Robot Warriors (10 page)

John and Kaal hurried towards each other across the rising platform. John realized that his steps were turning into great bounding leaps.

“We’re moving out of artificial-gravity range!” Kaal yelled. “This is really bad!”

John looked down. They were outside the ship now.
Don’t scream,
he told himself.
It’s going to be OK. I don’t know how, but it is...

The cheering had stopped. Instead, screams and yells were coming from the shadowed crowd inside the ship.

“That idiot!” Kaal said despairingly. “I can’t believe he’s such a poor loser. They’ll expel him for sure.”

“It’s us I’m worried about!” John said, his voice catching in his throat – it was getting harder to breathe. His breath formed misty clouds in the darkness.
If it weren’t for Emmie’s suits, we’d be freezing to death.

From the depths of the ship, Master Tronic’s voice rang out: “Just stay calm, boys. Help is coming. We will rescue you.”

“S
-
stay c-calm?” John stammered. “Easy for him to say! He’s not the one floating off into outer space!”

Kaal looked around at the starry emptiness surrounding them. “OK. The good news is we’re in an atmosphere field.”

“You don’t say!”

“Yes, it’s used for carrying out repairs, as it’s easier than using spacesuits. With so many different-shaped students on board, we’d need to carry hundreds of different suits anyway—”

“So what’s the bad news?” John nearly shrieked. The open ceiling of the Centre was a dark circle far beneath them now.

“The bad news is we appear to be drifting
out
of the atmosphere field,” Kaal said nervously.

“Won’t we just slow down?”

“Not in zero gravity! Once you start moving, you just keep going in the same direction! Unless something else happens to you.”

They looked through the transparent platform down at the ship, which was getting further and further away. John couldn’t hear the crowd any more. He might be protected from the cold, but the air was getting thinner all the time.

His worst nightmare had finally come true. Ejected into space without a spacesuit, and no way to get back!

“Wait!” he yelled. “You’ve got wings, Kaal! And there’s atmosphere out here – so that means you can fly!”

“I can
try
,” Kaal said grimly. “We’re going to have to jump off this platform, though. Are you cool with that?”

“We haven’t got a choice.” John put Super-Rover under his arm and climbed onto Kaal’s shoulders. “Come on, buddy. Let’s do this.” Despite the desperate situation, John felt a surge of relief that his friendship with Kaal seemed to be back on track. This was the most they’d spoken to each other in days! He just hoped they would stay within range of the school’s communication system – otherwise they wouldn’t be able to understand each other.

Kaal clambered to the edge of the platform, took a deep breath, and launched himself off. His huge wings spread like sails, whumping against the thinning atmosphere, struggling to propel them back towards the waiting ship.

John glanced back over his shoulder. The platform sailed off into the darkness of space, with the hapless Laserdon still sitting on it, abandoned. There was a shimmer as the platform passed through the edge of the atmospheric field. Then it just drifted away, silently spinning into eternity. Laserdon shrank to the size of a speck of dust, then vanished.

John could feel Kaal’s bellow-like lungs heaving as he strained to fly further. They hardly seemed to be making any progress at all.

“Good job you can fly,” John said, patting his friend on the shoulder and trying to sound cheerful. “We’ll be back at the ship in no time! Right?”

“I... wish... it were that simple!” Kaal gasped.

“You mean it’s not?”

“We’re still moving away from the ship... I’m slowing us down, but not enough! And look!”

Kaal pointed at the huge engines at the rear of Hyperspace High. They were blazing with power. “Ship’s still moving,” Kaal wheezed. “Leaving... us... behind.”

“What?” John yelled, too horrified to think straight. “WHY?”

“Everyone... was watching... the contest!” Kaal panted. “Ship’s on autopilot!”

“Oh,
no!
” John’s breath came in raw, straining gasps as they drew closer and closer to the field’s edge. He sounded as if he were having an asthma attack.

“Zepp can override it, but it’ll take time...”

Kaal’s muscles strained as he fought to make headway, but John could tell they were doomed. He could see the entire length of Hyperspace High now, a hulking white shape ahead of them, so close, but so far away.

“We haven’t
got
time!” he groaned. His chest was agony.

