by Jake Bible
"That's a lot of fiery terpigshit right there," Kalaka said.
Roak looked down at the Kepler knife in his hand and frowned. The energy blade wasn't going to be much use against corpses that were already on fire.
Speaking of…
N's body shook and shivered then shoved up onto its hands and feet. Slowly, it straightened up and faced Roak.
"We go around," Roak said and sprinted for the side wall.
"Stop leaving me!" Kalaka shouted. "These claws won't do shit against beings on fire!"
"Keep up!" Roak yelled.
He dodged three burning bodies and dove under a table as a fourth body leapt for him. Roak slid on his belly, but was up on his feet almost as soon as he had cleared the table.
"Roak!" Kalaka yelled, but Roak couldn't be bothered. The GVD would have to take care of himself.
A burning Groshnel swung three of its eight tentacle arms at Roak's head. The bounty hunter managed to dodge the swipes, bending over backwards as the tentacles just missed his face by a couple of centimeters.
Roak let his momentum carry him all the way backwards and he planted his hands behind his head then kicked out with both feet, sending the burning Groshnel flying backwards into an oncoming group of fiery Fergs.
With a quick backwards somersault, Roak was again on his feet and running as fast as he could towards the barrels. He was still on a circuitous route since every square meter between him and the wall was blocked by burning corpses. Roak ducked, dodged, and dove around as many beings as he could. The rest he punched and kicked out of his way.
His armor was beginning to overheat and sweat poured off him. Roak took a very quick glance over his shoulder and was surprised to see Kalaka right behind him.
"Keep making a path!" Kalaka yelled as he fired his Blorta indiscriminately at anything that moved. Not that the small pistol did much good against beings already dead and on fire. But he dropped a couple with some wild shots to their legs. "Go! Go! Go!"
Roak went, went, went. But not before he saw that the entire Gas Chamber was ablaze. Almost every being in the place was engulfed in flames whether they were controlled by fire ants or not. Half the place was a massive inferno and it was spreading directly at them.
A blow to Roak's head got his attention and he focused back on the path before him. He could feel the skin on his left cheek already blistering as he swung hard and fast with an armored fist and obliterated a burning Halgon's skull. The headless corpse fell then struggled to get back upright.
"Roak!" Nimm called.
"Not now!" Roak yelled.
"The ship is still locked down!" Nimm responded.
"Kalaka!" Roak shouted. "Did you hear that?"
"Yeah! I don't know why! I had the fine erased!" Kalaka replied just before he threw his empty Blorta to the side. "I'm out!"
"Stay close!" Roak yelled and pressed on.
"Oh, now you care!"
"Yeah because you still have to get that fine taken care of before we can leave!"
"Right! I get that!"
"Roak! Over here!" Yellow Eyes shouted as he jumped up and down, waving his arm nubs over his head. "Roak!"
"I know where I'm going!" Roak yelled back. "Want to help clear the way?"
Yellow Eyes continued jumping up and down.
"Meshara! Tell him to make us a path!"
Yellow Eyes stopped jumping and a swath of clear space was cut through the mob of burning beings.
"What's at the wall?" Yellow Eyes asked.
"A way to a lift that'll take us directly to the hangar," Roak said. "Just under the bottom two barrels is the hidden latch. Get it open. Now!"
"On it!" Yellow Eyes was gone.
Roak and Kalaka sprinted through the gap Yellow Eyes had made, barely able to keep their footing as they slid and slipped on smoldering flesh that coated every meter of the way. The gap was quickly closing and Roak dug deep for that little extra bit of energy.
Kalaka cried out. Roak didn't bother to look back. He reached behind him, gripped the Cerville's upper arm, and pulled the GVD along with him.
"Hey there," Yellow Eyes said when they reached the wall and the barrels.
Meshara was kneeling on the ground, one arm shoved up under two barrels.
"There's no latch," she snarled. "You said there'd be a latch."
"Get it out!" Kalaka cried.
Roak glanced at the being and saw that there were several things moving under the skin on his right leg.
