Remembering the armored android, Alisa looked toward the view screen to check on Leonidas. She could see Beck near the stairs, firing at something else trying to come out of the airlock. Neither Leonidas nor the android was in view. Several ominous bangs reverberated through the ship, and she could imagine them hurling each other into bulkheads.
With little else she could do, Alisa tried comming the other ship again. “Captain Echo, are you there?”
She had no idea whether he had come personally to collect his orb or sent another android to do it.
“I am here,” came the now-familiar emotionless voice. “Do you wish to surrender?”
Alisa licked her lips. Was that an option?
“No,” Alejandro snarled.
How could a man wedged under a console be so vehemently unyielding? Maybe she should shove him out the hatch to deal with some of those drones himself.
“Is the offer of ten thousand tindarks still on the table?” Alisa asked.
“Not at this juncture, but I am willing to spare the lives of your crew and withdraw my forces.”
“Magnanimous.”
“Yes,” Echo said, no hint that he grasped the sarcasm in her voice. Maybe he grasped it and just did not care.
More clangs echoed up from the cargo hold. Alisa wished she could see how Leonidas was doing. Dozens of drones hovered in the air around Beck, all shooting at him. He was trying to use the warped support for the stairs—all that remained of the structure—for cover to lessen the number of hits he took, but his armor was already scorched and melted in places.
Alisa shook her head. This wasn’t worth it.
“Those two won’t be bothering us again,” Abelardus said, jerking his staff toward the smoking hatch. For the moment, the corridor was clear of enemies.
But how many more could the android captain send? Money had not been an obstacle when outfitting that ship.
“Anyone in here have a blazer?” Alisa asked.
“Captain?” Echo asked.
“I do,” Yumi said, lifting a compact hand pistol up. “Tommy gave it to me.”
Alisa bent down and grabbed the box out of Alejandro’s hands before he could react. His head clunked on the bottom of the console as he tried to snatch it back. She held her other hand out to Yumi.
“What are you doing?” Alejandro clambered to his feet and reached for her.
Alisa did not have Leonidas there to protect her this time, but she reacted without hesitation, grabbing the blazer and pressing the barrel against his chest.
“Back off, Doctor.”
He froze, his eyes bulging as he gaped at her. Then he clenched his jaw.
“Captain?” Echo asked. “Are you prepared to hand over the orb? My automatons have severely damaged your cargo facility.”
“I’ve got the orb right here, Captain,” Alisa said and tapped the button to transmit a video feed as well as her voice. Juggling the box, the blazer, and manipulating the controls was not easy, not with Alejandro looming next to her, looking like he would attack if she took the blazer from his chest. It was going to be hard to do a good bluff with him standing there, ready to take advantage. “Abelardus, would you mind pulling the doctor back?”
Abelardus hesitated, looking between Alejandro and her. She doubted he cared much about Alejandro, but he probably knew what was in her mind, knew that even she wasn’t sure if she intended to bluff—or go through with the threat.
Ultimately, he lifted his hand and nodded to her. “He won’t attack you.”
Anger burned in Alejandro’s eyes, but his expression—his entire body—was frozen.
Another boom came from the cargo hold.
Alisa gritted her teeth and flipped the orb box open. Its yellowish glow poured out, making her squint. Her arm hair stood on end. The temptation to stare at the orb came to her, nearly overwhelming in its intensity. If not for the clamor of weapons fire in the ship behind her, she might have struggled to resist, but she ground her clenched teeth and jerked her gaze away.
“Can you see me, Captain Echo?” Alisa asked.
“I see you.” For the first time, the android’s face came through on the flat display embedded in the console. He had short, neatly combed white hair, silver eyes, and a bland and forgettable face that was slightly more male than female.
“If you don’t call your automatons back and let go of my ship, I’m going to destroy this artifact.” Alisa tossed the box aside and pressed the barrel of the blazer to the surface of the orb. A jolt of energy ran up her arm, electrical shocks coursing through her nerves. She moved the muzzle back a half inch, but did not let any sign of the pain show on her face. If the android had been programmed to decipher human expressions, she did not want him believing that she was uncomfortable—or bluffing.
