Unexpected Contact: A Mechhaven Novella

by Greg Sorber

  Sigrid piloted their hover car to the location. She made several passes around the surrounding area, checking for anything out of the ordinary, or just in case they were being followed. They slowed to a stop near the building entrance. Tala noticed something they hadn’t seen on the previous passes.

  “There are guards just inside the entrance and they have weapons scanners.”

  “We cannot risk being detected. We may have to abort the operation,” TH3R said.

  “Do you two always give up this easy?” Sigrid asked. “Give me a minute and I’ll think of something. Last night you mentioned something about a distraction. You haven’t explained that. Can that help us in this situation?”

  TH3R shook his head. “No, the distraction is to keep the SPDR mech busy, not the guards. In fact, we need to get inside before the distraction. Otherwise, they’ll lock down the entire building.”

  “So how are we going to get inside with all of our weapons and equipment?” Tala asked. “We won’t make it through the weapon scanners.”

  “Repack the bags and take only the legit equipment and the nano-particle canisters,” Sigrid said. “Those look like standard air filters, correct?”

  “That’s correct,” TH3R said, “but what will we do without the weapons?”

  “Be careful, and don’t run into an SPDR mech. I’ll meet you up on the roof.”

  “The roof?” Tala asked. “This vehicle isn’t rated for that height. Besides, the rooftops in the downtown district are no-fly zones.”

  “You two just get to the roof, and I’ll worry about getting up there with the weapons.”

  Tala and TH3R unpacked their equipment bags, ensuring they didn’t leave any weapons hidden among their gear. TH3R produced three ID badges and gave them to the others. They said their goodbyes, then Tala and TH3R exited the utility vehicle with their equipment bags and headed towards the building entrance.

  A line of about twenty people waited to get into the RBC building. Guards motioned those wishing to enter through the weapons scanner one at a time. The guards were efficient, and the line moved quick. Within a few minutes, Tala and TH3R were at the front of the line. Tala took the lead and flashed her badge at the first guard.

  “State your business.” The guard looked professional, but his tone suggested he’d rather be anywhere else.

  “Routine environmental filter replacement,” Tala said.

  The first guard turned to the second guard and scratched his head. “Hey Bob? Didn’t we just have the filters changed a few weeks ago?”

  Bob shrugged. “I don’t remember. Just know that SeroCorp did the service, not —” Bob leaned forward to read the badge, “not… Angelus.”

  Tala nodded and said, “Our environmental filters were more efficient than theirs. They didn’t like the competition, so they bought us out. Now Angelus is a wholly owned subsidiary of SeroCorp. They just inked the deal, so it’s not public knowledge yet, but the news should hit the feeds any day now. In any case, they have us out installing the new filters for all their existing customers.”

  “Alright, come on through.” The first guard waved her forward.

  Tala and TH3R walked through with their equipment bags. There were no beeps, alerts, or anything else to indicate anything was wrong, so Tala and TH3R kept walking.

  “Hey, Miss. Wait a moment.” The second guard held up a hand and motioned for her to stop.

  Tala cursed under her breath. It was a good one. General Dirksen would have been proud. She put a pleasant smile on her face and turned to greet the guard. “Sure, what can I do for you?”

  “Isn’t your maintenance bot a little too advanced for changing air filters?”

  She looked at TH3R, then back at the guard, and rolled her eyes. “This thing? It looks advanced, but it’s nothing special. It’s a new customer service model. Some of our execs think if the bots look more human, then people will feel more comfortable with them making calls on their own someday.”

  “That’ll be the day,” the guard said. He turned to TH3R and asked, “What’s your designation, bot?”

  Tala knew TH3R would bristle at this conversation, so she’d have to apologize later. She wasn’t sure how TH3R would answer. Anyone hearing TH3R talk would realize he was not a maintenance bot.

  “His designation is —”

  The guard cut Tala off. “I was asking the bot.”

  He turned to TH3R. “What is your designation?”

  TH3R opened his mouth, and instead of words, a high-pitched warble emitted. The guard and anyone nearby put their hands to their ears. After a moment, TH3R shut his mouth, and the sound stopped.

