by Kal Spriggs
There was no answer.
***
“So… this sucks,” Bob said. He slammed his hand against the wall again. “We’re a meter from the command deck!”
“We might as well be locked in a jail,” Mel said sourly. She shook her head. Everything seemed so futile now.
“If we had a cutting torch, or something we’d be fine,” Bob said.
“If we’re at Vagyr, Guard Fleet is here. They’ll be firing soon,” Roush said. He gave a sigh: “Never thought I’d die from friendly fire.”
Mel turned to Stasia, “Stasia, I have a question for you.”
“Yes?”
“Frost told me about a mercenary, a woman named Lace,” Mel said. She took a deep breath, “He said she was an infiltration specialist. She replaced women, took their identities. He said he heard she got hired on this mission.”
“What are you talking about?” Stasia asked. The confusion in her voice was plain.
Mel sighed, feeling suddenly foolish. “Never mind. I was just hoping for a miracle.”
Stasia chuckled dryly, “Nyet, Mel, if I vas a super-spy and had some secret abilities that would get us out of here, I would use them.”
The lights flickered on.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” the chorus of voices said from above them. “I had to get a greeting party assembled for you. And I had some other things to attend to.”
“Fenris?” Mel asked.
The voices continued to speak, “I can’t see you, or hear you. I know there are six of you however, judging by the weight inside the elevator.” The giggle started up again, “I’m preparing to fight Guard Fleet here at Vagyr, but I think I have time to deal with you, first.”
“Fenris, this is Mel—”
“I repaired the damage your friend Frost did, and I’m back in my core. I want you know, there’s no hard feelings, and there’s nothing personal about this,” Fenris said. “But I have a mission to accomplish, and you’re trying to stop me.”
“I really don’t like the sound of that,” Marcus said.
Stasia had pried the top off the control panel. She started yanking out wires.
“So, in the interest of brevity, farewell, my friends,” Fenris said.
And the floor dropped out from under them.
***
Mel screamed as she felt the elevator start to drop.
She knew the elevator had only seven decks to fall. She knew she didn’t have more than a second or two to live.
She just wished her she’d managed to accomplish something before she died.
Her body floated up slightly as the elevator went into free-fall.
Time slowed.
Her companions were shouting furiously. Stasia was still crossing wires. She hoped in her last moments that there would be no pain.
And then the elevator began to slow.
It slowed sharply to a stop, throwing them to the floor.
“We’re alive?” Mel asked. She couldn’t help but sound somewhat irritated.
“Da, I engaged the safety stop for the elevator,” Stasia said. She pushed herself off the floor and rested her back against the wall.
“Stasia, you’re amazing,” Bob said.
“I know,” Stasia said. She pressed a button on the hanging panel, and the elevator started to move upwards. “I cut the external controls for the elevator. We will reach the top fine now.”
“Why didn’t you do that before?” Roush complained. He stood and looked down at them angrily.
Mel glared at the Agent. He certainly knew how to ruin a moment.
CHAPTER XVIII
Time: 0130 Zulu, 18 June 291 G.D.
Location: Fenris, Vagyr System
Mel and the others sat on the floor. Roush still stood.
“This whole thing has gone on long enough,” he snarled. “I don’t know how you idiots survived so far. From now on, you do what I say, or else.”
“And what is that?” Bob asked. “Don’t forget, Roush, we don’t really need you.” There was something ugly in his voice, and Mel realized that Bob had not forgotten Roush’s previous crimes.
“Stay focused, people. The elevator takes us to the command deck,” Mel said. She hoped the interruption would side-track that confrontation. “It opens only thirty meters from the bridge.”
Marcus spoke, “Any complications?” His voice sounded tired and his bloodshot eyes drooped in weariness.
She wondered what kind of hell he must be in, now that everything he’d hidden about himself had come to light. On top of that, when he’d lost his rex fix he’d lost his crutch and his strength.
