Braden wanted to follow up, but watching out the window, he saw a Security Bot appear between two buildings. It hovered down the street, passing the windows where Braden watched in shock. He looked at the companions. Then to Micah. The field generator was still in the corridor outside the Professor’s laboratory.
“A field generator would come in handy, right about now,” Braden said out loud. He leaned sideways to see where the Bot had gone, but it was no longer in sight. He could see the park and that gave him hope that the Security Bot wouldn’t check the tunnel.
“How many of those things are down here?” Braden asked. The young man shrugged.
‘We need to go back and get the field generator,’ Micah said in her thought voice.
‘I think you’re right,’ Braden replied as two Security Bots converged on the tunnel entrance. ‘Don’t fight them, Brandt!’ Braden ‘yelled’ over the mindlink as he helplessly watched the King of the Aurochs emerge from the tunnel, head bowed. One of the Bots lashed out with a tentacle and Brandt screamed in pain, raising his head to bugle his anguish. The second Bot used its tentacle to shock Brandt from the other side. The King turned and charged the Bot, catching it by surprise. Caught on the ends of his horns, the Security Bot was crushed against a wall.
“No security field around them?” Braden said aloud. The first Bot hovered behind the Aurochs and shocked him until he went down. Two Maintenance Bots arrived and strapped Old Tech devices onto him, two on each leg, one on each horn, and with a long strap, they wrapped one around his neck. When the Bots moved away from the Aurochs, the King started to lift into the air, flopped upside down, his head hung oddly as the devices didn’t balance correctly. Another Security Bot joined the other, remaining behind while the first slowly moved away, pulling the hovering Aurochs.
‘Skirill! Keep an eye out for where they take Brandt. Don’t be seen. Any of you!’ Braden told the Hawkoids.
The Maintenance Bots recovered the pieces from the shattered Security Bot and departed. The third Security Bot took a position in front of the tunnel.
‘Holly, it appears that we have a problem,’ Micah said through her implant.
The Security Bot at the tunnel entrance flashed a laser beam at the window. It drew a line through the window and into the room.
“Shut it down! Shut the link down!” Braden yelled as he ducked, even though the beam had already touched him. Micah closed the link while Holly was mid-sentence. She shut it completely off.
The Security Bot danced his laser beam into other buildings nearby, then shut it down.
“Great,” Braden said in dismay. Their escape route was blocked, and they couldn’t use Holly to help them fight an Old Tech enemy. “What is this building? Is there a back way out of here?” He grabbed the young man roughly, shaking him to get an answer. Passive, cowed, the young man hung limp in Braden’s arms. He let go and the man fell to the floor. The young man got back to his feet and dusted himself off.
‘G?’ Braden asked.
‘They are like children, doing only as they are instructed to do. They have no real memories. You won’t learn anything from them,’ the ‘cat said dismissively. Bronwyn stepped in, and Braden nodded to her.
“I’m Bronwyn. What’s your name?” she asked innocently in a little girl’s voice.
“I’m Fifty-Seven Delta,” the young man replied. Bronwyn never judged anyone else, she accepted who and what they were without question.
“I am very pleased to meet you. We are new here and hope you can help us find our way. There is a great fisherman named Caleb, and he would be one of your newest arrivals.” Bronwyn smiled and waited patiently for the man to answer.
He pointed to the window instead of speaking.
“I don’t understand what that means. Do we need to go outside?” Bronwyn asked, confused.
“Yes, where they took the big creature. All the newcomers go there,” he replied tentatively.
“Thank you, you’re very kind,” Bronwyn gushed. “How long have you been here?”
“Always,” the man answered. Bronwyn looked at G-War. The ‘cat shook his head.
“Thank you, again. We’ll be on our way now. Please enjoy the rest of the daylight!” Bronwyn waved Braden aside so they could leave. The sirens had stopped wailing while they’d been inside, and the people were returning to the streets.
