Project Starfighter (41 page)

“Five or six at most. Any more
than that and I will be handing over runtime that could impact my own
combat skills.”

Chris thought it over. “Given your
abilities, two or three should be more than enough. Sacrifice them if
you need to. Stay away from the corvette, unless you think that it
will cause us problems. Maybe try to lure it elsewhere.”

“Will do,” Athena nodded. There
was still a trace of sadness in her voice.

“Thank you,” Chris said. “I’ll
keep you up to date with what is happening on the inside, via the
Dodger
. Talk to you later.”

“Is Athena okay?” Phoebe asked,
as Chris joined her and Sid in the cockpit of the executive
transport. “I could sense her longing. She seems upset about
something. Depressed, almost.”

Chris had forgotten that Phoebe’s
gift allowed her to share thoughts and feelings with Athena, without
the need for either the helmet or proximity to the avatar. “She’s
okay,” he said. “She was just deep in thought.”

“Did you resolve it with her?”
Phoebe asked, turning around and looking to the airlock door. She
almost looked ready to get out and go talk to Athena. Had they not
been preparing to rescue Ursula, Chris was certain that she might
well have done.

“I ... I told her I will talk to
her about it later,” Chris said. “As soon as we’ve got Ursula
and gotten out of here, I’ll talk to her properly.”

“In range of the Zetaman
Facility,” the voice of the
Dodger
’s AI came over the
transport’s comms.

“Open bay doors,” Chris said.

It’s just a machine
, Chris
tried to remind himself as he brought the transport’s systems and
engines online, and started out. Athena wasn’t really alive, wasn’t
really experiencing those feelings and emotions. They were merely a
part of her programming, a part of her constructed personality. She
was nothing more than a collection of silicon and storage, random
access memory, and an expansive database that recorded everything she
encountered and made her respond in a suitable and calculated manner.

But if that was the case, why was
her wellbeing starting to bother him so much ...?

~

“The
Zetaman Facility is talking to us,” Sid said.

“What is it saying?” Chris
asked, as he guided the executive transport towards the facility’s
docking bay, maintaining the same velocity. The bay doors were
sealed, but Chris was confident that they would have them open soon
enough. Though he was sure that the AIs wouldn’t pick up on
hesitations or any other such human traits, he forced himself to
remain level-headed and carry on as though the transport’s presence
in the system was nothing out of the ordinary.

“I can’t say for certain,” Sid
said, working at the console in front of him. “It’s mostly binary
and machine code. As far as I can tell, they’re attempting to find
out why we’re here and what we’re doing.”

“Route it through to Athena,”
Chris said, watching the Talons and the corvette closely. “She’ll
be able to tell them we’re here to drop off Overlook for a surprise
inspection. Make sure she understands to let them know of the damaged
conscious transit thingy, otherwise they’ll want to know why he
doesn’t just beam himself over there.”

“Okay,” Sid said. “Hopefully,
we’re not too late. The AIs would have been expecting an
instantaneous response.” Sid’s fingers darted over the console
controls, and then the three waited.

“Do you want me to try talking to
it?” Phoebe asked.

“Only if Athena fails,” Chris
said. “Let’s save your gift for when we need it most. I don’t
want to overburden you from the get-go.”

Phoebe agreed and awaited the
outcome along with Chris and Sid.

“Done,” Sid announced a moment
later. “Athena’s confirmed with the facility that we are bringing
Overlook in. The docking port is opening.”

Chris saw that the bay he had been
heading for was now accessible, the doors sliding apart. He set down
inside, noting how empty the bay was. There were only two other
vessels there. Before their conversation with Overlook, learning of
how almost no one within WEAPCO had a physical body, the lack of
vessels and staff might have surprised him. Not anymore. There would
likely be only a handful of humans in here, all prisoners. Perhaps
only Ursula.

“We’re down,” Chris said. The
three looked at one another, took up their guns, and nodded their
readiness. “All set, Phoebe?” Chris asked.

“All set,” she said.

The side door of the transport jawed
opened, steps unfolding and setting down on the deck. The three
hurried down them, Chris seeing, as expected, a number of drones
moving forward to greet them. Lights on the front of the foremost
winked on and off, and Chris caught the sight of a fluorescent green
scan line moving from the top of Sid and Phoebe’s heads, down to
their feet.

