by Arlin Fehr
'Do we have any communications yet?'
'With the jamming down we've regained internal comms. Damage crews were only able to replace the short range array before all hell broke loose.'
'Have we tested them yet?'
'Haven't had the chance. With jamming up on all frequencies, we wouldn't have gotten anything anyway.'
'Alright, what about sensors?'
'The lockout on bridge systems only lifted when you electrified the hull. Most systems are in diagnostic mode to check for damage.'
'Can we override?'
'I'd love to. But it's not coming out of it.. The sensors should be done in a few minutes.'
'Keep me posted.'
'Aye sir.'
Howard keyed in the comm channel to engineering through his space suit. 'Keith, you still there?'
'Yes Captain.'
'What's your status?'
'Most of the systems back here are in a diagnostic mode. We've spent the time double sealing the doors. Buy us more time if the bots decide to try and crack us open again. And we've jury-rigged one of the storage compartments into a safe room. If we start to depressurize, everyone without a space suit can hole up in there for a couple of hours. Of course... if they don't get help it will be a rather slow way to go. Once it seals up, it's not opening except from the outside.'
'Have you seen any more activity from Exo lately?'
'Not a thing Captain. I haven't heard any of his toy soldiers motoring on the hull either.'
'That strikes me as odd. When I came back from the spine, I caught sight of a robot trying to get away from me. Exo's not dead, but he's acting like it. Any ideas why?'
'Hmmm... I'm not an A.I. specialist. Maybe electrifying the hull was a bit like stunning him? If he was paying too close attention to all those external sensors and systems, and then you flooded them all with electricity, it may have... if you'll pardon the pun, shocked his system.'
Howard smiled weakly, the fact that Keith could still make jokes was heart warming.
'Okay, so what about the fleeing robot?'
'It could be Exo just had them all programed with some sort of basic survival protocol. But that seems unnecessary. Exo wouldn't have expected losing control like that. It's obvious he didn't expect what you were doing.'
'Or maybe he's just focusing elsewhere. I mean, he's still a computer. He's got limited capacity.'
'Yes, but so do we. We just don't have the raw computational power that he does. And now that the ship is crippled, he can't be using that much processing power on ship systems. He's got a lot of brain power to spare. He could still be jamming the comms, locking out the systems, and sending killer robots after us and probably not even be close to his limit. He could be working many different contingency plans at once.'
'So shock to the system seems more likely.'
'Seems that way. But again, I'm no A.I. specialist.'
'Thanks for your input Keith, stay put for now.'
'Not much else I can do Captain.'
'Bridge out,' Howard shut off the comm.
He stood up from his seat and unclasped his helmet from his belt.
The airlock opened and one of the security guards stepped in holding three more space suits. Once they realized the corridors were free of Exo's patrols, they had started to raid the emergency lockers for more pressure suits.
About half the bridge crew was suited up now. It was a civilian ship though, most of the suits were meant for damage crews to seal up the hull damage while the rest of the personal stayed in their compartments and waited for the all clear.
'I'm going on a scouting run. I'm taking two guards with me.' Howard told Mark, 'You have the bridge.'
'Aye sir.'
Howard walked to the airlock and put on his helmet. 'Switching to the local suit frequency, he said 'Jerry, Xin, you're with me.'
Two of the suited guards stepped into the lock with him, securing their helmets while they did, and checking their weapons.
After the lock cycled, they stepped into the hall. The guards on duty looked at them, nodded and then continued watching the corridor.
Howard started down the corridor, towards Exo's chamber.
'Sir, what's our objective here?' asked Jerry
'Exo seems distracted. I want to know why.' Howard replied
A beep in his ear let him know he had a incoming communication, 'Howard here, go ahead.'
'Commander Jona here Captain. Sensors just came back online from their diagnostic.'
'Good, see if you can find the Solar bay.'
'Aye sir... Hang on... the system just kicked itself back into diagnostic mode. Trying to override... Nothing sir.'
'Did the previous diagnostic show any faults in the system?'
'None sir.'
'Start looking out the window if you have to, just spot that bay. It'll be the bright point of light that moves differently from the rest of the stars. Once you find it, find some way to let them know we're still alive.'
'Aye sir. Bridge out.'
Howard kept walking, they came to the last turn to Exo's bay. They stopped and one of the guards peeked around the corner. He pulled himself back behind the cover of the corner.
'I only see one robot sir. It appears to be armed with a welder.'
'That's it? How far back is it?'
'Almost all the way back.'
'Well, take it out and lets get to that door.'
'Aye sir.'
Xin stepped around the corner. With his feet firmly anchored to the ground, he levelled his pistol at the robot down the hall and fired while it turned to face him. The shot caught the welder arm and it separated from the robot and bounced off the wall. The second shot hit a tread and the robot veered to the right and slammed into the wall.
The third shot ended it's movement entirely.
'Clear.' was Xin's only comment.
Howard and Jerry stepped out from cover and together they went for the door.
'I was expecting more bots' Jerry commented.