  “I forgot to mention, that his vocal modulator has been malfunctioning all morning. As soon as we’re done here, I’ll be running him back to HQ for maintenance,” Tala said.

  “What a piece of junk. The two of you go on and get your work done. Please, whatever you do, don’t let that thing open its mouth for the rest of the time that you’re here.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Tala said, “I won’t let him talk. He’s just here to carry the equipment.”

  “And don’t forget to check out when you leave.”

  “You got it, no problem.”

  Tala and TH3R walked down the corridor that led to the elevator bank. They located the maintenance elevator, which would have access to the rooftop environmental systems. TH3R tapped his foot as they waited for the elevator to work its way down the building. Others in the elevator bank kept their distance, fearful that TH3R would make another horrendous noise.

  A tone announced the maintenance elevator’s arrival. The doors slid open and two maintenance bots filed out. These were basic units, automated vacuum cleaners with arms to pick up debris that was too large to be sucked up through its standard suction port. They zoomed around Tala and TH3R and returned to their programed route. They were pretty dumb. No wonder true mechs didn’t have any fraternal feelings toward them.

  As soon as the door closed, Tala dropped her equipment bag and threw her arms around TH3R. “Kuya, I’m so sorry for the things I said. I didn’t mean any of them, please forgive me.”

  TH3R gave Tala a brief hug, then nudged her away. He looked her in the eyes and said, “There is no need to apologize, Tala. You were playing a role, I understand that.”

  “Still, I didn’t like it and if I had more time and we weren’t on a mission, I’d give that guard a piece of my mind.”

  “I know you would,” TH3R said. “Now then, we have a job to do, so let’s do it and get out of here.”

  The elevator completed its journey to the rooftop, and the doors opened. The roof was empty, save for Sigrid, who stepped out from behind a ventilation intake unit. Sigrid had shed her gray coveralls and wore a black, form-fitting combat jumpsuit. She had her weapons strapped to her waist or harness, and the Fenris slung over her shoulder.

  “It took you long enough.”

  “How did you get up here so fast?” Tala asked.

  “I ditched the utility van. There were too many restrictions on its performance. I have a backup ride. It was more than capable of getting me up here. This isn’t my first rodeo, after all.”

  Tala snickered at Sigrid’s joke. Touché.

  “What happened to your uniform?” TH3R asked. “If anyone sees you —”

  “I didn’t come in with you, so I can’t leave with you. Besides, those coveralls weren’t my style, too restrictive. You two need to get those canisters installed so we can get out of here.”

  Sigrid distributed the other weapons to Tala and TH3R, just in case trouble found them. They’d toss the more obvious weapons back into the equipment bag on their way out, but they’d be able to conceal the stun batons and their Defender series pistols in their cargo pockets.

  They found the environmental control unit. TH3R opened it and made sure everything was where the schematics had shown. He looked down at a watch he had put on earlier. Tala didn’t remember TH3R ever wearing a watch before. He pressed the watch a
nd in the distance Tala heard an alarm sounding. She ran to the edge of the building and looked down, and located the source of the alarm. It was coming from a bank located across the street.

  “Is that the distraction?” Tala asked.

  “Yes, I hacked into the computer system before I arrived on the planet and input a program to trigger the alarm on my signal. Soon the area will be flooded with police. The SPDR mech will be too busy watching them to be curious about maintenance workers installing new environmental filters on the roof.”

  “That’s pretty devious, mech,” Sigrid said. “Nice job.”

  TH3R made a weird expression with his face. Was he trying to smile? He went to work removing the old filters and installing the new replacements. When he’d completed the task, he looked at Tala and said, “Access your datapad and launch the tracking program I installed.”

  “Ready.” Tala stared transfixed on the screen, waiting for something to happen.

  TH3R pressed his watch a second time. He closed the doors to the environment system. “Now we wait.”

  “How long?” Sigrid asked.

  “It will take a few minutes for the nano-particles to spread throughout the building, then a few more minutes for them to circulate enough to come into contact with the SPDR mech.”

