by Neil Hunter
“If you’re that hot on dumping this bunch, how come they allowed you to walk around free?” Cade asked, still keeping his weapon trained on the cyborg.
Teclan smiled. “A fair question. When they hit, my human partner told me to lose myself in case there was a takeover. I did as he suggested. Sky lance is a large platform, and I know every corner. I could hide from these people for as long as I wanted. I’d been in hiding for a while when I started to worry about my partner. I also realized I wasn’t contributing too much, so I decided it was time to do what I’m supposed to. It appears you arrived at around that time, too.”.
“Your crew has probably been taken out,” Cade said. “The way we see it, this hit squad isn’t taking prisoners.”
Teclan nodded in understanding. “I’ve already found that out,” he said. “They’re all dead. My partner included. What’s behind it?”
“Gaining control of Skylance is part of a wider conspiracy. Fronted by a guy called Sinclair, who figures he could run the country better than the government.”
“Where do you come in?”
Cade flashed his badge. “Justice Department. My partner, Janek, is in the communications center. We shut the place down so the mercs in the weapons center can’t speak to their ground support.”
“How many have you dealt with?”
“Two I can guarantee,” Cade said. “Plus however many Janek’s taken care of. Let’s go find out.”
“A number of combat droids came aboard with the bogus crew,” Teclan said. “Did you know that?”
“No,” Cade admitted. “Thanks for the information. How about your droids?”
“They’re all noncombatant. Tech-droids. Service droids. I’m the only one programmed to take direct action in the event.”
“Great,” Cade said. “Janek’s going to love you.”
“There is an emergency airlock that accesses the weapons center,” Teclan explained. “It can get us inside. The main power section is situated next to the lock for emergency shutoff. If we cut that power, there’s no way they can activate any of the weapons.”
“That’s our way in,” Cade said.
“Not so easy. The only way to reach the airlock is by walking across the outside of the platform.”
Janek glanced at Cade, allowing a knowing smile to creep onto his lips.
“No problem,” he said. “We can do it, Teclan.”
“Hey, wait a damn minute...” Cade began.
“Makes sense, T. J.,” the cyborg explained. “If you go, it means finding a suit and getting you all the hardware. All Teclan and I need are magno-boots, and we’re ready. Face it, T. J., we’re better suited to this than you are.”
“He is right, Marshal Cade,” Teclan agreed.
“Yeah, I know,” Cade grumbled. “He’s always right, dammit.”
“We can lock this place off,” Teclan said. “Fix the com units so they can’t be used even if our visitors did get in. Which they won’t, once I initiate a security code on the door.”
“Let’s do it, then,” Cade said. “My gut instinct tells me we could be running out of time.”
Teclan carried out his securing process, rendering the communications equipment inoperable. He led the way out of the center, then closed the hatch and keyed in a complicated code sequence that locked the heavy door.
“In case of any mishap,” Teclan said, “I’ve given Janek the two sequences, Marshal Cade.”
He led the way along to a small airlock, where he tapped in the operating sequence. There was a soft hiss of air being pumped into the lock, followed by the thump of the electro-bolts withdrawing. The airlock door swung open.
Teclan had produced two pairs of magno-boots from a locker.
“Take it easy,” Cade said. “I don’t want to have to pick you pair up in a paper bag.”
“Comforting words, Thomas,” Janek said, stamping his feet into the heavy boots.
“Marshal Cade, if you wait outside the weapons center, we’ll trip the hatch once we get inside so you can provide cross fire.”
“How long will it take us?” Janek asked.
“We could be inside within twenty minutes,” Teclan said. “Not counting unforeseen delays, of course.”
The cyborgs stepped inside the airlock, and the door swung shut behind them. Cade watched the indicator lights until they showed that the outside airlock door had been opened.
He turned away and started back to the weapons center.
Teclan moved ahead, crossing the wide expanse of the satellite’s surface with confidence. His intimate knowledge of Skylance’s construction and layout allowed him to move about with total freedom.
