Free Trader Complete Omnibus

by Craig Martelle

  ‘I think they’re dead. I can’t see any other Androids. Did we win?’ she asked as she continued to maneuver around workstations to the corner of the room where the Tortoid was supposed to be.

  Braden put his back against the wall as he slid around the room. He kept his eye on the Android mass, but he saw something else past them. It was the door to the room. It had just opened and a number of Androids entered.

  “There’s no need to continue. Your work here is done,” said an Android, loud, but without emotion. “You are surrounded and cannot win. If you continue, you will be destroyed.”

  Braden fired through the smoke at the voice. Micah continued toward Aadi. G-War disappeared below the hanging smoke haze that filled the room. Laser beams lashed back at Braden. He fell, grabbing his arm where a beam had grazed and left a searing burn.

  Micah finally reached Aadi. His armor was gone and there were holes burned through his shell. He was on the deck. His head lay before him, eyes closed. Micah carefully picked up his chin and rubbed his neck. His eyelids fluttered.

  “Aadi?” she asked cautiously.

  ‘Master Micah! I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you. I fear that I’ve let you down by getting captured. I will be a burden as I can’t float and these old legs won’t carry me.’

  “Stop it. We’ll do what we have to, but we’re not leaving you here.”

  Android hands grabbed her roughly from behind, shaking the blaster out of her grip. They pulled her to her feet and forced her around to face an Android who looked like all the other Androids, but this one seemed different. He smirked as he looked at her.

  “Kind words to your Tortoid friend, but misplaced. None of you are leaving here. Call your mate and tell him to put his blaster down.”

  “Braden, dear, if you would be so kind, please take your blaster and shoot toward the sound of my voice!” She ended in a yell and tried to pull away. The Android gripped her too tightly, her struggles were useless. She kicked at them, but their metal and composite bodies were unfazed.

  Braden couldn’t shoot at Micah. He decided he’d rather die with her than shoot her trying to kill the Androids. He holstered his blasters and stood. He could see where they were, and he walked confidently toward them.

  ‘Holly, we’ve failed you.’ Braden didn’t think the device they’d left in the shaft reached in here, but he had to let Holly know.

  ‘I don’t think so, Master Braden. There are a number of terminals active here that operate within the Android’s closed network. If you can just touch a few keys, I’d be into their system and from there, I believe I can help you out of this predicament.’

  The Androids seized Braden, dragging him to their leader. He gasped when he saw Aadi’s damaged shell and the Tortoid fighting to hold his head up.

  ‘G-War, can you get to one of the terminals that are active?’ Braden asked. Micah started struggling anew to take the Android’s attention away from Braden’s unfocused eyes.

  “So what do you want with us? What are you going to do now?” Micah yelled, spittle flying from her mouth as she pulled and kicked.

  The Android leader never took his eyes from Braden’s face. “You look familiar to me. One of the crew from the Command Deck.”

  G-War flashed an image of the screen into Braden’s mind. Holly showed the three keys that needed to be selected, in order. Braden translated that back to the ‘cat and watched as G-War’s furry paw reached toward the screen.

  “You look like the last First Officer, the one on duty during planet fall. Do you know your lineage, human?” the Android leader asked. Braden shook his head, not hearing and not understanding.

  “No matter. As the President, it’s your duty to protect us and since you’ve done exactly the opposite, there’s nothing we can do for you. We need to protect ourselves,” it said in its Android monotone. “Kill that thing while they watch, and then break their necks.”

  An Android arm reached toward Aadi’s neck, fingers spread to grip the soft tissue behind his Tortoid head.

  “What are the President’s orders?” the Android leader asked suddenly.

  “What?” Micah was surprised. She’d been watching Aadi, telling him what a good friend he was to all the companions. “Take your hands off him!” she finally blurted out.

  The Android let go and stood. “And let go of us,” she said, gaining confidence. The Androids released their grip and stood, making no further moves.

  ‘Holly?’ Braden asked.

  ‘The Golden Warrior opened their system for me. I am consolidating control. For now, they will accept and obey the President’s orders.’

