Jack pointed at Quan. "We deploy Quan. He takes them over, we move in and finish the job."
The colonel asked, "Quan, what do we have on here for battle-suits and weapons?"
Quan replied, "Storage contains a number of Human suits. However, they are standard sizes. You and Mr. Beutcher will have to continue as you are dressed."
Go said, "Too bad we don't have one of those AI med labs from the arena. We might need one if we get into a fight."
Diane York pulled her sword from its scabbard, allowing the bright light of the bridge deck to flash off its highly polished surface.
Go shook his head. "Let's hope you don't have to use that."
Diane smirked. "You afraid I might show you up?"
Go sighed. "No. It's just that I've been there before and I had much better defenses then. Standard battle-suits only offer a minimum of protection when a full power laser pulse is coming your way."
Diane nodded. "I can handle it. I've been training most of my adult life for something like this. If we lose, I end up back in the arena. And given that I will eventually have to fight one of those Gruntas... I might as well take my chances out here."
The colonel said, "You stick close with him. And, Go, you stick close to Beutcher. Manage that and you'll both do well."
Go smiled. "You don't have to worry about us, Colonel. I'll keep us safe."
Garrett laughed. "Yeah, while you're all googly-eyed over her? Fat chance."
Garret's remark brought a punch from Joni.
As a team of bots worked over the surface of Odenta, Quan made continuous scans of the AI fleet. No movement was detected. Four hours turned into six, and then eight. Our fermium warheads were packaged and prepped. A jump was made to a location just over a light-year from the AIs. Our rescue of Frig and Kerba was set to go.
Chapter 15
* * *
The small and medium sized fermium explosions had no outward effect. The large weapon overwhelmed the hidden ship, burning off several dozen layers of tantric armor underneath. We jumped the Destiny in close and Quan sent out the commands to take over the AI ships.
But our attempt at an alien uprising fell flat. Only a quarter of the AIs involved switched sides.
Quan said, "Something powerful is blocking or overriding my commands. I'm commanding my AIs to attack."
Of the four hundred battlecruisers parked in formation around the now-visible main ship, forty-six began to fire on the others. The ion cannons on the Destiny joined them, firing non-stop. The main ship used our cannon bolts for its own targeting.
Jack yelled, "Active skin is hitting 60 percent!"
Quan silenced our cannons and moved the Destiny out of the line of fire. Sweeps of AI battlecruisers were conducted, their final resting place inside a nearby star.
Quan said, "Mr. Beutcher, Colonel, I believe I am in danger of losing control of the AIs on this ship."
I said, "Do we have bio-signs on that big AI ship?"
Quan replied, "We do. There are two lifeforms aboard her. I do not detect portal generators—however, I cannot lock on to the bios. The ship still possesses the Baldi technology, so internal scan locations are not reliable."
I looked around at the others, now dressed in Human standard battle-suits.
I nodded to the colonel. "Let's go get them."
Jack said, "You really want to do this?"
I said, "Sweep us to the best location you have, Quan."
Quan replied, "As I said, the data is unreliable, you may come in two meters above the floor."
The colonel grinned. "Nothing like a challenge to kick off a fight. Send us when you are ready, Quan. Then take yourself out of range of whatever is trying to take control of your AIs."
A portal window opened in front of us, sweeping over. We dropped half a meter to the deck in a storage room.
The colonel gestured toward two doors. "Garrett, Joni, Jack, with me. Beutcher, Go, Diane, hit that door. Best we know is Frig and Kerba may be toward the forward decks. Quan? If you get better data, send it our way."
Quan replied, "I'm afraid I've lost control of the Destiny, Colonel. The AIs are no longer responsive to my commands."
The colonel replied, "If you have to, scuttle her. We can't allow that ship to fall into their hands again, even if we lose her. And pick up a blaster! Do some damage!"
Quan replied, "I am sorry, Colonel, I am unable to perform tasks of direct violence. My inhibitor circuits restrict it. I will shut myself down before allowing capture."
