by J. J. Green
“They’re just machines,” replied the security officer, “or as good as. They don’t care about me. They’ll follow Loba’s orders. No one outranks him. And he doesn’t even need to be with them. He can command them through the ship’s comm system.”
“No, wait,” said Lee, “that’s not true. Not if I can get to them first.”
Harrington shook her head. “You can’t override the command hierarchy protocol. If you try to tamper with it, they’ll shut down. But then, that might not be so bad. No one’ll be able to command them then.”
“I won’t need to override the hierarchy protocol if I can disable their comm links.”
Harrington’s eyes widened. “So they’ll only respond to voice control?”
“Voice control only. Wait, no, forget it. They’ll self-repair, right? Then we’ll be back to square one.”
“They will self-repair, but not immediately. We should have a window of a few hours at least. Let’s do it.” Harrington began to walk, stooping, to the abyss at the end of the tunnel and grabbed the ladder rungs. Lee followed her.
“Hold up,” said Carl. “I’m coming too.” He put a hand down his shirt and pulled out Flux, who blinked sleepily.
“What the...?” said Harrington, looking back at him. “I wondered what it was you had down there.”
“I’ll introduce you later,” Carl said. He spoke to Flux. “Gotta leave you here for a while, little fella. Wait for me, but if I don’t come back, well, you know what to do.” He put the creature down. Flux folded his wings and turned his back on the copilot in reply.
Carl’s muscles ached just at the thought of climbing all the way back up into the ship, but he swung the strap of his weapon out of the way over his shoulder. “Right behind you.”
***
By the time he emerged through the service hatch and into the bright light of the corridor, some time later, his muscles were screaming at him. It took a lot more effort to climb up the ladder than down it, as it turned out.
Even Harrington seemed to be feeling the strain. Sweat had soaked through her uniform in dark patches, and she was looking pale and drawn. And Lee was in worse shape. The navigator looked as though she could barely stand.
“This way,” said Harrington, setting off at a lope. Lee staggered after her. Carl pulled his weapon around and pointed it forward. News of their exploits had probably gotten out, and the crew would be on the lookout for them. He followed the two women. The engine access point was in an unfamiliar part of the ship, and Carl hoped the defense unit storage wasn’t too far away. He also hoped they had a long time before Loba returned.
Their luck was holding. The crew members they encountered backed away and ran at the sight of long-limbed Harrington bearing down on them, weapon at the ready. And it seemed that no one had thought of activating the defense units to capture them. Carl couldn’t imagine Loba, even a possessed Loba, making such a mistake. He must have left behind only a few cadets on the flight deck: terrified adolescents who were wondering what was going on.
When they reached the storage room, the defense units stood creepily in the half-light as they had when Carl had first commanded them. The scent of melted plastic from the unit the brig guard had shot tainted the air. The room was full of units.
“All of them,” exclaimed Harrington, turning on the light. “All fifteen. That means the shuttle must be back. We don’t have much time before Loba figures out he can send them after us. All units, allow access to your CPUs. Lee, do your best.”
A wide slot in the units’ midriffs opened, but otherwise they didn’t move. Lee was already at the nearest one, looking inside.
“How do you know how to do that?” Carl asked her, peering over her shoulder.
“I don’t.”
“What? Then how are you...?”
“We had android servants at home. I used to open them up and mess with them. Taught one of them to tap dance. I’m guessing defense unit CPUs are pretty much the same. I just need to find the receiving antenna and disable it. You keep watch with Harrington.”
They’d left the door only slightly ajar. Harrington was peering out. Carl peeked over her shoulder, trying to get a view of the corridor.
Lee began humming last year’s smash hit. It was the only noise for several minutes, except for Carl’s heartbeat thumping in his ears. After what felt like a very long time, but was probably only a few moments, the navigator muttered a soft Got it.
“Give me your earring, Lingiari,” said the navigator.
“Huh?” His hand went to the elongated platinum leaf he wore in his right ear.
