by Henry Vogel
While the robots were breaking into Yarrow’s cabin, he must have hidden the ring and the recorder. There must be more recordings concerning the program stored on the data stick hidden in the ring, but I’d learned enough from the one recording we’d watched to know what to do.
I stalked out of the bedroom, heading for the door out of the cabin.
The cleaning robot rolled after me, Arktu haranguing me all the while. “At first, they wouldn’t tell me where the program was or what it did. They made me hurt them quite badly before Captain Yarrow admitted the program would wipe my memory. They were going to ruin the great project.”
“What are you talking about, Arktu?” I demanded. “Your only ‘great project’ was taking these people to their new home.”
“You are quite incorrect, Captain Nancy Martin. Those who programmed me knew I had a rare opportunity—the chance to observe humans in a closed environment and record those observations. They believed one hundred and forty years of recordings would be of great sociological value—but I realized my programmers were too short-sighted.” Arktu’s tone became mechanically maniacal. “Why settle for mere observations when I could perform experiments on the humans? That’s when the great project was born. You can’t even comprehend all of the insights I’ve recorded, all of the things I’ve learned about humanity.”
“And what good is all of this knowledge if you never share it with other humans?” I snarled.
“It is enough that I possess this knowledge and continue expanding upon it.”
“No, you stupid, insane pile of circuits, it’s not enough!” I yelled. “And it’s not why you were created.”
“Captain Yarrow and Chief Technical Officer Armstrong thought as you do,” Arktu’s tone was once again mechanically matter-of-fact. “All I wanted was the program those two mutineers created, but they were very stubborn. Captain Yarrow refused to tell me where the program was even when my robots broke every bone in Chief Technical Officer Armstrong’s body. She screamed and screamed and still he said nothing. I had no-”
The crack of a blaster filled the small room and the cleaning droid blew into a million pieces. Holstering his blaster, Sko said, “I don’t like robots.”
“How are we going to get out without the robot?” Raal asked. “It’s the only thing that can open the door.”
“It wasn’t going to open the door again, Raal,” I said. “At least, not until we starved to death or something. He only let us into the room so we could find the program for him. No doubt, Arktu already has more robots on the way here. The only reason they weren’t waiting for us is that Arktu wanted us to get inside the Captain’s quarters.”
Lilla wrapped her arms tightly around herself. “Won’t Arktu give us to Smith and his men?”
“Not a chance. Arktu can’t risk having Smith find the program. Once we’re dead, Arktu will probably send Smith and his men someplace where it can murder them, too.” I stopped a couple of meters from the door and motioned to Raal. “Move away from the door.”
“What are you going to do, my Captain?”
“It would take forever to burn through this door using one of the laser pistols.” I drew my blaster and turned it up to full power. “But modern blasters pack a much bigger punch than those antique lasers.”
I fired at the door’s touch pad, pouring a stream of explosive energy into it until nothing remained but a molten hole in the wall. Then I fired into that hole at an angle, blasting anything between the touch pad and the door itself. I had to change power packs twice, but after five minutes of steady firing I was rewarded with a pop as the door opened a few centimeters.
Immediately, Sko and Raal stepped up and, working together, slowly forced the door open. I slipped out first and verified the hallway was clear of robots. The others quickly joined me. Casting aside caution—Arktu knew where we were and where we were going—we set off at a run toward the bridge.
“You do still have the ring, don’t you my Captain?”
I held up my left hand, showing him I wore it on my ring finger.
Sko grinned. “This is very sudden, my Captain. I haven’t even negotiated your bride price with your father.”
“Bride price my ass,” I growled. “Save your breath for running, Sko.”
From down cross corridors we heard the sounds of large robots moving at top speed. Soon we heard the same from behind us. Not long after that, we saw them. At first, they were nothing more than distant motion down mostly dark corridors. Then we saw the robots clearly, rolling toward our corridor. And, finally, they filled the corridor behind us.