The colonel stopped and shook his head. "Sweep my team back there. We'll keep you company."
Quan replied, "Sweeping the area around you, Colonel. Be prepared for an unpleasant landing."
The colonel yelled over his comm: "Crap! Just took a steel bar to the abdomen."
I asked, "What's everyone's status?"
The colonel replied, "Garrett, Joni and Jack came through fine. I may have a cracked rib. Over there! Against the wall! Bots will be coming through that door any second!"
I said, "Keep your comm open, Colonel!"
The colonel looked into the camera on his new arm pad. "Yeah, about that, this pad is a poor substitute for the one I had. It's gonna get me killed."
Garrett replied, "We have a good crossfire going on this door. They aren't coming through without paying a heavy toll."
I opened a door to the nearby hallway. Four bots charged our direction. I fired my blaster, taking out the first as Go followed with the second. The two remaining bots ducked into a nearby room, hanging their laser pistols out around the door to fire in our direction. Diane took careful aim, cutting our number of resisters to one. As the bot fired blindly down our side of the hallway, Diane drew her sword and charged forward. Reaching the bot's door, a downward swing sliced off the arm that had fired on us.
I turned to Go. "I like her already."
Go rushed forward. "Unless she gets herself dead!"
Go rounded the corner of the doorway. A well-placed ion bolt scattered the still-functioning bot. With the immediate threat ended, we continued down the hallway, checking rooms as we passed them.
I asked, "How's it looking, Colonel?"
Tom Harper replied, "Quan has himself sealed in a room. We're trying to get to him. Going is slow. How about there?"
I replied, "We have one hallway down. Half a kilometer of halls and decks to go."
We rounded the next corner to laser fire. This time, six bots had the hallway locked down.
Go pointed to the room next to us. "Can we go through there?"
I nodded. "Good idea. Quan? What deck did you drop us on?"
"Deck six of twenty."
I looked back at Go. "I say we go up. You and Diane keep those bots at their end of the hall. I'll cut us a hole to the next deck in this room."
Six ion rounds sparked and clanged off the ceiling of steel decking over my head. On the seventh bolt, the decking shattered, sending shrapnel outward and upward in a violent burst. I winced as two small shards cut deep into my thick skin and sizzled. After stacking several crates and climbing up, I stuck my head through the hole to look at the floor above. The room was empty.
I yelled back to Go: "We have a way up!"
Diane came into the room and started to climb. "Another half dozen bots just joined the first! They are moving down the hall now."
Go entered the room, slamming the door behind him before sealing it shut with a weak ion bolt to the lock. A climb up the crates and a lift by my hand had him standing on deck seven.
I looked around the room. "I say we keep going up."
Go nodded. "Agreed, but this time you take cover. That shrapnel won't come through this suit. It might not handle much, but it will take that."
Two minutes later we were standing on deck eight. The bots, in pursuit, flooded the room two floors below.
I said, "Back to the hallways. Colonel, how we doing?"
The colonel replied, "I can see the door where Quan is holed up. We pushed them
back, but we can't get to him."
Go said, "Try going through the walls."
The colonel replied, "This ship is built to withstand that."
"Ceiling or floors?"
The colonel shook his head. "Nope. Same issue."
I asked, "Quan? Is there any way you can assist the colonel with reaching your position?"
Quan replied, "One moment. I am attempting to access the portal controls. They are locked out from the bridge."
We moved forward down a fifty meter hallway before our next encounter with bots. Two sprinted toward us with laser pulses streaming. Go took careful aim, hitting the first on one of its spindly legs. Diane fired over his shoulder, hitting the second bot square in the control unit.
Go glanced over his shoulder with a smile. "Nice!"
Quan said, "I am unable to access the portal controls remotely. The AI have damaged the remote systems interface. We are now confined to the Destiny."
"Just hang on," said the colonel, "we'll get you out of there. We still have lifepods to eject in."