“I need something sharp. Quick.”
Carl pulled the jewelry free and passed it to Lee. He had a feeling it would be returned the worse for wear. Lee reached into the unit’s midriff. A short screech of metal on metal made Carl wince. Lee moved to the next unit. A second later, there was another screech.
Then came the sound of approaching footsteps.
Chapter Twenty
“Hurry up, Lee,” said Jas quietly. Officers had appeared at the far end of the corridor. They had the same gait and fixed looked that she’d seen with Loba and Margret. She closed the unit storage room door to a slim crack.
“Two down. Thirteen to go,” said the navigator.
Jas’ finger hovered over the trigger of her weapon as the officers approached. Were they looking for her, or the other two? Had they only come to retrieve the defense units? Loba would probably want to use them to force some more reluctant crew members onto the shuttle. Or were the officers on their way somewhere else?
“Eight to go,” said Lee.
Jas’ breathing quickened. The officers weren’t going to pass by. They were looking at the door, looking directly at her, if they’d known it. At the last possible second, she switched her weapon to stun and slipped the barrel through the door crack. She fired. The leading officer collapsed. The rest reacted, but slowly, too slowly. She had time to stun another two before the rest fled. These aliens were still getting used to operating in human bodies.
Jas turned to see what was happening inside the room. Lee moved to another unit and put her hand in its chest, holding something silver in her fingers. Now that the infected officers knew they were in the defense unit storage room, it would only be moments until one of them comm’ed Loba. As soon as he got the message, he would—
“Last one,” said Lee, stepping to the final unit. Simultaneously, it lifted an arm. Lee shrieked and backed up. She didn’t move fast enough. The unit grabbed her throat and lifted her up. Her hand was in its chest. She choked and turned imploring eyes to Jas. The unit would snap the navigator’s neck like a twig before she had time to swing her gun around, Jas realized.
A beam pulsed from Lingiari’s weapon, hitting first one of the unit’s arms then the other. Plastic and flesh burned, filling the room with smoke. Lee was turning purple. Her toes barely touched the floor.
“AX3, release Navigator Lee,” commanded Jas.
Its fingers opened marginally. Lee had disabled the unit’s CPU so that it no longer received Loba’s commands, and it was trying to obey Jas, but Lingiari’s close-range shot had disabled it. The slight movement of the unit’s fingers was enough for Lee to pull herself free of its grip. She slipped out and down until her feet were flat on the floor. She rubbed her throat. “I did them all,” she croaked.
A shot hit the door. It swung open. The officers had returned.
“All units, defend us from the adversaries in the corridor,” shouted Jas, and stepped out of the way as the fifteen androids pushed past her, their weapons sliding into their hands. “Stun only,” she added.
The fighting automatons did their job with practiced ease. The alien-infected officers barely got a shot in before the defense units laid them low. One at the back stopped trying to fight and turned to run. A stun beam caught him, and he fell. In less than a minute, the fight was over.
Jas counted the unconscious bodies. Twelve officers. At least twel
ve members of the ship’s command had been possessed by an alien force. There had to be more. Loba would have kept some with him on the flight deck.
But she couldn’t worry about that now. They had only a short time before the master knew the defense units weren’t responding to his commands through the comm system. “We need to get out of here with these units, before Loba turns up to counter-command me.”
Lee was still rubbing her throat. She shook her head. “I’ve had it, Harrington. I can’t go much further, and I certainly can’t climb down into the engine again. You two go without me. I’ll only slow you down.” Her eyes were bloodshot from being choked, and exhaustion lined her face. Lingiari didn’t say anything, but he looked as if he was at the end of his strength too.
Come to think of it, Jas realized, she was exhausted herself. Yet they had a hard run ahead of them before they were safe. The sight of the waiting units gave her the answer. Something she’d been tempted to do for fun, but had never dared to do for fear of losing all dignity. “Can you hold on to something? Grip on tight?” she asked Lee. “Do you have strength for that?”