  Tala watched the feed on the datapad. It displayed a schematic of the building and showed the dispersal pattern of the nano-particles as they worked their way through the air ducts and circulated through the building. When they came in contact with the SPDR mech’s skin, it would cause a reaction that would show up on Tala’s datapad, be visible with TH3R’s ocular sensors, and on the goggles he designed for Tala and Sigrid.

  They waited for several minutes. They listened to the police respond to the bank across the street as they investigated the false alarm. The response hadn’t been as large as TH3R had hoped, but it should be enough to keep the SPDR mech busy. Distracted by the commotion across the street, they almost missed the first beeps on the datapad.

  “We have contact!” Tala said.

  “Where is it?” TH3R asked.

  Tala studied her datapad. “It’s on the eighteenth floor, two floors below us. It’s positioned near the south-facing windows so it can observe the police activity.”

  Sigrid drew her sidearm, the Fury Z5.

  “Let’s observe it for a few minutes and make sure we can track it,” TH3R said. “Tala, do you see the red icon that appeared on the screen?”

  “Yes.”

  “That button will cause the nano-particles to discharge and disable the SPDR mech.”

  “Got it.” Tala confirmed.

  “We should disable and extract it now while we have the element of surprise.” Sigrid suggested.

  TH3R shook his head. “No, there are too many potential witnesses and hostages. We’ll observe it first, then determine the best time to extract it.”

  “It’s your show,” Sigrid conceded.

  The datapad emitted steady beeps, signaling contact with the SPDR mech. A second, different beep sounded after the first beep. Tala looked back down at her screen. Now there were two sets of beeps.

  “We might have a problem.”

  “What’s wrong?” TH3R asked.

  “I’m detecting two SPDR mechs.”

  “That can’t be right. Our intelligence only pointed to one.”

  “Like intelligence has never been wrong?” Sigrid couldn’t count the number of times she’d received bad intelligence.

  “I verified it myself.”

  More beeps emitted from Tala’s datapad. “Uh — TH3R, Sigrid. We’ve got a big fucking problem.”

  Both Sigrid and TH3R snapped their head toward Tala. Her use of profanity alerted both as to the seriousness of her statement.

  “There are five SPDR mechs on the eighteenth floor!” Tala shouted.

  “What? Are they having a meeting?” Sigrid asked.

  “No,” TH3R said. “It’s a trap. We thought we were the hunters, but we’re not. We’re the hunted.”

  “What are they doing now?” Sigrid asked.

  Tala glanced at the datapad and said, “Nothing. They’re just gathered next to the south-facing window, watching the police activity.”

  “We need to get out of here.” Sigrid looked all around her, taking in the current environment.

  “How? Do we risk going down the elevator with so many SPDR mechs in the building?”

  “We should leave the way we came,” TH3R said. “Maybe they don’t even realize we’re here.”

  They heard an explosion on one side of the building. Sigrid looked over the edge.

  “What was that?” Tala asked.

  “That was our utility vehicle,” Sigrid said. She entered a sequence of commands on a device on her wrist. “I’d say they know we’re here.”

  “Agreed,” TH3R said.

  “We have another problem.” Tala stared intently at the dots on her datapad. “There’s another SPDR mech, and it’s moving.”

  “Great, now there’s six of them,” Sigrid said.

  “Where is it?” TH3R asked.

  “I can’t tell.” Tala studied her datapad. “Wait... it’s in the stairwell. It’s coming this way —”

  “Tala!” TH3R shouted, “step away from the do —”

  Before he’d finished, the door slammed open, knocking the datapad from Tala’s hand and sent it flying over the side of the building.

  Chapter Six

  The door smashed into Tala’s hand, and she cursed as the datapad soared over the side of the building into the city below. Off-balance, something ripped against her mid-section as she tumbled away. The ripping brought back unpleasant memories from after she destroyed the heavy infiltrator mech on Frangellan-7. She landed and popped back to her feet, with her stun batons at the ready. She put one hand to her stomach and pulled it away, checking it for blood.

