dangled limply, and Mildred pushed its owner back into the one behind it, sending them both down in a tangle of arms, legs and green fluid. “Keep moving forward, Ryan!”
“I’m trying, dammit!” Actually, Ryan was slowly giving ground against his attacker. He’d shot it twice more, and each time the bullet had bounced off a metal limb. Switching the blaster to his other hand, Ryan drew his knife from its sheath at the small of his back. He feinted high, and when the cyborg went for it, crouched and slashed at the tubes on its exposed right side. They burst free in a spray of liquid, splattering over him as the walking body tried to plug its leaking holes.
Ryan swept past it to find Mildred disabling the last one, sending it crashing to the ground. It reached up for her, but she sliced off its grasping fingers, whispering, “I’m sorry,” as she kept moving forward.
They cleared the corridor of the first group, leaving a trail of downed and disabled ’borgs behind them. Reaching the intersection that joined the main corridor, they rounded the corner only to face the heavier-set woman cyborg. Her head slowly lifted, her dull-blue eyes staring at them. Ryan saw a flame at the tip of the nozzle of the weapon on her shoulder. His eye widened in horror as he realized what was about to happen.
“Get back!” He was already sweeping Mildred into the side passage when the ’borg unleashed a gout of flame that arced down the corridor. Ryan felt the heat as it blasted past him, and he turned away to ensure his face didn’t get burned. After a few seconds, the flame stopped, leaving an ominous silence and the smell of burned fuel in the air.
“What the hell was that?” Mildred asked. She had been pushed a little farther into the corridor, and now kicked at the head of a ’borg that was trying to grab her foot.
“Crazy fucker made a mobile flamethrower out of her!” Ryan said. Setting Doc down next to him, he peeked around the corner, only to almost get a faceful of flames for his trouble. “She’s blocking the whole damn corridor!”
“Well, we’ve got to do something—these guys are getting closer!” Mildred said as she aimed another kick at the same cyborg. Her boot snapped his head back and he rolled onto his side but began righting himself just as quickly.
“Hey, you down there?” a voice shouted from behind the flaming ’borg.
“Jak!” Ryan said. “Yeah, we’re trapped in the cross corridor. Chill that big one!” He looked back to see one of the wounded ’borgs pulling itself along the floor toward Doc. He shot it in the head, then put a bullet into each of its shoulders, making its arms—and the rest of it—flop uselessly to the ground.
Meanwhile, another blast of flame roared out, but no fire sizzled past them in the corridor. Ryan peeked out again to see the flamer ’borg had turned and was spraying the other side of the corridor. He glanced in the other direction, but the rest of the way was clear.
Ryan edged out around the corner just enough to sight on the bulging upper portion of the ’borg’s back. When he was sure of his aim, he called out, “Duck and cover, Jak!”
As soon as he said that, he squeezed the trigger of his blaster three times. The 9 mm bullets entered the implanted fuel tank, drilling right through it and also through the front of the cyborg’s chest. The monstrosity staggered a bit, but wasn’t slowed. Instead, she turned and hit the flamer again, mindless of the streams of fuel leaking down her back and legs.
With a whoosh, she turned into a walking column of fire. She had barely taken a step when Ryan saw the upper portion of her back suddenly swell. “Oh, shit!”
He pulled back around the corner just in time and shoved Mildred back on top of the disabled bodies. The ’borg exploded in a fireball that rushed down the entire corridor, filling every space—including where Ryan and Mildred were hiding. For a moment, they were subjected to a blast of searing fire. But it disappeared as soon as it had washed over them, leaving both a bit singed, but none the worse for wear.
Ryan loaded a fresh magazine into his SIG Sauer, then scooped up the still-insensible Doc and slung him over a shoulder. “Let’s get Jak and get the hell back to maintenance.”
“Gladly,” Mildred replied.
They stepped out into the main corridor, which now looked like a minor war had been fought there. All that was left of the flamer ’borg was a pair of feet, still in their boots. The rest of it was splattered on the walls and ceiling in flaming chunks no bigger than a fist. The blast had apparently damaged the speakers in this part of the hallway, since they couldn’t hear AIDAN, but they did catch the computer trying to summon help farther down.
“Wow, nice work,” Mildred said.
“I hadn’t actually pla
nned on that happening,” Ryan replied. “I was just hoping it would burn itself out.” Hearing noise from the hallway behind them, he looked back to see the crippled, mindless, determined ’borgs still trying to come after them. “Let’s go.”