  “Holly is in their system. They will do whatever you tell them to.”

  51 – Cleaning Up and Moving On

  They looked at each other, then they turned and climbed over debris and dead Androids to where Pik lay, on his back, blasters close by. “Pik?” He was cold, but he was a Lizard Man. They felt his chest for a heartbeat. There was nothing there.

  “Hey!” Micah yelled. “Two of you Androids come here.” The Android leader designated two who joined the humans and the Lizard Man.

  “Pick him up, gently.” One took him under his arms, the other his legs and they stood, holding him between them. “Now wait here.”

  They returned to Aadi. Braden splashed water on his feet and over his head, while Micah rubbed his neck. She gave him a piece of an energy bar. He opened his beak-like mouth, weakly. She broke the pieces further into crumbs and put small bits on his tongue. G-War circled Aadi, finding no place where he could provide comfort to his mentor and friend.

  ‘Thank you for coming after me,’ Aadi said feebly.

  “We won, Aadi. Thanks to you, G-War, and Pik, we won.” Micah teared up as she looked at the damage to Aadi’s shell, thinking of the laser burns across Pik’s lifeless body.

  “If we plug these holes, Aadi, do you think you’ll be able to float again?”

  ‘I really don’t know, Master Braden. It’s one of those things that I do. Like breathing. I don’t think about it.’ Aadi’s thought voice sounded stronger.

  “You!” Braden stood, getting close to the Android leader. “How can we plug these holes in his shell? You caused them, now we want you to fix them.”

  The Android leader stood motionless, without expression.

  “He asked you a question. How do we repair the holes in the Tortoid’s shell?”

  “One moment,” the Android said. After a couple heartbeats, he continued, “I’ve dispatched another to fabricate an epoxy, bio-mass mix. The unit will be here shortly with the material.”

  Braden looked at Micah. “The unit will be here shortly,” he said sarcastically. Micah shrugged, feeling drained from the day’s encounter. She sat heavily against a work station.

  Braden dropped to one knee, putting his head in her lap. They’d lost one of their own, one of their family.

  “I want to talk with Ax and ‘Tesh,” she said softly.

  “Take your time. I’ll see if Ess can hear us.” She nodded and disappeared into her neural implant.

  Skirill responded almost immediately. ‘Yes, we hear you. Are you okay? There were so many confusing thoughts.’

  ‘Pik didn’t make it. He fought hard, dying in the middle of an Android army. There wasn’t anything we could do. We found Aadi, but those things drilled holes in his shell. He can’t float. The good news is that Holly is in the Android’s system and now controls them. The Androids are preparing something that they believe will repair his shell. We’ll see. But the rest of us are safe. What about you and Zee?’

  ‘We are fine. We took the pods to Deck 7. It’s a desert with a number of factory-style buildings. It was very hot, so we took the elevator all the way to Deck 10. We flew across and found a door, but it wasn’t the one we used before. The corridor was empty so we took it. We couldn’t fly and it took us a great deal of time to get to the other end. The Security light flashed as we approached, but the door opened to the Engineering spa
ce. We flew until we found the vines, then we continued to the matter transfer chamber. We are here. There are no humans.’

  ‘Funny, I thought the first group was supposed to be on board by now. Let me check with Holly.’ Braden expanded his window.

  ‘Holly? What’s the status of the matter transfer from Cygnus VI?’ The countdown timer seemed to be frozen at 24:00.

  ‘Please don’t be angry, Master Braden, but due to the damage in the Engineering section from the vines, I’ve had to reroute some critical computing power. The system is operating nominally. The first group of survivors should be here and able to exit the chamber tomorrow. After that, the next group will only take a day to transfer. Now that I control the Androids, I will dispatch a crew to repair the damage and fix the communication node in the connector section, where the pods travel back and forth. I will also dispatch another Bridge team to help me manage the ship. I’d hate everything to come crashing down now, just when things are coming together.’

  ‘Did you make a joke, Holly?’ Braden smiled.

