“Something that wouldn’t affect an android.” Alejandro made a fist. “We can’t let some money-snatching treasure hunter get there first.”
Alisa was more concerned with getting there at all.
“Your time is up, Captain,” Echo said. “Will you accept the offer of payment? Or will I be forced to employ less pleasant methods of acquiring the artifact?”
The defense controls beeped, informing her that several weapons were locking onto the Nomad. Her fingers twitched toward the button to raise the shields, but she hesitated. Raising them would be even more of an answer than speaking.
“Of course we’re going to accept the payment,” Alisa said, “but you can tell your employer that it’s an unfair offer, and I hope she sleeps poorly at night, knowing she has androids roaming the system, threatening to blow up people’s ships.”
“Excellent,” Echo said, “prepare to be boarded. If the artifact is not waiting as soon as we open the hatch, offensive measures will be engaged.”
“We wouldn’t want that.”
As Alisa closed the comm, Alejandro said, “I don’t care for your ruse. Assuming it is a ruse.”
“Of course it’s a ruse. If I’d just said no, our wreckage would already be strewn throughout space, just like with that other ship. This way, Abelardus, Leonidas, and Beck get to fight an android, while I… try to think of something else clever.”
“Else?” Alejandro sneered, apparently not thinking she had thought of anything clever yet. She couldn’t argue. “This isn’t going to be like fighting pirates. Even Leonidas might not be a match for an android. And you said there are three of them?” he added, looking toward Abelardus.
“I believe so. Three androids and a great deal of other mobile machinery. Some of it may also be autonomous.”
“Wonderful.”
Chapter 9
“This won’t go well,” Mica said.
“You’re starting in with the pessimism already? They haven’t even attached to our airlock yet.” Alisa stood in the hatchway to engineering while Mica assembled rust bangs, corrosive explosives that could eat through combat armor along with most metal-based alloys. They might have some effect on an android, or so Alisa thought. Mica was dubious. Androids had synthetic skin over their frameworks, and it was much more similar to human flesh than to the casing of some machine.
“It’s never too early to be pessimistic.”
“Captain, should I move my chickens?” Yumi asked, coming to stand behind Alisa. She kneaded her dress in her hands as she looked back and forth from Alisa to the coop in the corner of the cargo hold.
“Androids are always logical,” Alisa said. “I doubt they would have a reason to intentionally shoot chickens.”
“I was thinking more of Beck and Leonidas.” Yumi nodded to where the two men were suited up in their combat armor, checking weapons as they waited near the airlock hatch. “And unintentionality.”
“Unintentionality?” Mica asked as she soldered the top onto a canister. “Is that a word?”
“It’s like unpredictability,” Yumi said, “except with a higher chance of death being the result.”
“She sounds so confident when she makes things up,” Alisa said. “You almost believe her.”
“That’s because she’s a teacher,” Mica said. “We trust teachers not to lead us astray. Unless unintentionality is involved.”
“How can you two be so calm?” Yumi seemed to realize she was kneading her dress because she switched to smoothing it. The gesture appeared just as nervous. “I feel the need to engage in a breathing exercise. As soon as I move my chickens.”
“I’ll help you put them in your cabin, if you want.” For good or ill, Alisa was useless at the moment. The Explorer had locked onto them with a grab beam, so she couldn’t pilot them anywhere. “Maybe you can find something to calm your nerves in there.”
“I don’t think this is the time for mind-altering substances.”
“No? I was hoping you might have something that would affect an android. In case the rust bangs don’t work.”
Yumi shook her head and jogged to the chicken coop.
A clang came from the hull outside of the airlock. The Explorer must be attaching to the Nomad with its tube.
Alisa followed Yumi, wondering why the captain did not simply spacewalk over. It wasn’t as if androids needed air or warmth to operate.
“You two ready?” Alisa asked Beck and Leonidas, though it was clear that they were. As the captain, she felt that she should be doing captainly things, which meant being redundant by pestering people who knew their jobs already.