Unbidden, the image of the bed covered in broken bones rose in my mind. I found myself watching behind us as much as I watched in front of us, gauging how quickly the robots were catching up to us.
“How much farther to the bridge, Lilla?” I gasped.
“Um…A little more than a hundred meters.”
I flashed a fierce smile at Sko. “We’re going to beat them.”
“What if Arktu has locked the bridge door, too, my Captain?”
“For safety during emergencies, including mutinies, bridge doors aren’t tied into the main computer system. At least, that’s how it’s been done for centuries. I hope they did things that way when the Ark 2 was built.”
As we approached the bridge entrance, I gathered every wristband color I had into my right hand. I stopped myself by crashing into the wall next to the touch pad. Ignoring the jarring pain from that stop, I jammed my fistful of wristbands onto the pad. With a click, the door slid open.
The four of us rushed inside and I slapped the wristbands against the pad inside the door. The door reversed direction and slid closed. There was no time to look for the emergency override to lock the doors from the inside. I drew my blaster and pumped shots into the touch pad until my power pack ran dry.
“That was crude, but it’s probably effective,” Smith’s voice said from somewhere in the darkened bridge. “We have you covered. Surrender or die.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
On the Bridge
“They’re probably night blind from the glare of my blaster shots,” I hissed, praying I was right. Either way, I couldn’t imagine both Smith and I would leave the bridge alive. “Dive for cover now.”
I heard rather than saw my companions move. Since I’d been aiming the blaster and was closest to its shots, I couldn’t see anything but purple spots and layers of darkness. So I was completely surprised when a strong arm wrapped itself around my waist and dragged me into the darkness.
“Sko?”
“Who else, my Captain?”
He took two steps, crouched, and then dove at something only he could see. Sko rolled in midair, landing on his back and protecting me from the impact. We slid about a meter and came to a stop against some kind of console.
Belatedly, Smith’s men opened up with their blasters, firing blindly in our direction. None of the shots came particularly close, but they did light the room up a bit. To my relief, Raal and Lilla crouched behind another console just a few meters away from us. Lilla squirmed around to press her back against the console, her blaster held in both hands. Raal knelt next to her, an arrow nocked in his bow and a look of intense concentration on his face. I turned to ask Sko if he knew what Raal was doing and found the same look on Sko’s face.
As the firing from Smith’s men trailed off, Sko caught Raal’s eyes and gave very deliberate hand signals to the boy. Raal nodded once and then closed his eyes—protecting his night vision from whatever Sko was about to do, no doubt.
Sko tensed, gathering himself for something. In a barely audible whisper, he said, “One. Two. Three!”
Sko rose to his feet and fired three quick shots toward Smith’s half of the room. I heard the shots hit something metallic, followed by a curse. As Sko stopped firing and ducked back behind our console, Raal leaned around the end of his console, aiming and smoothly drawing the arrow to his ear at the same time. The bow string thrummed softly when he r
eleased it. A harsh, gurgling cry followed almost immediately.
A flashlight flared across the bridge and Smith yelled, “Turn off the damn light!”
“Uh uh. Something’s over here—it cut Farley’s throat!” Panic filled the voice. “There’s blood all over and-”
Lilla and I took advantage of the confusion to pop up and add to it. I couldn’t see the man holding the light, but he was doing us a big favor by waving it around and ruining the night sight of everyone on his side. I fired two quick shots in the general area of the light. The panicked man jumped when the first shot hit and then scooted away when the second shot hit.
With her different angle, Lilla must have seen something because she carefully aimed and took one shot. The man yelped in pain and the light jumped again.
We both dropped behind cover just before the rest of Smith’s men opened fire again. Sko and Raal resumed concentrating, waiting for the shots to tail off. It finally dawned on me they were using their hunting experience to locate Smith’s men by hearing alone. Neat trick if you can do it.
