In some ways it almost seemed too good to be true, but try as they might they couldn’t see any particular risk. The actual exchange carried some danger, but Jess and Sal would never be far from the ship. They confirmed the deal and changed course to dock in the appropriate place.
As they closed in Jess had the Wanderer scan the data traffic in the area. Huge volumes of information flowed between the station and both other stations and ships. Much of it was heavily encrypted. What wasn’t, the Wanderer was able to decode and store. The ship even managed to decode some of the heavily encrypted communications. Most were uninteresting, but one data burst between the station and a passing passenger liner carried thousands of vids and books. Jess considered offering to pay for the data but realised it would give away the ship’s abilities. He decided to enquire about entertainment with the company in question once they had the robots. He could get the same data again, but legitimately. He didn’t feel right stealing it.
Jess waited by the airlock door with Sal as the ship went through the final stages of docking. Ali was in the flight deck monitoring the situation. Jess’s lips still tingled from the fierce kiss she’d given him before telling him to be careful.
With a series of gentle thuds the docking operation completed. Jess could have made it smooth as silk but had decided to make it a little rough, giving the impression of a ship with somewhat degraded systems.
“Ready?” he asked Sal.
She nodded in return. Jess reached out to the ship, feeling time start to slow. He opened first the inner then the outer airlock, keeping an invisible defensive field in place to prevent any attack. Nothing happened. They moved into the airlock, grabbed the trolley loaded down with metals and made their way ten metres out into the corridor.
At the other end a small buggy waited with a trailer hitched to it. The trailer had the robots they’d purchased piled haphazardly on the back. The robots were mining units based on a humanoid shape. Each was a little shorter than an average human but much bulkier, weighing in at around four times Jess’s weight. Far too heavy to carry so they’d agreed to purchase the trailer as well. It would be reversed into the Wanderer and left there. Due to its size they’d had to open both airlocks, spare space would be at a premium in the living area until they got the robots working and ejected the trailer.
Jess and Sal moved the trolley to the side of the corridor as the buggy started to move, reversing towards them. It was being driven by a middle-aged woman dressed in an outfit which covered her from head to toe. Only her face was visible and even then her eyes were hidden behind dark glasses. Jess watched her closely but couldn’t spot anything that worried him. She seemed quite tense, but then if those buying from the company planned any trouble this is where it would happen and she’d be at the sharp end. He’d be tense in her position too.
As the trailer was reversed past them Jess inspected the robots. While they had numerous scars and scorch marks they looked to be in quite good condition. He was confident the Wanderer could repair them. He glanced at Sal whose face was drawn in concentration, studying the robots, trailer, buggy and driver. Jess knew Ali was doing the same but they’d agreed she wouldn’t say anything unless she found a problem.
The trailer passed them and the buggy drew level. The driver’s eyes met Jess’s and he knew something was wrong, even through her dark glasses. Something in the set of her face jarred his senses. Scanning her using the ship’s sensors he detected a high rate of data transfer between the driver and the station. On a hunch he had the Wanderer interfere with the signal, disrupting it. Suddenly her face contorted in pain.
“It’s a trap!” the driver screamed at him. “Run!”
Even with his perception of time greatly increased, several things happened at once for Jess. A different, more powerful signal from the station washed over the area. The old woman collapsed over the steering wheel, body shaking. A powerful ion blast blew out the electronics in the buggy and would have damaged systems in the Wanderer if Jess hadn’t already had its shields up. At the same time the robots surged into life, leaping off the trailer.
One robot opened fire on Sal, several powerful laser blasts flinging her backwards. A second robot did the same to Jess. His shields stood up to the shots and were able to deflect the force around him, though he was still rocked back. The other three robots charged into the airlock and on into the Wanderer.
Jess was amazed at their speed. Even with his mind accelerated by the ship they were exceptionally fast. Still reeling from the speed of the assault, and the impacts on his shields, his reactions were slowed. By the time he activated the planned response to any attack it was too late. The Wanderer’s external shields came on at full strength, modulated to extend a short distance into the corridor. They sliced through the corridor and the ship started pulling away immediately. Jess, Sal, the driver, buggy, trailer, two of the robots and the section of corridor they occupied were all still attached to the Wanderer and safely within its shields. They still had air for the moment, though it wouldn’t be replaced. One robot was trapped within the airlock as internal fields came on to cover both airlock doors. The other two robots were within the living area.
Jess had to improvise. They hadn’t thought anything could make it to the main part of the ship. He threw fields up to contain those in the living area, then turned his attention to the two robots trapped in the section with him and Sal. The internal fields wouldn’t reach this far out and the robots would soon realise they hadn’t killed him or, he hoped, Sal.
Jess had been thrown to the left side of the corridor and Sal was beside him. One robot was near the other side while the other was still near the trailer, and so near the driver. Jess needed to change the shape of the ship’s shield to put the robots on the outside. It would be easy to do that if he didn’t mind spacing the driver too, but he couldn’t. Not after her attempt to warn them.