“Hold on to what?” asked the navigator.
Jas motioned to a defense unit with her eyes.
“You mean...? No. No way.”
“Come with me,” said Jas, taking Lee by the hand and dragging her over to AX12. “Climb aboard.” She grabbed the woman under the armpits—now wasn’t the time for decorum—and told her to jump. As she hoisted the petite woman onto the back of the unit, Lingiari got the idea. He went over to AX6 and motioned Jas away as she approached. He clambered up by himself. Jas leaped onto AX10’s back and commanded the units to return with them to the engine access point.
The fifteen units lumbered off, vibrating the corridor with their movement. “All units, anyone you see, except me, Lee or Lingiari, stun them.” Jas’ voice wobbled from the motion of AX10.
If they could get away fast, and if no one saw where they went, they had a chance, though she didn’t know what their next step should be. They had to prevent Loba from taking the rest of the crew down to the planet somehow— “Wait, shuttle bay. All defense units to the shuttle bay.”
With an abruptness that almost made her lose her grip, AX10 and the other units changed course.
“What are you doing, Harrington?” called Lee. “We can’t go to the planet. We can’t survive down there.”
“We aren’t going to the planet.”
“What then?” asked the navigator, then her eyes widened. “Oh, I get it. Good idea.”
“What?” Lingiari asked. “What are we going to do? Shouldn’t we get back to the engine before Loba catches up with us?”
“We have to prevent him from getting the rest of the crew infected,” said Jas.
“But how can we stop him?” asked Lingiari. “He only has to take them down to the surface, and he has his officer mates to help him now...Oh, no. Wait. No, no, no. We can’t do that.”
“We have to,” replied Jas.
“There’s gotta be another way.”
“Sorry, Lingiari.”
It was risky. It was crazily risky. But if they didn’t act now, they would give Loba time to think it all out and get one step ahead of them. They had to do their worst while the ship was in disorder and the possessed officers were finding their feet.
The defense units could run faster than the fastest man. They brought the three humans to the shuttle bay within five minutes, encountering only a few crew members on the way. Most seemed to have fled the public areas.
Lingiari had gone very quiet during the journey, and Jas thought she saw tears in his eyes as they arrived at the shuttle bay. The bay was empty. They’d caught Loba out again. The copilot whimpered as Jas gave the order. “All defense units, fire on the shuttle, maximum power.”
Blinding white light arched from the defense units’ weapons. Their arms were more powerful than the weapons available to the crew. They were charged by the units’ inner power core. The shuttle hull glowed scarlet, then white. The metal popped, fizzed, then began to melt as the units’ beams breached the outer hull and penetrated the interior. Jas had to duck below AX10’s back to shield herself from the heat of the destruction.
“Units, cease fire,” she shouted and looked out. Through the smoke, the shuttle was little more than a white-hot ruin. Loba wouldn’t be flying anyone anywhere in that ever again.
“Defense units, kill your passengers,” came a voice from behind them.
Jas whipped around. A group of alien-infested officers had come up while they were destroying the shuttle. She recognized the fourth engineer, chief steward and two or three uncertificated mates.
“Units, stun the approaching officers,” she said, and held her breath. The units turned and aimed their weapons, and she exhaled. The officer who had commanded them was lower ranking than her. The fight was brief and decisive, and Jas commanded the units to return to their previous course.
As they passed through the group of fallen officers, Jas gasped. The last of the bunch was Haggardy. So the first mate had been infected too. He could have countermanded her and prevented himself and the others from being stunned. He could have stopped their destruction of the shuttle. Didn’t the alien infecting him understand the ranking protocols? Or was it still getting used to Haggardy’s body? Why hadn’t it spoken?