Once alone, Micah toured the rest of the building. It looked like a small shop, but without any merchandise to sell or trade. Furniture was sparse. The good news was that there was a back door. She opened it and saw another road just like the one out front. Micah looked for any Bots and not seeing them, she waved the others to her.
“It took Brandt that way, toward the center of the dome, and that’s where I want to go,” Micah said. The Hawkoids confirmed the location. They were perched at various high points around the city as they assumed their roles as the eyes and ears of the companions.
Braden stopped the companions from rushing outside. “I’ve been thinking,” he started. Micah rolled her finger at him, wanting him to hurry. “The Professor, the misfit mob, the Security Bot at the laboratory. What did the Professor say? Something about using us to build creatures that he could control?” Braden hesitated and took a deep breath.
“They could have easily killed Brandt. Those were Security Bots! I think the Professor’s standing orders were to capture all of us, so they could do as he was going to do with Fea, cut into us and take out whatever it was he thought he could use,” Braden stated, talking slowly as he tried to wrap his mind around the situation.
“We got that, so what’s your point?” Micah asked impatiently.
“Since the Professor isn’t around anymore, they’ll probably just keep Brandt and any others who the Professor was going to experiment on in some sort of holding area, a cell or pen, in Brandt’s case. We didn’t check the other cells where I was held, did we?”
Micah closed her eyes and shook her head. Her father could have been mere steps away and she might have missed him.
“I think we can use our blasters and staffs on the Security Bots. They weren’t shimmering so I think they didn’t have their defensive shields active. We can work with that. It doesn’t mean they can’t turn them on, but it means that we might get the first shot. Here’s what I’m thinking–we can’t bunch up, stay spread out as much as possible. If anything happens, we scatter, come back here individually. Nobody fires on a Security Bot unless we can all shoot together.” Everyone nodded. “Let’s go find Brandt and Caleb.”
Then Micah stopped them. “Who is Gloria?” she asked. “I’d forgotten that until this very heartbeat. You don’t think, do you?”
“I’d forgotten that, too. The Professor said Security Bots and Gloria. He’s got an AI,” Braden exclaimed, realizing the important point that he’d missed. “We need Holly now more than ever.”
They couldn’t stay hidden and rescue their people, so they decided to deal with Gloria if she appeared in some way. Micah went out first, moving to the far side of the street. They spread out, far and wide. Pik and Aadi, Bounder, the ‘cats, Bronwyn, and finally Braden. He had no trepidation at keeping Bronwyn away from the others. She was the one who would attract the least attention. Any one of the companions trying to protect her would draw more attention. She was better alone and probably had the highest chance to get out unscathed.
Braden tried to look everywhere at once. Left, right, up, down, not even sure what he was looking for. Bots? Sensors of the type that Holly used? Ancients?
Skirill watched the Security Bot take Brandt in through a big gate, like the type they saw leading into the warehouse in Cameron. It was next to a large, windowless building. Zyena was on the other side and shared that all the roads in Atlantis ended at the central building, or looking at it a different way, all roads radiated outward from that building. On her side, she saw windows and doors and what looked like normal humans entering and exiting.
Although having listened to the encounter between Braden and the
natives after Brandt’s capture, she wasn’t sure how she should define normal.
Zeeka hunched low over the top of a building that overlooked the park located close to one side of the dome. She watched the tunnel and the surrounding area to give the companions a view of their escape route, if they had to leave in a hurry. The tunnel remained blocked by the Security Bot. Zeeka hadn’t seen Braden and Micah in action, so she could only guess at how they would deal with it. Zeeka’s parents had the utmost confidence in the humans, and she trusted her parents, so she would support Braden and the companions to the best of her ability. She settled in for what could be a very long wait.
Micah continued to lead the group. From the Hawkoids, she’d learned that this road would take them to the same place the Bots had taken Brandt. According to Zyena, they could enter the building from her side, the other side from which they approached. They’d get a good look at the warehouse door, as Skirill called it. They’d continue past that, around the building, and enter.
That was the plan anyway.