  ‘Skirill, Zyena, Holly said that it will be another day before the survivors arrive. The delay is due to some damage from those vines. I have no idea what he is talking about. When we passed through there, a mouse could not have made less noise than us.’ He let that hang there.

  ‘Not at all, Master Braden. If it is okay, we’ll go back to the Livestock Level and hunt. There are ground squirrels and rabbits there. We can find a nice perch high in a tree. We will return when the survivors are close. Hopefully, Holly made them aware that not all of their friends are human.’ Zyena’s thought voice was behind Skirill’s, supporting his request to return to Deck 10, despite the long hop down the corridor.

  ‘Holly, did you let them know that there are others besides Micah and me who will meet them? We don’t want them taking shots at our Hawkoid friends.’

  ‘Yes, they know, although they are expecting you and Micah.’

  Braden closed the window. ‘They shouldn’t be too surprised to see you, Ess. Enjoy the Livestock Level and stay away from those dogs, the ones walking upright and carrying spears. We don’t want any surprises.’

  Micah was smiling as she whispered in time with her thought voice while talking with Bronwyn and the twins. The Androids stood nearby disengaged.

  “Hey, you two. Pick him up and put him up here.” Braden swept his arm across a desk, clearing the top of it as two Androids responded to his command. They lifted Aadi by his shell and set him softly onto the desk top.

  “Hey, old man, does this look more like your usual view of the world?”

  Aadi blinked slowly as he bobbed his head slightly.

  They waited until the Android messenger arrived carrying a bag of goo. It was hard to see what was there until it handed the bag to Braden. He opened it and started reaching in with his hand, but the Android leader stopped him.

  “Don’t let it touch your skin. The result may not be good.” Braden was looking for something to scoop out the concoction, when he started feeling light headed. It smelled strong and toxic. It was unnatural, in his mind. The Android leader took the bag from him and dipped his mechanical finger into the mix. He filled the holes and spread a smooth coat over top of them all. He even smoothed out the minor crease in the edge of Aadi’s shell where the metal leaves from the death vine had ripped into his armor.

  Braden waited as the Android finished and wiped the goo from his finger. It didn’t stick to his synthetic skin. He put the bag on the desk next to Aadi and stood straight, eyes unfocused and body unmoving.

  “Okay, creepy Android, you and one other, pick up Aadi. You’re coming with us,” Braden said as Micah finished and nodded that she was ready.

  The Android leader designated one of the others to help. They each took one side and lifted Aadi. They climbed toward the front door. Braden held up his hand for them to stop. “And bring him, too.”

  The leader bent over while the second Android put Aadi on his back. The Android reached his arms behind him, bending them unnaturally to hold the Tortoid in place while he walked forward bent in half. The other Android pulled Pik over his back, holding his arms like pack straps.

  Braden had expected the Android leader to designate two others to help them. He didn’t care how they got it done or how uncomfortable they looked while carrying out his orders. They were mechanical creations. It was an abomination that they challenged the rightful President.

  Holly had done exactly the same thing, but he answered to the humans, didn’t he? Didn’t that make it better? Holly saved their lives while the Androids tried to take them. To Braden, that made all the difference. He knew that Holly had his own agenda, but it wasn’t counter to what Braden wanted to accomplish.

  Not yet anyway and he hoped it never got there. Until then, they needed him to help them get to the Engineering spaces where they could transfer back to Vii.

  He breathed a sigh of relief, happy that the worst was behind them.

  52 – A Blocked Door

  With the Android threat removed, Braden and Micah walked toward the aft bulkhead hand in hand. They were tired and moved slowly. G-War walked alongside, his tail not as high as usual. The Androids followed, carrying their two friends.

  They walked in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. It was a mere thirty minutes, by Holly’s count, by the time they reached the door. It was just a stroll when nothing was trying to kill them.

  Braden felt numb. Micah looked like she was sleepwalking.

  ‘You two rest. I will stand watch. Have no fear.’ G-War turned around and faced the Androids who stood still, one bent in half with Aadi on his back. Aadi’s head was up, and he looked better with each heartbeat. The other Android stood straight, holding Pik’s arms around his neck.