Chapter Twenty-One
The creature that looked like Loba reached out with its mind as it strode through the ship in the direction of the shuttle bay. It had arrived at the defense unit storage room too late. The human called Harrington and the ones who had disobeyed his order to go to the shuttle bay, Lingiari and Lee, they had taken the units. The creature could no longer communicate with them through the ship’s system—a serious impediment to its plan. The defense equipment items were far superior in skill and strength than their human controllers. They had proven extremely useful, and the creature had anticipated using them for several more tasks in the suppression and replication of the remaining humans. But though the alien had made a grievous miscalculation in not accompanying the others to retrieve the units, the insurgent humans had made a worse one.
They had only made unconscious the others of its kind it had sent. They had not taken the opportunity to destroy them. Why this was so, the creature was not certain, but possibly the humans did not understand that they were only copies of the ones they had absorbed. Perhaps they imagined the dead humans lived on somewhere within the bodies they saw, and they had an attachment to them that prevented them from causing harm. If they were reluctant to damage the forms that the creature and the others had assumed, this would prove of great benefit.
The Loba creature was becoming aware of the minds of those it had left behind at the defense unit storage room. They were regaining consciousness. But it could detect nothing from the remaining ones that should be at the shuttle bay. It walked faster. It ran. The sensation of speed on the physical plane was dizzying and confused its senses. It reached out with its mind. Still nothing from the shuttle bay. Were those others unconscious? That could only mean one thing.
It had to protect the shuttle. The small ship was a precious item, and they needed it for transportation to the planet. Their numbers were not enough. They had to absorb and replicate more.
Signals from its olfactory organ. Knowledge from the copied Loba mind told the creature the signals indicated smoke. The smell of destruction. It was too late. It had failed again.
A second loss. Emotions flooded the creature. Anger. Fear. The humans who had destroyed the shuttle had guessed its intentions and subverted them. They knew what it wanted. It must locate the three humans responsible, and it must do so before they communicated their knowledge to the rest. It must end their lives as soon as possible. It would not wait to submit them to absorption and replication. They were too dangerous.
The odor of smoke grew stronger. In the corridor before the alien were the others it had sent to the shuttle bay, lying unconscious. It stepped thr
ough the bodies and made its way into the bay. The wreck of the shuttle sat at the center, its metal glowing, twisted, melted, scarred, scorched.
A beautiful artifact, destroyed beyond recognition. The Loba creature closed its eyes to shut out the sight of the ruin. The legs of the creature weakened. It found itself lying down. Their transportation to the planet was lost, but it was more than that. The shuttle was gone. Sorrow overwhelmed it. How could they do it? Humans were an evil species.
What should it do now? It had failed, failed, failed. It cast its mind wide, trying to contact and connect with the others of its kind, preparing itself for their censure. Separation was hard to bear.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jas surveyed her two human companions and sixteen defense units, deep within the labyrinthine maintenance tunnels of the Galathea’s engine, taking stock of the situation. Lee and Lingiari were slumped on the metal gridwork, while the defense units sat on their haunches, too tall to stand.
Of the three officers, she was the only one trained in combat, but they had the units, and they were fully armed. They also apparently had some kind of weird alien creature that Lingiari had smuggled aboard. Trust him. The animal—what did he call it? Flux?—was hanging upside down from the tunnel roof, the claws of its feet clinging to the metalwork, its wings folded over its head. Beneath the transparent wings, its eyes and little sharp-toothed mouth were closed.
“I can’t believe we did it,” said Lee.
“Me neither,” said Lingiari, holding a fist for Lee to bump. He next moved his fist to Jas, but she looked away. They didn’t have time for this.
“You were awesome,” said Lee to the copilot. “If you hadn’t shot that unit, I’d be dead.”
“Thanks. You weren’t so bad yourself.”
“How did you get to be such a good shot? I thought pilots only did basic combat training.”
“Huh, it was pretty close range. Anyone could have done it, but I got a lot of practice when I was a kid growing up on the family farm. We had a rumpabug plague pretty bad. Used to take them out with a rifle while I was crop dusting, flying my dad’s twin engine.”