“Yes, ma’am,” Beck said, slapping the side of an assault rifle.
“You should wait in NavCom with the hatch locked,” Leonidas told Alisa. “You’ll only be in danger down here.”
Alisa resisted the urge to stick out her tongue at him. He was right, and she knew it. Besides, she could watch what was going on from up there—there were a couple of cameras in the cargo hold that she could use for observation.
“I will as soon as we move the chickens.” Alisa waved to Yumi, who was trotting toward the stairs with two tucked in her arms. “You two be careful, please. That orb isn’t worth dying over.”
“Dr. Dominguez would disagree,” Leonidas said.
“He’s not down here. I think he’s hiding in one of the stalls in the lav with his orb.”
“He’s in his cabin.” Another clank came from the hull, and Leonidas touched her shoulder. “Go.”
He used his command voice, and even though she was the captain, Alisa found herself obeying. Probably because it was the wisest course of action. As soon as the android realized they had no intention of giving up the orb, a firefight would erupt down here.
Alisa jogged over and pushed aside the netting on the coop so she could reach inside. The chickens did not cooperate, scurrying from her grasp. She supposed Yumi would not be amused if she suggested they let the chickens go to peck at the boots of the androids.
“Captain?” Mica said.
Alisa lunged for a chicken and missed. She inadvertently made a hole in the fencing, and another one darted out, scuttling across the deck.
“Yes?” Alisa asked, glad Yumi was on her way back down.
“Here.” Mica tossed her a hand tractor, then delivered her freshly made batch of rust bangs to Beck and Leonidas, who hooked them onto the utility belts of their armor.
“Thanks.” Alisa flicked on the tool and turned the hover technology onto several chickens squawking from a corner of the pen. Working like the grab beam that held the Nomad, it caught and restrained five of the birds, and she was able to lift them as one.
She strode for the stairs, carefully carrying her load ahead of her. Abelardus stood at the bottom, his staff in hand, and he raised an eyebrow.
“I could have done that for you if you’d asked,” he said.
“I wasn’t sure if there was a rule against using legendary Starseer mind powers for something as prosaic as moving chickens.” She headed up the stairs, grimacing when he followed her. Shouldn’t he be readying himself for battle?
“Not really. I’ve used them to pick the raisins off oatmeal raisin cookies before.”
“Because your fingers weren’t working?”
“Because my hands were dirty. And raisins are disgusting. I can’t believe the first colonists brought the seeds over from Old Earth.” Abelardus made himself useful by picking up the escaped chicken from the deck and floating it along after them. Yumi gathered the last two in her arms.
“Technically, they brought grape seeds with them,” Alisa said. “It was a plucky colonist who decided he wanted to shrivel up the first batch of fruit grown in our new system into raisins.”
“What a savage.”
Alisa glanced toward Leonidas and Beck before leaving the walkway. Leonidas was watching her—or perhaps Abelardus. She gave him a firm nod, hoping he truly would be careful. An android would not be an easy opponent, and wh
o knew how many were coming?
Another clang sounded, and Leonidas turned toward the hatch again. Beck already had his rifle pointed at it. Alisa wished she had some nice crates stacked in the hold that they could take cover behind.
Leaving the fighting to them, she dumped the chickens in Yumi’s cabin, only taking a second to gawk at the other ones strutting about on her bunk and on the various planters, mushroom logs, and grow lights strewn artfully about the space. Yumi caught up with them and secured the chickens.
A thud-clunk came from the cargo hold. Alisa hurried into NavCom. Alejandro was already in there, sitting in the co-pilot’s seat with the internal camera feeds up on the view screen. The orb box sat on the console in front of him.
“Thought you’d be under a table somewhere,” Alisa said.
“I’ve hidden beneath this console before. It’s sufficient.”
“Glad to hear it.” Alisa reached to close the hatch, but Abelardus and Yumi slipped inside first.