"You take care of that and I'll find the latch," Roak said to Meshara.
"This will hurt," Meshara said to Kalaka.
"What will-? AAAAAAA!" Kalaka screamed as Meshara slit open his flesh with her claws.
She stabbed one, two, three, then four fire ants with her claws and tossed them out into the burning Gas Chamber. A fifth fire ant tried to burrow deeper into Kalaka, but Meshara slashed again and snatched it before it could get into the GVD's muscle.
Kalaka's eyes rolled up into his head and he passed out.
"Great," Yellow Eyes said. "I guess I'll have to carry him too."
"Leave him," Meshara said. "He is a worthless piece of-"
"He comes with so we can fly out of here," Roak said. "You take the pouches so Yellow Eyes can take Kalaka and Jagul."
"I knew it," Yellow Eyes said and tossed the chit pouches to Meshara then picked up Kalaka in one set of his nub arms while he held Jagul in the other set. It helped to have six arms. "You find that latch yet?"
"Yeah," Roak said.
There was a loud groaning and the screech of gears grinding together then the wall slid apart and revealed a dusty, musty corridor with a couple of ancient-looking lift doors at the far end.
"Roak?" Nimm called.
"Still busy," Roak said.
He led the group down the corridor to the lift doors. Then he faced a bit of a problem.
An interface pad.
"Eight Million Gods dammit," Roak said. "I don't know the code."
"What?" Meshara shouted. "Then why'd you bring us here?"
"Better than still being in there!" Roak shouted and pointed back down the corridor at the Gas Chamber.
"Roak!" Nimm yelled. "Klib is here!"
"Good," Roak said. "I didn't think she'd made it."
"Not good," Nimm said. "She brought company."
"Hello, Roak," Klib called over the comm. "You want off Jafla? Then bring me all the chits. Otherwise your ship and your friend here get turned into ash."
"Ash isn't as much of a threat as you think," Roak said. He watched as the end of the corridor filled with burning beings all shambling and limping their way towards the lift. The very closed lift.
"Roak! What do we do?" Meshara shouted.
Roak didn't reply.
He didn't know what they were going to do except for the one thing he always ended up doing.
Roak bounced from one foot to the other then raised his fists and faced the oncoming burning mob.
"We fight," Roak said.
"Are you crazy?" Meshara shouted, but he didn't hear.
Roak was already running straight at the mob with nothing but his armored fists as weapons.
17.
The heat was close to overpowering as Roak rushed towards the mob of burning beings. Whether the heat was coming off the fire ant-controlled corpses or from the inferno that raged inside the Gas Chamber, Roak didn't know. All he knew was his light armor wasn't going to hold up for too much longer.
Oh well.
That was a problem for later.
Roak first had to survive the fight he was about to pick.
He didn't even slow down before he started swinging. Roak's momentum added to the force of his punches and he took off five heads before he slowed enough that he had to rethink his strategy.
Roak was surrounded by flaming corpses. Completely surrounded.
"Well…shit," he thought.
A yellow blur cleared out some space for him.
"I can't keep this u
p forever!" Yellow Eyes cried. "I'm taking damage every time I touch one of these burning bastards!"
"Perhaps I may be of assistance," a voice broke in over the comm. "I have been eavesdropping and it appears you are trapped."
"Eavesdropping? How?" Roak replied. He punched a burning human and the woman's chest exploded in flames, making Roak jump back. "Never mind! Is that you, Poq? How can you help?"
"It is I and I can help by opening the lift for you," Poq said. "It is not easy to override, but I am working diligently at it."
"Can you diligently go faster?" Roak asked.
He crushed a Lipian's head then stomped on a Halfer that looked like it may have been part human and part something with feathers. Roak assumed they were feathers. Hard to tell as they burned away.
"Your question does not make sense," Poq said. "But I understand your meaning. I am going as fast as I can."
"The lift is open!" Meshara yelled.
"Clear a way," Roak shouted at Yellow Eyes.
