Target Silverclaw (10 page)

Shots rang out. Bullets ricocheted off the androids. Their flight paths remained straight and steady. With a series of almighty crashes, the six androids burst through the high windows near the roof of Westminster Hall, sending down showers of reinforced glass.

Once inside, the androids spun in mid-air and landed on the stone floor, their jet thrusters cutting out. All six drew their revolvers, grabbed the nearest human and held the guns to the terrified captives’ heads.

“Stay where you are!” boomed Platinum 1. “If anyone attempts to leave, these humans will be shot. If anyone in this room attempts to disarm us, these humans will be shot.”

The room was filled with gasps and angry cries. Platinum 1 placed the briefcase on the table in front of the British prime minister. He opened it to reveal the explosives packed tightly inside. Embedded in the centre of them was a timer with a large LED display. Platinum 1 entered a code into it, and it began a countdown.

10… 9…

The prime minister let out a loud yelp and hid under the table.

Agent J, who had run back into the hall just as the windows were shattering, opened an emergency channel on his smartphone.

“SWARM HQ,” he whispered. “The team of bugs that met the helicopter at the airfield yesterday. Were both parts of their mission successful?”

“Confirmed,” said Simon Turing at HQ.

4… 3… 2… 1…

Screams broke out across the hall.

Nothing happened.

Agent J shut his eyes for a second. “Well done, SWARM,” he murmured to himself.

Back in the helicopter, SWARM had neutralized the danger by disabling every item in the consignment. Sabre had injected chemical
pellets into the explosives to prevent them from detonating.

The six androids calmly took aim at their hostages and pulled the triggers. The guns clicked uselessly.

Platinum 1 brought down his fist on to the table in front of him and smashed it into splinters.

“The main strike must succeed,” he said. “New orders needed. Requesting instructions.”

Panic broke out and everyone began to race for the exit. One of the androids dug its hands into the nearest wall, scooped out a huge section of stone and flung it. The stone crashed against the exit, blocking it.

MI5 agents and police officers fired continuously at the androids, taking care not to injure their hostages, but the androids showed no reactions.

“HQ!” yelled Agent J into his smartphone. “Patch me through to the bugs on Silverclaw’s base!”

Once Agent J was connected to the SWARM micro-robots, he yelled down the phone. “You’ve got to switch these androids off – now! We’re trying to hold them back, but they’re too strong. People could get killed any minute!”

“Logged,” said Chopper. “Nero, Hercules, we need an update.”

“I’ve tapped into the transmission controls,” said Nero from inside a machine at the far end of the control room, “but they’re all encrypted.”

“Morph,” said Chopper. “Have you found a bypass yet?”

“I think I’ve worked out a way to get around the problem,” said Morph, “but it won’t be easy.”

“What is it?” said Chopper.

“Gold Leader’s artificial arm contains an electronic key, which bypasses the security systems. To deactivate those androids in London, we’ve got to make her use it!”

CHAPTER 10

Gold Leader was concentrating on the console in front of her, watching developments in London.

“Those weapons were useless!” she howled, watching data stream in from the six androids. “It’s Drake again. He must have sabotaged those crates. I’ll kill that scum-eating toad!”

An android at a nearby bank of controls turned its head towards her. “Platinum 1 to 6 awaiting orders,” it said calmly.

“Cause as much destruction as they can!” she spat. “We’ll land at the Palace of Westminster in a matter of minutes. By then I want every living
thing in Westminster Hall wiped out!”

“Acknowledged,” said the android.

Morph scuttled across the floor and around Gold Leader’s mechanical leg. He flattened his gelatinous body and squeezed through the tiny gap between two small metal plates in her heel. Quickly, he plugged himself into the signals running Gold Leader’s implants.

“Let’s see now…” he said.

Suddenly, Gold Leader’s artificial arm jerked. She looked at it in alarm. It twisted and reached out towards the console in front of her.

“W-what’s going on?” she cried.

