As Arthur urged her down one of the corridors she tucked it down into her bra. Uncomfortable, but at least it would still be with her even if she lost her belt.
He stopped, opening a door, waving her in. The bots followed her inside, almost running into the back of her shoes in their haste.
She stopped in the middle of the long room, her heart sinking. "An airlock? Please tell me you didn't take a wrong turn or that you have a maintenance pod waiting for us."
"A heavy-duty airlock," Arthur said as he sealed the door behind them and worked at the controls. "Door locked. And no, I do not have a pod. I don't dare call for one until we are at a safe distance. The warbots would surely pick up the transmission and home in right to our location."
Anger surged in her, replacing the sheer terror of only a moment before. "Where did warbots come from? We're not at war."
"Except with pirates."
She froze at that comment. Of course. The damage from the pirate ship crashing into the station. "They planned this? Do you think they planned the crash?"
Arthur shrugged, opening up a tall cabinet in the side of the wall. "Who knows. Planted purposely or remains from the crash? Here from a previous attack? The point is, they are here, and they are destroying this part of the station. No wonder the forward defense systems are down."
He pulled out a white suit from the cabinet, handing it to her. He pulled out another and quickly started slipping it on over his clothes.
"We're going outside?" She asked with a gulp.
"Have a faster way of getting out of the area?"
She swallowed a new fear. She'd never been outside a ship before. Barely even been in a ship. The spacesuit had controls along both of the arms. How did they work?
Trying to put on a spacesuit was another first for her, and not one she enjoyed, even with several helping bot hands. She knew she needed to dress fast, yet it seemed like she did everything wrong the first time. Trying to put the wrong leg in the wrong pant leg. Turning the top of the spacesuit the wrong way.
She paused in the action of getting her feet situated through the bottom of the pant legs and into the big bulky boots. "I thought you only had one bot."
He pulled his arms through the top of the spacesuit. "I do."
"Then we have two newbies. I count five bots in here."
At the bots insistence, Tish continued to suit up, managing to get the boots sealed with the pant legs. A black bot with white splotches held out a helmet. A white bot with a black scorch mark on the right side held out white gloves.
Arthur paused for a second to look down at them. "So we do. They must have been hiding and followed us."
"I would be hiding from those things, too," Tish said. In fact, she would like to do so that very moment.
She muttered at herself angrily at how slow her fingers were to put the spacesuit on and getting the front seal right. She ended up taking off the utility belt to get it to tighten up around her middle. She finally knelt down and let the bots do it, all the while promising herself that she would learn how to do it faster if she survived all this. A few drills and she would get it, she was sure.
Already fully suited up, Arthur took the helmet from the white-splotched bot. A sizzling noise from the inner airlock door had the attention of her and half the bots. Two of them retreated to the other side of the airlock.
"I think they found us," Tish said as he settled the helmet over her head and locked it in place. She took her utility belt and expanded it so it could fit on the outside of the spacesuit like what Arthur had done.
"Sounds like it," he said through the speakers in the helmet.
He went over the features of the suit quickly as he helped her clomp in the big boots towards the outside airlock door. He finished explaining the directional jets with a, "If you have a bot with you they'll take care of you. But, best not to take a chance and drift off into space."
She decided she would be keeping her magnetic boots and hand pads firmly on the hull.
She found herself shaking as the airlock cycled. The outside speakers picked up the sizzling. Was it her imagination or had part of the metal of the inner door turned red?
If not for Arthur's grim silent calmness and strong presence, Tish might not be so in control. She wanted to run, and keep running. Run until nothing could possibly be behind her.
With the cycling of the atmosphere gravity disappeared. She held onto a looped metal handle just inside the door. Her stomach dropped as if she were falling even though she still stood in one spot.
Only weightless, she reminded herself. No need to get upset about it. She was sure she would be doing it as a regular part of the job. She needed to get used to it. Her stomach mocked her thinking, declaring it didn't like the sensation one little bit.
"Take a good deep breath and try to relax," Arthur said.
He stepped out of the door, leaned over, and came to stand at a 90-degree angle from her. She knew he was standing on the surface of the hull of the space station, but from her angle it looked just wrong. He held a hand out to her. Between him and the bots, she managed to reorient herself.
While Arthur worked at the controls for the airlock door, she allowed herself a few moments to appreciate the view. A view that immediately took away any stomach discomfort.
The stars appeared so bright. A distant nebula marked the black sky with a wide swath of color. Across the background different shapes slowly moved. Every so often a bright flash of light appeared, indicating a ship either entering or leaving hyperspace.
Redpoint One extended in one direction for as far as she could see, its length occluded by shapes rising up from the surface and the habitat rings. In the other direction the hull flared out to mark the exit of the center decontamination tunnel. On either side the hull curved down away from them.
"Now for the bad news," Arthur said.
She had to turn the entire upper portion of her body towards him to look at him. "The warbots are right behind us?"