“I’m sorry, John,” Kaal said, sounding almost spent. “I’m trying as hard as I can. It’s been... an honour...”

John looked down at Super-Rover under his arm.
Stupid. Why did I cling onto this? It’s just added weight for Kaal to carry!

“I’m going to chuck Super-Rover behind us as hard as I can,” John told Kaal. “Action and reaction, right? It might help.”

“Good thinking... no! Wait!” Suddenly Kaal sounded excited. “Didn’t you build a homing system into Super-Rover?”

“Yes!” John whooped. “Kaal, you’re a genius! One press of a button, and he’ll whoosh us right back to the tech lab! Wait, where’s the remote?”

“You’re asking ME? I haven’t got it!”

John felt sick. Had the remote gone tumbling into space? He patted his pockets. To his relief, it was still there. He wrestled it out.

“Hold on tight!” he said, grinning. “Super-Rover, take us home!”

He held his breath and pressed the homing button.

Click.

They waited. The ship retreated further into the distance. John was starting to feel dizzy and light-headed from lack of oxygen. Any moment now, they would drift out of the atmosphere field completely.

Click. Click. Click.

John kept jabbing the button, but nothing happened.

“We’re doomed,” Kaal said, his voice hollow with despair. “Our only chance of survival is if a rescue craft picks us up before we drift out of the field!”

John forced himself to stay calm. He turned Super-Rover around in his hands, trying to see why he wasn’t working properly. Little pockmarks covered the robot, the marks of Mordant Talliver’s needler bullets. Some of them must have punched through to Super-Rover’s inner workings.

“I’ll keep us inside the field for as long as I can,” Kaal wheezed. “Get your robot open. We’ll have to try to fix him manually.”

I need both hands for this
, John thought. He clamped his legs tight around Kaal’s heaving shoulders and fumbled open Super-Rover’s body casing. He instantly lost his grip on the cover and it went tumbling end over end into space.

Easy does it, John!
he cautioned himself, clutching the robot before it drifted off.

“Find the homing device,” Kaal’s voice rasped.

John’s fingers explored the masses of wires inside the robot. There
was
damage – and lots of it. Some of the circuit boards had holes the size of postage stamps.
Please
, he thought,
let the homing device be intact!

It felt like hours had passed, though it could only have been seconds, when John’s fingers finally closed on a smooth black cylinder. That was the homing device – he remembered installing it. And by the feel of it, it was still in one piece!

“Got it!” he said.

But there was no switch, so how could he work it if it wasn’t responding to the remote?

“Hurry up,” Kaal said, sounding choked. “Running out of air...”

“It’s not working!”

“Must be a broken connection... look for a loose wire...”

John struggled to remember the wiring diagrams he’d worked from. His ears were ringing and his head felt full of prickly wadding. Then he saw it – one of the power wires had been sliced in two by a stray bullet.

Praying this would work, he twisted the exposed metal ends back together, crossed his fingers, then pressed the control again.

Super-Rover began to hum. His ears twitched.
He’s finding the path home!
Fighting the urge to celebrate too soon, John held him tightly under his arm.

“Here goes nothing!”

John pressed the button to fire Super-Rover’s rocket booster. The jets fired, and the robot grew hot under his arm.

He was really struggling to breathe now. Beneath him, Kaal’s breaths sounded strangled. All they could do was wait...

John didn’t let himself believe they were moving faster at first. Did Super-Rover really have the power to carry both him and the huge hulking figure of Kaal back to Hyperspace High? He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, trying to push down the panic inside his belly as they waited to find out their fate.

Hearing only the whoosh of the space air around him, John realized that Kaal had become deadly silent.
Is he even breathing
?
John wondered.
Is
it too late
?

A sudden shout made John almost lose his grip on his friend. “We’re moving!” Kaal cried out. “Whatever you did, it worked!”

It was true, John saw, as he opened his eyes. They were inching ever so slightly closer to Hyperspace High. Kaal spread his wings wider, and John held Super-Rover tight. Gradually they built up speed. Super-Rover’s antennae ears twitched – he must be tracking down his homing signal!

“Come on, little guy!” John told the robot. “Don’t let me down now!”

The rocket boosters on Super-Rover’s sides changed direction and the jets suddenly blasted at full force.