“The bridge has a heavy blast door,” Mel said, closing her eyes and trying to remember the blueprints. “The elevator opens out in a lobby-like room. I don’t remember the purpose. There’s an intersection with the corridor running aft and the corridors that lead to the crew quarters and the mainframe. Then a straight corridor to the bridge.”
“We need to hurry. I will try to reset the ship’s computer, but it will take time.”
“You’ll get time,” Roush said. “Don’t even worry about rebooting the computer. Just shut it down. We’ll evacuate and let Guard Fleet do their job.”
Mel shook her head but didn’t say anything. If there was a chance to save the computer, she wanted to take it. She still felt that Fenris wasn’t at fault.
The elevator stopped. The doors opened.
Two beams of coherent light cut through the air at shoulder height.
The elevator filled with the smell of burning pork
Roush’s body twitched as it fell across Mel’s legs.
His head fell with a loud thud next to Stasia.
Mel screamed and kicked him off. She gagged at the smell and the sight of the horrible wound.
The group piled out of the elevator.
“What the hell is that?” Marcus said.
‘That’ was a robotic wolf, like the other security robots. What was different about this one was that it stood nearly five feet tall at the shoulder.
Its head swept back and forth. It clearly didn’t see them. Just as clearly, it knew they were there.
“As I said, I gathered a welcoming party,” Fenris said with an insane giggle, his singsong voices coming through the intercom. “I didn’t expect you to make it… but I’m glad you came anyway,”
Mel grimaced. “Fenris, maybe you can’t hear me, but you know this is wrong—”
“I can’t see you, but I can do a statistical firing pattern that will sweep most of the area. Since I know you’re here, that means that more than likely, you will die. I’m sorry it has to be this way, thanks for playing,” Fenris said with his disjointed and discordant voices.
The wolf swung its head. It’s eyes projected a pair of beams. They cut through the room at waist height.
“Shoot it!” Bob shouted as he drew his smaller pistol.
He and then Marcus started firing. Their bullets bounced off the robot’s armored body.
“It’s no good! It’s too heavily armored!” Bob threw his empty pistol away. Mel felt her heart stop as she realized Bob and Marcus had ceased to fire. She never thought she’d miss Bob’s big revolver.
If she survived this, she swore she’d buy him a lot of ammunition. “Get down, get on the floor and try to crawl around it!” she shouted. She hugged the deck and wiggled for the far doorway.
The wolf dropped its head lower, and its beam cut through the air at knee height. It passed over her back so close she felt its heat through her environmental suit.
The wolf started to rake the compartment with seemingly random fire. Swaim screamed as a beam ripped across his back. Mel shouted and barely rolled aside as a beam swept towards her.
The ship giggled: “I can do this all day…”
***
Frost hurried into the hangar bay. He found Rawn inside the bomber drone bomb bay. As soon as Frost climbed inside, the boy kicked a lever to close the bay door.
“We ready
to go?” Frost asked.
“My sister is dead,” Rawn said.
Frost spared the kid a moment of sympathy: “How?”
“Someone was in the elevator.” Rawn’s face twisted in self-loathing, “The ship dropped it. I lost all feeds from it.”
Frost looked away, “Sorry.”
Rawn let out an angry breath. “This is all my fault, you know?”
Frost rested one hand on the younger man’s shoulder, “No, Rawn. It’s not your fault. Shit happens sometimes. There’s nothing we can do. This whole thing went bad from the start.”
Rawn turned red-rimmed eyes to look at him, “Yeah, maybe. But I got her involved. I insisted she be brought along. I wrecked our ship. I didn’t tell her the truth, years ago, when it could have made a difference.”
Frost sighed, “Rawn, you can’t torture yourself with that kind of thing. I know it doesn’t help now, but I understand what you’re going through. I went through the same crap when I lost my wife.”
Rawn just shook his head.
“Are we ready to go?” Frost asked.