"No, that we can't run." He pointed down the arching surface of the space station. "We need to repair this section enough so the self-defense systems can take care of the warbots instead of us. Otherwise we, and anyone else who gets even close, will be a target."
Her stomach flip-flopped again.
"If the pirates did this on purpose, then they are up to something. Something big," Arthur continued. She could hear the anger ripping through his voice. "I won't let them have this station."
Tish was rather pleased with herself that she didn't even squeak at the news. Not that she hadn't wanted to. But, surely, it wouldn't be them against warbots. "Station security?"
"We'll call them in when we get far enough out. Hopefully the warbots will leave us alone now that we're out of sight. We take the time to do a few repairs." He gestured towards his bot, who slid into place in front of him, a stocky arm appearing from a rear port. He grabbed the crook and let his feet come off the hull. "Our bots will guide us to the problem area. Grab hold of one."
She followed his lead, holding on to the extended arm of Crimson. As they started gliding across the surface of the hull her eyes scanned all around them, looking for anything dark moving towards them.
Arthur may have suggested the things wouldn't follow, but she'd heard the edge of doubt in his voice. With her luck it wouldn't work out that way.
Bad luck that was confirmed when a nearby airlock opened and two warbots and then a larger black bot rose up from it.
She really needed to stop thinking about her bad luck. It seemed to make things worse.
The larger one appeared to be having trouble getting itself fully out of the opening. Not that having only the smaller two flying after them made her feel any better.
Her bot darted to the left, leaving Tish to whip-lash around to follow its path. She tightened her grip on the bot's arm. She dare not lose her grip now, or she would be a goner.
They flew over the surface, dodging behind shapes rising up from the hull, but
each time they came out from behind one the two warbots were right behind them.
"I take it back. We need to retreat. I didn't count on a big chase," Arthur said as he glanced behind them. "Even if we had weapons, one of those things would be too much for us."
"I'll agree with that," Tish said, unable to take her eyes off the things coming after them. The bots were swift, but were they fast enough?
"Damn. I'm calling in help. It doesn't matter now," she heard Arthur say.
The way he said it struck even more fear in her heart. It made her angry, as well. She was starting to fit in, on a training session with the boss himself, a place she rather liked, and now she might die? At the hands of pirates who wouldn't know an honest day's work if it bit them on the hind-end?
She tore her eyes away from the warbots. There had to be an alternative to trying to run, just waiting for the things to catch up with them. Had to be a way to slow them down, if not destroy them.
But, what did they have? She might be wearing her toolbelt on the outside, but there was nothing useful in it to use as a weapon. Sacrifice another bot?
No, she would not lose another one like she did Aqua.
So, what else? The environment didn't give many choices. The only things around was the uneven surface of the space station itself, with all its bumps, extensions, protrusions, and outer cables.
She stared as they flew over several straight lines on the surface. Cables.
"Control, it's catching up to us. Get someone down here to evac us now," Arthur said.
As a woman's voice assured him that they were working to get someone to them as fast as possible, Tish asked, "What about a power conduit? One of the big ones? That should be big enough to stop those things."
"We don't have the time or tools to set up a trap like that and too many of these lines have no power at the moment.," Arthur said. "But, good thinking."
"Well, we can't just fly along waiting for those things to pick us off. They have laser weapons, remember?" Tish said.
"I'm fully aware of that. What do you call your bot? Crimson? Crimson, get ahead of me and fly as fast as you can," Arthur said.
Her bot maneuvered into place. Immediately she could see why he'd done it. Arthur and his bot now flew between them and the warbots. While the move towards protection moved her, she wasn't about to let him get away with it.
"Arthur, we fly together. Don't you dare slow down," Tish almost shouted.
"I'm not slowing down. I have far too much living to still do."
And then she noticed a small bot veering off away from them. One with one of her hair ties around an eyestalk.
"Violet, get back here!" Tish shouted.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
TISH SHOUTED LOUD enough to make Arthur cringe, even with the last part dramatically lower as the speakers in his helmet adjusted for the rise in volume.
Violet and one of the tag-along black and white bots didn't turn back or hesitate for a moment, zipping back towards their pursuer. Even with Tish continuing to call for her bot, it did no more than glance back at them with one eyestalk.
Violet settled near a raised juncture box, attaching itself to the hull, the white bot to another a short distance away. Before their path turned to circumvent a sensor array he saw a plethora of tools rising from the bots backs.
Another turn and they had a visual of the warbots continuing their pursuit unabated, not bothering to go after the small bots. They were catching up, and he didn't know if he should tell Tish or not. Knowing her, she'd probably already noticed. Once they were in a clear area he was sure they would be fired upon.
"I don't see an evac," Tish said, her voice strained as if she were holding back tears.
"Nor do I. Control, where is our rescue?" Arthur demanded, activating the comm-unit on the outside of the spacesuit. A wave of static greeted his efforts, making him fear the warbots had just cut off their line of communications from those who might be able to help.