He managed to sketch out an awkward shape which would stretch even the Wanderer’s advanced shields to the limit, then activated it. The two robots were suddenly flailing around in vacuum, rapidly falling behind the Wanderer. A moments thought and the ship’s lasers lashed out at them, weapons designed to punch through ships’ shields and hulls vaporised the robots immediately.
The unstable shape the shields had formed collapsed back into a more stable configuration, one that covered a wider area, but that caused the remaining air to be spread more thinly. Jess felt his internal shield activating again. He had maybe ninety seconds of air in his lungs and trapped close to him. Sal would have less and the driver none, though she continued to convulse so lack of air might be a minor worry there. They all needed to get back into the airlock and soon.
The robots trapped in the ship and airlock opened fire with their weapons, attempting to batter down the barriers in front of them. Their weaponry was far more powerful than the handguns brought on board by the smugglers. The ship’s fields were already struggling to contain the destructive power. All signals from the station were now being blocked by the Wanderer’s shields so the robots had to be acting on predetermined orders. Jess realised that trying to capture the robots was too risky. They needed to be stopped, and stopped quickly.
The robots themselves gave him his first chance. The robot in the airlock was battering away with its weapons at the internal field that blocked its way. The field also blocked its vision, so it had no idea of what lay beyond. Jess suddenly dropped the field in front of it. Its weaponry was unleashed into the back of a second robot, which was standing in just the right position. The unlucky robot’s shields flared for a moment then it was blown apart, pieces of wreckage flying across the room.
A thought nudged its way into Jess’s mind and he discovered the ship had internal weaponry designed to repel attackers, the details unfolding into his mind from the ship. He quickly unleashed the defensive weapons against both robots, very aware that the fields were close to failing. Shields around each robot sparkled under the assault before collapsing. Jess then
targeted the weaponry on each robot, knocking out their weapons. Once they were disarmed he reformed the fields to trap each robot into a small space. Strong though the robots were, the fields could take being physically pounded on all day. With their weaponry destroyed the robots were trapped.
Jess sent a quick message to Ali to tell her he was all right, that the robots were contained, then he rushed to where Sal lay. He found her blinking her eyes and starting to stand. He was hugely relieved to see her shield was still intact, if somewhat battered. He helped her to her feet and pointed towards the airlock. She nodded but when he set off for the driver she followed him instead. There wasn’t time to argue.
The driver still lay slumped over the steering wheel, body convulsing. Her lips were starting to turn blue from the low air pressure. Jess grabbed one arm, Sal the other, and they dragged the woman off the buggy and down the corridor towards the airlock.
As soon as they entered the outer airlock door Jess closed it and ordered the ship to flood additional oxygen into the area. His shield turned off and he gasped down a breath of fresh air in relief. Sal dropped to sit on the floor and did the same. Jess glanced at the robot near them as it pounded on the walls of its prison, then he turned to the driver.
She still shook, and if anything her lips were more blue now. Jess grabbed the hood worn over her head and dragged it back, tearing at the material so he could see her neck, wondering if she was somehow choking on something. What he saw stunned him for a moment, then flooded him with anger. A control collar. The driver was a slave. No wonder her body was convulsing. She’d be dead pretty soon if the collar was left active. He reached for the ship, concentrating on the collar and his desire to get rid of it.
Electricity crackled from the floor across the device. The driver was directly in contact with the ship’s surface making the process much less traumatic than when Jess’s own collar had been removed. Within a second the lightning stopped and he was able to drag the collar clear. The woman stopped shaking but still wasn’t breathing. Jess had seen it happen before – prisoners reacting so badly to the collar’s effects that they died even after it was turned off.
The guards had never cared. This was different. He did care. The ship’s floor was already morphing shape around the woman, holding her in place as emergency medical devices grew onto and into her. Details started to flash into Jess’s mind. Her heart had stopped but the oxygen levels in her blood were reasonably high so brain damage was unlikely to have occurred. Oxygen was flooded into her bloodstream and her blood pumped round by the ship’s devices. Having secured her survival the ship got her heart going.
Confident that everything was under control Jess sent Ali a quick message to update her then sank down to sit on the deck himself, shaking with reaction to their exceptionally close call.
Moments later Ali came running from the flight deck, skidded to a halt at the sight of the robots hammering at their prisons, then rushed over to Jess. Dropping to the floor next to him she flung her arms around him, nearly knocking him over. Jess realised with a shock that she was shaking.
“That was too close,” she said. “I thought I’d lost you. Lost both of you.”
He returned her fierce embrace.
“For a moment there I did too. Those things were fast.”
“Are we safe now? They still look dangerous. And what about the station?”
“I’ve put a good bit of space between us and the station, so far they haven’t tried shooting at us and nothing has launched. The robots are contained but I’d like to deal with them soon. And we have our unexpected guest to talk to as soon as she recovers consciousness.”
“Can we trust her? I know she shouted that warning but it was very late. Maybe she’s a spy.”
“I don’t think so. She was wearing a control collar, similar to those used on Sal and I but with some changes. I don’t think she could do anything. I broke the link between it and the station, and that’s when she shouted. Don’t worry, we’ll be cautious with her. I might be slow, but I do learn eventually.”