Janek followed a few yards behind. He was aware how easily his attention might wander if he allowed it.
It was in his nature to want to examine everything. But he felt something more—an overpowering need to check and absorb every detail of his surroundings. This was his first contact with real space. He’d been here before, but always within the confines of a traveling spacecraft, surrounded by metal and plastic, protected within the artificial atmosphere that man required to keep him alive. In that environment Janek had been unable to experience total contact with real space. Now he was experiencing that contact and he found it difficult to stay with the reason he was out here.
He forced his mind back to the matter at hand. His appreciation of the vast universe around him would have to wait for another time. Even so, he found the moment deeply satisfying, and retained those feelings within his memory. When he returned to Earth, he planned to discuss them with Dr. Landers at the Cybo Tech facility.
Teclan pointed to the raised outer block of the emergency airlock, then raised a hand, beckoning Janek in close. The airlock stood out from the smooth white surface of the platform, only a few yards from an air-exhaust port.
Together the cyborgs closed in on the airlock, their movement hampered by the cling of the heavy magno-boots to the platform’s surface.
They were almost on the airlock when Janek caught a glimpse of something moving. He turned his head and saw the head and shoulders of one of the Amosin combat droids. The droid had its back to them.
Janek touched Teclan’s arm and attracted his attention. When Teclan turned, Janek pointed out the combat droid. He indicated that he wanted Teclan to stay put and out of sight.
Cutting off at an angle, Janek moved around the exhaust port, using that as his means of cover. It brought him around on the droid’s left side. From his cover Janek could see that the combat droid carried an auto-rifle. There was also a small walkie-talkie unit clipped to the droid’s belt.
Janek judged the distance, taking into account he wasn’t going to be able to move quickly. The magno-boots would restrict his ability to hit hard and fast. The only thing to counter that was the fact that the same conditions would slow the combat droid’s responses.
Accepting that he couldn’t wait too long for a favorable moment, Janek moved the second the droid turned completely away from him, making a visual sweep of the area. Pushing out from behind the exhaust port, Janek struck out for the dark shape of the combat droid. He called up every reserve of strength, pushing hard with his legs, dragging the heavy boots with every step.
The droid turned back in Janek’s direction without warning. Janek lunged forward, his arms reaching out. The combat droid registered the cyborg’s presence and began to swing the auto-rifle into position.
Ignoring the risk, Janek launched himself forward, breaking the hold of both magno-boots. He sailed across the intervening gap between himself and the droid, the fingers of his left hand closing around the rifle’s barrel and crushing into the steel. He pushed the muzzle away, snatching at the walkie-talkie on the droid’s belt. Janek ripped it free and let it drift away. Then his body crashed against the combat droid’s, slamming it back against the exhaust port. Janek rammed one foot against the side of the port, regaining a hold on the surface with his magno-boot. Secure, he concentrated on disarming the dro
id. The droid was resisting violently, pounding at Janek with its free hand, while desperately trying to hang on to the auto-rifle with the other.
Janek tore the rifle out of the droid’s hand, severing two of its fingers in the process. As the weapon floated away, Janek closed the fingers of his left hand around the droid’s throat, shoving it back. The combat droid was crushed against the edge of the exhaust port, its metal spine under extreme pressure as Janek kept on pushing, his right hand reaching for the auto-pistol under his left arm. He ignored the frantic hammering of the droid’s fists against his own face and chest. It was only as his pistol slid free and arced into position that Janek relaxed the pressure on the droid’s throat. There was a look of triumph on the combat droid’s angular face as its head swung back in line with Janek’s. The droid imagined its barrage of blows had weakened Janek.
It’s triumph was short-lived. As it came face-to-face with Janek, the cyborg shoved the muzzle of his auto-pistol into the droid’s left eye and triggered a rapid trio of soft-nosed slugs that burrowed deep into the droid’s metal skull, expanding and destroying its electronic brain. The back of the droid’s head split open, spewing a rain of shattered micro-circuitry into the vacuum of space.