“Chris Bainfield, Sid Wilson,
Phoebe Lexx,” the drone said immediately. “You are wanted by the
Wade-Ellen Asset Protection Corporation, on the charges of—”

“Hit them, Phoebe,” Chris said.

The drone fell silent, its lights no
longer flashing madly. The rest, too, appeared to have become docile.

“Okay,” Phoebe said.

“Good. Have them escort us to
where they’re holding your sister.”

As he had come to expect, Phoebe did
not speak, but the drones rotated in place and started off towards a
lift that resided in a tubular structure, central in the docking bay.
The three followed after them, keeping a close eye on their
surroundings.

“How is it?” Chris asked Phoebe,
as the lift ascended. “Any harder than usual?”

“Easier,” Phoebe said. “Athena’s
training has helped a lot.”

The lift arrived at its destination,
another group of drones there to greet the three humans. The drones
were accompanied by war bots that appeared to have already powered up
their weapons systems. One began to speak, but fell instantly silent
after little more than a glance from Phoebe. The three humans
continued on, walking a narrow corridor, an escort of seven drones
and war bots around them.

“Going to be a little like the
Pied Piper if this keeps up,” Sid commented.

“Do you think any of them will
come in useful once we leave?” Chris asked Phoebe.

“No,” Phoebe said. “I will
probably either tell them to self-destruct, or power themselves off
completely.”

The drone leading them came to a
door, which, after a couple of seconds, slid aside. And there,
floating upright in a fluid tank, was Ursula. Chris did not need to
ask whether this was the right room and the right person – the
woman in the tank was identical to Phoebe, albeit a little thinner
and with much longer hair. Other than that, there was no mistaking
the fact that this was Phoebe’s twin.

Phoebe made a noise that sounded to
Chris like a whimper. It must have been dreadful for her to see her
sister this way. Tubes were feeding into various parts of the woman,
and something was clamped over her mouth. Her eyes were closed, and
she wasn’t moving. Thankfully, she looked more like she was asleep,
than dead. Her skin was also pink with warmth.

“Stay strong, Phoebe,” Chris
said, looking at the drones. “We don’t want you to lose control
of these things. We’ll never get out of here alive if you do.”
They must have passed at least forty or fifty machines on the way
there, and that was only on this level. The facility was likely
staffed by hundreds – maybe even thousands – of drones and war
bots.

“Sirs, Madam, you do not have
permission to—” the drone staffing the chamber started, before
Phoebe shut it up.

“Any idea how we can get her out
of there?” Chris asked.

“Maybe one of the drones can do
it?” Sid suggested. “How about the one that was in here when we
arrived?” He nodded to the machine that was bobbing silently in a
corner of the chamber.

“I’ll ask it,” Phoebe said.
“It can.”

“Good,” Chris said, checking his
gun. “Tell it to do so, and then let’s get out of here.”

The drone did as instructed,
starting to work through various steps silently. Holographic datasets
appeared on the front of the container, detailing what looked like
heart rate, blood pressure, and levels of various chemicals. After a
time, several of the cables inserted into Ursula began to detach and
slowly retract. Everything appeared to be going smoothly.

Chris suddenly began to feel tense.
Something wasn’t right here; it had been all too easy for them to
get inside and begin their rescue effort. So deep within WEAPCO
territory, they should not have been able to just waltz in here like
this.

But then again, maybe this was just
how it was all going to go from here on out. In their crusade against
WEAPCO, Phoebe and Ursula were their most powerful assets. That’s
why the Corporation was hell bent on eliminating such twins.

Just as he began to relax, Chris’
earpiece jingled. “Athena,” he said.

“We’ve got company,” Athena
replied. “A squadron of WEAPCO fighters has just exited a jump
point and are on their way to the facility. They’ll be here in
under five minutes.”

Chris swore. “Silent alarm,” he
said to the others.

“Possibly,” Athena said. “Or
perhaps they were lying in wait. They must’ve known that we would
be coming here sooner or later.”

