However, in seconds the hive sends out another set of five, and another, and each of these drone-sets comes at the Yellow target from a different angle. One set fires from waist level, another swoops down to scrape the ground and fire upward from under her feet.
The Yellow screams and goes down from the impact of countless laser burns. The drones continue swarming and firing even as she lies in a scorched pile, and only retreat when the Technician sings a voice command sequence in a sharp clear tenor.
“Hot chili piss . . . that’s bad . . .” Brie mutters.
The Technician pauses momentarily, while his gaze sweeps around the clearing.
I note, even the Green sniper overhead has ceased firing, and is probably lurking quietly, recognizing he’s no match for this Blue’s horrifying micro-drone army.
Another heartbeat and then the Technician sees us.
His hard expression does not change as he begins walking in our direction.
“No, no, no! We need to go! Run before he’s too close and we trigger his perimeter!” the Entertainer wails, still squatting but starting to back away, so that Brie’s gun is no longer in contact with his neck—and she doesn’t seem to care.
“Can you sing the command to take over his drones?” Zaap says, turning to me suddenly.
I nod, trying to recall the relatively uncomplicated vocal sequence the Blue used. “I can try.”
“Do it!” Chihar says urgently.
I take a deep breath and start to sing the first few notes. . . .
But in that same moment as I open my mouth, the grand sound of bells fills the arena. The bell tone echoes through the expanse, sounding three times, and the entire stadium goes quiet, catching its breath.
In the ensuing silence, comes the voice of the Games commentator.
“Taboo Rule Change,” it says. “Contenders, note! As of this moment, any use of Voice to issue singing commands to manipulate anything in the Game Zone is disallowed, until further notice. Any use of Power Voice is also disallowed. If you use your Voice in such a manner, you will be disqualified. You must observe this Taboo Rule for this portion of the Games.”
And then the bell rings three more times.
Regular sound returns to the stadium—the noise of competition, distant cries of the fallen, and the appreciative roar of the audience. Gunfire resumes all around the arena.
But I’m frozen in place, as though I’ve been bludgeoned. . . .
Holy lord in heaven! This is a cruel joke! If I’m not permitted to use Voice, I am screwed entirely.
Voice is my only real weapon, the only thing that gives me any chance of survival here among thousands of highly trained human killing machines. Talk about evil timing!
A thought comes to me—the Imperator must be behind this. It has to be a direct attack on me. Even now he’s probably watching me, has seen me neutralize that Hot Zone shelter, and now sees me about to use my voice again to disarm the drones. So he gives the order for this awful Taboo Rule. . . . And my God, what of Aeson? He must be watching too, this very moment, and dying inside. . . .
As for the drones—
I force myself to focus, take a deep breath, pause. Well, so much for trying to sing a vocal command.
Zaap and everyone glances at me, at the same time as they watch the Technician. He stands paused in the middle of the clearing, likely considering the new status quo imposed on all of us with this sudden Taboo Rule.
The drone hive buzzes around him, and he too must act carefully, now that he cannot use his voice to direct his gadget army. I wonder how that will work out for him.
“Very inconvenient, Lark,” Brie says. “You can’t sing. So what now?”
“The drone perimeter is still activated, as far as we know,” the Entertainer says. “I’ve seen him sing the reset command after each Kill. At least I think that’s what it is. He sings to call back the drones into overhead formation.”
“But it doesn’t turn them off?” I say.
“No.”
“Look at him,” Chihar nods in the direction of the Technician. “He’s still thinking. He is also inconvenienced. To what extent, is unclear.”
“All we know is, he’s not moving any closer,” Brie mutters.
“Which is good,” Zaap adds.
“I wonder why?” I stare at the Technician as he stands, also appearing to be rather thoughtful, and very much motionless.
“Why what?” Zaap asks.
“Why he’s not moving. Maybe now that he can’t sing the reset command, he has no other means to control the drones—or to turn them off once activated.”
Chihar makes a slow thoughtful “Hmm” sound. “One would think there must be another fail-safe, because not having one would be bad planning. I doubt he’s that unwise.”
As we continue speculating in soft voices, the Technician has apparently made some kind of decision. I see him put one of his guns away and reach for a small gadget in his equipment bag. And then he again starts walking—heading directly for us.
The Entertainer makes a whimper sound and resumes backing away from our group in a crouch, still moving close to the wall of the structure with the overhang that’s been protecting all of us. But he doesn’t get far because Brie grabs him and again pokes her gun in his throat. “Stay still!”
“You don’t understand! Please! We need to run!” the Entertainer hisses at her in a dramatic whisper.
“Not if I eliminate him,” Brie responds. “Those drones can come in handy. I bet that thing he’s got in his hands is a remote control. . . .”
“Wait—how accurate are you with a firearm?” Chihar says. “Because if you miss him and activate the drone perimeter, it might make things worse. Maybe we should take this one’s advice and retreat—”
In answer Brie flicks her left wrist to retrieve a needle gun from her sleeve with the speed of sleight-of-hand, while keeping her primary gun trained on the Entertainer with her right hand. “Care for a demonstration? How about both of them at the same time? This Green’s getting on my nerves.”