Janek showed himself to the waiting Teclan, beckoning him over. Teclan walked directly to the airlock. By the time Janek reached him, Teclan had the lock open. As Janek stepped inside, he caught a glimpse of the combat droid, still where he’d left it. The droid, attached to the platform’s surface by its magno-boots, swayed gently in time to the platform’s orbital movement.
As the outer door swung shut with a solid bump, the electro-clamps locked in place. Teclan keyed in the code, and the lock was flooded with oxygen. As the indicator lights gave the all clear, Teclan glanced across at Janek.
“Okay, you can breathe again now,” he joked.
“I’m supposed to say things like that to Cade.”
“Does he appreciate it?”
“If he’s in the right mood,” Janek admitted. “If he isn’t, he grumbles like hell.”
“Humans,” Teclan observed.
“They’re weird sometimes,” Janek said. “But I like them.”
Checking their handguns, the cyborgs positioned themselves on either side of the inner lock door. Teclan fingered the access button and the clamps released. The door opened automatically on silent hinges. They emerged into a small, brightly lit chamber where they got out of the magno-boots.
“On the other side of the hatch there,” Teclan said, “is the power control room. Directly to the left is the master console. If you can cover me for five seconds, I can shut off the power source. Then all we have to handle are the bad guys themselves.”
“Sounds fair,” Janek said. Then something occurred to him. “Teclan, is there any kind of warning transmitted to the center telling them the airlock’s been used?”
Teclan’s head snapped around, his momentary silence indicating to Janek that the answer should have been yes.
“Damn!” Teclan said. “I forgot.”
“What the hell,” Janek said, “we’re only human after all!”
He pressed the button to open the hatch leading from the airlock chamber.
As the hatch slid aside, there was a flurry of movement on the other side. An auto-weapon opened up, sending a burst of fire through the hatchway. The slugs clanged against the airlock door, flying off the hard steel in all directions. Janek felt one strike his left shoulder. He threw a quick glance at Teclan.
“Give me a chance to clear the place, then follow. You hit that power button. Forget everything else.”
Janek ducked low and went through the door, breaking to the right, his back against the bulkhead. He located the source of the firing—a combat droid carrying a military auto-rifle.
The droid swung in Janek’s direction, triggering as it locked on to the cyborg. Janek felt the impact of the bullets against his lower body as the titanium flexi-coat deflected the slugs. He returned fire, angling his pistol up at the droid’s skull-like features. The blast of soft-nosed slugs pushed the droid backward. Janek fired a second time, this time his precise aim punching two slugs in through the droid’s left eye, destroying its brain and toppling it to the deck where it lay aimlessly thrashing around.
Janek let out a yell. “Teclan!”
The security cyborg charged through the door at Janek’s call, leaving the Justice cop to deal with the other occupant of the power control room. -
Fleeting seconds had elapsed since Janek had dropped the combat droid. Now the droid’s partner, one of Tane’s men, rolled from cover, opening up with his own auto-weapon. The combat rifle’s burst of fire filled the room with its thunderous noise. The weapon was a heavy-caliber model, employing high-impact shells. The mercenary ignored Janek and concentrated his firepower on Teclan, realizing where the security cyborg was heading. The sheer impact of the slugs against Teclan’s back hurled him across the room. He crashed up against the console, his left arm slipping limply to his side.
Janek yanked his pistol around and locked on to his target. He triggered a burst into the man’s exposed body, seeing him twist over on his back while a ragged moan burst from his lips. The gunman’s chest was a raw bleeding mess where Janek’s bullets had ripped into him. Janek fired a second time, driving a single slug into the skull.
Janek reached Teclan’s side just in time to see the cybo depress the switch that cut the power to the weapons center.
“You okay?” Janek asked.
Teclan nodded. “Couple of those slugs cut the function modes to my left arm,” he said. “If they can’t fix it, I’ll have to go on welfare.”
Janek grinned. “You can go on TV with a sense of humor like that.”
“First let’s clear the rats from my station,” Teclan said.
