by Ellis,Tripp
Slade’s jaw dropped.
“Seems the Council sees humans as, and I quote, an unstable and unpredictable element in the galaxy. The long-term safety and survival of artificial and synthetic beings is best insured by the destruction of humanity.”
“Good to see that we are well regarded throughout the universe,” Slade said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“It was a 5 to 4 vote, if that makes you feel any better.”
“Not really.”
Violet continued to scroll through the system.
Slade could hear the clanking of the sentries gathering in the hallway.
“They’re trying to override the locking mechanism,” Violet said.
“Will these disruptors work on sentries?”
“I don’t know. It depends on how advanced their processing cores are. The more advanced, the more susceptible.”
The hatch clamored as one of the sentries rammed into it.
Slade aimed the weapon at the hatch and readied herself.
The hatch buckled. It wasn’t going to take them long to breakthrough.
“Violet, can you do something?”
“I’m trying.” She was furiously pounding away at the data-entry pad. “All of the sentries are linked to the network. If I can just—”
The hatch crumpled and slammed to the deck. Slade could feel the vibration coming up through her feet and rattling her spine. The sentry stormed into the lab, aiming its mini-guns at Slade.
Slade was about to blast the sentry when it went limp and deactivated. She looked stunned. All of the sentries suffered the same fate. They stood motionless.
“I don’t know what you did, but I like it.”
“I modified the virus they used to disable our ship and re-introduced it into their network. The higher level synthetics won’t be affected, but the sentries, drones, and connected devices are all deactivated. Let’s hurry. It won’t last long. We’ve got a few minutes before the synthetics realize what’s happened.” Violet downloaded the virus’ code to a portable drive. She slipped it into her pocket and moved to the counter and picked up the injection gun.
“We need to get Mitch and get out of here.” Slade said.
They slid past the sentry and stepped into the hallway. The static bots loomed ominously. Slade and Violet snaked their way back to the detention center.
Slade hovered outside the entrance hatch. She peered in through the viewport—there was one synthetic guard at the command station. She pressed a button on the wall, and the hatch slid open. She whipped around the corner and blasted the guard with the disruptor beam. He flopped against the console and fell to the deck.
Violet dashed to his body and grabbed his side arm.
Slade darted down the corridor toward Mitch’s cell. Three beautiful synthetic women were standing outside of the containment beam. Their eyes were glimmering, and they looked enthralled. They were giggling and flipping their hair, and hanging on Mitch’s every word.
Slade fired several shots from the disruptor beam. They dropped to the ground like a pile of Barbie dolls. Slade moved to the cell and deactivated the force field.
Mitch’s brow furrowed. “What are you doing? They were so into me.”
Slade rolled her eyes. “Come on. Were leaving.” She marched back down the hallway.
Mitch stepped out of the cell. He looked at the awkward pile of stunning androids on the floor with sad eyes. He shook his head, then caught up with Slade. “They had never seen a human before. I’m like a rock star here.”
“You’re welcome to stay if you want,” Slade quipped.
He looked back down the hallway and bit his lip, tormented.
Slade moved to the hatch and peered into the hallway. She blasted two synthetics with the disruptor beam. They flopped to the deck. Slade was starting to like this weapon. It cast a wide beam. You didn’t need to be spot on accurate.
The trio scampered through the corridors to the flight deck. The halls were mostly empty—with the ship fully automated, there wasn’t need for much crew.
The hordes of sentries on the flight deck remained lifeless. But they weren’t going to stay that way forever. Slade and the others dashed across the deck to the Skylark. They ascended the loading ramp, and Slade raised it behind them. The hydraulics whirred as it slowly lifted. Slade was in the pilot’s seat, attempting to power up the ship before the ramp had slammed shut.
Slade grimaced. The system controls were still disabled by the virus. “I hope you have a plan for dealing with this, or this may become a permanent residence.”
Slade saw the sentries reactivate. They came back online and took offensive positions against the Skylark.
“I’m working on it,” Violet said. Her eyes fervently darted across the display screen, reading lines of code. Her fingers tapped at the data entry pad.
Gunfire erupted as the sentries blasted the Skylark with their mini-guns. Thousands of rounds of bullets simultaneously impacted the armor plated hull. Sparks showered. The clink clank sound of bullets smacking the composite alloy hull echoed through the gunship. A haze of gun smoke filled the air, and shell casings pinged against the deck.
“Anytime now would be acceptable,” Slade said.
“The more you talk, the more it distracts me from my focus,” Violet said in singsong.
“That’s what my ex-husband used to say,” Slade sighed.
A high caliber round pierced through the armor plating. It ripped through the cabin and smacked into the far bulkhead, spewing sparks.
Mitch shrieked and almost jumped out of his seat. “What the hell?”
Slade’s wide eyes gawked at the small hole in the bulkhead. A round that size shouldn’t have been able to penetrate the armor plating. Slade’s eyes flicked across the flight deck. An infantry bot was firing a high powered rifle with advanced armor piercing rounds. Another shot ripped through the hull.
“Too many more shots like that, we’re not going to be space-worthy,” Slade said.
