Adventures on RV Traveler (Free Trader Series Book 3) (21 page)

50 – The Android Nexus

“Noo!” Braden howled as he ran a few steps down the now empty hallway. Far in the distance, the small cube that marked the elevator stood, white against white. The Hawkoids were behind him, apologizing for not being able to act. “There’s nothing you could have done. It’s like they knew the perfect moment to attack.”

“They could have killed Aadi, but they didn’t. Why?” Braden asked himself.

“Bait,” Micah said from behind him in a dangerous tone. “Hang on, Aadi, we’re coming.”

Braden hung his head, shuffling after Micah. He stopped in the doorway so he could punch the wall. It didn’t help.

There were machines churning and whining as they fabricated what Micah had ordered. Braden watched a blaster slide into an end bin. He picked it up, noting that it had no power. Micah was already pulling the recharger from her backpack. It would be ready soon. Braden itched in anticipation, the anger seething within. The red rage floated before his eyes.

“Relax. We’ll go as soon as our other gifts are ready. I’ll ask Holly to tell us more about them.”

‘Yes, Master President. Besides your blasters, you’ll be armed with concussion grenades and sonic disruptors. Your challenge is to destroy the Androids without destroying their computers. Some of their systems are linked to critical components of the ship. With the loss of the equipment, I may lose control of the ship or if the Androids feel they are going to lose, then they could cause the destruction of the ship. In either case, they need to be killed quickly, without destroying their equipment. I have to say you did a magnificent job of that on the Bridge. Other places, not so much.’

‘Thanks for your candid review of our work, Holly. We’re going to destroy the Androids, make no mistake about that. Some equipment may suffer if it gets in the way. You figure a way to run the ship without it. We’ll do the hard work. The Bridge, huh? We had the element of surprise there. We’ve already lost that. Aadi is bait and they have to know we’re coming…’

Holly suggested using a vertical man-shaft that provided physical access to all ten subdecks. There was a ladder, which meant that the humans, the Lizard Man, and the ‘cat were the only ones who’d go. The Hawkoids would have to stay.

Skirill and Zyena didn’t even attempt to fight the decision. They knew already they weren’t effective against the Androids. But what they could do was go ahead, all the way to the Engineering spaces where they could meet the first group of survivors from Cygnus VI. Skirill’s ability to speak the human tongue made him the best choice. Without waiting for the others, the Hawkoids flew aft, quickly disappearing into the distance.

The humans watched them go. Aadi was gone and now Skirill was, too. Braden looked down. G-War sat there, watching the pair fly away. His ear with the bite mark twitched as if there was a breeze bothering him. Pik stood, looking fore and aft down the hallway. He had taken it upon himself to be the group’s protector.

‘Holly, we need blasters for Pik.’

‘I don’t recommend providing the Lizard Man with a blaster, Master President.’

‘Just shut up and do it. We need firepower, not a spear. We’re going to be outnumbered. We need every blaster we can fire and we need every finger to pull triggers.’

The fabricator churned out three more blasters. Everyone would carry two. They waited impatiently while the blasters charged. They drank, ate little, and paced. There could be no rest. At Braden’s urging, Micah contacted Bronwyn.

The twins weren’t walking, but they were fully capable of climbing on top of Brandt’s great head. Micah forgot their problems on the ship as she thought about her children dangling precariously from the King’s horns high above the ground. Bronwyn didn’t share the same concerns. The children were well cared for, but they missed their parents.
‘We’ve got a couple things left to do and then we’ll be on our way,’
Micah said firmly. Braden jumped in and said some kind words, too, but he could only think of the vast distance left between where they were and where they wanted to be.

Once the blasters were charged, they dialed the weakest setting and showed Pik how to aim and fire. He was a really bad shot. He pulled the trigger with his whole hand, which ruined his aim. Then they suggested he keep the trigger pulled and wave the blaster back and forth, throwing the beam over his intended target.

They settled for that, topping off the charge before they geared up for war.

They activated a scrambler that Holly provided which interfered with signals. They wouldn’t be able to use their neural implants, but if the Androids placed any listening devices in the shaft, those wouldn’t transmit either. They might gain the element of surprise. They found the man-shaft access and pried the door open. Micah shined her flashlight inside. That was a long way down.

Braden stepped in first, G-War clinging to his pack, and started down. Then Pik, with Micah last. She pulled the door closed behind her, sealing themselves away from the light. Braden held his flashlight in his mouth, trying feebly to light the way. He methodically descended, one rung after another. At least they didn’t have to climb, although with the spin of the ship, up was a relative concept.

They continued past the hatches for Decks 2 through 6 before slowing. Once Braden reached the access hatch for Deck 7, he stopped, because the ladder ended. The others joined him as they wedged into the area. He expected it to continue, but the shaft was sealed below him.

‘Aadi?’
Micah ventured. They heard his jumbled thoughts after he was captured, but he must have passed out or been knocked out. They hadn’t heard anything since. G-War assured them that he would know if Aadi had died. Aadi was alive and not far away.

‘Keep the grenades close. We start with blasters until we know where Aadi is, then we can use grenades to keep them away. Once we have him, we take the elevator to Deck 1 and run aft. Pik, you have the rope. You are responsible for pulling Aadi to safety. We’ll keep the Androids away from you.’
He slapped Pik on the shoulder.
‘Ready?’

Each of them wished they were somewhere else. Pik thought of his rainforest home. Micah thought of her children climbing on the King of the Aurochs. Braden thought of New Sanctuary, being on the beach with Micah. When he dreamed, they didn’t have scars. They were young and there was nothing to fear. In reality, they were still young, barely twenty-two cycles for Braden, less for Micah, but now they were mature and wise, which meant they knew there was a great deal to be afraid of.