Rawn cleared his throat and nodded, “Yes, sir. I’ve set up a relay to open the hangar doors. The drone has a week’s supply of hydrogen for its reactor, and we’ve got three or four days of supplies.”
Frost nodded. He thought about all his dead men, about this cursed ship and its insane AI. Despite his words to Rawn, he did know that the blame could rest on someone. The deaths of his men were his own fault. He knew, in his heart, that the only thing that would make it better would be for him to carry on.
They will not have died in vain, he vowed.
They’d died for a cause. They had died in an effort to bring the Guard and the UNC down. If this effort had failed… then others would not.
***
Mel shouted as one of the lasers grazed her back. The armor caught it, but it still felt like her back had burst into flame.
She was exhausted. She knew it would only be a matter of time before one of them was too slow.
And they would die, one by one.
The doorway behind the robot opened and a blur leapt out from it, flying over the robot wolf’s back. Faster than Mel would have believed possible, something slammed down onto its head.
The robotic wolf-head fell to the deck with harsh clang. Arcs of electricity shorted across the motionless, now-headless body.
Brian swung the fire axe over his shoulder with his one arm. Then he kicked the headless robot hard on the side; it toppled to the deck with another loud clang.
He turned and smiled at them. “Thanks for saving some fun for me. Sorry I took so long.”
***
Mel stood, shakily, and then rushed forward.
She threw her arms around Brian, “Oh my God, you’re alive!”
A pained expression crossed his face and then he gently disengaged her arms: “Yes, I’m alive. I told you, I’ve taken some bad hits before.”
“Uh, Mel?” Bob said. “Your back is on fire.”
“What?!” She craned her neck. “Oh, put it out!”
Marcus chuckled and then patted her down, “Just your armor. Here, take it off.” He helped her out of the battered, oversized armor. Once she had it off, she winced at the damage to its front and back. She hadn’t remembered being shot that many times.
Bob knelt by Swaim, who moaned slightly, “How bad you hurt?”
Swaim grimaced, “Uh... I can run if it means we’re getting off this ship.”
Bob chuckled, “Not yet.” He helped Swaim to his feet.
Then he looked over at Brian and shook his head, “You’re a mess.”
Brian looked down at himself and chuckled, “I’d say I’ve had worse… but yeah, I’m not sure I have.” He kicked the security robot’s head off towards the wall. “I came to alone in the engine room. I figured you’d be headed here.”
“Okay, we’ve got time to catch up later, we need to get to the bridge,” Mel said.
“What’s that noise?” Bob asked. He cocked his head.
Mel’s eyes widened. She recognized it from before, “It’s Fenris’s repair robots, a lot of them. We need to move, now!” Over her shoulder she saw Brian toss a pair of magazines to Bob and Marcus.
They broke into a run. The thirty meters to the bridge felt like a light-year to Mel. Every step brought a wave of pain through her body. Every breath throbbed her bruised ribs.
Finally though, they hurried through the blast door and into the auxiliary bridge.
Stasia moved directly a control panel. Mel moved to the circuitry on the door, and glanced back the way they’d come.
A carpet of the spider robots scurried across the deck, bulkheads, and ceiling of the corridor. As she watched, Marcus and Bob fired into the mass. Their bullets tumbled the lead robots, but the ones that followed them crawled over their fellows without pause.
Mel tugged at the wires, her hands moving as quickly as she dared. Finally, though, she got it.
The door slammed closed on the lead robot.
She heard a small chuckle from Brian.
“What?” she asked.
He pointed at where a pair of robot legs stuck out from the door. “Thanks for that, Mel. I’ll consider that payback.”
***
The bomber drone came to life with an angry hum.
“We’re ready!” Rawn said. “I just opened the hangar doors.”
“Excellent!” Frost shouted. He moved to the jury-rigged controls. “You cut us off from Fenris, right? It won’t crash us into anything?”
