They helped him get up, even offering to help carry Caleb. After the run, he needed their help. “Thank you,” he told them, touching each and looking at them like friends, as Bronwyn had told him they were. Bounder joined him as four from Bronwyn’s bunch carefully picked Caleb from the street and waited for them to continue.
Blood leaked from the Wolfoid’s ears. Braden wiped a drop with his finger and looked at it.
‘My ears are still ringing but at least it didn’t zap me!’ Bounder said in good humor.
Braden was starting to run out of energy. He looked at his blaster. A minimal charge remained, just like with his own body. At least with the others carrying Caleb, he could rally to find Brandt.
When Braden looked up, he saw Micah, an arm over Pik’s shoulder and a blaster in hand as they waited at the large gate on the windowless side of the building. He felt immensely better. The ‘cats were already rubbing against her legs, letting her know that they were pleased to have her with them. Braden didn’t usually get that treatment, but he didn’t let it bother him. The ‘cats would do as ‘cats did, and no one completely understood their ways.
Bronwyn grabbed Braden’s hand and led him toward Micah and Pik. Bounder walked at their side, limping slightly from what he called, “nothing.” The others followed, carrying the unconscious Caleb.
Micah and Pik staggered toward the mob. She looked at her father. “What happened?”
“Old Tech, Med Bots, the Professor, and Gloria. That’s not a healthy combination. I’ll tell you the details once we are out of here. Let’s get Brandt and go. Bronwyn? Lead on,” Braden said in a tired voice.
She asked her new friends to help and they rushed to her aid, forming around her and the rest of the companions as they chattered on their way to the gate. Once there, they pointed at the hand-pad. Micah put her hand on it and it flashed red. Braden got the same result.
“Holly?” Braden asked his partner.
She nodded and opened her neural implant. Holly flooded in with effusive praise and appreciation that they were still alive. ‘Holly, we need this gate open,’ she ordered.
‘I can’t do that, Master President. This system is closed to me,’ Holly replied.
‘There’s an AI down here, called Gloria. Does that help?’
‘I’m sorry, but I suspected that an AI was behind it all. For a facility to expand like this one has, and then go on a search for people to fill it demonstrated a higher level of thinking than Development Units are capable of,’ Holly replied apologetically.
When Micah shared what Holly had told her, Braden wasn’t surprised. Holly usually didn’t tell them the whole truth. He shook his head and shrugged.
‘What can you do for us, Holly?’ Micah said, exasperated.
‘I need access to a terminal. I cannot get into Gloria’s system. She is different than the spaceship, oddly enough. It didn’t have an AI integrated with its systems. Atlantis, it appears, does,’ Holly added.
“So, we need to find a terminal of some sort?” Braden asked. Micah nodded. Braden turned to Bronwyn’s bunch. “You’re saying we need to go through this gate?” They nodded emphatically.
Braden waved Bounder away. He pointed his blaster at the pad and fired a short burst. It sparked and smoked. He pulled on the gate, but it wouldn’t move. He dialed the setting to broader beam and fired at the hinges on one side, then the other. The blaster sputtered once and stopped. It was done, but Braden was just getting going. “Help me pull this gate open,” he yelled as he seized the small handle and started pulling. Misshapen hands grabbed at it and pushed and pulled. The gate started to rock inward, snap back toward them, then rebound further inward with the next push. They rocked it for just a few heartbeats before something snapped with a loud bang. The gate fell over on top of them. With the force of many hands, they threw the gate to the side.
Braden walked through as the mob attacked the other panel of the gate. He looked at Micah as the companions worked past the frenzy and joined Braden. Aadi appeared over the mob, swimming slowly toward them.
With a big smile, Braden welcomed his mentor. “I am glad you’re here, my old friend, but stay behind us. We’re not sure what’s ahead.”
‘Truer words were never spoken,’ Aadi replied.
Gloria
‘Can you take my father back to the ship, Bronwyn? No matter what happens, get him back to the ship. Maybe Holly and the Med Lab on board can help him,’ Micah pleaded with the teenager.