When a Security Bot appeared from between two buildings to her side, she immediately ‘yelled’ ‘Scatter!’ in her thought voice, while she tried to nonchalantly walk past. It’s tentacle arm shot out in front of her and blocked her way. The others scurried in all directions, trying to put buildings between them and the Bot.
Everyone except Bronwyn. She walked forward, apparently without concern, staying on the far side of the street from Micah and the Security Bot. She passed and kept walking without looking back.
Braden and Bounder had gone between two buildings on the far side of the street from the Bot and Micah. Pik had jumped into an alley on his side of the street, the same side as Micah. He rushed away towing Aadi behind him, on a path to get behind the encounter. Fea and Treetis ran with him while G-War joined Braden.
‘I suggest you let me handle this,’ Aadi offered. Pik reached a corner where he could look down the alley and see the Security Bot at the other end. Aadi let go of the rope and swam slowly around the corner, continuing straight toward the Bot. ‘If you would be so kind as to back up a step or two, I would be most grateful, Master Micah. Please confirm that it does not have its energy shield active.’
‘No shimmer, Master Aadi,’ she said while in the standoff with the Security Bot. ‘I’ll try to move backward, but I don’t want to get zapped by that thing again. I was just starting to feel normal.’
The Bot stayed still as Micah cautiously wriggled her feet backward, one toe-length at a time. Aadi was halfway down the alley and Micah still wasn’t far enough away when another Bot showed up behind the Security Bot. It looked different, round with two small tentacles and a bubble dome atop, little bigger than Aadi in both size and shape.
It hovered past the Security Bot, making a circle around Micah, then it came close enough to touch her. Inside the bubble dome were various lenses and lights. One shone directly into her eye, the same one that contained the neural implant.
Aadi continued to swim, cursing his slowness as he watched the new Bot examine his friend. From the far side of the street, Braden ran, stopping at the corner to aim his blaster, but both Bots were too close to his mate. He didn’t have a good angle and there was no place else to find cover. He kneeled, aimed, and waited.
“Yes, you have the implant. Where did you get it?” the small Bot asked in a feminine voice.
“I’m sorry, what?” Micah replied, trying to buy time for Aadi.
“Now, now, don’t try any of that. My name is Gloria, and I run Atlantis.”
Run!
Aadi continued swimming forward, but the effects of the last Security Bot he had tangled with were weighing on him. He stopped, collected himself, and prepared his focused thunderclap.
“Gloria, nice to meet you. I’m here to pick up my father. Once we do that, we’ll be on our way, if you don’t mind,” Micah said, thinking of Gloria as she did the AI from New Sanctuary. Treat her like a real person and she may respond.
“I do mind. We need you more than you need him. We need you and the mutants who travel with you. We need their genetic material to build the army.” Gloria’s tone was flat and measured, unlike the old Professor, who’d sounded maniacal when he said the same words.
‘Cover your ears, please,’ Aadi warned, not a heartbeat before the Security Bot exploded spectacularly, throwing Gloria’s Bot into Micah and Micah to the ground. The smaller Bot fell on top of her and toppled to the side. Micah’s arms and legs hurt where shrapnel from the explosion had hit her.
Braden ran to where the sparking remnants of the biggest piece of the Security Bot lay. He pulled Micah out of the wreckage, then fired his blaster into the Bot until it too lay in ruin.
“Building!” Braden said, pointing. They ran through the nearest door, while Bronwyn ducked into a building further up the street. Pik joined Braden with Aadi in tow once again.
“Aadi! You taught that Bot a lesson, both of them,” Braden said slapping the Tortoid on his shell.
‘I think the second Bot was just a way for Gloria to get around without a system like Holly uses,’ Aadi said in a tired thought voice.
“Are you okay, old man?” Braden asked gently, bending down to look into the Tortoid’s eyes. He blinked slowly.
‘I’ll be fine, but a nice bit of rest would come in handy, I think,’ Aadi replied, bobbing his head. ‘But I know that won’t happen so we’ll just make do, won’t we?’