“Just another minute,” Violet said.
“We don’t have another minute.”
19
New Earth
“Hurry!” Presley hissed. She ran down the corridor and climbed onto the side ledge. She cut her flashlight and ducked into a small junction. She hugged the wall, hiding behind some piping.
Levi followed after her. “What is it?”
“Shhh! Turn that off.”
He clicked his beam off. “I can’t see shit,” he whispered.
Presley brought her weapon to the firing position. The drone grew louder. The tunnel walls began to illuminate at the curve ahead. Soon, a drone rounded the corner. It was a black orb, about 3 feet in diameter. A weapon was mounted on either side. The front face panel had red illumination lights that almost looked like a face.
It flew through the tunnel on patrol. Presley held still as the drone glided by. She breathed a little sigh of relief. But it was short-lived. The drone stopped and spun around, weapons aimed right at her.
Presley squeezed the trigger and blasted off several plasma rounds. She was dead solid perfect with her aim. The reticle hovered in the center of the drone. Blue streaks of plasma projectiles flashed across the tunnel.
But the drone dodged the projectiles with unnatural speed. It moved up and down and side to side with precision. It returned a barrage of weapons fire. Plasma blasted from its cannons.
Presley dove out of the way as the projectiles cratered the walls of the passageway. Bits of concrete sprayed out. She scrambled to her feet and raced down the narrow corridor, heading toward an access door. Levi was right on her heels.
The drone darted to the junction. But it was too wide to fit down the narrow passageway. It shifted to the side and lined up one of its cannons at Presley.
Presley shot at the door, incinerating the locking mechanism. She ran full stride and put her shoulder into the door, flinging it open.
The drone rattled off several shots. The corridor lit up with
blue streaks.
Presley dove aside.
The projectiles rocketed through the doorway and slammed into the far wall of the maintenance room. Levi and Presley hugged the walls on either side of the door as the drone hovered at the end of the junction. Presley’s heart was thudding in her chest, and she was heaving for breath.
There was no way to get to the exit of the maintenance room without crossing the line of sight of the drone. They were stuck cowering against the walls until the drone decided to go away—and that didn’t look like it was going to happen anytime soon.
“I’ll lay down some suppressing fire,” Presley said. “You run for the doorway.”
“How are you going to get out?”
“Once you’re clear, you’ll return fire, and we’ll leapfrog out.”
Levi had a skeptical look on his face. “If you say so.”
Presley swung her rifle around the corner and blasted off several rounds. Levi took off for the exit door.
Presley snapped back, out of the line of sight.
The drone dodged and weaved. Then returned fire. Projectiles blasted at Levi’s feet as he pushed through the steel exit door. He ducked out of the line of fire and hugged the wall.
Presley slung the barrel of her weapon around the doorframe again. This time she didn’t fire at the drone. Instead, she fired in random patterns all around the drone.
It dodged and weaved as expected.
Presley fired where she anticipated it to move. She got lucky. One of her shots struck the drone’s faceplate. The electrical system shorted out. Smoke wafted from its electronics. The device made a high-pitched digital screech, then collapsed to the ground in a twisted wreckage.
Presley’s eyes grew wide. “Holy shit, I got it!” A small grin turned into a huge expression of joy. She scrambled to her feet and pushed through the exit.
“Am I always going to be the one that has to draw fire?”
“We’ll flip for it next time.”
“Let’s hope there isn’t a next time.” Levi flashed a nervous grin.
They weaved through a labyrinth of hallways and found a door that opened to a staircase that led up to the street. Presley climbed the steps with caution. She could hear the heavy footsteps of soldiers marching in the street and the rumble of a hover-tank. She hugged the wall of the stairwell, keeping below street level as the Decluvian soldiers marched by. They had unopposed control of this section of the city.
“Maybe we should go back through the subway?” Presley whispered.
“Hell no. One of those drones was enough.”
“You think a whole battalion of troops is going to be any better?”
Levi shrugged.
Presley waited several minutes until the troops had cleared the area. She popped her head up to street level and peered over the landing. Her eyes scanned in all directions. Another tank rounded the corner.
Presley crouched back down to Levi. “I think this is a really bad idea.”
“What about the sewers?”
“What about them?”
“Nobody’s going to be looking in the sewers.”
Presley arched an eyebrow at him. “Do you know what’s in the sewers?”
“Not drones.”
Presley cringed at the thought. The Nova York sewers were notorious for creepy crawly things. And not just small things. There were venomous snakes, slimy eels, and novaraptors—which looked like something between a komodo dragon and an alligator.
They were mostly the stuff of urban legends. Nobody had ever captured a novaraptor in the sewers. Though, they were often blamed for the disappearance of small pets. It was said that novaraptors came up from the sewers at night to feed, if they couldn’t find sustenance in the sewers. People loved to tell tall tales, but there was no tangible proof of their existence.
They were supposedly linked to a long extinct species that roamed New Earth before mankind settled it. Razor sharp fangs, vicious claws, and an insatiable hunger for flesh. Even if they were just rumors, Presley wasn’t thrilled about the idea of trudging through the muck-filled sewers.