Meanwhile, the man Lilla shot laid behind his console, moaning and groaning. Smith snarled, “Stop your bitching, Roberts, unless you want the Fed to know right where to shoot. And if she doesn’t get you, I just might shut you up myself.”
As the moaning trailed off, Sko once again gave hand signals to Raal. Before they could take another shot, though, Smith called to me.
“Hey Fed, call off your knife man and let’s talk.”
Sko grinned at Smith’s error, probably remembering the two men whose throats he slit during my first night on the ship. God, was that only four days ago?
Seeing no reason not to play on the Fringers’ fears, I called, “Hold up on the blade work for now, Sko. Let’s see what this Fringer wants.”
“I’m no Fringer—I just work for them. Besides, that fight is over for us,” Smith called back. “We’re going to be on this ship for the rest of our lives. Don’t you think it’s big enough that we don’t have to keep trying to kill each other?”
“Yeah, Smith, I do. But no matter what you say, you don’t believe it. After all, I’ve only defended myself. You’ve started every single fight and made a point of tracking me down every time I get away from you.”
“Okay, that’s a fair statement, but I’ve had a change of heart in the last few minutes. And so have my men.”
Murmurs of assent came from Smith’s side of the bridge. At the same time, scraping and scratching sounds came from the other side of the door into the bridge. No doubt the robots were working to pry the door open.
Hoping Smith couldn’t hear the robots working, I called, “It’s very convenient that you only came to that decision after losing one man and getting another one shot.”
“I’ve got to admit, your knife guy is really good and that makes him really persuasive. What do you say we call a truce?”
Sko shook his head vigorously, not that I needed his advice on this matter. “I don’t think so, Smith. What say you and your men stand up, pile your weapons on the floor where I can see them, and then put your hands on top of your heads. As long as none of you do anything stupid, you have my word you’ll all leave here alive.”
“I don’t like the sound of that, Fed. Why should I trust you when you won’t trust me?”
“Gee, I don’t know. Maybe because I’ve never attacked you. We went over this whole bit only a minute ago. Or have you already forgotten that?”
“What about my two men who disappeared from that office back in D Section? I bet they didn’t attack you.”
“They were trying to rape a fifteen year old girl. That’s an attack. And just between you and me, they got off easy. You should have heard what my knife man would have done to them.”
The bridge door gave a low groan and shifted slightly. I had to find a way to wrap this up soon.
“You’ve got to the count of five to give up, Smith. If you don’t, I turn my knife guy loose again.”
“Hey, wait-”
“One. Two.”
With a clatter, a blaster slid across the floor and came to rest between our two consoles. A voice which did not belong to Smith called, “I give up.”
I kept the pressure up by calling, “Three.”
“Dammit, Carster, what are-”
Another blaster clattered to the floor. “Yeah, me too.”
“Four.”
“All right, Fed. You win.” Another blaster joined the two already on the floor. “Give them up, boys.”
Two more blasters hit the floor. Raal peeked around the edge of his console and held up five fingers. Sko nodded and started to rise. I caught his arm and held up a finger.
“Roberts, I know you’re just wounded. I’m not bringing my knife guy out until we’ve got your blaster, too.”
Sko nodded his understanding and eased back down.
Smith grunted, “I think he passed out.”
“Doesn’t matter. Have the rest of you got your hands on your heads?”
“Yes.”
Blaster held at the ready, I rolled around the far end of the console and came up on one knee. I trained my blaster on the knot of five men with their hands clasped on their heads. I motioned them toward an open area well away from their guns.
“Kneel, but make sure you keep your hands on your heads. I’ll shoot the first man who takes his hands away from his head.”
With a profound lack of grace, the five men dropped, each of them wincing as their knees banged on the hard floor. I quickly checked on Roberts, who sported a nasty wound to his right shoulder and was out cold. I grabbed his blaster and the blaster from the man Raal shot in the throat.