The hatch slid open at Teclan’s touch, and the pair of cyborgs went through, breaking left and right. An eruption of gunfire filled the vast control room.
Janek cut across the center, making for the console housing the secondary keypad that activated the main hatch. He confronted the guard stationed there and backhanded him with a blow that spun him across the floor. After he keyed in the number sequence that freed the main hatch, Janek turned back to the firefight that was about to determine final control of Skylance.
Cade saw the hatch begin to open. He could hear the crackle of gunfire from inside the weapons center. The second the hatch widened enough to allow him through, he went in, his auto-pistol searching for a target.
He caught a glimpse of a moving figure clad in a white pressure suit. One of Tane’s men. He was half running, half crawling across the smooth white deck of the weapons center. A heavy spattering of blood stained the front of his suit, and his face was streaked as more blood gushed from a badly crushed nose. Somewhere along the line he seemed to have lost his weapon.
As Cade eased through the hatch, he realized the mercenary was heading directly for him. The man hadn’t seen Cade. He seemed to be more interested in getting out of the center. At the last moment he spotted Cade and tried to avoid contact. He twisted his body to one side, but couldn’t get out of the way of the looping forearm smash that lashed across his throat. His feet lost contact with the deck, and he curved up and back, crashing heavily to the deck. The back of his skull hit with a hard crack, and blood sprayed out from under it.
Gunfire blasted its way into Cade’s consciousness, and he saw sparks fly from a cabinet close by. The Justice cop lunged forward, swinging his handgun around to track in on the gunman, and he saw one of the Amosin combat droids level its weapon for a second shot. Cade returned fire on the move, triggering his pistol at the droid’s head. He saw the droid jerk back, the slugs burning dark streaks across its face. Then he was down on one knee, steadying the muzzle of the auto-pistol on the droid as it recovered and turned back to engage him again. Dismissing the risk to himself, Cade held off from firing until he had the droid dead to rights. He triggered, once, twice, hammering a
pair of .357 Magnums through the droid’s right eye and terminating the combat droid.
Something smashed down between Cade’s shoulders, slamming the breath from his lungs. He sprawled facedown across the deck, rolling quickly, and saw another droid standing over him. The droid held an auto-rifle. The weapon must have been out of ammunition, and instead of firing, the droid had swung it like a club. Cade sensed the heavy butt lashing at his face and tried to roll clear. It caught him across the back of his right shoulder, numbing him. Cade kicked out, and his booted foot slammed against the droid’s knee. The impact knocked the droid briefly off balance as its foot slipped on the smooth deck. The respite was short, but enough to give Cade the chance to scramble clear and gain his feet. He yanked the reserve gun from his belt and jammed it into the droid’s face as it lunged back toward him. He triggered a sustained blast that drilled into the droid’s skull and blew it apart.
Across the weapons center, Cade caught a blurred glimpse of Janek trading shots with another of the Amosin droids.
He heard a single shot and felt a burning sensation across his ribs on the right side. Glancing down, he saw dark blood soaking through his clothing and realized he’d been hit.
He shook himself the way a dog does to shake water off its hide and swung around to pick up on the shooter.
He saw a wild-eyed mercenary, still clutching the weapon he’d used, turning his head as a cyborg clad in a white jumpsuit closed in on him. Teclan slapped the mere’s gun aside, grabbing the man with his good arm and swinging him up over his head. The man screamed once before Teclan hurled him bodily across the center. The twisting body was smashed against the far bulkhead with enough force to shatter the skull. The dead man slithered down the curve of the bulkhead to roll into a bloody, crumpled heap on the deck.
“T. J., down!” Janek’s voice bellowed.
Cade didn’t ask why. He simply dropped, hitting the deck hard, the auto-pistol bouncing from his hand and skidding across the floor. He caught a glimpse of a shadow close behind him.
The harsh rattle of an auto-weapon drowned all other sound. Something brushed Cade’s foot. He twisted his head and saw the heavy shape of a combat droid’s boot. The droid was returning fire. Hot shell casings fell like snowflakes around Cade.