Off to her side, Alejandro continued to look enraged, but he did not move. Could not move.
“Starseer artifacts are not easily destroyed,” Echo said.
“Are you sure?” Alisa said. She had no idea if a blazer pistol would break the orb, but the android couldn’t be that positive, could he? “Do you want to risk it?”
“A blazer can damage a Starseer artifact,” Abelardus said, stepping closer so the android could see him behind Alisa’s shoulder. “Perhaps not a staff of power,” he added, “but this orb is a key, not a weapon.”
“Yes, I require its use as a key.” Captain Echo gazed at them, his face impossible to read.
“If you don’t remove your robots from my ship and let us go, nobody’s going to get to use it as a key,” Alisa said.
“You are the Starseer?” Echo said, meeting Abelardus’s eyes.
“Yes.”
“You may be useful in recovering more artifacts. It would be challenging to keep you alive, but I have suits that could be altered for human protection.”
“Good to know, but I’m not going with you. Any artifacts that get recovered will be going back to my people.”
Alejandro growled deep in his throat. It was the only protest he could manage.
“I will take you prisoner if possible,” Echo said, “and spare your life.”
“Didn’t you hear me, Captain?” Alisa said, waving the blazer. “If you want this artifact, you’re going to spare all of our lives. And my ship.”
An alarm blared. It was not a small alarm on the control console this time. The noise came through all the speakers on the entire ship. “Hull breach,” the computer announced. “The hull has been breached.”
Alisa wanted to comm Mica to see if there was anything she could do, but she dared not interrupt this conversation with the android. Besides, Mica would know what to do on her own. If anything could be done. Alisa had no doubt that breach had occurred in the cargo hold, and Mica would be suicidal to run out there amid the drones and whatever else was going on.
“You have minimal time, Captain,” Echo said. “I suggest you deliver the artifact to my automatons now. You may still be able to repair your ship after we depart.”
Alisa’s grip tightened on the blazer pistol. The android did not sound worried that she would blow up the orb. Alejandro seemed to believe it far more than Echo did.
“Marchenko,” Leonidas said over the internal comm, the blaring of the alarm coming over the channel even more loudly than it was sounding in NavCom.
Alisa muted Echo and answered Leonidas. “That’s Alisa, and what? Are you all right?”
She could still see Beck on the camera, shooting at drones. A few more of them had crashed to the floor, but he remained under siege, with more blast marks dotting his armor since the last time she had checked. And she still couldn’t see Leonidas.
“The android intruder is dismantled,” Leonidas announced, even as he strode into view of the camera. He smashed the butt of his rifle into one of the drones attacking Beck, and it flew across the cargo hold to slam into a wall. It crumpled and dropped to the deck, more affected by his raw power than by blazer bolts.
“Uh, good,” Alisa said, half-stunned. She ha
d thought the men were losing down there. Echo certainly had not done anything to indicate he expected anything other than victory.
Another voice sounded on the comm. “Captain,” Mica said, “I can’t get to that breach to see how big it is and if I can patch it, not with a war being fought in the cargo hold.”
“Working on it,” Alisa replied. “Leonidas, if you could disable the grab beam on that other ship—”
“There are still robots within this ship,” Leonidas said, smashing another drone into a wall. “We should finish them off first, to ensure—”
“Abelardus will handle them. We need that other ship to let us go. And it would be even better to have that android captain out of commission.”
“Understood,” Leonidas said. “Beck, come.”
“Come?” Beck asked, ducking as one drone fired at his head and two more sailed straight toward him.
Leonidas grabbed one of the drones out of the air, his hands moving too fast to track. He gripped the device from either side and crushed it in his grip. Beck fired at another one, a barrage of blazer bolts, and it flew into the support post over his head. It bounced off his shoulder and crashed to the deck.