“What class of fighters?” Chris
asked. Sid and Phoebe were looking at him pensively. Though they did
not have earpieces, it was all too clear to them what was happening.

“All Cyclones,” Athena
responded. “Plus one Fer-de-Lance.”

Chris swore again and glanced to the
tank, willing the draining process to quicken.

Athena continued, “The
Fer-de-Lance is heading for the facility’s docking bay. All the
other fighters are coming for the
Dodger
. The corvette and the
Talons are holding position. The Cyclones are not currently in attack
formation.”

Chris racked his brains as he tried
to think of a way out of this. The corvette and the fighter guard
would likely now attempt to stop anything from leaving the facility.
They might not have turned deadly yet, but that could change at the
drop of a hat.

“Does the executive transport have
jump capabilities?” he asked Athena.

“Yes,” Athena said. “What are
you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that you should
get yourself and the
Dodger
out of here, and meet us back in
the Eyananth system.”

“I’m not leaving you here on
your own, Chris.”

“You won’t be – Sid and Phoebe
are with me. As soon as we’ve rescued Ursula, we’ll take the
transport out to meet you. WEAPCO won’t attack it, because we have
Overlook trapped on board. We’ll hold him hostage, if necessary.”

“Okay,” Athena said. There was
reluctance in her voice.

Chris closed the connection, and
then explained the situation to Sid and Phoebe. “Once the tank is
fully drained, Sid and I will carry Ursula down to the bay, and get
her back on board the transport.” He looked at the tank. Half the
solution had emptied. It wouldn’t be too much longer, now. Maybe a
couple more minutes.

“Phoebe, you’ll have to control
the drones and have them act as our bodyguards,” Chris said.

“I can’t see us having too many
problems getting out,” Sid said. “If more drones and bots arrive,
Phoebe can just take them over.”

“Kethlan might be with them,”
Chris said. “You can’t control a human being.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we
get to it,” Sid said.

The tank completed its draining
sequence, the tube that had been in Ursula’s mouth retracting just
before the capsule itself opened up. Chris, Sid, and Phoebe moved
quickly forward to catch Ursula’s limp form as she slumped down.

“Is she breathing?” Phoebe
asked.

In answer, Ursula gave a throaty
choke, and Sid urged them to roll the woman onto her side, to allow
her to evacuate any fluid that had entered her lungs. Thankfully,
there wasn’t much, and the woman soon began breathing normally.

“Ursula?” Phoebe whispered.

No response from Ursula, who only
continued to cough and inhale loudly. She was perhaps not yet
conscious of where she was and what was happening to her. No matter,
thought Chris. There would be plenty of time for her to recover once
they had gotten her out of here.

Together, Chris and Sid lifted
Ursula and began to carry her out of the chamber, urging Phoebe to
keep an eye on the drones and bots, and prepare for a fight. Getting
in had clearly been the easy part.

~

They
passed the security checkpoints without opposition, made it to the
lift, and from there down to the bay where the transport was docked,
Chris not particularly surprised by the scene that greeted them.

“Bravo, Mr Bainfield. Bravo,” a
tall, thin man, sporting a pointed goatee applauded him.

“Kethlan,” Chris said. The
WEAPCO commander was standing ahead of several dozen war bots and
drones, all of which had their weapons powered up. They outnumbered
Phoebe’s robot army a good five to one.

“Stand aside,” Chris said.
“We’re taking Ursula out of here.”

“I can’t let you do that,”
Kethlan said, shaking his head.

“Phoebe,” Chris said.

Phoebe focused on the drones and war
bots floating next to Kethlan. The tall man followed her gaze to the
machines by his side, watching them. Nothing happened. Kethlan
shrugged.

“A staring contest, perhaps, Ms
Lexx?” Kethlan asked.

“Phoebe ...” Chris prompted
again.

“I ... can’t,” Phoebe said.
“Something’s blocking me.”

Could it be Ursula?
Chris
wondered. In her unconscious state, was the woman somehow dampening
Phoebe’s psionics? No, she couldn’t have been. Phoebe would have
lost control of the drones and war bots that were already under her
control. Phoebe tried once again, though still nothing happened. She
exhaled audibly then, as if the effort had winded her.