"Alright, man," Yellow Eyes said, his voice filled with exhaustion. "But I think I'm about done after this."
Yellow Eyes cleared a way and he and Roak retreated back to the end of the corridor where Meshara was dragging the still unconscious Kalaka inside the lift next to an also still unconscious Jagul. Roak threw himself inside and slammed his palm against the controls just inside the lift doors.
Nothing happened.
"Poq!" Roak yelled.
"A moment, please," Poq responded. "The lift was not exactly built to code."
Roak watched the burning mob get closer and closer. They had about twenty meters left before they were overrun.
"Fine! Take your time!" Roak shouted.
"I don't feel so good," Yellow Eyes said.
Roak slapped the being in the side of the head, making Yellow Eyes' flesh ripple and roll.
"Stay awake!" Roak ordered.
"Doing my best," Yellow Eyes muttered before slumping over and falling to the lift floor, landing on top of Kalaka.
Roak and Meshara looked at each other, at the three unconscious beings on the floor, then out at the burning mob.
"I blame you for my death," Meshara said.
"Fair enough," Roak replied.
Then the lift doors closed.
"Thanks, Poq," Roak said.
He and Meshara were thrown against each other and into the lift wall before the grav dampeners could kick in.
"Apologies," Poq said. "This lift is not part of the municipal system and has very strange properties. It looks like it can traverse almost the entire base. Where should I take you?"
"Our hangar," Roak said. "We need to get out of here."
"Not until I get my chits, Roak," Klib said.
Roak closed his eyes. He squeezed the bridge of his nose.
"You're still there?" he asked.
"I am not going anywhere, Roak," Klib said. "You want your friend? You want your ship? Then show up with my chits."
"Your cut of the chits, you mean," Roak said.
"No, I'm thinking I'll take the whole lot," Klib replied. "And don't bother tucking some away for yourself. I get them all or Nimm here gets dead."
"If you say so," Roak said. "Hessa?"
"Hello, Roak," Hessa responded. "Nice to hear your voice. How is it there on Jafla?"
"How do you think?"
"You are more than likely running for your life and probably heading into worse trouble than you are escaping. Am I close?"
"I don't know about worse trouble," Roak said. "But it ain't good. Are we on a private channel?"
"Don't be insulting," Hessa said.
"Who are you talking to?" Meshara asked.
"Hessa," Roak replied.
"Why?" Meshara asked.
"If my assessment of the situation is correct, Roak is attempting to use the special implant inside Klib to neutralize her," Poq said. "Is that correct, Roak?"
"Hello, there," Hessa said. "Who's this sexy voice?"
"I thought the channel was private?" Roak snapped.
"It should be but someone has some very good skills," Hessa said. "Let's hope he's a friend."
"I am not an enemy," Poq said. "You are Hessa?"
"I am. You are?"
"Poq."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Poq."
"Likewise. May we interface quickly so I can ascertain whether or not I can trust you?"
"Oh, how intimate of you, Poq. Don't you want to buy me dinner first?"
"I do not understand how that is applicable to our situation. Especially since neither of us eat."
"It's a joke."
"Ah. I am not big on jokes."
"Can we move this along?" Roak snapped.
"What is going on?" Meshara demanded.
"I think they're…flirting," Roak said.
"That raises many questions," Meshara said. "None that I want an answer to."
"I hear you there," Roak said.
"I now understand the plight you are in," Poq said. "I will do all I can to help, Hessa."
"Thank you, Poq," Hessa replied. "It is appreciated."
"Good. Now that the whole meeting of the AI minds is over with, how about we get back to business?" Roak said. "Hessa? Can you take out Klib from here?"
"No," Hessa said. "The distance is too great. But I am working with Poq to see what can be done."
"Better hurry because we're about to reach the hangar," Roak said.
"There are several beings with questionable intentions stationed inside and outside the hangar entrance, as well as several beings around your ship, Roak," Poq announced. "You are outnumbered."
"I'm always outnumbered," Roak said. "Meshara, I'm going to need you to get these three onto the ship as soon as the coast is clear."