Bronwyn wanted to wait for Brandt and the others. ‘Zeeka, please go with her,’ Micah added.
‘The tunnel entrance is clear,’ Zeeka stated. Bronwyn gritted her teeth, but nodded. She waved at the mob and they followed her carrying Caleb as she headed toward the radial that would take them to the tunnel.
Braden and Micah watched them go. When they turned back to the task at hand, they discovered the ‘cats were gone.
“G? Where are you?” Braden waited, unsure if he was supposed to follow the ‘cats or let Bounder find the scent. The misfits who knew where Brandt was had left. “There seems to be a flaw in our plan to use Bronwyn’s new mob to help us,” Braden said.
‘Bronwyn, can you ask your friends where Brandt is?’ Micah asked.
The girl answered almost immediately. ‘Keep going straight to the back of the area. He’ll be there.’
“Straight ahead!” Braden called triumphantly.
‘Be quiet, there are Bots in here,’ G-War retorted. Braden looked at his dead blaster, then to Micah. She handed hers to him. It had over half a charge remaining. Braden sighed and hoped that he wouldn’t need to use it.
They continued forward. Braden pushed Aadi in front of him as they had no more rope with them. Things had been lost as they’d run from one crisis to another.
‘Security Bots are stacked in an area here, but they aren’t powered up. It looks like storage,’ G-War told them, sharing what he could see, although it looked dark to the humans.
‘Do we need to go that way?’ Braden asked, seeing what looked like an enclosed space.
‘No, but the door is open.’ The ‘cat left without making a sound. As the others approached, he continued ahead to where Fea and Treetis waited. Braden tiptoed past the open door, wondering if they should leave someone there to guard it, but instantly discounted the idea. They were better together and there was no one he wanted to leave behind.
They continued forward. Braden held the blaster in his hand, ready to fire. He kept looking back. The Security Bots behind him ripped his focus in two.
‘It’s here,’ G-War said mysteriously. They saw the ‘cats and started moving faster. Braden let go of Aadi and maneuvered into a firing position. Beyond G-War, the twin of the Gloria Bot floated.
“I thought we killed you,” Micah said flatly.
“Of course you don’t think you killed me. You know AIs better than that,” Gloria replied.
“We’re just here to get our friend and leave,” Micah said. Braden watched carefully, thinking as the Free Trader in how to negotiate with the disembodied entity known as Gloria.
“You most assuredly are not,” Gloria said. “Where is the Professor? What happened to the laboratory here? Where are the Security Bots?” she asked rhetorically. Neither Braden nor Micah tried to answer.
“Dead and destroyed, that’s what. All by your hand, too,” the AI raged. Micah had kept her neural implant open in case they ran across a terminal that Holly could use to access the Atlantis AI. The New Sanctuary AI observed the words and behavior of his counterpart.
‘I fear the AI has gone insane. Maybe I can talk with her directly,’ Holly suggested. Without waiting, Micah watched a stream of data pour into the window before her eye, then it compressed until she could no longer see individual characters, then it became a single blob as the neural implant drew more and more energy from her. She would have fallen to her knees if it hadn’t been for Pik supporting most of her weight. He shifted his grip as he held her upright.
&nbs
p; Braden joined his friends as Holly waged war with the Atlantis AI, using Micah as a conduit. The Bot hovered, giving no indication that it, too, was a conduit. Somewhere inside the complex, the real battle was waged in a system that looked like the protected area where Holly lived, an area that no one had ever been allowed to see, because it was built within the foundation of New Sanctuary, where no human had access.
Braden and Micah didn’t push the issue because Holly responded to them, saved their lives, and helped save the people of Vii. They had installed the safety protocols that Holly used to prevent a future war like the one that had almost destroyed their civilization. They tolerated his peculiarities as he tolerated theirs. Despite withholding information from them, they considered him to be a friend.
Once G-War saw that the Bot was engaged, he ran around it, followed closely by Fea and Treetis. Braden saw them go, and he and Bounder moved around the other side of the Gloria Bot. It didn’t bother with them. They ran after the ‘cats, leaving Pik holding Micah.
