Strange New Worlds

by Kevin McLaughlin

  Ayala shot her a look like he wished that she would reverse their roles. But he kept his mouth shut this time anyway, which she appreciated. They hadn’t gotten on well, at first. But he’d turned into an exceptional second in command. Far better than she’d ever have guessed in those first days. She figured she owed him a little more explanation.

  “It’s got to be me, Luis,” Beth said. “You know the space stuff. Your observations of that thing out there will be much better than any I could make.”

  Ayala nodded. “But you know machines. I get it. I’m not fond of seeing you take the more dangerous role on yourself. Again. But I understand why.”

  “With luck, neither of us will be in any danger,” Beth said.

  Ayala barked a laugh. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

  “I’ve been in space for more than ten minutes. What do you think?” Beth chuckled. “Stay safe.”

  “You too,” Ayala replied.

  Then he was off, taking his men down toward the transparent deck that formed the planetoid’s inner shell. The stuff looked like it was made of glass, but that was impossible. Something so fragile would never withstand the stress involved. Frankly, Beth wasn’t sure what would. She guessed that the material was some sort of exotic alloy, custom-made for this purpose.

  Beth and her security duo set off. She’d spotted increased robot activity not far away in the three o’clock direction. Whatever they were doing over there might be precisely what she was looking for.

  It was a short trip. They hurried most of the few hundred meters to the heart of the movement. A string of smaller robots was traveling to and from the spot like a column of ants. At first, she couldn’t see what they were so interested in. Several of the larger robots surrounded whatever it was, masking it from view. Presumably, they were sentries of some sort. But were they still functioning? Beth couldn’t tell.

  Only when she drew closer was she able to see that the machines were working on some sort of pedestal. It was a cylinder that rose to about waist high made of silvery metal. The top of the stand was flat and smooth, unbroken except for a single hole set directly in the center. She couldn’t see where the hole’s bottom was. But if this wasn’t some sort of control mechanism, Beth figured it was it would be time to hang up her wrench for good.

  “I want to get a closer look at that thing,” Beth said, pointing.

  “That figures,” Evans said with a chuckle. Beth shot him a frosty glare which evaporated his humor. “Ma’am.”

  Most of the time, Beth really didn’t care much about military protocols and whether or not they were followed by the book. Then there were some days when it was good to be king. Or queen, or whatever. “I need both of you to cover me while I go in there. I think the pedestal is part of a control system. If I’m right, that thing could solve all of our problems.”

  DeCosta took his left hand from his firearm and raised it like a first grader. Beth nodded to him, unable to keep herself from smiling at the sight. “If it’s that important, do you think those robots guarding it are going to let you approach? Or are they more likely to slice you up for supper?”

  Beth glanced over at the object of all their attention. That was the question, wasn’t it? She was gambling on being right about the robot’s lack of control. And also about the decrepit nature of their software. If they were only responding to clear threats, she might be able to get very close by simply appearing unthreatening.

  Or DeCosta could be right, and this could turn into a very short walk.

  Either way, it was vital the two men not engage the robots unless it was absolutely necessary. “I think they’ll only attack a clear threat. If I can seem unthreatening enough…”

  DeCosta got the idea right away. “That means you’re going to need us to appear unthreatening, too. Right?”

  “That’s the idea, yes,” Beth replied.

  “I’ve got to tell you that kind of sucks, ma’am. Were supposed to be trying to keep you safe,” DeCosta said. “Very hard to do that if we have to pretend like we’re not an actual threat.”

  “I know,” Beth said. “I’m counting on you both to do your best. If you do something which sets them off, it’s likely to put me in more danger, not less.”

  “Be careful, ma’am,” Evans said.

  Beth nodded a reply to him, then started carefully forward. The pedestal was only about twenty meters away from where they’d been standing. Beth closed half that distance at the pace of a steady stroll. So far, so good.