She pulled back a little and gave him a dazzling smile followed by a passionate kiss. Just as Jess started to relax into it several alerts flowed into his mind from the ship. Cursing he pulled back.
“Damn, that’s bad timing. Three ships have just launched from the station. All three are touting some hefty weaponry and armour, they’ll be tricky for us to deal with.”
Sal shuffled over to them, still looking exhausted from her ordeal.
“There’s no reason to stay, is there?” she asked. “Let’s get out of here.”
“We’re too close to the station for any normal ship to be able to jump. We can reach jump distance in about twenty minutes. Those ships won’t be close enough to attack us before we do, though I’m sure they’ll follow us.”
“We can deal with that when we need to. What about the robots? Do you need to destroy them?”
“No. I can deal with them. Well, the ship can. The damaged one should be salvageable too. Might as well get that started.”
With a thought Jess told the ship to start tackling the robots. The floor around the two that were active flowed up, quickly encasing their legs. The substance flowed on, reaching their chests then immobilising their arms and finally their heads. Jess had been prepared for what happened but he saw Sal and Ali shivering at the sight. Even knowing it would happen he felt uncomfortable watching the humanoid shaped robots being swallowed by the ship’s substance. A similar process took place with the damaged robot, though as it was already in parts on the ground it was much quicker. He followed the ships progress in dealing with the robots. The two still active soon had their control functions wiped. Then the ship set about modifying them. Improving everything from their brains and power systems to their weapons, armour and shielding.
The process would take some time, but at the end they would have two very powerful robots. No, three very powerful robots. The third was badly damaged, probably beyond normal repair, but the ship was rebuilding them from the ground up anyway. Apparently rebuilding a ruined robot wasn’t against the rules governing the ship.
“There. It will take some time but the robots can be rebuilt and made loyal to us,” he said. “While we still have a little time, I think we should wake our guest and offer her the chance to leave. I doubt she’ll want to, especially as we’d have to send her off in a very minimal survival suit, but it needs to be done.”
Both women agreed, so Jess had the ship confirm their guest was well enough to be woken. Most of the medical devices had withdrawn, the few remaining were embedded in her body and would be controlled remotely until they were no longer needed – then they would simply dissolve away. He instructed the ship to release its hold on her and to bring her around. She opened her eyes with a groan.
“Don’t try to sit up,” Jess said. “You need to take it easy. How are you feeling?”
“Rough. Like I’ve been out getting wasted all night.”
Her voice was deep, her words clipped short. She stared at Jess for a moment.
“Damn but you look like Ethan. My nephew. Bit younger than him, though. Help me sit up, will you? I ain’t planning on carrying on a conversation whilst laid out.”
Sal helped the woman to a sitting position. Jess monitored her health closely via the ship but saw nothing to worry about.
“I can’t see the ugly mugs of those bastards who sent me over with the bots so I guess something screwed with their plan.”
“Yeah, we managed to get away. They don’t seem too happy. They’ve sent three ships after us. You knew what their plan was then?”
“Sure. They didn’t bother discussing it where I couldn’t hear. I was just a prisoner. They’d stuck a collar on me which locked my muscles rigid if they wanted, or felt like it was burning its way through every bit of my body. Don’t suppose you lot have ever had the pleasure of wearing one?”
“Just every day of my life until a week or so ago,” Jess replied, smiling sli
ghtly.
“Oh,” she grunted, taken aback. “Guess you know what I mean, then.”
“Partly. I never heard of them being able to freeze anyone in place before.” He turned to Sal. “Did you?”
“I’d heard rumours occasionally,” Sal replied. “Nothing concrete though. If the guards used that function then it was either pretty rarely or well away from anyone I ever met. They seemed quite happy using the collars to inflict pain.”
Jess turned back to their guest who’d listened to Sal and him intently.
“So what was the plan?” he asked.
“Pretty simple really. Get the robots into your ship, then have them kill or subdue everyone in there. Same trick they pulled on me a few weeks back. Took my ship, killed the other two members of my crew. Captured me, stuck the collar on and used me as a slave. I felt so bloody helpless sat on that buggy knowing the same was gonna happen to you. Then suddenly I was free. I could move, could talk, could warn you. I remember shouting, then the collar activated again… this time to punish me. The pain started but this time it didn’t stop. I must have passed out. Next thing I remember is waking up here and seeing you lot.”
Jess thought she was telling the truth. She seemed honest and the ship’s monitoring of her backed that up.
“What happened to your ship?” he asked.
“No idea. Either they sold it or they’ve still got it, I guess. Not sure which thought is worse. Twenty years I’d had the old girl. Even named her after myself. The Queen Elizabeth.”
“You’re a queen?” asked Ali in surprise.
The woman laughed at that.
“No. I’m just plain old Elizabeth. The ship’s the queen, not me. So, you know my name, how about telling me yours?”
Jess quickly introduced all three of them. He didn’t go into details about where they were from or how they controlled a ship. Elizabeth was clearly intrigued but didn’t press for information.
Wanderer's Odyssey - Books 1 to 3: The Epic Space Opera Series Begins Page 16