Passing the blast site, Ryan and Mildred next came upon a scene of what could only be described as total carnage. At least seven cyborgs littered the hallway, all with their arms, legs or heads bent at impossible angles. The floor and walls were covered in dark blood and the viscous green fluid. Unlike the group that the two of them had fought through, none of these were moving.
“Damn,” Mildred said as they came upon one whose head had been entirely twisted around so that it was staring sightlessly backward. “Jak took out all of these?”
“Sure did,” the skinny, white-haired teen called from farther up the corridor. “Chilled them easy. Had to haul ass when Ryan blew up big one—”
His words were cut off by a muffled thump that shook the walls around them.
“One of the tanks must have blown early,” Ryan said. “Better get back to maintenance. Krysty should be back there already. Move out, and chill anything that moves.”
The three set out with blasters drawn, each looking in every direction for any more of the crazy ’borgs. But the main corridor was quiet now, with no signs of any of the others.
They met up with Krysty in front of the maintenance bay door. “The bastard comp’s trying to lock us out!” she said. “J.B.’s working on the manual override.”
Just then, the alarm cut out, although the red hazard lights stayed on. “I had to separate you from the others, so that they would not leave, as well,” AIDAN said. “My only goal is to protect and serve you, but since all of you continue to engage in this aberrant behavior—”
“Bullshit!” Mildred shouted. “You’re the one doing all of this. Turning what were once good people into those—those atrocities. Keeping them alive—alive!—all this time! You have no concept of human thought, human behavior, human emotions! All you rely on is your programming, which is utter shit!”
“It is obvious to me that you are suffering from this aberrant behavior most of all, Dr. Wyeth. I am hereby relieving you of command of the medical lab—”
“You can have it back, you computerized asshole. I never wanted it in the first place.” She stepped farther into the corridor, as another blast, closer this time, rocked the base. “My only regret is that I won’t be here to watch when you’re finally fucking destroyed.”
The door to maintenance cracked open and began rising, inch by inch. As soon as it was wide enough to roll through, Mildred did so, followed by Krysty and Jak. Ryan pushed Doc’s body through, then ducked and rolled inside.
“Get Doc on board! I’ll close this!” Ryan jumped up and got on the handle, pumping it as hard and fast as he could. “Is the sub ready?”
“As it’s going be,” J.B. replied, lifting Doc and dragging him to the sub. “Wrap it up there, friends, and let’s go.”
Ryan made sure that the door was down and solid on the floor before he took off to join the others. To his surprise, the sub was already in the airlock, and the suit was now facing the exit. “How’d you manage that?”
J.B. nodded at Ricky. “The kid did it. He handled the suit like he was born in it.”
“It was fun,” Ricky replied with a broad grin.
Ryan nodded. “Okay, as soon as I’m suited up, we’re out of here. Give me a hand, Ricky.”
He climbed the ladder and inserted himself into the suit, wriggling down until his feet hit the bottom of each armored leg. He grabbed the arm controllers and flexed his fingers, making the clamps click open and closed.
“We figured with all six of us in there, we’ll only have about thirty minutes’ worth of air, even with the tanks we managed to stash, so be sure you keep moving,” Ricky said. “There are three sets of handles on each end of the sub. I wanted to make sure you had extras, just in case one breaks off. Also—” He paused for a moment. “J.B. and I really don’t know how long those covers are going to last at this pressure, so try to get us inside as soon as possible, okay?”
“I will. Thanks, Ricky, you’ve done great.” Ryan stuck his head through the rubber gasket again and attached it, then checked his power and air levels. “I’m green on both. Seal it and flood me, then get inside and bolt the door. We’re getting the hell out of here.”
As he said that, the lights in the room flickered and went out. A moment later, the red emergency lights came on as the biggest tremor yet trembled the base. “Go, go, go!” Ryan shouted at Ricky.
The cover came down over his head and sealed tight. Ryan took a breath of normal air, then another before the light blue liquid oxygen started entering the top portion of the suit. While waiting for it to fill completely, Ryan saw Ricky clamber up into the hatch of the sub and slide down inside. He reached back out and swung the cover closed, the outer wheel spinning by itself as he tightened it from the inside.