A brilliant arc of blue and white sliced through space between two juncture boxes as the warbots passed Violet. The arc moved past the boxes to dance along the hull before striking out in another strong arc. The warbots shook between them, orifices opening and closing to spark and light up with tongues of flames.
The arc disappeared, leaving the warbots floating away, streaming smoke from several openings and the occasional lingering arc of electricity dancing across their surface.
The white bot turned away from them, zipping back.
"Hey, wait!" Tish said after the departing white bot. The white bot ignored her, continuing on its flight.
She demanded, "We really need to name these guys so you can call them. What am I supposed to say? 'Hey you!'?"
"'Hey you' usually works pretty well. It might not answer you anyway. The single bots are rather independent," Arthur said, some small part of him amused at her anger. "It worked. Good idea, although I'm not sure I like the bots taking that much initiative."
"Violet heard me talking about it and understood. From what everyone says, that's a good thing," Tish said, twisting to get another view behind them.
A logic Arthur couldn't argue with. She was right. The bond was so strong they understood what their mistress wanted, and then went and did it. To the point of risking their own existence.
"Violet? Are you okay? Time to come back," Tish called out.
The white bot disappeared around the curve of the hull as they quickly expanded their distance from the site of the small victory. Only to reappear, rapidly catching up to them.
Tish gave a cry of joy as it neared them, the shape of Violet towed behind it. The bot that helped Violet trailed after the first two, giving the appearance of a bot-train. He wasn't sure she would be very happy once she saw the damage he could see on the side of the brave bot's lower outer shell. The energy arc had damaged more than the warbots.
Then he saw one of the eyestalks perk up and swivel around. "The thing is still functional!"
"Her name is Violet," Tish corrected. "Now, can we get out of here before we lose any other bots? Aqua's sacrifice should not be in vain."
Nothing would please him more. The moment he'd seen the warbots following it had been his sole focus. Alice Rainsong and her security forces could take back the section. They were trained for this sort of thing and his maintenance engineers weren't. Well, other than Vasiliy. He hoped she could do it with the limited weaponry she had available. If pirates were going to become a huge issue, Director Stemski was going to need to improve security's firepower.
But he didn't pass it on to Tish. He was sure she was already overwhelmed.
"You heard the lady. Time to get out of the area," he told his bot. With the head-start they had on the bigger bot, and how fast their bots could zip across the surface they might be able to get to safety.
Leaving behind a communications array they picked up speed over a stretch of flat hull. A small crater emerged ahead of them, the edges jagged and scorched. He ordered his bot to slow down so he could inspect the damage.
"The pirate ship crashed towards the inside of the tube, in one of the open spaces," Tish said as her bot came to a stop just ahead of him and on the other side of the crater. "Where did this one come from?"
"I don't know, but something hit."
Piping and cables waved in space, moving as if pushed by a breeze. No sparks, so the power cables must be without power. Made sense. If there were power to the area, they should be seeing at least some healing along the edge of the hull, but he could detect nothing.
Tish and Crimson drifted back towards him. "Let me guess, something important?"
"My instincts say an important node was damaged." He squinted his eyes. "Yes, look towards the right, the bit of blue metal. Well, it was damaged, not destroyed. That's good."
"Damaged means it can be repaired," she said as if reading a book. Then she added, "This definitely didn't come from the pirate ship."
"As you said, this is the wrong area. We're on t
he outer hull," Arthur said as he continued to study the damage. With a good group of bots and the right raw materials they could have the systems in the crater repaired in no time.
"No, I'm referring to shape. It's bigger inside and the edges bent outwards. It looks like it exploded from the inside."
Damn, she was right. Which meant they probably had the warbots to thank for it.
The bots squealed into their headphones, rising up from the hull, carrying Arthur and Tish with them despite Arthur's shout of protest. They shot forward, Violet joining the squeals as she was towed behind the white bot.
Tish groaned, "It got out of the airlock."
The distant image of the rounded lower body of the larger warbot rising up from the curve of the hull made him feel just as fearful as she sounded. They needed to find cover before the weapon systems surrounding the upper body found their mark.
He touched the communication box on the outside of the spacesuit on his left arm, hoping for a signal. "Control, where is our evac? We have a large warbot in pursuit."
"But if we can repair the node?" Tish asked. "Then the station could defend itself with the restoration of power."
"No time. We save ourselves first. Bot, get us behind something fast," he said. His bot chirped an answer, all the bots altering direction to the nearest rising on the hull.
He heard Tish saying something as a voice responded to his summons, asking for clarification. Which made him angry.
He answered quickly, "Control, this is Arthur Getty. I am on an EVA in Sector 5936, near the area damaged by the pirate ship crash. A warbot that looks like a model C-238 is in pursuit of myself and Tish Douglas."
"Stand by," the female voice said.
Stand by? Was she serious? After the call he'd made before? The bot darted, putting a series of boxy protrusions between them and the warbot.
"A warbot?" Director Stemski demanded over the speakers. "Tell me this is a bad joke."
Coffee Cup Dreams (A Redpoint One Romance) Page 11