“You’re not going to help Leonidas and Beck?” Alisa asked Abelardus while waving Yumi to the seat at the sensor station.
“It’s easier for me to manipulate matter when I’m not in mortal danger. Besides, the mech might accidentally shoot me instead of an android.”
“He wouldn’t do that.”
“He’d like to get rid of me.”
“He still wouldn’t shoot you.”
“I’ve seen inside his mind when he’s fighting someone. You haven’t. He’s unpredictable. Trust me—don’t ever piss him off.”
“I’ve fought alongside him. He’s never unpredictable. Maybe you just irritate him in a special way.”
Abelardus snorted. “Of that I have no doubt.” Then he grinned. What a loon.
“They’re coming in,” Alejandro said.
Alisa slid into her seat to watch, wishing she could do something helpful. She checked on the grab beam. If it, for some reason, failed or became disengaged, she would happily veer them away from the Explorer and break their airlock tube while androids were tramping through it.
Abelardus locked the hatch door behind them. Alisa heard it but did not take her gaze from the view screen. The camera was up above the walkway, facing the cargo hatch, but the airlock hatch was also in view to one side. As Alejandro had said, it had swung open. No one had come out yet. Leonidas and Beck were not in view. She checked another camera. They were under the walkway, using the metal stairs for cover, their weapons aimed at the open hatchway.
Leonidas fired before Alisa could see anything. An instant later, something rolled out, spewing smoke. Beck opened fire. Alisa bit her lip, wishing the camera had a better angle on the inside of the airlock.
“Got it,” Abelardus said.
She barely heard him, and it did not register that he was doing something until the canister lifted into the air and floated back into the airlock.
“Thanks,” Alisa said.
“It won’t matter. There’s nobody human inside of that airlock tube. There’s… not an android either. I’m fairly certain.”
“Then what—”
Several drones streaked through the smoke, the miniature craft reminding Alisa of the quad-winged Strikers she had flown for the Alliance. Blazer fire erupted from under their noses as no fewer than ten of them weaved and dove through the cargo hold. They zeroed in on Beck and Leonidas immediately. They fired back, neither man appearing alarmed. Their shots were calm and accurate, Beck using his assault rifle and Leonidas wielding a pair of blazer rifles. The men struck the drones numerous times, but the speedy craft were surprisingly well armored. One took five hits before it burst into smoke and flames and went down. It skidded across the deck, banging off a bulkhead before stopping under the walkway. Beck and Leonidas paid it no attention, merely concentrating on the others.
Several more drones shot into the cargo hold, and clangs reverberated through the entire ship as something much larger came through the tube.
“I don’t think the android captain believed you ever meant to sell the orb,” Alejandro said, resting a possessive hand on the box.
“Androids can beat human chess masters,” Yumi said. “I’m sure it weighed the odds and came properly prepared.”
“So, you’re saying we’re unlikely to beat it with logic?” Alisa eyed the orb box, wondering if she would have to implement a plan driven by desperation rather than rationality.
One of the drones ran into a bulkhead, then pitched to the deck and lay still.
“That was me,” Abelardus said. “I think I’ve got them figured out now. I’ll work on the others.”
Several more exploded under Leonidas’s and Beck’s fire, but another squadron of them zipped into the cargo hold. A miniature tank with armored treads and a hulking, armored body rolled in after them. It looked like it had been specifically designed to fit through an airlock tube. Two artillery guns protruded from the front of it, and the barrels swung to point at the stairs.
“Shit,” Alisa said. “That’s going to wreck our people. And my cargo hold.” Three suns, they could end up with a hole in the side of the ship if that thing started firing rounds. “Abelardus, you figure out how to stop that thing, and I’ll have Beck make you something special.”
“I’d rather have something special from you.”
“I can’t cook.”
“A kiss would do.”
She shot him an incredulous look. “Just concentrate on helping them.”
He smiled cockily at her. Loon.
Alisa opened the comm to engineering. “Mica, are you staying out of trouble down there?”