Her mechanical hand opened up with a click and a whirr. The security key inside it sprang forward. The arm jerked again, fixing the electronic key into a connector on the console and turning it ninety degrees.

“What the…?” yelled Gold Leader.

A series of beeps sounded. “Transmission system opened,” said one of the nearby androids.

“I have access!” said Nero, deep inside the electronics at the other end of the room. “Uploading viral decryption program now!”

In Westminster Hall, the six androids were fighting against the teams of police officers and secret service agents. Platinum 1 had a crushing hand around Agent J’s throat and was raising him off his feet. Agent J’s legs kicked and wheeled.

Suddenly, the androids emitted a high-pitched burst of static. For a moment, they froze. Platinum 1 let go of Agent J and the SWARM agent dropped to the stone floor, spluttering.

The small crowd of conference delegates and officials stared at the androids, open-mouthed. The androids slumped and twitched, their faces sliding as the electronics behind them began to burn out. An eyeball fell from Platinum 1’s head. All six crumpled to their knees, then fell sideways as wisps of smoke began to rise from their joints.

Morph was tapping into every signal he could find. He made Gold Leader spin round and
march across the control room.

“Stop! What’s happening?” she snarled. “How did the Platinum units fail? How?”

Her artificial arm twirled in a circle around her head, and her leg suddenly sent her stepping forwards and backwards, forwards and backwards. She shrieked in alarm and wrestled her mechanical arm with her human one, twisting and struggling.

“It’s surprisingly difficult to coordinate it all,” said Morph.

He jerked her arm to one side, and plugged the arm’s electronic key into a succession of connections along the front of a computer bank. Lights above each connection switched from red to green, and beeps sounded across the control room.

“Power system opened…” said an android. “Cryonic system opened… Fuel system opened…”

“Don’t just stand there!” yelled Gold Leader. “Stop me!”

Two androids calmly walked over to her and grasped her by her shoulders. They carried her
back to the main control console, her implants jittering and whirling all the way.

“Have we got into everything yet?” said Hercules.

“All except the flight guidance controls,” said Morph. “I’m getting the hang of this, I’ll get her to unlock those right now.”

Struggling angrily, Gold Leader used her human arm to reach across and break off the electronic key. She dashed it to the floor and it smashed to pieces.

“Oh,” said Morph. “Too late.”

“At least the cryonic system is open,” said Chopper. “Sabre, free the human prisoners and get them into the escape capsule.”

“Logged,” said Sabre. He buzzed along the control-room ceiling and headed off down the corridor.

Morph disconnected from the circuits inside Gold Leader’s mechanical leg and squeezed back out on to the floor of the control room. Gold Leader sat in her chair, opening panels on her artificial arm and examining its components.

“What the devil is going on?” she muttered.
She turned to the nearest android. “How many Mercury units are on board?”

“Twenty-nine are currently operating,” said the android. “A further thirty-four are ready to be powered up.”

“Enough,” nodded Gold Leader. “We’ll land them at Westminster. We’re only minutes away, so the delegates won’t have had time to disperse. Arm all units with whatever we’ve got that works. We’re not beaten yet!”

“Acknowledged,” said the android.

Morph scuttled back to Widow, Hercules and Chopper behind the control console. Nero uploaded a few more lines of code into the ship’s computer, to prevent Gold Leader from regaining control of the systems that had been unlocked, then joined the others.

“Once the human prisoners are freed,” said Chopper, “we have to take over the flight controls. This base still poses a significant threat to human life. We’ll have to resort to Nero’s alternative solution.”

“The one where we’re likely to be fried to a crisp?” said Hercules.

“Affirmative,” said Chopper.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t say that,” said Morph.

Gold Leader clutched her mechanical arm and sat in silence for a moment. The human sections of her face were awash with fear and anger. “Something’s worming its way through my ship.”

At that moment, the control console bleeped. “All pods in cryonic storage section have been opened,” said an android monitoring computer readouts.