  But at about ten meters away, one of the smaller robots took note of her at last. It scurried over. Beth froze in place. She kept her eyes locked directly ahead, tracking the construct’s movement with her peripheral vision. Sometimes just looking at an animal was enough for it to feel threatened, on Earth. Or so Beth had read, anyway.

  “Nothing to see here,” Beth whispered under her breath. “This is not the human you droids are looking for.”

  The robot stopped directly in front of her feet. Beth could just barely see it, but she heard it emit a steady series of whirring noises. What was it doing? The sounds were a bit like the shutter on a rapid-fire camera, but she couldn’t imagine a device so complex using an instrument that archaic. Some sort of scanner, though. It was taking her measure.

  All at once, it rushed away again, wandering off on some new mission to who-knew-where. Beth exhaled the breath she’d been holding for the last thirty seconds. Her pulse was pounding, and more than ever she wanted to turn back. But she had to solve this mystery, and soon. Who knew how much time Dan and the crew of the Independence had left before they had a fatal interaction with the black hole?

  Beth started forward again. She moved slowly now, cautiously taking each step. She kept her line of sight focused anywhere except directly toward the pedestal and the robots around it.

  Almost there, she thought. Just a few more steps. She moved slowly between the larger robots, holding her breath for fear of disturbing them. But they didn’t move. One more step and she was within arm’s reach of the device. The hole in the top turned out to be more of a shallow depression. It only went down a handful of centimeters. At the bottom was a glowing crystal. A power source, or a control device? Could she remove it? Or use it?

  Ayala’s voice came over her radio. “I can’t get through to the Independence, and they’re getting dangerously close to the singularity. If you’ve found anything, Captain, now would be a good time to try it.”

  “Understood,” Beth replied.

  Damn it. Something like this control console — if that was what she had in front of her — deserved respect. She ought to be studying the thing for an extended period before trying to mess with it. As much fun as she had taking things apart, there was a time for caution, and this was definitely one.

  But there wasn’t time. Dan would die if she did nothing. That was never going to happen, not while she had even the smallest chance of saving him.

  Carefully as she could, Beth reached down to touch the crystal.

  Thirty

  Linda stared at the incomprehensible swath of controls in front of her, trying to make some sense of it all. About the only thing that looked even vaguely familiar was the U-shaped flight stick. Even that was something she’d rarely seen outside of films. The rest of the stuff in front of her was completely unfamiliar.

  “You want me to what?” Linda asked, incredulous.

  “Just follow my directions and you’ll be fine,” Majel said. The AI’s voice piped out of the shuttle speakers in what Linda figured were supposed to be soothing tones.

  They didn’t do much to allay her anxiety. Fly the shuttle? She’d never flown anything! “Majel, I can’t.”

  “You won’t be doing the flying. I will. All I need you to do is start the engine and then monitor the controls from your end. Just in case,” Majel replied. Was it possible for an AI to sound testy? Linda had the feeling she was trying Majel’s patience.

  There was no help for it. Linda had m
anaged to gather most of the scientists and other civilian staff into the shuttle after Charline told her to hide inside. But she’d missed one key person: the pilot. Linda didn’t know where he was, but he wasn’t on board the shuttle. Looking at the mess outside, it was an easy guess that he was probably dead.

  The only person aboard the shuttle who’d ever worked with Majel before was her. It wasn’t fair, but it looked like Linda would be stuck with the job regardless.

  “All right. Walk me through it. I’ll do my best,” Linda said.

  The roaring of a ship’s engines firing nearby interrupted whatever reply Majel was going to make. Linda peered through the cockpit window and saw the Satori lifting off. Were they leaving without her? No, Majel wouldn’t do that. Linda watched the Satori pivot and open fire on the robots, raining down fury. The ship was engaging the spiders and drawing their fire. Majel was trying to give her and the others aboard the shuttle a shot at escaping.

  “Follow the start-up instructions on the screen in front of you,” Majel said. As she spoke, the screen lit up with a series of numbered steps. Each step was accompanied by a diagram detailing precisely what she had to do. Linda read the first line and then quickly started following the directions.

