“Slate. How was your watch?” I asked him. Suma had taken first watch, I took the second, and Slate rounded us out with the last.
“Uneventful.” He was still staring out the window, and I could tell something was weighing on him.
“You almost did it, didn’t you?” I asked, not having to say what it was.
He nodded. “But you were right. I have someone to get back to now. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it.”
“Did you ever think how your dying would affect us, Slate?” I asked him, and he finally turned to me.
“Sure. But if it meant I was the one to roll the dice and get you home safely, then I would,” he said.
“We’ll do this together. Let’s suit up and see what else we can learn today,” I said as Suma emerged from her bedroom. “Suma, we need you to activate the drones this morning. Have them ready to attack if necessary.”
She knew exactly what I meant. The three of us had been attacked by the automated drones the first time we’d hooked power back up to the section of the city holding the portal. It had been a close call, but now, with Suma’s programming skill set, they were under her control. “Will do.”
“I’m coming today,” Mary said from the doorway. “I want to see what we’re looking at. In person.”
I shrugged, knowing I could only talk her out of things for so long. She’d had another bad night, crying out for me and holding her belly. I thought the baby was nearly ready to be born.
After another fruit-filled breakfast and some fresh water, we were all suited up in our EVAs, walking down the street toward the last region where we’d spotted the vessel hovering below the clouds. It was still raining as we went, but the clouds were less dense, more gray than black today, and I felt better for it.
Slate held his pulse pistol, ready to attack, even though we’d seen no sign of any beings on the ground yet. They could have dropped in the night and might even be stalking us now.
A few drones hovered out of view behind us, guided by Suma’s control. The rest were tucked away, ready to attack if needed.
“I see them ahead, boss,” Slate said, his voice ringing in my earpiece.
“Affirmative. I have visual too,” I said, seeing the boxy dropship flying slowly in the same pattern, only over a different section of the city. It took us an hour to get underneath it, hiding behind a commercial high-rise. The rain slowed to a drizzle, and I took it as a good omen.
“Does anyone have a line of sight on it?” Mary asked as we all peered into the sky toward where we’d last seen the ship.
“Negative,” Slate said. He rushed across the street, making himself visible from the air, and I cringed, hoping no one could spot him. For all we knew, they had their own micro-drones hovering around the city too.
“Wait, what’s that?” I said, seeing a form down the block.
“Is that…” Slate started to ask as I used my facemask’s zoom feature on the figure.
I saw it clearly just as Slate stepped from the edge of the sidewalk and into the street. “Slate, no!” I called, but it was too late. The robo-pirate had seen him.
A red beam shot down the street, hitting the ground just in front of Slate as he dove away from us. “What the hell is that?” he asked, getting to his feet as another volley of shots streaked toward him. He was running now, away from us.
“Those appear to be the same model as the pirate robots we told you about!” I called and ushered Suma and Mary around the high-rise, far from the firing guns.
“I take it they’re not friendly?” Slate’s voice asked through my ear. He was panting while he ran. “I’ll lead them away.”
“Them?” I asked.
“They’re coming from every street now. You need to hide. There’s at least ten of the bastards,” Slate said, and we could hear the blasts from their guns tearing apart the streets and nearby buildings.
“Suma, get the drones,” I ordered and saw they were already advancing behind the robo-pirates, walking and rolling down the street after Slate.
The ancient drones chased after the robots, targeting them and firing away. We watched on Suma’s arm console as they blasted apart two of the pirates before they realized where the fire was coming from. Once they knew, they turned their attention to the attack from the skies, leaving only three to follow Slate.
“Stay here,” I said, running in the same direction as Slate had gone, but a block over. I looked back, and the two women weren’t where I left them. “Mary, what are you doing?”
“I’m pregnant, but I can still fire a gun. We’ll cut them off on the other end,” Mary said through my earpiece.
“Fine, but take care of each other,” I said, running faster as I heard more pulse fire from the adjacent block. “Slate, where are you?” I hadn’t heard his voice in a while and was beginning to worry.
“I’m here,” he whispered. “Damn it, they have me surrounded.”
“I’m coming.” I slowed, rounding the corner to see a group of five robots heading down the next block. “Suma, what’s our status on the drones?”
“They’re coming. ETA two minutes,” Suma said.
I wasn’t sure we had two minutes. “I’m going in.”
My heart was racing, and an alert appeared on my visor, warning me of the spike in my heart rate. I dismissed it with a tap on the console and took a deep breath. Slate needed me.
I fired toward the robots. “Over here, you freaks,” I said, remembering Rivo’s captors, especially the one with skin hanging over his twisted metal face.
As they turned, I fired at will, striking the lead robot in the chest. It didn’t drop, so I made a head shot, sending sparks flying as it blew apart. I ran across the alley, rolling as the barrage of fire came back toward me. Slate was shooting at them from the other end, so we had to be careful not to get caught in each other’s crossfire.
“How many are down?” I asked, peering around the corner of a wall.
“Three down, four to go,” Slate said. I saw beams cutting through the air and ran from my cover, heading for the alley they had Slate blocked into.