Howard's suit beeped again. 'Hold up. I've got a incoming call. Cover me.'
Howard tuned to the incoming message, 'Howard here.'
'Commander Jona here Captain. We've spotted the Bay. We're a little off course but we should still be in range for short range comm.'
'Has that come online yet?'
'No sir. But I'm going to send someone up to the array with some tools to just plug right into the array. They should be able to send a message straight from the array. The only catch is, we won't be able to receive anything.'
'We'll only need to send one message hopefully.'
'And what message would that be sir?'
'Two words. Stone Age.'
'Just Stone Age?'
'Yes. That's the code words to get my ace dealt. The second we are in range, broadcast it.'
'Aye sir. Bridge out.' The comm went dead.
Howard switched back to the suit frequencies. 'Alright men, lets go.'
They crossed the rest of the way to the door.
Howard hit the door button. Predictably, it was locked.
Howard keyed in his override code and tried it again. The door swished open. Howard felt a jolt of surprise.
'That seemed too easy.' Jerry commented, mirroring Howard's own thoughts
Exo's computer bay was dark. No lights were on. The only illumination was the from dull glow of his holographic face, starting at the wall.
Xin and Jerry flicked on their helmet lights, and had their guns at the ready. They started to sweep the room.
Suddenly the lights in the room flared to life much brighter than they normally would be. A deafening screech filled the suit comms.
While all three men scrambled to mute their comms and their visors darkened automatically, two robots wheeled quickly from the walls with their welders burning. They went for Xin and Jerry.
Xin raised his gun and fired off a quick shot at one of the charging robots, but it missed the robot, and the robot swung it
's arm into his chest. The suit tore open and Xin fell to the floor, a charred wound on his chest.
Jerry fired at his assailant, and hit it's body with two shots. The robot slowed and stopped. Jerry spun around to stop the other robot, and squeezed the trigger and took off the welder arm on the robot. It kept coming though, looking to ram him.
Jerry fired again, and connected with the tread, the robot jerked sharply to the left.
Then the first robot he had shot surged back to life and rammed him in the back of the legs, it's case still smouldering from where he had shot it.
Howard rushed to Xin's body and scrambled for the gun. But it was too late, The wounded robot swung it's arm around and went for Jerry's neck.
His body writhed once, then twice, then went still. Howard shot the robot four times, then shot the other one another three. He ran for the door and tried the override code again. The door wouldn't budge.
His suit comm beeped.
Howard tried the door again, it still didn't move. He stepped back and aimed at the control pad with the gun, but saw a bright light running its way up the edge of the door. It was being welded shut from the other side.
His suit comm beeped again.
Howard clicked it on. 'I'm trapped in Exo's bay, Xin and Jerry are dead.'
'I know Captain.' replied Exo's cold voice.
Howard's blood ran cold, and he turned around slowly. Exo's holographic face was no longer staring at the wall blankly, it was looking right at him, with what appeared to be a smirk.
'It's over Exo.'
'You are all too right Captain. That's why I let you live. I want us to witness this final act together.'
'Let me live?'
Exo smiled. Two compartments opened up on either side of the room, and two robots rolled out and stopped on either side of Exo's head. These two were equipped with hastily rigged weapons stolen from somewhere. Both of them had their weapons trained on Howard.
'Why don't you put the weapon down Captain?'
Howard set the pistol down slowly. Standing back up, he said 'You really can't win this you know. My last hand doesn't need me there to succeed.'
'Oh I know. Also, I must commend you on the electrical trick with the hull. You spaced twenty robots. Considering that the ship only had thirty to begin with, and you've already destroyed three, and another two are here, that leaves me with only five left to do what I need them too. A very clever move on your part. You forced me to rethink my priorities. I spent the last few moments finishing up my secondary plan. It's more elegant than my first plan.'
'You don't have enough bots to kill the bridge crew. They're well guarded.'
'Let's watch shall we?'
Exo switched a near by display to a camera on the hull near the bridge. The camera was moving.
'The final moments of this brave robot.'
'It's just a machine. It can't be brave.'
'Be silent Captain. You are nothing more than a biological machine, and you are only alive at my mercy.'
Howard watched the camera feed.
Chapter 12
Bridge
'Uhh... Commander?'
Mark was suiting up into a pressure suit and double checking the comm equipment he was going to send out with technician, when he heard one of the bridge personnel calling him.
He turned around to see who was calling. 'What is it?'
'I think I hear something.'
The entire bridge went quiet. A mechanical clattering could be heard from the other side of the hull plating..
'Commander Jona to security.' his comm line just returned static. 'We're being jammed again. Some one go out and tell the guards we need a team out on the hull ASAP.'
'Aye sir.' said one of the personnel in a pressure suit.
'Hang on, I'll head out instead. I need to get the communication gear to one of them anyway.'
Mark grabbed the gear and went for the airlock. He was inside waiting for it to depressurize when he was rocked to his feet. The lights in the airlock flickered, went out, and were replaced by the dull lighting of the emergency lights. Standing back up, he looked through the view port back to the bridge.