Micah lifted his chin, the flashlight’s beam cast a reflection across his eyes.
‘There’s something to be afraid of, all right. Those Androids in there are keeping us from our children. They’re the ones to be afraid. We go in and wipe them out. No mercy.’ 

‘No mercy,’
he and Pik replied together. He pushed all other thoughts to the back of his mind. Never get between friends, and never ever get between parents and their children.

No mercy.
Braden held one blaster and the others held two. With his free hand, Braden pulled down on the long handle, releasing the lock. Driving his shoulder into the door, he burst through, going to one side while G-War darted to the other.

Micah and Pik aimed, ready to fire.

They were inside a small unlit room, empty except for shelving against a wall and boxes piled haphazardly throughout. The others froze as G-War told them to stop before they stumbled into something. Braden fished out his flashlight, shining the way ahead. There was a normal door with an access panel. They moved to it and regrouped, ready for round two.

They knew they’d enter the hallway that ran the length of Subdeck 7. At one point they’d been in that hallway, but three and a half kilometers forward of this point. Braden pocketed his flashlight and pulled his second blaster. He waved his bracelet past the panel and the door opened. He rushed left, Micah right, and Pik straight ahead.

There were Androids in the hallway, surprised at the sudden appearance of the humans and Lizard Man. The Androids raised fingers, ready to fire their lasers, but the fraction of a heartbeat it took them was too long. The companions had already fired with devastating effect.

Pik launched the first wave of fire as he danced his beams across the chests of three Androids, standing too close to each other. Braden and Micah fired shorter bursts at random targets along their field of view. In less than a heartbeat, seven Androids were down and the hallway was clear. G-War shot toward a door, not far. He stood there as the companions joined him.

‘Aadi’s in here.’

Without hesitating they took their positions and opened the door. They ran through and bumped into two Androids who were preparing to leave the room. They led with their blasters and pulled the triggers instantly, burning holes through both the creatures. They renewed their push into the room. Pik stepped through the doorway and stood tall as he waved both his firing blasters toward a mass of Androids standing near the center of the large room.

Others moved about, but stopped at the companions’ violent entrance. Laser beams fired back and the fight was on.

Braden rolled to the left, seeking cover behind a desk as he lined up targets and fired. Laser beams pinned him down, skipping off the desk and scorching the wall behind him.

Micah had better luck on her side, but soon, laser beams pinned her down, too.

Pik continued to fire into the mass of Androids as he walked forward. Laser beams shot from around the room, hitting him in his torso, his legs, and arms. He hesitated, limped forward one step, one arm dropped. One blaster continued to fire until he fell over backward, tracing a line over the heads of his targets and into the ceiling. When he hit the floor, the blaster skipped away from him. Braden looked at the blank expression on the Lizard Man’s face, his body smoking from the myriad of laser burns. The only thing Braden could think was that they were out of numbweed.

No amount of numbweed could have made a difference. Pik Ha’ar was gone.

They had no time to grieve. G-War pointed toward the far corner where Aadi was. He looked at Micah and nodded.

“Grenades!” Braden yelled as they tossed two in a direction away from Aadi. Micah threw hers long while Braden picked a spot not far in front of the desk he hid behind. The explosions were intense within the closed room.

Braden dodged around the desk and popped up, looked around, then dove back down. He didn’t see any Androids, but the smoke from the explosions still billowed.

He continued to dodge to the side, away from the last Androids he’d seen. Micah moved right.

‘Get to Aadi,’
he told her and G-War. Micah looked in alarm at the mass of Androids in the middle of the room, thinking they’d been nearly cut in half by Pik’s attack As she passed, she saw that they probably weren’t operational. They looked dead, even those without blaster marks on them.

Two Androids jumped in front of her, breaking her from her reverie. As one aimed at her face from point blank range, an orange body flew past, knocking the thing’s arm away. Its laser beam burned harmlessly into the wall. She shot it then dove aside to avoid the other’s beam. She rolled and held the trigger, letting the beam track across her target. There was no time for subtly.

Braden took a laser beam to his chest armor, then another, before he was able to get behind cover. He pulled another grenade and tossed it. He was able to cover his ears this time before it exploded. While the concussion still echoed, he was up and running.

He blasted each Android he saw with a short burst and kept moving. He shied away from the mass of Androids standing in the middle of the room. Then he remembered the sonic disruptor. He pulled it and fired quickly at the Androids. There was a popping sound from within the group, but nothing spectacular, not like when Aadi delivered his focused thunderclap.

Braden threw it aside. He didn’t have time to try that again. The smoke from the grenades created a haze in the room that wasn’t going away. Obscured targets favored the Androids.

‘I’m stuck on this side of the room. I can’t get past that group in the middle,’
Braden told Micah over the mindlink as he fired repeatedly into the group. Then he realized they weren’t shooting back.

‘I think they’re dead. I can’t see any other Androids. Did we win?’
she asked as she continued to maneuver around workstations to the corner of the room where the Tortoid was supposed to be.

Braden put his back against the wall as he slid around the room. He kept his eye on the Android mass, but he saw something else past them. It was the door to the room. It had just opened and a number of Androids entered.

“There’s no need to continue. Your work here is done,” said an Android, loud, but without emotion. “You are surrounded and cannot win. If you continue, you will be destroyed.”

Braden fired through the smoke at the voice. Micah continued toward Aadi. G-War disappeared below the hanging smoke haze that filled the room. Laser beams lashed back at Braden. He fell, grabbing his arm where a beam had grazed and left a searing burn.

Micah finally reached Aadi. His armor was gone and there were holes burned through his shell. He was on the deck. His head lay before him, eyes closed. Micah carefully picked up his chin and rubbed his neck. His eyelids fluttered.