“He’s got it!” John told Kaal in delight. “He’s locked on!”

The ship loomed up ahead of them. They were rushing towards it now, like a meteor about to slam into the hull. John took a deep breath, filling his lungs with delicious, oxygen-rich air.

There was the open ceiling of the Centre, dead ahead! But it wasn’t dark like before. All the lights were on, and John could see the crowds packed into the balconies and stands. Super-Rover put on yet another burst of speed.

“He’s done it,” Kaal said in wonderment. “That’s a strong homing device you’ve given him! We’re heading right for the opening!”

“Listen,” John said. “Can you hear cheering?”

The open ceiling gaped in front of them now like the opening of a tunnel. John felt blessed relief washing over him. The crowd of students was jumping about, waving arms, cheering at the tops of their voices.

“Good job your robot knows how to get inside the ship!” Kaal joked. Then his voice turned serious again. “Uh oh. John, I’ve just thought of something. Something really important.”

“What’s the matter? We’re almost back at the Centre!” John hugged Super-Rover in gratitude. “We’re home safe!”

They were passing back through the open ceiling of the Centre now. Below them lay the huge open arena, ringed by crowds.

“But once we’re inside the ship, we’ll be in range of the artificial gravity!”

John realized what Kaal meant, seconds too late. “Oh nooooo...”

Super-Rover rushed into Hyperspace High, with John still clinging to him, and Kaal clinging to John. The second they crossed the ship’s boundary, two things happened.

First, the ceiling spiralled shut like a colossal iris valve, sealing away the view of space. Master Tronic yelled, “They’re safe!”

Next, John, Kaal, and Super-Rover dropped like ten-ton weights, yelling as they fell.

Time seemed to slow down. John felt Kaal grab his arms. Super-Rover fell from his grip. Wind went rushing by, and the faces of hundreds of horrified students shot past his eyes. There was a
whump
as Kaal’s wings opened up like a huge parachute.

Then John fell out of Kaal’s exhausted grasp.

John heard a splash and a loud fizzling crackle, like something frying in a pan, as Super-Rover plunged into the lake seconds ahead of them. Then everything was suddenly green, wet, echoey, and very cold.

I’ve hit the Centre’s lake,
he just had time to think.

Something had a grip on him. He was being lifted out of the water. Stunned and dripping, he felt himself gently floating through the air and being set down on the edge of the lake. The grip belonged to an Examiner, he now saw, holding him in its red manipulator beam.

“I’ve never been so glad to see an Examiner in my life!” John sputtered.

Beside him, Kaal slapped his back and burst out laughing. The crowd cheered like they would never stop. Hundreds of students came stampeding towards them, climbing down from the balconies and forming a ring around them.

The Examiner’s beam fetched something else out of the lake next. It took John a couple of seconds to recognize it. It was the waterlogged robot dog that had saved their lives. Without his casing, with all his parts exposed, he looked a sorry sight.

John reached out for it and then hesitated as he saw what was happening. Blue electrical sparks shot out of Super-Rover, and his whole body juddered. His circuits were obviously failing, shorted out by the water.

The tail wagged once, weakly, then lay still.

“I think it’s game over for Super-Rover,” John said with a heavy sigh.

“He died saving us,” Kaal said. “That’s the most heroic thing I’ve ever heard of a robot doing.”

“Stand aside!” twanged a female voice from beyond the crowd. “Give them some room!”

Next moment, a group of five white robots with flashing blue lights on their heads came rushing through the crowd. Each one had slender arms that divided into dozens of slimmer, more delicate ones, tipped with medical instruments. On their chests were insignia like flaming fireballs. Behind them strode Dr Kasaria, metallic-skinned and dark-eyed, looking very stern.

“It’s the Meteor Medics!” yelled a student.

“Hold still for scanning,” Dr Kasaria snapped, shining a bright beam into John’s face. “Hmmm. Skeleton undamaged,” she said. “Internal organs functioning normally. Body temperature normal. That’s odd.”

“My friend made me a special suit,” John explained, suddenly feeling very woozy and giddy.

“You appear to be suffering from mild oxygen deprivation,” said the ship’s doctor. “I’m having you taken to the medical wing immediately. Please relax.”