20
Slade
A third bullet tore through the hull of the Skylark and clanked against the bulkhead.
Mitch was crouching down on the ground. He didn’t want any part of those bullets.
“Got it!” Violet shouted in triumph as she disabled the virus.
Slade powered up the Skylark. Forget the preflight checks. Forget the safety precautions. There was no time. Slade throttled up, lifted from the deck, and blasted out of the bay.
“Mitch, get off the ground and program jump coordinates,” Slade barked.
“Aye, sir.”
A swarm of fighters streaked toward the Skylark. The gunship had no weapons. No countermeasures. It was completely defenseless.
These artificially intelligent attack fighters weren’t like their human counterparts. They were flawless. They didn’t get tired. They didn’t get emotional. They didn’t make bad decisions. Everything was calculated. They were programmed with the entire known history of combat maneuvering and flight data from all recorded aerial and space battles. Predictive modeling algorithms could take an opponent’s flight trajectory, and predict future movements with a 97.265% degree of accuracy. They just didn’t lose space battles.
This was a battle that Slade preferred not to fight. “How’s it coming, Mitch?”
The fighters closed within targeting range.
He held off replying for a moment as he finished plotting the jump. “Done. Jump when ready.”
Slade engaged the slide-space drive and narrowly escaped as the fighters unleashed a flurry of missiles. The rockets blasted through space in the wake of the Skylark’s quantum wash.
They might have escaped the wrath of the fighters, but precious oxygen was venting through the punctures in the hull. The air whistled and howled as it escaped.
Slade dashed into the cargo area and fumbled for some hull patches. They were dome-shaped magnetic plates with a sealing O-ring that came in different sizes. Slade grabbed a handful, then positioned them over the punctures in the hull. The whistling stopped once she placed the last patch.
Slade looked over the cargo area. The damage seemed minimal. Two slugs were embedded in the bulkhead. The third was rattling around on the deck. She fingered the divot made in the bulkhead. It wasn’t too deep. Nothing critical had been damaged.
Slade moved back to the cockpit and took a seat. She looked distraught. Aria Slade was never one to get depressed. She believed there was always a way. She had come from behind to achieve victory many times during her storied career. But this time, things seemed hopeless.
“Well, at least that trip was good for one thing. We know the robots aren’t our allies.” Slade’s eyes flicked to Violet. “No offense.”
“None taken. We actually got two things out of the trip,” she said with a little glimmer in her eyes. “Valuable intelligence. And we got a virus,” she said, holding up the small portable drive.
“And that’s a good thing?” Slade asked.
“I caught a virus once from this little number on Delta Vega.“
Slade and Violet glared at Mitch.
“Never mind,” he said. It was probably for the best that he didn’t tell the story anyway.
“No. I’ve got the code for the virus.” Violet said. “With a little modification, we might be able to use it against the Decluvian warships.”
“Start modifying,” Slade said.
“Aye, sir,” Violet answered with a grin.
21
New Earth
The hot thick air slapped Presley in the face like a moldy dishrag as she climbed down into the sewer. Her face crinkled up at the horrid stench. She descended the grimy rungs embedded into the concrete and dropped down to the landing below.
A torrent of water rushed through the drain. A narrow ledge ran along both sides of the canal. The arched ceiling of the passageway was constructed of intricat
e brickwork. The walls were covered with slime. Bugs and creepy crawly critters scampered about. It sent a shiver down Presley’s spine. She wasn’t one of those girls that totally freaks out at the sight of cockroaches, but they certainly weren’t her favorite thing in the world. The cockroaches on New Earth weren’t just repulsive—they were big too.
This part of the sewer was at least a hundred years old. There was a footprint cast in the concrete that was probably from one of the construction workers who built it. They were entering a part of the city that most people never saw. It was like stepping back into a time capsule.
Presley crept along the ledge. Stringy stalactites of slime hung from the ceiling. Presley tried to avoid them, but sometimes it was impossible. As disgusting as it was, at least there weren't any drones. At least, not yet.
Soon they came upon a fork in the passageway. The drain split into three tunnels.
“I hope you have a good sense of direction,” Levi said.
Presley chose the left tunnel, and the two kept marching along the ledge. They weaved through the labyrinth of passageways, but eventually, they ran out of ledge. They were going to have to wade through the muck.
“I don't even want to know what's in there," Levi said.
Presley cringed as she climbed down from the ledge into the water. She made sure to keep her weapon above the waterline. It was a Special Operations Command requirement that the RK 909s be fully functional after submersion in water. As advanced as the Decluvian weapon was, it was probably waterproof. But Presley didn't want to take a chance on a fragmented receiver. It wasn't uncommon for lesser weapons to have a catastrophic failure after submersion. Pull the charging handle and let the barrel drain, and you were usually good to go. But why take the chance? Getting a face full of shrapnel because the receiver exploded didn't sound appealing.
Presley trudged through the water. She felt something brushed past her calf. She didn't even want to know what it was. She just kept plodding along. "Do you take all the girls down into the sewer on the first date?"