“I have heavy things piled in front of the hatch, and I’m hiding in the closet. It sounds like a war zone out there.”
“It is,” Alisa said grimly. “Stand by.”
The two artillery guns fired at the same time, energy rounds blasting toward the stairs. Beck flung himself one way, rolling and firing at the tank as he did so. Leonidas sprang away as the rounds hit, the stairs exploding in warped metal, shrapnel, and smoke.
He raced across the cargo hold faster than the tank could readjust its aim. Its guns rotated toward him, but he leaped into the air too quickly for them. They fired after he was already landing atop the tank. He’d shouldered his rifles while in midair, and as soon as he touched, he bashed downward with his fists, cyborg power combining with the power of the armor to let him crush through what had to be a strong alloy. He grabbed one of the gun barrels and yanked it so hard that the metal bent with a squeal that Alisa heard all the way in NavCom.
He jammed a grenade into a crevice in the tank, ripped open one of Mica’s rust bangs and left it in another crevice, then sprang free. With its one remaining gun barrel, the tank spun, trying to target him. The grenade exploded first.
The boom shook the entire ship, and alarms flashed on the control panel. Alisa gripped the console with both hands, helpless to do anything. Smoke filled the cargo hold, and she could barely tell what was happening. The drones continued to zip about, firing energy bolts that lit up the gray haze.
“I guess Leonidas gets the kiss,” Yumi said, pointing to the hulking body of the tank. Its treads had been blown apart, and it had stopped moving.
Abelardus growled.
“More trouble coming,” Alejandro said.
An armored humanoid figure had appeared in the smoke at the airlock entrance. It carried weapons and an energy shield, the front crackling with white light and power.
“I bet that’s the captain,” Alisa said. “Or one of his men. Androids. Whatever they have.”
The figure leaped straight toward Leonidas.
Something slammed into the hatch to NavCom, and Alisa jumped from her seat. A red blazer bolt splashed against the thick glass of the window. A drone hovered in the corridor on the other side.
“Duck,” Alisa said, having no idea how much damage that window could take. Not much, she was sure. A prolonged blast would melt the glass easily.
Alejandro flung himself under
the console, with the orb box. Yumi took deep noisy breaths. Alisa grabbed her Etcher, wishing she had thought to ask to borrow a more powerful weapon from Leonidas. Abelardus turned toward the hatch, his eyes narrowing to slits as he waved his staff.
The drone fired again, this time maintaining the blast. Glass snapped and melted. The energy beam burned through, slamming into the bulkhead below the view screen.
Alisa slammed down on the comm button. “Mica, I need you to get out of the closet. I need a…” She groped for something that would help with this new development.
“I’m rather comfortable in here, right now,” Mica replied, the booms of whatever was going on in the cargo hold nearly drowning out her words.
The beam halted abruptly, leaving a scorched divot in the bulkhead and a giant hole in the hatch window.
“Hah,” Abelardus said, a clunk sounding as the drone fell out of view.
Two more drones flew through the corridor toward them. Abelardus cursed.
“Mica,” Alisa said, careful to keep her head below the level of the window, “can you open the cargo hatch so everyone not locked behind a door will fly out? The way Beck and the others did when we had a squadron of soldiers in here?”
“They won’t fly anywhere with the grab beam holding us,” Mica said, “or I would have already done it. The ship might as well be in a tub of gelatin right now.”
The two drones outside fired at the hatch, this time aiming for the handle and locking mechanism instead of the glass. They wanted in.
Abelardus waved his staff, and one of the two dropped out of sight.
“Can you do that all day, or do you get tired?” Alisa asked.
“I have excellent stamina.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“Depends on how many drones they send,” Abelardus said.
That didn’t answer her question either. Another one zipped up the corridor, joining the one remaining. The stench of burning metal wafted into NavCom, and the hatch itself was starting to glow red around the handle. What would those drones do when they got in? Kill them? Or did they simply want the orb?