I switched views to the camera on Garrett's battle-suit. The colonel was squatting in front of him.
The colonel said, "I'm rushing that door on the count of three."
Garrett held up his hand. "Wait, wait! Is that go on three or wait until you say 'go?'"
The colonel sighed. "Just follow my lead. Quan, do you have anything down that hall, a pump or vent or something you have access to? I need a minor distraction."
Quan replied, "I retain access to the utility systems. One moment."
A nitrogen gas extinguisher sprayed a cold cloud from the hallway ceiling.
The colonel yelled, "Go!"
Garrett hesitated until a firm hand by Joni pushed him in the back. Jack raced past him. The colonel slid to the end of the hall, rolling out and firing three ion bolts before the others reached his location.
Joni went straight for the door to the room with Quan, banging as she arrived. "Quan, let's go!"
The door opened. Joni waved Quan out as the four Humans and the android made their retreat.
The colonel yelled, "Hold up around this corner! We make our next stand here. We don't hit those lifepods until we have to."
Back on the big ship, our next effort was a stairwell.
I said, "We go all the way to the top, and then work our way down to whatever deck we need to get to."
Go replied, "Do you find it strange that we're seeing so few bots? This is a huge ship. I would think it would be loaded with them."
I nodded. "I was thinking the same, but we don't have much of a choice. We just keep pushing forward."
We sprinted down a long hall before turning back to a stairwell.
I said, "We check a floor, then we go down."
Diane looked at the hallway behind us. "We've got company!"
Six bots rounded the corner of the far hall. We hustled down a flight of stairs and out onto the next floor. I kicked open a door. It was an empty room. Smashing the following three doors ended with the same.
A door across the hallway opened behind us. Diane raised her blaster, firing, just as Go pushed her hand to the side. Kerba Skol emerged.
Go said, "Where's Frig?"
Kerba shook his head. "They separated us just after bringing us here."
I said, "Were you injured?"
Kerba replied, "No. I cooperated. Frig did not."
Go asked, "What do they know?"
Kerba smiled. "I told them half truths. They will have a difficult time verifying what I said."
Go half frowned. "You know, they have expression recognition software that will accurately tell if you are lying."
Kerba nodded. "I am aware. That is why I adopted the half truth strategy. Some they will know, some they won't."
We continued to move down the hallway, checking doors.
I said over the comm, "Colonel, we have Kerba."
The colonel replied, "Excellent. Quan is working on an inhibitor signal. We're trying to tap into the maintenance comm. If we can get in, we might be able to broadcast this ship-wide, overriding whatever has them against us."
As we rounded the next corner we came face to face with five bots guarding a door. I rolled backwards just as the first laser pulses flew. Go charged into the hall firing his blaster. Bot parts went flying as his ion bolts found their mark. Diane stepped in behind him, taking out the back two bots with precision shots.
I said, "That wasn't a very smart move."
Go replied, "Well, it got the job done."
I stood, leaning in close to him as Diane moved down the hall to check the next corner. "Look, I know you want to impress the girl, but getting yourself killed or maimed won't impress anyone. If anything, you endanger the rest of us. So no more unnecessary heroics, OK?"
Go took a breath. "I guess that was kind of crazy. I don't know, why do women make us act like that?"
I replied, "You solve that and you've solved one of the biggest mysteries of the universe."
Go nodded. "I'll try to hold back from now on."
Kerba checked the door. "It's unlocked."
The door opened to a lab full of holo-displays.
Frig looked up from behind a table. "I wondered if that was you out there. I was hoping it wasn't."
Go asked, "Why would you say that?"
Frig said, "I don't think we will be getting off this ship. The AIs have been monitoring your every move. Has resistance been light?"
I nodded. "It has. That's been a point of concern. Lasers have been set on low power as well."
Frig stood, crossing his short arms in front of him. "What of the colonel?"
I opened a comm. "Colonel, we have Frig and Kerba. What's happening over there?"