  “I thought you said you’d handle it all from your end?” Linda asked.

  “Once the shuttle is ready for takeoff, yes. I can’t control it until the main drive is engaged,” Majel said. “Which means getting through the startup checklist. Quickly, please.”

  It didn’t take a genius to figure out why she had to hurry. Outside, the spider robots were rushing forward from all sides. Without the armor and Marines holding them off, they were closing in quickly. Explosive booms buffeted the shuttle from above as the Satori open fire with its weaponry, raking the enemy lines and blasting robots to smithereens. It wasn’t enough. Linda could see it wouldn’t be enough. There were just too many attackers, and now all of them seemed fixated on her shuttle.

  Linda raced through the checklist and was gratified to hear the engines begin humming beneath her as the shuttle warmed up for takeoff. Another few seconds and they would be airborne, back to the safety of the skies. Hopefully they could head for home after all of this. It certainly didn’t seem like this planet was going to be viable for a colony!

  Something skittered across the windshield. Startled, Linda let out a yell. It was only there for a second, but it was one of the smaller spider robots. She was sure of it. Listening carefully, Linda could hear the staccato tap-tap-tap of their feet as the scurried across shuttles hull. Judging from the sounds, it wasn’t just one spider. A bunch of them must have broken through the Satori’s fire. They were climbing onto the shuttle.

  “Majel, we’ve got a problem,” Linda said.

  “I see them. My guns can’t pick them off without blowing up the shuttle with them,” Majel said. “Keep going with the startup sequence. You’re almost there.”

  Linda kept on working her way through the rest of the checklist. With every passing second, there seemed to be more of the things on the outside of her hall. How long before they could break in? What were they after, anyway? Maybe it didn’t matter. The engines were almost at full power, and soon Majel would have them lift off. Linda wasn’t sure how well the little robots would operate in space, but it was a good bet they have a much harder time of it out there.

  Then Majel’s voice came over the radio again, sounding alarmed. “Abort! Stop the launch sequence.”

  “What?” Linda asked. She’d just been rushing to get it all done. There was only one step left. “Why?”

  “The machines have managed to interface with the shuttle’s computer systems. They’re trying to take over your ship,” Majel said.

  There was a shout from behind her. Linda glanced over her shoulder, then turned and stared. Little motes of light drifted down from a two-foot diameter circle of the ceiling. She didn’t need to ask what that was. She’d seen it before.

  “Majel, they’re breaking in,” Linda said.

  “They’ve taken over the shuttle controls. I don’t know how, and I’m trying to get them back,” Majel said. “But it’s not looking good. You need to evacuate. Get out of there!”

  “Evacuate?” Linda exclaimed. Where could they go? Out into the mass of killer machines waiting just outside?

  “I’m dropping help,” Majel said. “Don’t worry. We’re not leaving you behind.”

  With a clang, the glowing chunk of ceiling fell away and crashed to the floor. The first robots to scuttle through were the same small ones Linda had seen before. About a dozen of them formed the vanguard. The humans who’d been seated in the rear of the shuttle backed hastily away from them.

  But that first wave was followed immediately by a different sort of spider-bot. This robot was larger, standing perhaps as tall as a medium-sized dog. Where all the other spiders had scurried in quickly and then taken up positions like sentries, this one came in cautiously. It turned its head side to side as it walked, sweeping the area with whatever it was using for sensors. Linda was no engineer, so she couldn’t make any determinations about what sort of devices were housed on the machine. But as a biologist, she knew intelligence when she saw it.

  The other robots had been drones. This one with sentient.

  “Well, look at you,” Linda said aloud. The strange mechanical creature turned toward her like it regarded her. Then it turned its attention to the deck plates below its feet. With more strength then she expected a machine that small to have, the robot tore a hole through the deck plate. Then it reached to forelegs into the inner workings of the shuttle below.