Relax
?
John barely had time to shout, “Whoa!” before an invisible force gripped his whole body and tilted him gently backward.

The next thing he knew, he was gliding through the Centre on an invisible stretcher held between two of the Meteor Medics. Kaal looked over at him from his own stretcher and gave him a thumbs up.

The crowd of students surged after them, yelling encouragement and trying to follow the medics, but Master Tronic stepped in front of them and held up his hands.

“Let the Meteor Medics handle it!” he boomed. “There’ll be plenty of time to check on them later.”

“So who won?” a student yelled from somewhere in the crowd. John had to smile. Right now, he was just glad to still be alive. Winning was the last thing on his mind.

The medical wing was at the very top of Hyperspace High. John didn’t much like hospitals back on Earth – they seemed to be all yucky disinfectant smells and cabbage-green walls. But this hospital was astonishing; a maze of dazzling white rooms where hexagonal windows showed spectacular views out over the ship and into space. The surfaces were so clean, they seemed to glow. Bubbling vats of fluid, big enough to hold a whole person, stood waiting in side rooms. John glimpsed a section called MAJOR SURGERY, where a cluster of laser scalpels hung from the ceiling on robotic arms.

John glided past a sequence of strange mirrored panels that showed his reflection overlaid with what was inside; his muscles, then his skeleton, then his internal organs. For a second, he saw his own heart beating inside his ribs.

“I’m not sure if that’s the coolest thing ever or the grossest!” he told Kaal. At least he seemed to be in good working order.

Dr Kasaria accompanied them to a ward room. Two freshly made beds sat side by side, next to banks of monitoring equipment. As the Meteor Medics lowered John and Kaal gently onto their beds, the mattresses made a slurping noise and morphed themselves into new shapes, adapting themselves to their exact height and weight.

For a hospital,
John thought,
this is luxury!

Dr Kasaria checked the readouts and narrowed her enormous black eyes. “Hmmm. There doesn’t seem to be anything seriously
wrong with either of you, but we’re going to keep you under close observation overnight, just to make sure.”

“Can we have visitors?” John asked quickly, thinking of Emmie.

“What you two need most of all is peace and quiet,” Dr Kasaria said, firmly but kindly. “No visitors.”

When she had gone, John and Kaal lay side by side in their beds, talking and joking. The time passed without John even noticing. Finally, he could have a normal conversation once again with his best friend. It was just like being back in the dorm, before any of this Robot Warriors stuff had happened. After a while, they just sat and looked out into space, through the huge window at the end of the room.

“Space looks a lot nicer from in here, doesn’t it?” Kaal said.

“Too right,” John agreed. “And it’s easier to enjoy the view when you’re not gasping for breath.”

“So...” Kaal seemed to be struggling to find the words. “We’re still best friends, right?”

“Of course we are!” John laughed. “That is, if you still want to be...”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Kaal laughed, too. “Wow. I’m so glad we’re still... you know. I thought after the competition was over, you wouldn’t want to be my friend any more.”

“Are you crazy?” John said, sitting up. “Why would I ever break friendship with you?”

“I thought, if I beat you, you’d think I was on Mordant’s side, or something... like I thought you weren’t good enough to be here.’ Kaal looked miserable.

John shook his head. “Kaal, I didn’t mind losing if it meant
you
got to win. I just didn’t want Mordant to! You know something? All through this contest, I was worried
you
wouldn’t want to be friends with
me!”

“Well, that settles it,” Kaal said solemnly. “We both need to go and have a brain scan right now. Neither of us is right in the head.”

They laughed for a long time.

“Oh well,” John said eventually. “I guess there was no winner in the end.”

Kaal shrugged. “That’s fine with me. Mordant lost. He blew his own robot to bits in front of the whole school. I think that counts as a win for everyone.”

John hesitated. “You know, when he blew up IFI and it sent the platform floating off into space...”

“Yes?”

“Do you think he meant for that to happen?”

Kaal frowned. “Talliver’s a nasty piece of work. And we all know he hates to lose. But is he really evil enough to try to kill us both?”

“That’s what I’m wondering.”

“I don’t know. I don’t
think
so. But deep down, I’m really not sure. And that worries me.”

“Me, too,” John said, with a cold shudder.