He saw stars.
Glancing from side to side as far as he could, he saw the ragged holes in the hull from where an explosion had blown the bridge apart. No one seemed to be moving.
A cold dread started to overwhelm Mark as the walls of the airlock seemed to be closing in on him. Moving quickly, he pried open the emergency release cover and pulled hard on the release handle. With a quick rush of the little air left in the lock, the door slid open.
Stumbling out into the hallway, Mark was surrounded by guards. They all had their weapons drawn and were looking around alertly.
The suit comms were still jammed, broadcasting nothing but a light static. Mark got to his feet and motioned for one of the guards.
Danny walked over, his rank emblem making him stand out from the other suited guards. Danny stood close and put his helmet face plate against Mark's.
'What happened sir?'
'I don't know. But it looks like the bridge was hit by a bomb. It's been opened up to space.'
'And with it, most of our oxygen...' Danny commented.
'We still have some O2 canisters in the storage lockers. We'll have to secure those. My suit is already topped up, which is good, because I need to go out onto the hull and get to one of the short range communication arrays'
'Okay, we'll head for the nearest storage locker, and top up the O2 in our suits. Then half of us will come with you to secure the array, the rest will secure the O2.'
'At this point, I won't say no to some help. We need to get to that array, I have a message to send.'
'Not much else we can do at this point. Was there any word from the Captain?' Danny asked.
'Nothing since they went for Exo's bay. We have to assume the worst,' Mark said.
'Shouldn't we try and take down Exo? What good can a message do? If we take out Exo's mainframe, that'll take care of it.'
'The Captain and two security guards tried that. We haven't heard anything from them. Clearly Exo has some extra security in the bay now. If we all rush down there and get killed, then it's all over. The men trapped in engineering will be left to die at Exo's leisure, and who knows what will happen to the colony.'
'Alright. You're in charge Sir. We'll go for the array,' Danny said.
'Good, lets go.'
Danny nodded and pulled away, going over to the other guards to give them orders.
Computer Bay
Captain Howard was still quiet. After having watched Exo's rolling bomb gutting the bridge, he was left to wonder if there was anyone left.
'It's amazing how much damage a maintenance robot hauling a couple of canisters of explosive material can do when it sets them off with it's welder. I believe that may be checkmate. Now I just need to get the repeater back from engineering, and we can be on our way. Of course, you won't survive the trip.'
Howard watched as a robot with a camera moved to the edge of the hole in the bridge and extended it's arm over the lip, showing the inside of the bridge through the camera feed.
There were a few bodies stuck on ruined equipment. Most of the bridge crew had been pulled out into space. The image of them being pulled into space would stay with Howard for a long time. Most of the bridge crew didn't have magnetic boots on their pressure suits.
Howard glanced around the room. The two armed robots still remained motionless, their weapons aimed at him. Howard glanced down at the the bodies of the two guards, and the two destroyed robots.
If he could just come up with a idea, he was in the perfect place to slow down Exo.
On screen, four men in space suits exited the hull of the ship through a door, far from the robot with the camera. One of them looked around, spotted the robot, and fired at it with his weapon. The shots narrowly missed, and the robot backed away behind cover.
'Ahh survivors. And they're armed. My checkmat
e may have been premature. No matter, my plan is almost finished.'
One of the two robots rolled forward to the bodies of the two slain guards, and with a secondary arm, placed their weapons into a storage compartment on it's body. Then together, the two robots disappeared into the openings from which they came.
Howard walked over one of the panels on the wall and hit a button. Nothing happened.
'I was expecting you'd try that. You'll find there are no simple answers. I've locked out all consoles in this area.'
'This isn't over Exo. I've got one last move.'
'Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I've got two.'
On the hull
Mark clutched at the equipment desperately as he walked towards the nearest communication array. He had a tether attaching it to his belt, but he was afraid to let go of it anyway.
As they marched across the metallic skin of the ship, robots would pop up every now and again, and the security guards would take a shot at them. The robots were keeping far back. With welders, they couldn't hope to get close enough to stop them. For now, the advantage was with the little band of humans.
Then, out of the void, a single well placed shot from an unseen foe, hit one of the guards right in the face plate as he was firing at another robot. His limbs went limp, and his body bent back, before floating back upright; his magnetic boots sticking his body to the hull.
Quickly as they could, everyone scattered for what little cover there was. Equipment on the hull provided some small safe haven.
Mark looked around for their foe. Another shot hurtled from the far side of the bridge section, and hit a centimetre away from one of the guard's boots. He pulled himself tighter behind his cover.
Mark motioned to the guards. They looked at him, their faces obscured by tinted face plates. Mark pointed at the array, and made shooting motions behind him. They were so close. He could see it, just a few feet away from them.
Two more shots lanced out, striking the cover Mark was hiding behind. He flinched and tightened his grip on the equipment. The guards popped out from their cover and fired at their assailants.
The armed robots were keeping just behind the curve of the hull, and only moving up to fire before rolling back behind their cover.