I fired at one’s back, striking it perfectly. It fell, but I kept shooting. Two of them emerged from the shadows of the side road behind me and fired. I ducked and rolled, their blasts narrowly missing me as the ground tore open.
“The drones are coming,” Suma said through the channel, and I hoped they were quick enough. I ran toward Slate, who was hiding at the far end of the blocked alleyway. Ancient trash bins lined the streets here, full of metallic waste; anything organic had decayed a thousand years prior.
“We stand together, boss.” Slate stuck a fist out, and I bumped it, breathing heavily.
“Let’s hope the drones do our work for us.” I leaned against the wall. Everything went quiet as the pirates’ fire ceased. All I could hear was my own breath, and I strained to listen down the alley.
I heard substantial footsteps, and the whirring of the robo-pirates’ rollers. “They’re coming,” I whispered, pointing in their direction.
Slate nodded, gripping his rifle and moving into position. He pointed right and then to himself, then left and to me. I understood what he meant. I’d duck and shoot the left ones, while he took high and right.
His fingers shot into the air. One. Two. Three.
We moved into the open and fired away just as the drones appeared above our attackers. The pirates didn’t stand a chance. They were torn apart before they had a chance to target either of us.
“Yes!” Slate yelled, pumping his fist in the air. “Take that, robot demons! You think you can come to our world and win? I don’t think so!”
We were cheering and hugging in the alley when Mary’s voice cut over the line. “Guys, I hate to break this up, but you might want to come over here.”
Her tone was no nonsense, with a hint of fear laced into it.
I checked my arm console and saw their blips faintly glowing a couple blocks away. “Come on,” I said to S
late, and we ran for them.
I scanned over the broken pieces of the robots as we hurried around them. I noticed the symbol stamped onto them: a triangle in a circle, two wavy lines in the center. It was the same image I’d seen on the pirate ship where I’d found Rivo. It was from one of Lom of Pleva’s companies.
If Slate recalled me mentioning it, he didn’t seem to notice, and we kept moving, heading for our friends’ position. We saw them soon enough, backs pressed against a wall.
“What is it?” I asked, close enough for them to spot us now. I didn’t need to wait for the answer. Around the corner was the dropship. Its doors were wide open, empty. Another ship was lowering, then another. The first landed a block away, and the doors hissed open. Even from where we stood, watching from a concealed spot, I could hear the whirring of the robots come to life.
The second ship from the sky landed, and the same thing happened. A few dozen of the robots descended as the doors lurched open.
“We’re screwed,” Slate said.
“We have to get out of here,” I whispered, taking one last peek while the others began to move. One of the robots turned to look toward me, and I ran.
THREE
“Where do the drones put them?” I asked. We had a dozen drones trying to stay hidden, feeding us locations of the invading robot pirate army. We were lucky to have escaped unscathed.
“Every sector of the city. We’re technically surrounded now, but I think we can distract them enough, giving us time to carve a path toward the outside of the metropolis,” Mary said, eyeing the cameras on the tablet.
I walked around the room, trying to see if we’d left anything useful behind. I hated to leave the security of our sanctuary, but with the invaders, we weren’t safe anywhere anymore.
“Let’s do it. Suma, how’s the rover?” I asked the young Shimmali girl.
She smiled. “Right as rain,” she said, reminding me it had started pouring again. My good omen from earlier had been proven wrong, and now it was mocking me with even more precipitation.
“You’re getting good at these terrible human puns, Suma,” I said, and she smiled wider. “How can you be so happy? We’re being hunted by robots.”
“It’s better than sitting around wondering if someone’s going to rescue you. If this Lom guy knows where we are, then so does Magnus.”
I wondered at that. How could it have taken our people so long to get here? And just how had this mysterious Lom of Pleva tracked us down first? It didn’t add up, but we couldn’t sit around contemplating it. We had to leave the city.
Slate came back into the room. “Rover’s loaded with everything I could fit. It’s going to be a tight fit. It usually seats two, but we can make it work. I figured Mary can drive. Dean, you and Suma will cozy up in the back seat, and I’ll hang on for dear life. Think of me as a turret on top of the vehicle.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at him. “Is there no way for us all to fit inside?”
“Not with our suits on, and the supplies. Don’t worry about it. I’ve had worse jobs.” Slate helped Mary up off the couch, and there we stood, each looking around the room we’d called home for the last few months.
“Everything must come to an end at some point,” Mary said. “Who’s up for a vacation in the country?”
We all raised our hands.
Ten minutes later, we were stacked inside the rover as the large tires started to rotate, pulling us from the cover of the garage.
“Now, Suma,” I said, and she used the tablet to direct the drones toward the explosive we’d thrown together. Once they targeted the cylinder and fired, we heard then felt the rumbling from our seats, and the plume of smoke rose high into the sky. That would keep their attention for a while.
We waited, watching the feeds from the other nearby drones, until our pathway was cleared.
“Gun it, Mary!” I called and was pushed back into my seat, Suma pressing tightly against me from her perch on my lap.
