There was a short pause as Riker went over everything. So Space Division didn't want the Frontier to reach Mars and had sabotaged the mission. But, the leader of Space Division's daughter came aboard and in a last ditch effort to save her, he altered the plan. If she had been in the crew corridor when everything happened that would explain why he was alive and the computer hadn't poisoned the air in the crew quarters.
"So why didn't they just blow up the ship?" Riker asked after a moment.
"They wanted to make sure we had failed. They wanted to show to the world what a stupid idea it was to try to land on Mars with humans. The ship was programmed to turn back after it has completed its mission," replied Alahna. There was a creak from behind the door. The robot was almost to them.
"It won't hurt you, stay close to me," Riker ordered before heading out of the pantry. He put his hand gun back in his pocket and slid the shotgun off his shoulder. There was a loud clang when the robot slammed his fist into the welded shut door. Riker looked around frantically trying to find a way out. Then he had an idea.
"Alahna, come here," he called as the robot slammed his fist into the door a second time. She walked up to him. He handed the shotgun to her and asked, "Do you know how to use this?"
"I know how to but I've never actually done it before," she said uneasily as she took the gun from him. The robot hit the door a third time, the door gave a shriek signaling it couldn't hold on any longer.
"With any luck you won't have to use it, just hold it and keep it aimed at the robot, I may need you to fire a few shots," he said just as the robot busted the door off the hinges with one final slam of its fists. Almost in one motion Riker grabbed Alahna and held her back against his body with his gun to her head.
"What are you doing?" she cried as he swung her around and stuck the gun to her head.
The robot stepped heavily into the room scanning for them. It looked directly at them and raised its arm cannon.
"Stop or you'll kill her," Riker ordered, "And if you do anything but what I say, I'll kill her. Either way you fail your mission."
The robot lowered its weapon slightly, but still kept it ready should it perceive a clear shot.
"Walk to the side of the room," Riker ordered the robot. It did as commanded. Riker started walking sideways to the door, pulling Alahna along with him. He reached the door and stepped back through the torn up doorway.
"Run!" he yelled to her as he let go and took off down the hall. Alahna, not expecting this fell to the ground against the wall. She sat up and saw Riker charging down the hall away from her. She was still clutching the shotgun.
The robot wasted no time. The instant Riker let go of Alahna it made a giant leap across the mess hall to the door. It stepped out in front of Alahna and gave her a quick glance to make sure she was okay before taking off down the hall after Riker at full speed.
Riker made several turns, attempting to elude his follower. He knew that without Alahna to protect him the robot would waste no time in killing him. He rounded one last corridor and was terrified to see it was a dead end. He was relieved to see a door on one wall near the end. Riker pulled one of the grenades from his pocket and tossed it down the corridor before entering the door.
The robot didn't even notice the grenade bounce off its frame and land on the floor. Zero was already around the corner when the grenade went off. It reached the door and tried to push it open. The door didn't move.
Riker had just finished pushing the large crate in front of the door when the robot had reached it. He wished he would have remembered to keep the laser welder now. All he had left were a few grenades and his hand gun. The crate shifted a little as the robot pushed it out of the way.
He had to think, he had to outsmart this killing machine. Riker glanced around to see he was in the main engine room. The center was clear but to either side two huge turbines stretched the length of the room on the floor. There were no other exits from the room. Riker knew that one way or another, it ended here. He pulled one of the grenades from his pocket. The robot gave the door one final shove and the box slid out of the way.
Zero entered the room. Riker was standing before the robot holding the grenade in his outstretched arm. The pin was gone and all he had to do was release the handle to activate the explosive. Zero raised his massive cannon and aimed its four turrets at Riker.
"If you shoot me I'll drop this and the whole ship will blow," he said calmly. The robot paused for a second then reached out with its hand and grabbed the hand Riker had the grenade it. Riker cried out in pain as the robot squeezed his hand in its powerful grip. He was forced to let go and the robot caught the grenade. It tossed the explosive into the hall, away from the ships engines and turned to face Riker again, who was now bent over holding his hand. Every bone had been crushed.
"Surrender your weapons immediately!" the robot ordered.
Riker looked up at the robot. The machine that wouldn't rest till he was dead. He had already tried to kill it once. Its armor was impervious to his bullets and it obviously wasn't phased by the grenades. He only had one thing left to do. He pulled the remaining grenade from his pocket. The robot extended its hand. Riker pulled the pin on the grenade.
"You want it?" he asked. "Go fetch!" he yelled to the robot as he threw it behind one of the two engines. The robot started to jump for the grenade but stopped when it realized it was too late. Even if the robot would have caught the grenade the blast would still destroy the engines and with them, the ship. Zero swung its cannon around and aimed at Riker but never got a shot off before the grenade went off. The left turbine exploded filling the room with flames. Both Zero and Riker were instantly destroyed in the blast. The right turbine soon follower suit and exploded.
Alahna heard the explosion and was knocked off her feet by the shock wave that echoed through the ship. Her eyes widened in horror when she saw the fireball that filled the corridor coming for her. She gave one last scream before being swept up in the flames.
The Frontier was rotating along its course now. Huge fireballs erupted from the sides as computer and drive systems exploded. Then the entire ship exploded in a blinding flash of light. Nothing remained of the ship or its crew after the explosion.
###
About the Author
Josh Miller has been a blogger on a variety of subjects since the very early days of the concept around 1998 primarily blogging at https://www.lameazoid.com though he has done reviews and blog posts elsewhere both on personally run blogs and for others.
His other hobbies and interests include Transformers, video games, and photography. He also has worked for several years as a Television Broadcast Engineer as a day job. Mars Conspiracy is his first published work and was actually written several years ago. It was chosen as a bit of an experiment to see if it would gain any level of interest as an ebook.
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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/JoshMiller
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