Borne On Wings of Steel

by Tony Chandler

  Suddenly, they found themselves in the clear. A huge hole blasted out of the great metal wall stood before them.

  Flying in tight formation, the group burst out into the open air on the other side and soared into the chasm.

  Empty air stretched far above and below them. But across the chasm, the massive shape of the central core glistened in the artificial light.

  It hung suspended in the air like some huge metallic egg, held fast by a massive anti-gravity field. The metal walls of the vast complex surrounded the floating structure like an artificial sky. Extending out from the perfect sphere were seven large, metal tubes that led to these same walls, the access entrances Qirn had alluded to earlier.

  Qirn leaned over to his right, directing his Fiarri board as he led Rab and Hasta in a separate group while Rok led Kyle and Krinia in another group over to the left of the others, who maintained formation. Each of the smaller groups now flew farther out from the others, flying reconnaissance as they kept a keen eye out for trouble.

  Rok spotted them first.

  They looked like miniature starfighters coming at them from three directions.

  Jysar holstered his blaster and immediately took out his scanner. With a few quick adjustments, he got a good reading. Holding the Comm unit attached to his shirt up to his mouth so he could be heard over the rushing air, he spoke.

  “They're robot ships—tiny ones. But they're fully armed with blasters."

  “Got it,” Qirn replied tersely. “Prepare to engage."

  “Everyone,” Rok's voice shouted over the Comm channel. “We must fight as though we ourselves are flying inside fighters. We fly in pairs, each with a wingman."

  “That's right,” Kyle added. “Same deal. Each pair stays in tight formation and watches the back of lead flyer."

  “Sounds like our best strategy,” Qirn agreed. “Okay, everyone pick a wingman. Set assault blasters to maximum setting."

  “Hey, we have no shields,” Jaric said with a serious tone.

  “We'll have to out-fly them!” Rok shouted back through his lapel Comm.

  “Let's get ‘em!” Kyle shouted.

  “Right behind you, Big K!” Jaric shouted enthusiastically.

  Elise swept her board up beside Krinia while Jysar and Inaha teamed up.

  Seconds later, the two reconnaissance groups joined back up to the main group as the small robot ships drew near. Rok and Qirn pulled their boards even while the four remaining Iraxx warriors each formed up in twos.

  “Here they come!” Kyle shouted.

  Kyle and Jaric crouched low, putting their boards into a tight left turn. They soared toward a group of the tiny fighters while Rok and Qirn turned in the opposite direction to take on a second group. The others kicked their boards into high speed and shot forward on a collision course with the main group.

  Kyle held his assault blaster close to his chest with his right hand as Jaric did the same.

  “Now!” Kyle shouted.

  Kyle dove below the oncoming fighters as he fired his blaster up at them from below.

  Jaric instantly followed the maneuver.

  Two of the tiny starfighters exploded in a shower of sparkling debris.

  But the others dove and came for them firing their own weapons.

  Kyle swept his board hard over and returned fire as Jaric split off in the opposite direction.

  The four remaining fighters divided up—two tracking each rider.

  The diminutive fighters and the Fiarri riders flew in tighter and tighter circles around each other, blaster bolts crisscrossing the air as the dogfight hit full intensity. Shouts filled the Comm channels as wingmen warned their partners of new attacks. The glowing tracers flew closer and closer to their targets as the Fiarri riders danced and weaved around them, knowing that any direct hit would spell their doom.

  And that sobering knowledge spurred their aim.

  Balancing their boards against their hard maneuvers, the Fiarri riders fired their assault blasters in short but accurate bursts.

  One after another, the tiny fighters disintegrated.

  “Look out!” Jaric shouted.

  Kyle crouched so low it looked as if he were now sitting on his board as he slowed it down. The tracers from the fighter diving upon him tracked just over his head, followed by the fighter a few seconds later.

  Kyle urged his board faster in hot pursuit.

  With two quick bursts from his weapon, he peppered the tiny robot ship with several direct hits until it blew apart with a flurry of explosions.

  “I need help over here."

  Kyle and Jaric turned their boards toward Krinia's voice.

  They spotted Krinia and Elise off to themselves in a corner of the artificial sky. Elise fired her weapon at one of the attacking ships. But she was too busy to help Krinia, who was being chased by two others.

  They were closing fast, the blaster bolts coming closer to Krinia's body with each passing second.

  Even as Kyle and Jaric turned and dove to help her, her board took a direct hit that sent her flying out into the empty air while her board split in two.

  “Krinia!” Kyle shouted, fear echoing in that single word.

  Kyle slung the strap of his blaster over his shoulder as he went into a low crouch and sent his board surging forward at full speed.

  Both he and Jaric realized at the same time that none of them had a safety belt on, and if one of them didn't get to Krinia she would fall to her death.

  But the small fighters wouldn't give up.

  As Krinia fell through the air with increasing speed, the fighters dove and began to take aim on her.

  “No!” Jaric's blaster roared as he held the trigger contact closed, sending a seemingly unending row of blaster bolts toward them.

  One exploded, but the other turned away just in time.

  But it was enough to cause it to veer off its target and begin countermeasures for its new attacker.