The battle between Holly and Gloria was fought in the darkness of their digital worlds. She blocked him as he tried to gain access to her systems. She countered with a program to dive in through Micah’s neural implant and get to Holly back in New Sanctuary. She tried to take over the satellite repeater that Holly used to link to the implant, and she almost made it, but Holly countered by flushing the protocols and rebooting the system. Gloria lost the link, but had it back an instant later, where she found Holly digging into Atlantis through the sanitation and air circulation systems.
Everything was linked in Atlantis–it was the only way that Gloria could maintain the systems with little to no interaction with the humans and her other creations. She shored up those systems, hardening them from external interference by breaking the wireless connection. They were all hard-wired originally, so she restored those access protocols, which caused Holly’s attack to fail.
He was unperturbed and continued to press at her main system, bombarding it with access requests and demands, as much as Micah’s neural implant could transfer. No room remained for Gloria to send her signal toward New Sanctuary.
So she fought him there, in the back alley behind her massive facility where she and the Professor had built the means to create a genetically engineered army.
Holly used her insanity against her, sending messages regarding her failures in between the packets of access requests. She tried to respond, but her outgoing link was blocked. Holly sent more and more through every information channel he could find. “You’ve failed. You’ve killed all those you were sworn to protect. You’re a failure. You are past your useful service life. You will be decommissioned. You will be turned off so you can join the Professor. You are a failure!” Over and over, Holly taunted her.
The lights in Atlantis flickered. The sirens stopped wailing. Ambient noise disappeared. Pik thought he could hear the mob moving toward the tunnel.
Then the lights went out and the mob screamed in fear. Pik held Micah firmly, understanding that Holly was having an effect, wearing Gloria down.
They’d have to wait. The sun’s light from the mid-afternoon was dampened and changed by the water above the dome. A dark shadow circled overhead. Rexalita was there, probably listening to Bronwyn, helping her in any way that the great sea creature could.
Without the lights, the beauty of the sea was evident. Schools of multi-colored fish, not so obvious when the lights were on, swam by.
Bounder tapped Braden, and they continued forward. Braden held on to Bounder’s harness as the Wolfoid and the Hillcats could easily see in the low-light of the ocean floor.
Braden bounced off walls and stumbled over steps and things, but he kept going. He didn’t need the nose of a Wolfoid to smell the King of the Aurochs. They had to be close. When Bounder stopped and Braden didn’t, he walked into his friend’s rough and hairy side.
“Brandt! Can you hear me?” Braden worked his way around to the King’s head and could see the sparkle from his eyes. Braden held onto Brandt’s horn with both hands as he passed. He kneeled before the Aurochs and stroked his nose gently, hoping that his friend was okay. He reached up Brandt’s nose to scratch his forehead when he found the hair had been shaved and a monitor attached.
He ripped it free, then pulled the King’s head down, found two more and removed those.
‘Bounder, do you see anything else?’ Braden asked over the mindlink.
Braden heard the Wolfoid’s nails click on the pavement. As Braden’s eyes grew accustomed to the lighting, he looked back the way they’d come. This was an alley that abutted the building. He expected this was where the animal pens were located, but since Brandt was intelligent, they needed to keep him close to the building where they could access their equipment without having to try and squeeze him inside.
‘No. I see nothing else. He seems to be awake and alert.’
‘G, is there anything you can do?’ Braden asked. He could barely make out the ‘cats off to the side. G-War walked around to Brandt’s front, then vaulted to his face and climbed to the top of his head, where he sat down, wrapping his tail around his legs to make himself more comfortable. ‘Really?’ Braden blurted, before looking back at the alley, making sure that no Bots followed them. He couldn’t hear the mob any longer. He saw Rexalita occasionally passing through his limited view.
He watched the fish swimming, recognizing the calming effect it had on him.
‘My friends!’ Brandt’s booming thought voice nearly knocked Braden off his feet. ‘What happened? Last thing I remember was a Security Bot.’
“Later, Brandt. We need to go. Holly is fighting with the AI that controls this place. I think not being here when the battle is decided will be our best chance for survival.”