  She turned back to the microphone. “Majel, I think I know why you’re having trouble recovering control. There’s a spider here that isn’t like the others. It’s smart. Sentient.”

  “Are you sure?” Majel’s response was immediate, her interest clearly piqued.

  Linda’s voice was tight but firm. “Who’s the biologist here? I know intelligence when I see it.”

  “I’m surprised,” Majel said. “My analysis suggested they were all just dumb machines, following ancient and outdated programming. This changes everything. Linda, you have to get out of there. Now.”

  Well, that sounded like a swell idea, but there was the little problem of how they were going to get away without being sliced to ribbons by robot spiders. As if to punctuate Majel’s message, the shuttle’s engine rumble changed timbre, signaling that the ship was almost ready to launch. Linda didn’t know what the robots were going to do with the shuttle once it was airborne, but she didn’t want to be on board to find out!

  “Listen, folks. The robots have control of the shuttle. We need to get out of here. Majel is sending help,” Linda said.

  “Go out there? Like hell. Looks to me like all we need to do is squish that big one there,” one of the passengers said.

  Linda knew him more by reputation than anything else. Dr. Harvey Dwight was a geologist. Not some cosseted lab scientist, either. No, Dwight spent most of his time out in the field, taking the roughest assignments available. A real ‘hit rocks with hammer’ kind of guy, or so Linda had heard it said.

  Which is why she probably shouldn’t have been surprised when Dwight followed up his verbal outburst with action. He took two steps to the shuttle’s armory cabinet, where a small stock of emergency weapons was stored. Dwight reached inside, grabbed the nearest rifle, slapped in a magazine, and chambered a round, all in one smooth motion. Before Linda or anyone else could stop him, he had the weapon loaded and aimed directly at the brain robot.

  That was as far as Dwight got, though.

  Before he could squeeze the trigger, six of the smaller robot spiders were airborne, leaping toward him. They landed, latching themselves to his face, arms, and legs. Dwight had time for one short scream. Then Linda got to see what happened when the alien nanites went to work on living tissue.

  It wasn’t pretty.

  Linda dashed to the main door and slapped the release b
utton. Hot air from outside rushed into the shuttle. “Everyone out! Move!”

  A pair of booms sounded, the powerful vibrations throwing Linda from her feet. She crashed to the deck, dazed. There was gunfire outside. It had to be Armor. Majel had dropped down some of Charline’s Armor. The civilians aboard the shuttle ran out, one after another. Linda staggered back to her feet to join them.

  The last other person to leave hesitated in the door like she had seen something she didn’t like. Her mouth made a full O as if she were about to scream. But before she could utter a sound, she was hit by a wave of small spiders. They poured over her body, dissolving and erasing her the same way they had killed Dwight.

  Linda backed away from the tide of spiders rapidly filling the shuttle. They poured in through the open doorway, flooding the interior. There was no way she could get out now. She sat down in the pilot’s chair again and tucked her legs up under her. Then she worked at being still as possible while all around her, the spiders continued skittering into the shuttle cockpit.

  Thirty-One

  Ayala kept his pace to a steady jog, despite the urgency of the situation. Running wasn’t going to get him there any faster if it meant he tripped and his mag boots lost connection with the deck. He ground his teeth together in frustration at the delay. What happened? He’d radioed Beth. She’d replied. Then she was off the air, and Evans radioed him to come right away.

  He could see why. Beth was a dozen meters away from her security team. Ayala narrowed his eyes at that. It was their job to keep her safe! But he also knew how damned convincing she could be. It wasn’t too crazy to imagine her talking those men into letting her go off by herself.

  Captain Wynn stood in front of a cylinder of metal which rose to just above her belt level. She had one hand outstretched, touching something on the top of the device. All around her were groups of spiders, looking like bugs frozen in amber. They weren’t bothering her and didn’t take notice of his arrival, either. But her posture was as rigid as theirs.