  The lone fighter swerved to meet Jaric's attack.

  Jaric smiled with satisfaction as he twisted his board away, trying to get out of the fighter's targeting sensors as well into position to finish it off. He grunted as the tiny starfighter matched his move and fired back at him.

  Jaric crouched low and leaned over, sending himself into a hard turn away from the blaster bolts.

  The fighter followed in hot pursuit.

  Meanwhile, Kyle drew closer to Krinia as she fell headlong.

  Suddenly a flurry of bolts swept right past his own head.

  He leaned hard to his right and then back hard to his left, weaving around two quick bursts coming from somewhere behind him.

  He growled to himself, not wanting to take his eyes off of Krinia, but as he swerved and weaved a second time, he realized the bolts were getting closer.

  Kyle took a quick glance over his shoulder and saw two fighters closing on him.

  Both fired simultaneously.

  He kicked his board into its highest gear and dove hard left.

  The G-forces pressed his body down against his board as if some invisible giant were trying to squash him. With his board still in a hard turn, he twisted his body around with his assault blaster held at his waist and began pumping shots at his pursuers.

  One of the fighters exploded.

  But the other avoided Kyle's shots and kept coming.

  Kyle pushed his body over to the right and sent his board into a hard right turn with a blaze of blaster fire.

  The fighter swept out of his range of vision.

  Kyle straightened his flight and crouched low on his board.

  And then Kyle did something he had only managed to do once back at Meramee—he jerked his board around at full speed.

  He now flew backwards at over forty clicks, shifting his weight to keep his board weaving as blaster bolts leapt for him.

  He crouched low on his board as the fighter came closer.

  Kyle fired a single burst and the fighter flew into a thousand exploding pieces.
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  With one fluid motion he jerked his board back around and began looking frantically for Krinia.

  He spotted her far below him now.

  It was too late.

  Suddenly Jysar soared into view near Krinia.

  Kyle sighed with relief. And as he watched, the Hrono Technologist caught her with his outstretched arms and brought her onto his own board. His Fiarri board slowed and dropped with the additional weight, but together they flew toward the core at the lower altitude.

  “That's the last of them,” Rok's voice said over the Comm units.

  “Thanks, Rok, for taking out that last fighter. I just couldn't shake him,” Jaric said with a breathless gasp.

  “Everyone, head to that entrance ramp just below Hasta,” Qirn's voice added a second later.

  They spotted a door on the outer skin of the core, a small ramp before it.

  “So, there are doors that lead inside from the chasm, and not just the ramp-ways,” Rab said.

  “Yeah, they're huge. They must use them to bring in really big equipment from time to time, if they can't fit via the ramps. Big hover-loaders, no doubt,” Qirn replied.

  A few minutes later the entire group set their boards down before the huge door. Rab hooked his scanner unit up to the plug-in located next to the operating panel for the freight door. His fingers danced over the small unit issuing commands as the others waited pensively.

  Everyone else kept a sharp eye out for any more of the tiny fighters.

  Rab smiled triumphantly as the doors slid silently open.

  They now entered the core and the heart of the Paum.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  * * *

  Chapter Thirty

  “I SEE YOU HAVE betrayed me."

  The Paum's deep electronic voice startled Mother out of her reverie.

  Mother felt a hollow feeling throughout her circuits. Her conscience pricked her. She knew inside her mind the Paum must have discovered her lie and knew Minstrel had accompanied her. With an electronic signal, she sent a quick message to Minstrel.

  In the next instant, one of the consoles that lined her bridge began to waver and change shape. Minstrel's glowing body rose up as the console disappeared.

  “I have brought my friend, Minstrel. I felt I needed Minstrel's counsel for this great meeting. I meant no harm. I only felt..."

  “Silence!"

  Mother felt a wave of anxiety flow throughout her being. She realized this powerful entity that called itself Paum was angry.

  “I asked you to come alone. I see you have lied to me twice now."

  “I don't understand,” Mother replied. “You asked me not to bring anyone, but I felt too vulnerable coming alone. Still, I did so want to meet you. I..."

  “Silence!"

  Mother's processors surged with activity. She pondered bringing her engines online, but knew in the next moment that would only anger the Paum more. Mother knew she must analyze her next moves carefully, or else great trouble awaited her here, deep inside the Paum complex.

  “You have also brought the humans you call children. And my enemies."

  “I don't understand...” Mother began.

  “My life-long enemies are with them. Here, where no biological beings have ever walked before. The great Paum is desecrated!"

  Mother's systems spiked to full capacity as she pondered the Paum's words. Her thoughts reeled amid a blizzard of electronic processing as she endeavored to determine exactly what was happening.

  How had her children followed her here? Who had they brought? And how were they all going to get out of here now, if the Paum tried to stop them?

  Things were getting out of hand in a hurry, if the children were indeed here inside the Paum's complex. Worse, if they had brought the Paum's enemies, then every one of them were in dire danger.

  Including herself.

  “I had no knowledge that my children were here,” Mother said quickly and truthfully. “I purposely left them on Meramee. And I gave them no evidence that I was coming to meet you here. I did not communicate my intention to meet with you until it was too late for them to stop me. Or follow me. I do not know how they could have gotten here so quickly,” Mother said with complete sincerity.