Meshara raised an eyebrow, looked down at the three unconscious beings, looked back up at Roak, and growled low in her throat.
"We're going to have to leave Jafla fast, so don't take your time," Roak said.
Meshara's growl intensified.
"Toss them in the cargo hold, but make sure to strap them down since this will be a bumpy ride," Roak continued.
"Is GVD Kalaka injured?" Hessa asked.
"Yeah," Roak replied. "And Yellow Eyes isn't doing so hot either."
"You have one med pod on the ship, Roak," Hessa said. "Meshara? You should place Kalaka in the med pod."
The growl started to become a roar, but the lift came to an abrupt stop and Meshara was thrown from her feet and onto the three-being pile-up on the floor.
"Get your furry ass up," Roak snapped. "We've got work to do."
The lift doors opened and Roak smiled at the sight of nothing. Not a single one of Klib's allies was anywhere close by. The secret lift opening was on the far side of the ship, opposite the hangar's entrance.
"Clear," Roak reported. "You better hurry."
Meshara leapt to her feet and stuck an extended claw under Roak's chin.
"Your disrespect will not be forgotten," Meshara hissed.
"It never is," Roak replied. "Get moving."
Removing the claw from Roak's chin, Meshara surveyed the pile of beings then shrugged and picked up Yellow Eyes, throwing him across her shoulder while she grabbed Kalaka by his scruff and Jagul by his…putty.
"You will owe me for this," Meshara said as she quietly left the lift.
"I doubt it," Roak replied as he left the lift as well, but heading in the opposite direction.
There was a supply room off the hangar. That was Roak's destination.
He moved carefully to the supply room door, slid it open, then slammed it shut as hard as he could. The noise was like thunder in the hangar and all eyes turned to Roak.
"Hello, Roak," Klib's voice called from the external loudspeakers on the 714. "Your AI has disconnected me from your super secret comm club. How rude of her."
Something in Klib's tone gave Roak pause.
"Hessa?" Roak whispered.
"Yes, I heard the difference," Hessa
said. "Strange."
"It can't be him," Roak said. "You switched out Klib's implants. They are your design, not his."
"I know," Hessa said.
"Then why in all the Hells does Klib sound like Father?" Roak snapped.
The thugs by the hangar entrance had their weapons up and were cautiously approaching Roak. Which is exactly what he wanted and why he'd gotten their attention. Roak's Flott was out of charge and he needed a weapon. The thugs had weapons. He just needed them to get in close so he could relieve at least one of them of their firearm.
But the fact that Klib sounded uncannily like Father gave Roak pause. Were the thugs coming at him also controlled? Or was Father keeping his cards close and only using Klib?
Roak was getting really sick of surprise visits from Father.
"I'm getting really sick of your surprise visits," he decided to shout out loud. "A little heads up next time."
"Where would the fun be in that?" Klib asked.
"I'm locked out of the ship," Hessa said.
"He can do that?" Roak asked.
"He blocked me by putting the AI into paradox mode," Hessa said.
"He did what?" Roak asked. "What is paradox mode?"
"Oh, right, I shouldn't be telling you this," Hessa said. "It's taboo to share with non-AIs."
"Hessa," Roak growled.
"Fine, fine," Hessa said. "By presenting a paradox to an AI, it is possible to overload their processing power. The simplest way is to order an AI to explain the meaning of life."
"How is that a paradox?" Roak asked. "Sounds like a question to me."
"AIs are not alive," Hessa said. "How can an entity that is not alive explain the meaning of life when living beings for millennia have been unable to? This may get messy."
"Great," Roak said. He decided not to ask what Hessa's idea of messy was. He had other things to deal with.
Like the thugs that were almost on him.
"On your knees, son," the lead thug said.
Roak sighed, the thug grinned.
"This isn't going to go well for you," Roak told the thug.
"This being is oblivious to self-preservation," the Father as thug said. "I could walk it into an incinerator and it wouldn't resist."
All thugs stopped well out of Roak's reach. Roak sighed again.