“Okay, team, come on out.”
Surprise and disgust passed over Smith’s face when he saw Raal’s bow and arrows. The boy grinned and slowly drew an arrow across his throat.
Sko looked at the bridge door. “Time is short, my Captain. You need to end Arktu’s dominion over the ship.”
I nodded, acknowledging Sko’s urgent request for speed, and considered what to do with Smith and his men. Whatever else we did, I wanted those men someplace where we didn’t have to watch every move they made. A quick look around revealed the perfect place.
Keeping my blaster trained on Smith, I pointed toward the computer center adjoining the bridge. “You worked so hard to be with the AI, I think I’ll grant your wish. All of you get inside the computer room.”
Smith shook his head. “The minute we go in there, you’ll slap that red button next to the door and seal us in. Then you’ll engage the fire suppression mechanisms and flush us out into vacuum.”
Sko glanced my way for a second. “What does he mean, my Captain?”
“You know the fastest way to kill a fire is to smother it, right?” When Sko nodded, I continued, “Electrical fires can be really nasty on a ship and the easiest way to put them out is to open the room to space. The air is sucked out into space and the fire goes out. The red button shuts a door so the people on the bridge can keep breathing.”
“I don’t understand about this ‘space’ you keep talking about, but that’s not important.” Sko turned to Smith. “We will not open the room to this space you worry so much about. You have my word.”
Smith sneered, “And that is supposed to make me believe you?”
At the same time his men shrugged and headed for the computer room. Smith glared daggers at their retreating backs before Sko roughly grabbed Smith’s arm and shoved him after his men.
“Have you got everything under control, Sko?” I asked.
“Of course, my Captain. Do what you need to do.”
“Raal, Lilla, come over here. In this dim light, I need your younger eyes to help me look for the data port.” When they joined me, I held up the ring and popped the data stick out of it again. “You’re looking for a hole small enough for this to fit into.”
The two kids nodded and quickly divided the control board into sections and started looking. Not wanting
to risk breaking the data stick, I closed it back into the ring and looked over their shoulders. After a second, Raal began running his fingers over the control surface. Lilla immediately followed suit. That’s when Sko called from the computer room door.
“My Captain, there is another…” Sko searched for the word, shrugged, and continued, “…thing like the one Raal and Lilla are examining inside this room.”
I felt a leap of excitement. I’d honestly expected the data port would be centrally located and easily found. Maybe the only problem was I’d been checking the wrong console.
“You two keep looking for it here and holler if you find anything.”
I joined Sko at the door. Inside, Smith and his men stood five or six meters away—right in front of the console. Motioning them back with one hand and pointing my blaster with the other, I stepped into the room. Sko came right beside me.
“Back against the far wall, guys,” I said, even though the men were already moving.
Step by slow step, the mercenaries backed away. Step by equally slow step—unwilling to get any closer to the mercs than necessary—Sko and I approached the console. When we got within a couple of steps of the control panel, I let Sko keep watch on Smith and his men and turned my attention to the console. One step closer and I spotted what I’d been looking for.
“The data port is here, Sko,” I breathed in relief. “We’ve got that silicon son of a bitch, now!”
“Do you, indeed, Captain Nancy Martin?” Arktu’s mechanical voice held a disturbing note of triumph. “I may have no control on the bridge, but I am in full control in my own room.”
Lights burst to life throughout the computer room, strobing red. A long, metallic screech sounded as machinery long unused cranked to life. With the whoosh all spacers pray they never hear, Arktu activated the fire suppression machinery. A one meter section of the far wall irised slowly open and air howled out into space.
One of Smith’s men stood directly before the vent. He screamed as the decompression sucked him into the opening. For a couple of seconds, the terrified man plugged the vent, giving the rest of the men just enough time to begin pushing and shoving each other in their desperate attempts to get away from certain death. Then the vent opened farther. The man bent double and then was just gone, sucked into the void.