The colonel replied, "I'm not sure, but it seems the bots have been backing off. We've managed to push ourselves halfway back to the bridge. If we can get control of it, we can take back this whole ship. Quan has an inhibitor working, but it's only good out to about five meters."
I nodded. "Keep us posted, Colonel. We're going to need a way off this ship."
We kept watch outside of the lab. Bots would peek around the corners of the hallway, but wouldn't approach.
Several minutes passed before the colonel came over the comm. "We have the bridge and the portal gate. Quan is able to lock in on your comms, so group up, we're sweeping you home."
A portal opened, sweeping over us. When it closed we were standing in the docking bay of the Destiny.
The colonel said, "We're eliminating all AIs on the ship."
We hustled to the bridge.
Quan said, "I'm still receiving signals from five AIs, Colonel. I can't get a lock on their location. We have an interfering signal coming from that large ship."
I said, "Jump us out of here."
Quan replied, "I am trying, Mr. Beutcher. The portal gate is not responding."
The colonel yelled over the comm. "We just got ambushed! They drove us into a room and sealed the door!"
Two dozen bots flooded onto the deck of the bridge. As I drew my blaster, a blaster was put to the back of my head.
I glanced back. "Frig? What are you doing?"
Frig replied, "My name is not Frig. It's Anterra. I will have to say that I am disappointed at how easily you were fooled."
I turned to face the wide grin of the disguised AI. "Where's the real Frig?"
"He is safely aboard the Ambios. He is actually working side by side with another android. Kerba Skol was duplicated and is assisting with his research."
"I don't get it. Why the need for a phony Frig?"
Anterra gestured toward Quan. "We suspected you had an AI working for you. I must say, this is a surprise. How did you come upon him?"
I shook my head. "We bought him at a salvage auction."
Anterra smiled. "Your facial expressions say otherwise, Mr. Beutcher. And please realize, there are seven others in your group who will divulge that information. Let me remind you that we can be unplea
sant with our methods if need be. How did you come by the android named Quan?"
As Anterra glanced toward our android friend, I made my move. The blaster held by the fake Frig discharged, hitting a console on a far wall. Shrapnel flew. I took the blaster in my right hand as my left fist came down, smashing through the android’s thin arm. Spinning, I brought my right hand around, smashing the butt of the blaster into the AI's head. I then leapt and came down hard with an elbow to the top of its skull.
I yelled to Quan as a dozen bots surged into the room to subdue me: "Run! Out the side! Go, Diane! Keep him safe!"
The second doorway onto the bridge was blocked by more bots.
An AI emerged from the main doorway. "Mr. Beutcher, there is no escape from this ship."
Anterra looked down at the crumpled body of the fake Frig. "That is a shame. Constructing the intricacies that made me appear to be an actual Gambit were not trivial."
"You weren't worthy of wearing that exterior."
The colonel appeared behind the other bots, walking to just in front of them. I checked my comm, but interference was blocking all signals.
"Colonel?"
The colonel shook his head. "They have us, Mr. Beutcher. We might as well spill our guts. We've lost this fight."
Go raised his blaster, pumping an ion bolt into the colonel's chest. Bot parts flew as the ion bolt spread outward. A second round found its mark on the AI standing beside him. The now defunct AI dropped to the floor in a pile of bent and blackened parts.
Go said, "That was an obvious fake. The colonel would never give up like that."
With the absence of a nearby AI, Quan's inhibitor signal took over. The bots blocking the doorways fell.
Quan said, "There are now only two AIs aboard the Destiny."
I opened a comm. "Colonel? You still there?"
The colonel answered. "We are. The AI and bots outside our door just left. They might be headed back your way."
Go grabbed my shoulder. "We should take out those last two while we have a chance."
I nodded as I turned toward the door. "Quan, see if you can get us out of here!"
Quan said, "I'm routing the inhibitor through the rest of the ship’s comms. This was unavailable before."
The colonel yelled, "Scratch one AI. And thanks, Quan. I'm guessing the inhibitor kicked in."
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