“We won’t just make do. I think we need to protect you. You’ve already lost more than anyone else here, so no, Aadi, I think you should stay here, wait for us.”
‘I appreciate the consideration, Master Braden, but I might be the only one who is successful against the Bots.’
“And we may need you again, so that’s why it’s important to rest. Give us a chance to prove ourselves. Nothing would make me happier than not having to fire another shot down here. We’ll call you if we get into trouble, which is probably a given, but we’ll hold that off as long as we can. Make yourself scarce, A-Dog. We’ll be in touch,” Braden said, rubbing the Tortoid’s shell and heading for the door.
He ran into the street, past the smoldering wreckage and down the alley on the opposite side. One by one, the rest of the companions followed him. Bronwyn casually walked back into the street and toward the center of the undersea city.
Micah was last, and she stopped at the corner of the alley, letting the others get further ahead as she wanted to increase the spacing between the companions. She looked back at the wreckage as a Maintenance Bot arrived and started scooping the pieces into its trailer. Micah ducked around the corner and walked slowly away, covering the group’s rear.
Braden was at the front. Bounder behind and to the left, Pik at the far right. The ‘cats walked as they desired, seemingly unconcerned about anything.
Treetis stopped to bat at something in the street. Fea made a beeline toward him, slapping him in the head as she passed. He shook his head and batted at whatever he was playing with one last time before running to catch up with the female ‘cat. Because of all they’d been through, it was hard to remember that Treetis was still a kitten as far as Hillcat aging went. He’d get there, eventually, and he would make G-War and Fea proud.
Just not yet.
Braden walked boldly forward, past one and two-story buildings on both sides of the street. He couldn’t tell what any of them were for, maybe small shops, but he didn’t see items or spots for trade, no markets, no traders. He didn’t like Atlantis.
He didn’t like anywhere they didn’t have trade, but here, he had no desire to change things. He only wanted to get Caleb and Brandt, then leave.
‘Me, too,’ Micah added over the mindlink. Braden smiled and chuckled. His mind was an open book.
The last buildings before the street ended on the windowless side of the large structure were bigger and looked to be busier. A number of people milled about, doing nothing. Many seemed to be simply waiting. He stopped one of these people.
<
br /> “What are you waiting for?” he asked.
“Lunch, of course,” the young man said. Braden nodded.
“Me, too. Do you mind if I join you?”
“Why would you do that?” the man replied.
Braden noticed that everyone seemed to be the same age, the two they talked with earlier and everyone here. “No reason. Actually, I think we’ll move on. Enjoy your lunch.” Braden ended with a close-mouthed smile and tip of his head. The young man returned his full attention to waiting.
‘G? The same?’ Braden asked in his thought voice.
‘The same,’ the Golden Warrior answered without elaborating.
Braden walked away, paying no further attention to the young people because they were no threat. He continued past the large gate through which the Bots had carried his friend. He looked at it without turning his head, using his peripheral vision. There was no one there. He didn’t see any Old Tech monitoring devices, although his limited experience with them suggested he needed to see a flashing light to identify it as such.
He continued past the largest part of the building where there were no windows. Skirill and Zyena shared that there was no unusual activity from anywhere around the complex that dominated the center of the dome.
Braden stopped at the corner and looked back. No one seemed to be paying any attention to a Wolfoid walking down the street, trying to look inconspicuous, or the Lizard Man not far behind. Micah mostly blended in, but the blaster at her hip and sword across her back screamed that she wasn’t from Atlantis. Braden had lost his shortsword with his blasters. He felt almost naked without it.
He couldn’t see the ‘cats and had to look. All three were next to the gate, examining it. G-War jumped and embedded his claws in the material, which Braden didn’t think was wood. As ‘cats can, G-War climbed the vertical gate, until he stood at the top.
‘What are you doing, G?’ Braden asked frantically.
‘I’m going to take a closer look. No one cares about anything out here. Just stand there and wait. I’ll be right back.’ G-War disappeared over the gate.
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