  This time there was none, nor the accompanying burning sensation or pain. It felt like she had been hit in the stomach and her coveralls were shredded, but the protective under-garment held — the claws hadn’t torn into her face or guts as before. That was an outcome she could deal with.

  Using his ocular sensors tuned to detect the nano-particles reaction with the SPDR mech’s skin, TH3R charged their invisible foe, tackling it before it could pursue Tala.

  “Goggles!” Tala slid her own goggles into place and shouted for Sigrid to do the same. The eerie glowing form of the SPDR mech was now visible in a tangled heap with TH3R.

  “Block the door!” TH3R rained blows down on the SPDR mech. Speed was of the essence. They needed to disable it fast.

  Sigrid rushed forward. She slammed the door shut, but it didn’t close. Through her goggles a glowing arm stopped the door from closing all the way. She put all her weight against the door to prevent it from opening any further, but she couldn’t do anything else.

  Tala came to her aid, adding her weight to the door, and pinned the second SPDR mech’s arm. Sigrid shifted and drew a sword strapped to her back. She took a step away from the door and swung down at the pinned arm. The sword was made from the same material as the combat knives she’d given Tala and TH3R. The material was almost unbreakable and could cut through just about anything, given the proper angle, force, and time. It sliced through the SPDR arm with no resistance, and the door slammed closed. Sigrid reversed her grip on the sword and slammed it into the floor of the building, right near the edge of the door. The hilt protruded upwards, preventing the door from opening.

  “That won’t hold for long,” Sigrid said.

  Something slammed into the door, pushing Tala forward. Sigrid was right. The sword might hold for a bit, but the SPDR mech would come crashing through the door before long.

  They turned their attention to TH3R, who was grappling with the downed SPDR mech. Both determined to be victorious. TH3R’s work coveralls were in shreds thanks to the vicious claws of the SPDR mechs. His foresight in providing them with the cut-proof undergarments had alre
ady saved his and Tala’s lives. Still, combat was just beginning and there were far more SPDR mech’s than they’d expected.

  Sigrid drew her Fury Z5 and aimed. She didn’t have a clear shot, so she didn’t fire. Tala stood ready with her stun batons. She was more comfortable with those at close range. Seeing more vulnerable targets, the SPDR mech broke away from TH3R and ran toward Sigrid.

  It avoided Sigrid’s first round and swiped at her face. Sigrid went down, rolling away from the swinging claws.

  “Be careful, it’s going for the goggles!” Sigrid readjusted the goggles on her face.

  Tala jumped in front of it, blocking an attack with both batons. She triggered the stun feature and the SPDR mech jumped back, away from the crackling electricity.

  “Come on! We’re not afraid of you!” Tala ducked as the SPDR mech reached in for another swipe. She blocked it with one baton and stabbed at it with the other, unleashing a full stun charge.

  The SPDR mech staggered, taking the full brunt of the attack. Sigrid aimed and fired several shots, hitting it in the chest. TH3R came up from behind and wrapped both his arms around it, pinning its arms to its sides so it couldn’t attack.

  “Remember, we need to capture it alive,” TH3R said. “Help me put the electro-binders on it.”

  The thudding on the roof access door continued. Tala glanced at the deep indentations protruding from the door. The door frame was misshapen and pulling away from the building. It wouldn’t last much longer. Then came the sound of shattering windows from two floors down.

  The SPDR mech emitted a shrill cackle, which Tala took for a laugh before it said, “My brothers and sisters are on their way. We’re going to have such fun interrogating you over-confident wretches.”

  “Quiet,” TH3R said as Sigrid attached electro-binders to its wrists. If it made any sudden move, an electric charge would course through its body, stunning it for a time.

  “You thought to trap the spider in its own web,” the SPDR mech said. “You didn’t reckon that the spider had set a trap of its own.”

  Sigrid triggered the binders, sending a charge into the mech, and it slumped in TH3R’s arms. He hefted the unconscious mech over his shoulder so he could better maneuver with the dead weight.