Gold Leader leaped to her feet. “Drake!”

Seven humans were blinking and rubbing their eyes as they stepped out of the cryonic sleeping pods. They stared at their surroundings, unable to understand where they were.

“What’s going on?” mumbled the real Sir Godfrey Kite. “Last thing I remember was … my office…”

Sabre tapped into the base’s communications
circuits. His amplified voice echoed from a speaker set into the ceiling. “There is an escape capsule to your right. Please get into it as quickly as possible. I am an agent of the British secret service. You’ll be taken to safety.”

“Who is that?” said Sir Godfrey. “Where are you?”

“Please hurry,” said Sabre.

Drake swayed groggily for a few moments, then pushed past the six others. “Get out of my way! I’m taking it!”

He stabbed the button beside the hatch leading into the escape capsule. The hatch opened with a hiss of air. Before Drake could step inside, Sabre zipped down from the ceiling and injected a pellet into his leg.

“Yahhh!” screeched Drake. He collapsed to the floor, clutching his calves.

“Freezer sting delivered,” said Sabre.

The others, still dazed and confused, crammed themselves into the small capsule.

“The capsule is designed to be piloted,” transmitted Sabre to the other bugs. “There are too many people in it for efficient operation, and
none of them are likely to have the skills to operate it anyway. I will go with them and pilot the capsule by remote control.”

“Logged,” said Chopper.

Drake yelped as he tried and failed to stand up. The people in the capsule were too groggy to notice a mosquito landing just inside the hatch. The escape capsule closed and a transparent bulkhead sealed the capsule off from the rest of the base.

Drake banged on the bulkhead as he watched the capsule slip away and out into the open air. “No! Come back!”

A hand suddenly seized him from behind.

“Let them go,” said Gold Leader. “They’re no use to me now … but you are!”

Drake found himself dragged along the shiny floor of the corridor that led back to the control room.

“What did you bring on board my ship, Drake?” demanded Gold Leader. “A computer virus? Some sort of electronic gadget made by MI5?”

“Let go! I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Everything’s started to go wrong since you got here! Coincidence?”

“Yes!” He could feel the effects of Sabre’s sting wearing off. His legs were a mass of pins and needles.

Gold Leader dragged him into the control room. All the androids working at consoles and computers were now armed with pistols. “You just tried to escape. What more proof do I need that you’re a traitor? I was going to hand you over to our masters, but now that the main strike has been sabotaged, I’m taking desperate measures. I’m going to be in trouble for allowing the Silverclaw operation to be jeopardized, so I’m going to get back in their favour by killing the MI5 spy who made everything go wrong!”

She pulled a lever and a circular section of the floor slid back. There was a howling rush of cold air. Drake could see the outskirts of London, thousands of metres below.

“People say you die of shock before you hit the ground,” cried Gold Leader, her hair thrashing wildly in the wind. “Let’s see if they’re right.”

“No!” shouted Drake. Gold Leader hauled him
towards the opening in the floor. He wriggled and clawed.

The micro-robots were powerless to help him. They had taken up their positions inside the control room’s guidance circuits.

“At our current speed, we are one hundred and thirty-two seconds from the Palace of Westminster,” said Nero.

“Prepare for power build-up,” said Chopper.

“I hope this isn’t going to hurt,” said Morph.

“If this doesn’t work,” said Hercules, “we’ll be too busy blowing up to care whether it hurts or not.”

“That’s not at all reassuring,” said Morph.

“We have to store as much of the ship’s output in our own capacitors as we can,” said Nero. “Then we channel a surge of power through the guidance system to force it to reboot. If we’re not smears of charcoal, we can then take over the flight controls before the computer knows what’s happening.”

Drake was rapidly regaining the use of his legs. He struggled to free himself from Gold Leader’s grip. They grappled across the floor of the control
room, the outside air swirling around them. The androids, having no orders to move, stayed calmly at their posts.