“No, sir. I burned out the connections between the communications laser and the computer. It’ll make calling for help difficult, but the AI can’t control the drone.”
Rawn sounded calmer when he talked about his work. Frost decided he’d keep the kid busy until they had time to really talk.
As if to contradict Rawn’s words, however, the drone lurched.
“What’s happening?” Frost demanded. He grabbed at the controls for the drone. Whatever it was, it hadn’t come from the small bomber.
Rawn started cursing. “The ship’s got us with a tractor beam! I can’t engage the warp bubble inside the ship to counter it!”
Frost activated the maneuvering thrusters and went to full burn. The ship didn’t so much as quiver.
“Colonel Frost,” Fenris’s voice came across their radio net. “Have you decided to leave so soon?”
“Fenris…” Frost started.
“Listen you worthless piece of crap!” Rawn shouted, “You killed my sister! You’ve destroyed my life! Haven’t you done enough? How about you accomplish something, do some good in this world and let us go!”
“I did not kill your sister, Rawn Armstrong,” Fenris said. “She is currently aboard my auxiliary bridge. I believe she is trying to shut me down. As soon as my repair robots manage to cut through the blast door, I will stop her, though.”
“Mel’s alive?” Rawn said. Frost saw him start towards the bay door.
“For now. I will, however, accomplish some good, as you say. I release you.”
The ship lurched. With the maneuver thrusters at maximum, they slammed forward, and out of the bay. The acceleration threw Rawn sprawling.
Frost clutched at the controls. There was no kind of inertial sump; no need for it with a warp drive. The maneuver thrusters on the drone shoved him back at ten gravities of acceleration.
Rawn slid all the way to the back of the compartment. Frost began to slide, his fingers clawing to hang on. The world seemed to recede as the blood drained away from his head. Tunnel vision crept closer towards a blackout. If that happened, the ship would stay at its constant acceleration. He and Rawn would die from it as their brains shut down from lack of blood.
Slowly, he managed to raise his arm. He strained against the acceleration. Frost fought against the fatigue. His world had gone totally black when he felt his fingers brush the controls. He pushed the button.
The acceleration cut out.
&
nbsp; Frost gasped for air. He shook his head. He felt his heart pound; slowly his vision began to return.
“You can help me with one more thing, Colonel Frost,” Fenris said.
Frost felt his lip curl in anger. He wished, suddenly, that he were aboard a real bomber, and that he had the opportunity to destroy the ship. “Go to hell.”
“I am in hell, Frost,” Fenris said. The computer’s insane giggle set Frost’s teeth on edge. “But since I’ve accommodated you, you can do me a favor. It’s been nearly a century since I’ve fought. I’m about to fight your enemies. The least you can do is help me prepare.”
Frost turned to Rawn, who floated near the rear of the compartment, “We have to go back for my sister, sir!”
Frost shook is head, “There’s no way we could get to her. We couldn’t get to the bridge with a week before.”
“Colonel Frost, as I said, you can help me prepare,” Fenris said. “I haven’t had any target practice in a long time.”
Frost’s eyes widened, “Get the warp drive up, now!”
***
Mel finally had a chance to look at the bridge. Its archaic quality surprised her. The rest of the ship looked Spartan and rugged. The control panels and display screens looked like something out of time.
The colors were off, for one thing. They weren’t the gleaming metal and crystal clear glass of a modern warship. They were painted a pale green, with overly large buttons and switches.
There was something oddly familiar about it, something she couldn’t place.
“We have a problem,” Stasia said from her control panel.
“What now?” Marcus asked. He tossed his empty pistol into the corner.
“I can’t shut down the AI,” Stasia said.
They all turned at a loud clang from the door. “How long before they cut through?” Bob asked.
Mel shook her head, “It’s a heavily armored door. It will take them a while.” She turned to Stasia, “Can you reset it? Put it back to the way it was before Frost started ripping its guts out?”