“Don’t. Let’s just move back,” I say to Brie, glancing at the approaching Technician, who is now about twenty steps away, and probably almost close enough to activate his perimeter automatically. Is he counting on it, I wonder? The buzzing of the drones overhead increases with every step he takes.
“Why doesn’t he just shoot us?” Zaap mutters, starting to retreat carefully near the wall. “He has guns, it’s just as well as drones. We’re stupid easy targets, we’re not even shooting back at him. Why?”
“Maybe there’s a good reason he’s not using his guns,” Chihar says.
We start backing away, keeping close to the overhang and following the wall perimeter of the structure. But as we glance backward, after about twenty feet there’s nowhere else to go. A small cul-de-sac of three connected structures is revealed behind us, with no doorways.
A dead end.
We’re so screwed.
In that moment, a sudden ear-shattering volley of gunfire comes from the direction of the clearing behind the Technician. He turns around swiftly, and abandons us, in order to deal with whoever is coming at him from behind.
It’s not easy to see, with the corner of the structure blocking half the clearing, but several new Contenders flood the clearing. There are loud shouts and more gunfire. At the same time the stadium crowd roars, as though in direct response to what’s happening here—right here in this little clearing where we are, with the dead end behind us.
I look up and can barely make out the great screens around the stadium jump to various arena action hotspots, including—yes, a view of our very own surrounding structures and scaffolding. Then the camera zooms in on the overhead view of the Blue Technician with the hive of drones as he rushes half a dozen Contenders—two Reds, a Yellow, a Green and two Blues, who are all apparently working as a team.
The nearby screen shows just enough of the chaos that I point to it with my hand, and my own so-called teammat
es look up. “Ah, bashtooh! That’s us!” Zaap says in awe.
“Not us, but the Drone Master,” Brie quips. “They’re just zooming in on all that juicy drone action.”
Through the scaffolding we stare up at the screen that offers us the best visibility and see the newly arrived Contenders fall one after another under the merciless fury of the drones. They are firing non-stop at the Technician, but apparently the drone perimeter acts as a protective shield to intercept every incoming shot—good thing none of us, especially Brie, tried to shoot him, or we would all be drone-kill by now!
“We should do something to get out of here,” Chihar says calmly. “While they’re engaging him around the corner, we need to climb up this structure.”
“Good idea, yes!” the Entertainer says. “In a few minutes he will return to finish us off!”
“What about the Green sniper?” I say.
“Screw the Green sniper.” Brie stows away her needle-gun and pushes the Entertainer forward. “You start climbing first. If the sniper wakes up and does anything, well, we’ll know.”
“You’re too sweet,” the Entertainer says to her, raising one arched brow. But surprisingly he does not protest, and instead looks up at the overhang and the low roof before him. He reaches up, placing his long-fingered hands to test its solidity.
Before anyone has time to blink, the Entertainer suddenly jumps, using the soles of his feet against the wall for leverage, and then scrambles up with impossible agility on top of the overhang, and rolls forward onto the roof. Perched in an acrobatic squat, he looks up warily for any signs of sniper activity.
“Come on up, amrevet, it’s all clear,” he says with a grin. “The Green sniper is either dead or sleeping. I can see him up there, but he’s not moving.”
“What about the Red guy who was climbing ahead?” Brie says.
The Entertainer looks up again. “I see no Red.”
“Excellent,” Chihar says. “We climb. Hurry!”
A few seconds later, we’re all up on the roof of the white box structure.
I admit, this wall climbing part was no fun for me. I went second-to-last, got stuck halfway with my lower body hanging off the roof, unable to complete the act of pulling myself up by my elbows—dratted Atlantean gravity still managed to undermine my strength. I got pulled up by Brie and Chihar at the last moment, while Zaap scrambled up like a monkey immediately after me. Nice going, Gwen the klutz. I’m sure the stadium audience enjoyed seeing an extended view of my clumsy rear end pointing up in the air. . . .
The roof surface is sturdy enough to stand on. From this vantage point we can see the rest of the scaffolding on top, as it ties in with the blue and green structures next to it that form the dead end cul-de-sac from which we just escaped. We can also see the clearing around the corner where the Technician and his drones are killing off the last of the newly arrived Contender team. A few seconds more and he will turn around and follow us up here to finish what he started. . . .
The Entertainer steps deeper along the roof and tests the nearby central scaffolding for strength. He glances up, noting the best path for us to take upward.
“Here, here, and here.” He points out the various hand and foot holds. “Quickly, now!” And he begins to climb ahead. Zaap follows him.
As I wait for my turn, I look down into the clearing and see the Technician now standing alone, surrounded by dead bodies and his swarming drones. He fiddles with the gadget in his hand, punching in some kind of code. When he’s done, the drones come to order and retreat overhead in a clean formation.
They’re ready for another attack. . . .
The Technician looks up at us. His empty gaze is terrifying, like a blank mask. I swear, he could be looking directly at me.
“Move it, Lark!” Brie yanks me by my arm.