I peered around Suma’s head, watching through the windshield as we raced down the streets. Buildings zoomed past us as we sprinted through the cityscape.
“Suma?” Mary asked from the driver’s seat in front of us.
“Drones aren’t showing any robot movement this way,” Suma announced confidently.
“Slate, all good?” I asked into my mic.
“Glad I’m strapped on here; otherwise, you’d have lost me five blocks ago. All good.” Slate sounded like he was having fun.
Everything was going to plan. We neared the edge of the city some time later, still not having seen signs of any robo-pirates.
We’d been to this area a few times, and I knew that in a couple more city blocks, we’d be exiting into the countryside where, to our surprise, there was green grass, vegetation, and water. There were homes here, likely a suburb of the ancient race. It was almost like estate living, with old metal fences separating the structures. Some were built out of stone, which was rare in this land.
I had the urge to investigate these homes, feeling like there might be more to them than the small apartments in the city center. But we had bigger fish to fry.
“All clear,” Suma said.
“Suma, pull a few drones to follow us. Let’s leave some high over the city, and a couple along this border, to see if anyone crosses,” I said, and Suma set to tapping on the tablet.
“Mary, you know where we’re going?” I asked.
She didn’t reply.
“Mary? Everything good?” I asked again, worry carved in my voice now.
“Dean, I think I’m having a contraction.”
____________
Two hours later, we pulled over under a thick copse of trees. The dense underbrush would keep us hidden from prying eyes, or drones and ships searching from above. The trip had been frantic, Mary refusing to stop the vehicle to trade positions.
My door hissed open and I ran to the front, opening Mary’s door by the manual handle. She smiled sweetly at me and took my offered hand. “I’m sorry, Dean, but there was no chance we could fit any other way. Suma wasn’t going to want to squish up to a woman in labor, and you and I couldn’t fit in one seat.”
She was right, and I fought the urge to argue. We were going to have a baby. We’d been as prepared for this as we could and had gathered what little supplies we were able to muster. None of it seemed like enough at that moment.
Slate was beside us, untethering himself from the rover. “I’ll get the tents set up. Suma, can you give me a hand?”
Suma nodded, leaving us alone.
“We can do this,” I said quietly to Mary, our heads close together.
“What choice do we have?” she asked before grimacing through a contraction. She let out a groan, squeezing my hand in the process.
“Stay here, and we’ll get everything set up,” I said, unsure what that even meant. We’d been through so much, but the idea of delivering my own baby on this deserted planet was the most frightening thing yet.
I left her there and assisted Slate and Suma as they erected our shelters. We’d found and salvaged some supplies from the city. These tents were a large cabin style, with a peaked roof and ample room inside, giving a bedroom separate from living space. The fabric was thick, insulated, and the poles dense and heavy. They would make near-permanent homes for as long as we needed.
I tried to shake off my exhaustion and anger. We should be at our real home. The only way to free Mary was to kill the portal, so we’d had no choice, but I still felt like I’d failed her.
“Boss, has her water broken?” Slate asked.
“No, not yet,” I said.
“Then this might be a false alarm. I’ve seen it before. It’s called Braxton-Hicks, I think. What?” he asked, after getting some strange stares directed at him. “My aunt was a nurse.”
“You think it’s only some unwelcome discomfort?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I’m just saying there’s a chance. She should have another month, right?”<
br />
“Three weeks, we think, but who knows for sure?” I tested the doorway, which had a seal similar to Velcro, but much stronger. The two materials touched and acted as a closure. Clare would love to see it.
“Dean!” Suma called.
“What is it? Mary?” I asked, running for the rover.
Suma shook her head, her snout twitching inside her EVA helmet. “Look,” she said and pointed at the tablet.
We saw two of the dropships crossing under the drones we’d set to watch the city boundaries. They were heading straight for us.
“This isn’t good.”
“Do we keep going?” Suma asked.
Slate already had his gun in hand.
I looked around our bare camp, and to Mary, who was clutching a blanket and watching us with wide eyes.
“Suma, call all the attack drones. Get them here fast, then take Mary farther in the rover. We’ll make our stand here.” I tried not to make eye contact with Mary but couldn’t help it. I expected her to fight me on this, but she just nodded as tears streamed down her face.
____________
“We’ll stay in contact,” I said, kissing her forehead. “Magnus, Leslie, and I took down a ship full of them a few months ago, and then we did the same with the squadron on the ground just yesterday. We’ll survive this attack, like all the rest before it.”
“I know, Dean. I know. Be careful,” Mary said.
I squeezed her hand. “I’ll be with you soon.” I shut the rear door and walked to the front of the rover. “Suma, take care of her. Whatever happens, you take care of her.” I said the words more harshly than I intended, but Suma took it with grace.
“I will,” she said in Shimmali, and I understood the words.
Slate and I stood there watching the rover drive off. When it was out of sight, we dragged the tent into an opening in the trees, so it could be seen from above.
Slate patted me on the shoulder and headed for the treeline. “Come on, let’s get into position.”
The Survivors Box Set Page 109