Just then, the fluid reached his eye. Ryan blew out his breath, then began gulping it down. It didn’t feel quite as uncomfortable as before, but it was still weird. When he was sure he was breathing all right, Ryan walked into the airlock and pressed the button to close the inner door.
The door didn’t move. He jabbed the button again, but nothing happened.
“I’m afraid that I can’t let you leave the base, Ryan,” AIDAN’s voice echoed in the airlock. “If you continue on this course, you will leave me no choice but to—”
Everything shook from an explosion that sounded as if it had gone off right next to the outer door. Another alarm began wailing, and a different computerized voice spoke. “Warning. Warning. Warning. Breach in outer hull of the base. There is a breach in the outer hull of the base. All personnel to their emergency stations. This is not a drill. All sections will be sealed in twenty seconds.”
I hope that means this one, too, Ryan thought. And sure enough, after about twenty seconds had gone by, the inner airlock door closed all by itself.
Ryan stomped over to the outer door and hit the button to open it. There was a pause, and for a moment he thought AIDAN had disabled this one, too, but it began opening with a shrill whine that cut through Ryan’s head. He walked through the rushing water around to the front of the sub and grabbed the handles that Ricky had placed perfectly for him. He gave the door another ten seconds, then began dragging the metal cylinder out of the airlock.
It was slow going. The clamps stayed put, but hauling both the submersible and maintaining his forward movement was the hard part. Ricky had laid in his course to the other pod, so all Ryan had to do was watch the rear camera and step, drag, step—
A swirl of movement on the periphery of the front lights caught his eye. Ryan stopped for a moment, peering into the darkness. Nothing there.
Ryan checked the porthole covers, all of which seemed to be holding up all right, then started moving again. He had just taken a step when he was suddenly enveloped in a mass of something that wrapped itself around the entire suit, blocking his vision both in front and behind him.
Ryan looked out the viewport to find the largest yellow eye he’d ever seen staring back at him.
Chapter Twenty
The unblinking eye was as large as a wagon wheel. Its iris was bright yellow, with a black pupil as big as a dinner plate. As the creature shifted around him, Ryan noticed a small circular piece of silver metal embedded in its head.
The tentacles enveloping the suit were thicker than Ryan’s waist, and each one was coated with a strange kind of silvery filament. The bottom of each was also covered with dozens of large suction cups that adhered to the outside of the suit. As soon as they had latched on, they began flexing and twisting. As he stared, Ryan saw small rows of concentric teeth emerge from each cup and begin grinding on the suit—including on the viewport.
Bastard comp’s even turned a nuke-sucking mutie squid against us! Ryan thought.
The eye disappeared as the humongou
s squid changed its position. Ryan released the sub and tried to lift his arms, but there were too many layers of tentacles coiled around him to allow that. Instead, the servos just whined and grated against the fleshy, constricting resistance.
A loud smack on the viewport made him look up again and rear back in alarm. “Fireblast!” he tried to say, but only gurgled incoherently. A huge beak, one that would be able to cut Ryan in two with a single bite, clacked against the thick glass of the viewport.
The one-eyed man quickly took stock of his situation. Although the squid had completely encircled him, he was still standing. Apparently it didn’t have enough mass to knock him off his feet. Ryan tried opening his claws, but they were also trapped in the many layers of tentacles around him. He began moving backward, putting some distance between the sub and himself, while trying to come up with a plan to free himself.
* * *
INSIDE THE CRAMPED, hot submarine, Krysty, J.B. and the others sat strapped in along the walls, straining their ears for any sign of what was going on outside.
Once Ricky had closed the hatch, they would have been stuck in complete darkness if not for his foresight in bringing a pair of halogen flashlights with them. However, being able to see one another’s worried faces wasn’t a heck of a lot better than sitting in the dark. With the portholes covered, they had no idea what was happening outside, and had to rely on the imperfect sense of being moved to know whether they were making progress or not.
At first, everything had seemed to be progressing well. They were being jerkily dragged along, when they came to a sudden stop. Along with everyone else, Krysty stayed as quiet as possible, trying to listen to whatever was happening on the other side of the thick, gray metal that was keeping the millions of gallons of water at bay. She heard a faint creak. “What was that?”
“If I had to guess, probably one of the covers flexing under the pressure,” J.B. admitted. “Sure hope I’m wrong.”
Jak held up a hand as another noise sounded on the hull, some kind of strange, slithering sound. “What that?” he whispered.