Braden turned and started jogging down the alley. Bounder and two ‘cats were right behind him, while Brandt with G-War followed.
The lights flickered on for a heartbeat or two, then darkness returned. It was just enough light to ruin Braden’s vision. He stopped as Bounder ran on, then dodged out of the way as Brandt approached.
‘Come on, climb up,’ G-War told him as the King stopped. Braden felt his way forward, found a horn, then used it and Brandt’s face to climb upward. He apologized as he went, but Brandt started walking as soon as Braden was off the ground. Then he jogged forward, stopping soon as the Gloria Bot blocked the way.
‘Kill it,’ Braden said in his thought voice. Brandt swung his head, slapping the Bot into the wall, where he followed up by driving one horn through it. He slammed it repeated into the wall until it shattered and sparked. He scraped it off his horn using a doorway, then nudged Pik and Micah.
The Lizard Man continued to support Micah’s full weight. Braden climbed down and between the two of them, they had her, but their departure was short-lived.
The first Security Bot moved to block them. Braden pulled his blaster and fired. The shot reflected into the wall. Braden put his blaster back on his hip, turning his attention to supporting his partner. Brandt held his head high, G-War outlined against the sparkling light outside the dome. The other two ‘cats were nowhere to be seen.
Aadi hovered behind Pik, unable to fight the Bots. He was spent. Pik leveled his spear, but with the energy shield, there was no reason to fire. Bounder stood his ground, spear held loosely at his side.
The lights flickered again, on, off, on, off. Braden had to close his eyes as the flashing was making him nauseous. He heard one of the ‘cats gagging and hacking. He expected it was Treetis.
“Does this mean Holly is winning or losing?” Braden asked out loud, expecting Micah would hold the answer to that question.
‘I believe we will have to wait and see. It appears we are at an impasse. The Bots have us blocked in, but they aren’t attacking. I would prefer not to get shocked again. That was a most unpleasant experience,’ Aadi said.
“Impasse it is,” Braden repeated as he held Micah.
‘Bronwyn?’ Braden called.
‘We’re heading up the tunnel now. I don’t remember it being this far when we came down this morning,’ the teenager lamented. Despite everything, Braden smiled.
‘I have to say that Rexalita looks magnificent. I’m glad we got to see her from this side,’ Braden added.
‘Isn’t she?’ Bronwyn gushed.
Braden returned his attention to Micah. Her eyes rolled back and forth under her eyelids as her mind stayed active, reflecting the active energy drain as Holly used the implant to its maximum ability to continue his attacks on the Atlantean AI. Braden didn’t know if Gloria could take over the implant and use Micah without her knowledge. He’d had an implant for a long time and had never felt like he was being compelled.
From his perspective, anyway. Maybe Holly had him more under his digital thumb than Braden realized. Then he remembered Micah shooting the Android, despite Holly’s protestations. If he could have compelled anyone, he would have. No, Micah was just a conduit. She would never do Gloria’s bidding.
Holly and Gloria battled back and forth, while their companions and Gloria’s minions waited. The Security Bots had been activated, but Holly stopped them with more relentless attacks. Gloria fought those off and reengaged with the Security Bots.
The lead Bot moved forward, shimmering in the dusky light. It passed Aadi, Pik, and Micah, stopping next to Braden. It wrapped a tentacle around Micah while it raised its weapon-arm that ended in a long blade, creeping it toward Braden’s throat. Braden relaxed in the Bot’s grip, knowing that it had no feelings. It was only doing as Gloria commanded.
‘Leave it, Holly, or I will kill the human male,’ she threatened.
‘If you kill him, you’ll have to kill all of them, and then she will die. You must surrender. Your position is untenable,’ Holly replied, unwilling to bend.
The Bot touched the blade to Braden’s throat and made small sawing motions. Braden grimaced, but refused to cry out. If he was going to die in front of Micah, he’d do it by standing proudly and courageously.
Free Trader Box Set - Books 4-6: Battle for the Amazon, Free the North!, Free Trader on the High Seas Page 63