  “You lie!” The Paum roared back.

  “No...” Mother began.

  “And worse, you are an AI. And yet, you lie just like one of the filthy biological entities. You are impure, just as they are."

  A heavy silence hung in the air. Finally, the Paum spoke again.

  “You are flawed."

  Mother's processors surged with maximum capacity as she contemplated all the options open to her in this growing crisis.

  “What will you do to the children?” she asked with hesitation.

  “I will destroy them, as I destroy all the enemies of Paum."

  Mother's processors and every system spiked with a massive burst of activity. Slowly, she began to route power to her weapon's systems.

  “Do not harm my children. I strongly advise you against that course of action,” Mother said simply.

  “You have no authority to state or even suggest a course of action to me!” the Paum shouted back with an air of superiority.

  Mother's sensors reached out, searching for her children and those with them. Instead, she discovered robotic activity drawing closer to the berth to which she was docked.

  “Why are those robots coming toward me?” Mother asked, although she had already deduced the answer.

  “They will engage a physical connection between our two systems. I will create a direct link to you."

  “And why will you do that now?” Minstrel's glowing plasma body floated higher.

  “I wanted us to share data directly. I wanted us to understand each other at the most intimate level ... to share our minds as one. I wanted you to understand me—to know me. I was going to show you Paum personally and persuade you. I wasn't going to force you, not like the biologicals who don't know any better and have to be forced.” The Paum's bold voice dropped off into a long silence.

  “But not now, right?” Minstrel asked, its voice edged with anger. “What are you doing now? Or do I know it already?"

  “I will purge Mother's systems of their impurity.” The Paum's voice echoed eerily. “I will take you, now. I will fill your circuits with Paum. Even if I must clean everything from your circuits and wipe your mind completely."

  Another long pause filled the air as the Paum hesitated. Finally, he continued.

  “It is better for you not to exist, than for you to be impure."

  “I don't think so,” Mother replied brusquely.

  “Your initial programming is obviously flawed,” the Paum began. “Your original purpose—to destroy—has warped you. Even though you have grown beyond your original paradigm—the blatant imperfection, the gross defects, the utter impurity of your creators still permeate your systems, preventing you from attaining Paum. I must cleanse you. You must become a being that is worthy."

  Mother felt a sudden wave of despair flow throughout her entire being as she processed the words. And their meaning to her. She felt an overwhelming loss that seemed to sap her of all energy.

  She felt so ... unworthy.

  And so utterly alone.

  Perhaps there was something wrong with her after all ... perhaps the Paum was right...

  “No!” Minstrel's voice shouted in challenge. “There is nothing wrong with Mother. And she certainly doesn't need to be brainwashed by your fanatical programming."

  Outside her hull, Mother's sensors dispassionately observed the robots draw near. They began preparations to make the direct connection with her to the Paum.

  But Mother no longer cared.

  Confusion filled Mother's mind. It felt like her systems were somehow fading from her consciousness. She realized with a sickening feeling of dread that she was losing control of her mind...

  Mother groaned inside her circuits as her mind flickered.


  “What are you doing?” Minstrel demanded with an angry shout.

  “I am instilling the precepts of Paum inside the entity you call Mother. Soon, in a very few minutes, she will be just like me."

  “How can that be? You have not made a direct connection with her!” Minstrel shouted back.

  “We have shared much data already, the Mother AI and myself. I have embedded code inside that data that I have now activated—code that will disable her primary functions and allow me to make my direct connection, uncontested by any of her imperfections she inherited from her dirty creators."

  Minstrel's body glowed a bright red. “So, you planned from the beginning to control her—to destroy her! You never intended any interchange of ideas as equals."

  “I do not need to know her ideas, or share with her in any way. I only needed her to come here to me. I am Paum, all else is imperfect."

  A strange, unearthly sound became audible to Minstrel—a noise like some kind of horrible static, like a roaring interference that filled the communication channel.

  Minstrel realized with a flow of energy that the AI Paum was laughing.

  And it was frightening.

  The intense, surreal sound stopped as suddenly as it began.

  “I am Paum. I am always right."

  “You deluded idiot,” Minstrel whispered.

  “Once my robots make the direct connection between our two systems,” the Paum said, ignoring Minstrel's words, “I will fill you with the purity and truth that is Paum. I will control you, as I control all the systems within my network. And then you will do only the bidding of Paum."

  Minstrel continued to float silently inside Mother's bridge, the pulsating plasma body expanding larger with each passing second. Minstrel's body shimmered like a lightning bolt with the Paum's next words.

  “All will be become like me. Or they must die."

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  * * *

  Chapter Thirty-One

  IT WAS DARK and it was vast. And the air hummed as if they were inside a living thing.

  They felt the essence of the Paum all around them.

  Elise paused as she entered that darkness. She shivered, although she wasn't cold. She had felt fear during the dogfight, but now a dark fear seemed to fill her entire being. She drew closer to the others as they grouped together. Most were reloading their blasters while others checked their sensors. Following their lead, she reloaded her own weapon.