I shudder and start climbing the metal scaffolding. I put each hand and foot into the same spots as the person before me, trying to keep my breath even, to offset panic. . . .
I don’t like heights. I’m no longer terrified of them as I once was, but I still don’t like them.
“Oh crap, the Drone Master’s coming up here, after us!” Brie says, glancing down past Chihar who brings up the rear.
“Faster, please!” the Scientist tells us, as he climbs carefully right below Brie.
We make it to the first level walkway, with two more to go before we reach the level with the dead Green sniper. Then, two more, and we’ll be on fifth level which has the Safe Base.
My breath comes ragged as I hurry after Zaap who’s again ahead of me in the mass of scaffolding rising toward second level. I try not to look down, only up, where I see the Entertainer already up on level three, examining the Green sniper’s body. Wow, but he’s fast!
Meanwhile, the sound of drones is following us from below, and growing.
The dratted Technician really is coming after us. . . .
“Whatever you do, please don’t fire down at him,” Chihar’s voice comes from below.
“Climb faster!” the Entertainer yells at us from the fourth level up.
My hands are shaking as I grasp the scaffolding, moving as quickly as I can, up, up, up. . . . Third level, and I step over the dead Green sniper and rush to the next set of upright metal posts and rods that form asymmetrical stairs, following Zaap closely, with Brie just behind me.
The drone whine follows, rising.
Behind me, Brie cusses as she slips a foothold, but corrects herself in time.
“Quickly, quickly! Go! He is now on the level directly below!” Chihar sounds breathless and more agitated than I’ve yet heard him to be.
And that’s when we hear the sound of arena bells. They ring three times, but we don’t stop moving, only slow down our climb somewhat as we listen, not knowing what new horrible things to expect. . . .
“Contenders, your Games Meal is now served!” the familiar commentator says. “Food packs and water grails are hidden all around the Game Zone. You have one hour exactly before Noon Ghost Time to find and retrieve your meal. Do not take more than one, or you will forfeit your next meal! Your time begins now!”
And the bells ring again.
We pause to think for about a second, then resume climbing in a hurry.
Just as most of us make it to level four—while the Entertainer is way ahead of everyone, waiting up on five near the Safe Base—we look down and see the Technician has stopped his relentless pursuit of us.
It’s some kind of crazy miracle. . . .
He has turned around and is now climbing back down the scaffolding, in a measured confident manner, taking his cloud of drones with him.
“Amazing—I think he’s going to look for his lunch,” Brie says in English, with a sarcastic glance at me.
I stare at the Technician’s retreating form as he increases the distance between us on his way to ground level. “I’ve a feeling he’ll be back.”
“Oh, I’m sure he will be.” Brie snorts.
“We should get our meals also,” Chihar says. “Water especially is critical to survival.”
“True,” Zaap says. “Very important. We don’t know how often they will feed us.”
“More important, we don’t know where the meals are hidden,” the Entertainer calls down to us from level five. “But we know this Safe Base.”
“Green guy’s got a point.” Brie glances up at the Entertainer, who’s practically tightrope-walking near the thin ledge between fifth-level walkway portions as he balances on a thin connecting bar which extends from the scaffolding.
“Secure the Safe Base first, everything else later,” he says, flashing his grin at us, and hops off onto the main walkway that stretches like a veranda around the Safe Base treehouse structure.
That’s when the explosion comes.
Chapter 40
The extremely narrow-focused impact of the blast rips through two of the walkway floor panels directly underneath the feet of the Entertainer, without damaging any of the surrounding pane
ls or the nearest support scaffolding. The panels collapse, falling like a trapdoor from under him, and barely missing those of us standing on the lower level.
And yet the Entertainer manages to react with amazing reflexes, and does not fall. Instead, we watch incredulously as he springs upward to avoid the blast, tumbles into a light handstand and ends up gripping the edges of the trapdoor with his fingers, his feet straight up in the air. Slowly he brings his body around, still standing on his hands, and carefully lowers his legs and feet, spreading them apart and then down, to test the firmness of the nearest floor panels with his toes.
“Safe to stand,” the Entertainer declares, putting his feet down all the way, and finding no other hidden traps. “At least these two spots are safe. Of course I cannot promise the rest of this floor level is secure.”
Zaap cusses incoherently in Atlanteo.
“Come up here,” the Entertainer tells us, as we still cringe back from the area of the explosion. “Don’t be afraid to use these places I used to climb.” And he again points out the best spots on the scaffolding.
“All right,” Brie says with a frown, and begins climbing. “But if I get killed, I will come back from the dead just to kill you.”
The rest of us follow her lead carefully.
I take a deep breath and step onto the walkway of level five, looking at the panels underfoot and then glancing around warily for any other potential traps. At least there’s no one else on this veranda except us, it seems. No sign of that Red Contender who was climbing here earlier. Though, he could be inside the Safe Base, together with anyone else—indeed, did he or they set the floor trap? The doorway of the Safe Base is hidden from view around the corner.
“All right, how do we handle this?” Brie says in crappy Atlanteo, making the least amount of effort possible to pronounce the lilting words of the language. I sense she’s letting out her general frustration at our current predicament.
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