  The two humans collapsed against the bulkhead, snuggled against each other, and were soon asleep.

  They awoke with a start, but the only thing that had changed was G-War was curled up in Braden’s lap, napping lightly. The two Androids had not moved. Braden stretched, soon joined by the ‘cat and Micah.

  Was he seeing correctly? Was Aadi floating slightly above the Android’s back?

  Braden stood a little quicker than the ‘cat anticipated. G-War was tossed from his lap, but landed smoothly, sitting and using his paw to clean his face as if he meant to be where he was, doing what he was doing.

  Braden touched Aadi’s neck and the Tortoid’s eyes popped open. They looked at each other as Braden pressed on Aadi’s shell.

  “Why, Aadi, who would’ve thought you’d float again?!” Micah joined Braden at Aadi’s side.

  “Let go of him, please,” she told the Android, who instantly released its grip on the Tortoid’s shell. Aadi swam to get free of the Android’s back. He remained chest high, floating before the two humans.

  ‘I fear that I don’t have much energy, Master Humans.’

  “It’s okay, Aadi. We’ll pull you along. We shouldn’t have to run anywhere. At least I hope we shouldn’t…” Micah said as she shrugged. She was still tired, but no longer exhausted. They were emotionally drained from losing their friend, seeing Aadi in pain, and running, always running from one thing to another.

  “The end’s in sight,” Braden told her. “I could really use some of Coldstream’s sweet pork. That would make me feel like a new man. Maybe next time we talk with Bronwyn, we get her to have some waiting for us? I’m sure she and Brandt can make a quick trip, you know, to hook us up.”

  “To hook you up, you mean!” Micah shot back, feeling refreshed as Braden returned to old self. She pulled him close for a hug and quick kiss that promised more at the right time.

  The promise of more. It energized him.

  “Did we leave Pik’s blasters on the floor?” Braden’s mind was clear and he was thinking quickly through all scenarios. He was planning their way ahead, seeing the possibilities.

  “Watch this,” Micah said with a smile. “You, go get those blasters. Bring them back here. And hurry, we
’re ready to go.” Without a word, the Android leader, free from carrying Aadi, bolted down the hallway at a speed rivaling Skirill in flight. They lost sight of it as it disappeared into the distance. In no time at all, they spotted it running back toward them. It ran up to them, stopping without slowing down first. The Android handed the blasters to Micah and resumed its position, exactly where it’d been before it left on its errand.

  “Convenient, but I don’t like it. The sooner we can be rid of these things, the more comfortable I’ll be.” Braden looked for some reaction from the Androids, knowing that there would be none.

  “Let’s go to Deck 9 so we can bury Pik.” More than a suggestion, it was what they had to do. Once Pik sided with them, he was stalwart in his loyalty. They owed him nothing less than theirs.

  Micah waved her bracelet in front of the pad, but the doors didn’t open. She tried again, confused that nothing happened.

  ‘Holly,’ she asked, ‘the door doesn’t seem to be working here. It should open where we can board a pod to the aft core section, if I’m not mistaken.’

  ‘I am having difficulty accessing the system. The Androids must have physically disabled this door. Yes, they’ve confirmed they disconnected this door to prevent you from escaping. That was before I was in control of their system.’

  “Reactivate this door, please,” Micah told the Android leader.

  “I cannot. It is physically disconnected behind the door. To repair it, I have to be on the other side of the door.”

  “Do we need to repair it? Can we burn through? Maybe you can rip the door open with your crazy Android strength?” Micah asked, not sure if the Android was being intentionally obstructive or just dense. They seemed to have lost the ability for independent thought since Holly took over.

  “If you burn through the mechanism at this point, I will be able to force the door the rest of the way.” Micah dialed a narrow beam, aimed her blaster, and fired. The Android waved for more. She lit it up until it waved her off. The Android braced itself and dug its fingertips into the metal of the door. It strained as it pulled the door away from the frame. Once the door cleared the edge, it slid open the rest of the way.