Leonidas destroyed one more drone, and he and Beck jogged toward the airlock. The still-smoking tank blocked the way. Leonidas heaved it to the side. Alisa watched her men disappear into the airlock tube.
On the monitor, Echo had stopped looking at Alisa and Abelardus. Something on his own panels seemed to have demanded his attention.
Figuring she had better distract him if she could, Alisa toggled the mute. “All right, Captain,” she said. “We’re ready to surrender. You win.”
The android lifted his silvery gaze toward her. “Humans are very duplicitous,” he said, then stood up, having the look of a man—or an android—who had business to attend.
The channel closed down.
Alisa grimaced. Abelardus had said there were at least three androids on that ship. Even if Leonidas had managed to come out on top when battling one, that meant he had two more to deal with and whatever other assault robots and drones remained on the Explorer.
“Here, Doctor,” Alisa said, shoving the orb at him. “Stay here with Yumi, and keep the hatch shut.”
Abelardus must have released Alejandro from his mental grip because he grabbed the orb and returned it to its box.
“Where are you going, Captain?” Yumi asked over the continuing blares of the alarm.
“Abelardus and I have a date.” Alisa eyed her broken hatch window and the smoky corridor beyond it.
“Oh, will there be kissing, after all?” Yumi asked.
Abelardus quirked an eyebrow.
“Yeah, I’m going to watch him give the kiss of death to any drones left on my ship. We’ve got to clear the cargo hold so Mica can fix our breach. If Leonidas and Beck manage to get rid of that grab beam, we need to be ready to fly. Mind if I keep this?” She waved the blazer pistol.
“It’s all yours, Captain.”
She touched the hatch, not surprised to find it still hot. She pulled down her sleeve, grabbed the latch, and tried to tug it open. It did not budge. She cursed. How was she supposed to save her ship when she was locked in NavCom?
“Look out,” Abelardus said, pulling her back.
Another drone floated into view beyond the broken window.
“I’ll get it,” Alisa snarled. She swatted Abelardus away and fired through the broken window. “You figure out a way to open the hatch.”
She struck the drone dead on, but it only stuttered in the air, seeming to absorb the energy of the bolt. She fired twice more, growled, and pulled out her Etcher. Maybe bullets would do something.
The drone shot back. Fortunately, it aimed at the locking mechanism instead of through the window, or it would have taken Alisa’s head off. As if that lock wasn’t already mangled. She stood on her tiptoes and fired three rounds with her Etcher.
A wing flew off with her first shot. The second two hit it directly on the nose. This time when the craft stuttered, it did not recover. It pitched to the deck.
A boom came from the direction of the cargo hold. Alisa glanced at the view screen. Had Leonidas and Beck been forced back onto the Nomad? More smoke than ever filled the hold, and she couldn’t see a thing through the haze.
“Abelardus,” she said. “The hatch?”
“You’re a demanding woman, Captain.” He was crouching next to it, his hand on the warm metal, his face tilted in a thoughtful, or perhaps focused, expression.
“Yes, I am. Maybe you should have taken the time to find that out before going on a date with me.”
He smiled up at her. “Fortunately, I can meet the demands of any woman.” He stood up and grabbed the latch.
He had to heave, his shoulders quivering under his robe, but the hatch finally groaned open.
Smoke flooded into NavCom, and Alisa coughed. That did not keep her from striding into the corridor. She intended to make all of those robots suffer for blasting up her ship.
Abelardus caught her by the arm, pushing her to the side so he could pass her.
“You don’t have armor,” he said at her irritated look.
“Neither do you.”
He smiled, waved his staff, and trotted toward the cargo hold.
Another boom thundered through the ship, the deck quaking under Alisa’s feet.
“A secondary hull breach has been detected,” the computer voice announced, and the alarm seemed to intensify.
A breeze whispered past Alisa’s cheek, and the smoke streamed toward the cargo hold. Her stomach sank. They were venting the ship’s atmosphere.
