The Orphaned Worlds (74 page)

But before he could do so, panicky voices came from the twoway, wedged into a chest pocket.

‘Hostiles! – they’re here, now! – we need backup …’

A volley of shots came from the two-way, overlaid by the actual sound from a hundred or so yards away, then a crunching impact, and an awful, throat-tearing scream. Greg and Vashutkin took one look at each other and turned to dash back to the sentry tower … and saw heading their way two heavy biped-type droids similar to the one Greg and his team had confronted in the shadows beneath the hill-covered tree.

‘I’ll take the one on the left,’ Vashutkin said, bringing up the Brolturan rifle. ‘The hard one …’

‘Aye, keep telling yerself that,’ Greg said, unsure of what to do next.

MOVE QUICKLY TO YOUR RIGHT
IGNORE ANY WEAPONSFIRE

He followed the Zyradin’s directions but when one of the droid pair veered off towards him and began firing he instinctively quailed and turned his back. There was a cluster of curious thuds and he felt a wave of heat across his side.

YOU MUST TURN AND RAISE YOUR ARMS AS IF TO GRASP ITS ARMS
YOU WILL COME TO NO HARM

Greg obeyed, keeping his eyes open as the armoured machine rushed towards him, taloned limbs extended for a simultaneous heart strike and decapitation. Suddenly it was upon him … and he was savagely thrown backwards by a cushioned impact, which he hardly felt. The Zyradin’s blue aura had expanded to enfold the droid’s upper limbs. Greg almost laughed as the droid tried to shake him off, then began battering him against the ground. Yet Greg felt no motion sickness or sensations of collision, although his heart was racing and sweat made his neck and chest slick.

Then the mech began to fire its weapons, all of them, and that was absolutely the worst thing it could have done. Instead of a hail of energy bolts and explosive shells pouring into the Zyradin’s nimbus, it was all confined by the mech’s own force shield, with which the Zyradin had meddled. Destructive incandescence wreathed the droid’s upper torso; Greg saw armour twist and crack, cables flare into ash, and processor substrate melt and run. In seconds the unleashed fury reached the main power matrix and the force shield abruptly vanished, spilling forth mangled, smoking wreckage onto the landing pad.

Breathing heavily, Greg stepped back, amazed and exhilarated.
That was
…
incredible!
he thought.
So this is what Catriona’s got to look forward to!