Chapter 10
As Alisa and Abelardus passed through the mess hall and onto the walkway stretching over the cargo hold, two drones appeared out of the darkness. She jerked her blazer and Etcher up, one weapon in each hand, but the mechanical constructs were quicker. Crimson energy blasts streaked toward them. Alisa tried to dodge to the side, but knew she would be too late.
The blasts, however, never reached her. Abelardus, standing just in front of her, twirled his staff. He knocked one blast away, as if it were a ball instead of a scorching burst of energy. The other one never touched the staff. It seemed to be absorbed in midair by a forcefield.
Abelardus sprang forward, attacking one of the drones with the staff, trying to club the thing. Alisa had an opening and fired past his shoulder toward the second. She unleashed both bullets and blazer bolts. This close, her aim was impeccable, but it took several rounds before the drone faltered. It wavered in the air, wingtips shivering, and smoke wafted out, adding to the pall filling the corridor. Finally, it crashed to the deck.
Abelardus’s staff connected with the first drone. Something like silver lightning sprang from the weapon where it touched the metal. The lightning enshrouded the drone, and a noisy crack sounded over the ongoing alarm, like something short-circuiting. Metal plating flew off the construct, and it tumbled to the deck beside the first one.
Instead of continuing along the walkway, Abelardus paused, looking through the smoke in the direction of the airlock—and the other ship. The sounds of weapons fire drifted through the tube.
“Beck and the cyborg are in the engineering section over there, and they’re fighting another android,” Abelardus said.
“Are they winning?”
“I don’t think so. The android has more robots and drones helping him.”
“Great.” Alisa pointed at the smoke spiraling past, heading toward the wall near the big cargo hatch door. “Let’s check on the breach, make sure there aren’t any more drones, and find Mica.”
Alisa was tempted to go to Mica first, but she ought to be safe in engineering with the hatch closed right now. She wanted to make sure all of the drones were done before calling for her to come out.
When she and Abelardus reached the part of the walkway where the stairs should have been, the metal sagged and groaned under their weight. Abelardus hopped over the edge,
the smoke so thick that he disappeared from her sight as he landed. A grunt and a crunch came up from below. He had probably landed on some of the wreckage.
Alisa holstered her weapons for long enough to sit on the edge, turn, and swing down. Abelardus reached out and steadied her as she landed. She wanted to say that she did not need help, but this wasn’t the time to be snippy. Besides, if more of those drones showed up, she would need his help. That staff and the shield he could generate would be all that stood between her and those energy weapons.
“This way,” she said, following the stream of smoke. It ran over their heads now, and she could make out a faint whooshing sound over the wailing of the alarm.
Abelardus sprang to the side as another drone zipped out of the smoke, zeroing in on them. He thwacked it with his staff, and that lightning burst into existence again, engulfing the automaton. Alisa fired twice and finished it off. As soon as it hit the deck, she hurried on, stepping over other destroyed drones and pieces of debris that looked like they might have flown off that tank. Some of the drones were half melted, as if by acid, and she remembered the rust bangs Mica had been making. Leonidas and Beck must have found them useful.
When she reached the wall, she followed it, shaking her head at the blast marks and soot coating it. A figure appeared in the smoke ahead, and she halted, raising her Etcher.
The figure spun toward her, lifting a hand. “Captain?”
“Mica?”
“It’s about time.” Mica lowered her hand, one of her homemade rust bangs gripped in it.
Alisa lowered her Etcher. “I thought you were in engineering.”
“There are holes in the ship.” Mica waved at open patch kits sprawled on the deck by her feet, along with a soldering iron and a few other tools. “Someone has to do something about them.”
Abelardus took up a guard position, putting his back to them and peering into the smoke.
“I thought the grab beam might help hold the atmosphere in,” Alisa said.
“It is helping. This could be worse. You watching my back? Good.” Mica shoved the rust bang into one of the big pockets in her baggy coveralls and returned to the breach.