The Overlord Protocol

by Mark Walden

  Suddenly there was another explosion from somewhere much nearer by, and the floor rocked as debris fell from overhead, catching Raven slightly off-balance. The giant robot seized on the opportunity, moving with impossible speed towards her, one of its huge fists swinging at her. Raven’s years of training were all that saved her. She twisted away from the blow, rolling with it and avoiding as much of the direct impact as she could. The strike still sent her flying across the pit, sliding to a halt against the far wall. She shook her head, trying desperately to clear the flashing lights that suddenly filled her field of vision. She could not afford to let the thing land another blow like that.

  The second explosion that suddenly rocked the room was the closest yet; it sounded to Raven like an ammunition store exploding. The whole room shook, and large chunks of rock fell from the ceiling, one glancing off the robot’s heavily armoured head with a dull clang. The robot fell to one knee, the lights of the sensory array on its face dimming and flickering for just a second before it slowly got to its feet. It moved relentlessly back across the pit towards Raven, who knew that if the fight continued like this that she would be defeated by exhaustion. She could only keep dancing around avoiding the thing for so long before it got lucky, and judging by the fact that she still felt slightly stunned from the glancing blow it had landed moments earlier, it would only take one good punch from it and she wouldn’t be getting up again.

  Raven heard a metallic creak from overhead and saw a shower of dust fall from one of the large steel pins that fixed the observation gantry overhead to the ceiling. She moved carefully around the edge of the pit, trying always to keep her opponent centred in the room, waiting for her chance.

  The next explosion shook the entire room, and Raven lost her footing, falling to her knees. The assassin robot could not capitalise on her loss of balance, though, as it too struggled to stay upright. There was a screech of tearing metal from overhead as the steel structure of the observation gantry final gave up its grip on the rock ceiling and one end dropped downwards into the pit. Raven dived to avoid the shower of debris but her opponent was not so lucky. The end of the gantry swung downwards and slammed into the robot, smashing it to the ground, where it lay still, pinned under the end of the heavy metal walkway. Raven let out a long slow breath and looked upwards. The other end of the gantry was still in place twenty metres overhead; its supports had not quite given out yet. She slid her swords into her belt and ran towards the dangling gantry, hopping over the still form of the giant robot assassin and scaling the remains of the walkway as fast as she could.

  She was about halfway up when she felt the whole gantry move again. Glancing downwards she saw that her opponent was starting to move, slowly at first, forcing itself on to all fours, lifting the end of the gantry as it rose. Raven climbed faster; the top of the improvised ladder she was scaling was only a few metres away now. Below her the robot finally struggled to its feet, the end of the gantry sliding off its back and slamming into the floor with a deafening clang. Raven just managed to hang on as the gantry shifted. One of the two remaining pins that was holding the upper end of the walkway in place gave way with a deafening crack and the whole gantry pivoted, leaving Raven dangling precariously over the long drop to the pit below.

  The giant robot looked up and saw its prey dangling tantalisingly out of reach. It stooped down and picked up the lower end of the gantry with both hands and shook the entire walkway. Raven clung on for dear life as the machine tried to shake her loose, but it was like trying to hang on to a rodeo bull. The gantry’s last remaining support gave an ominous crunch and Raven made one last desperate lunge, swinging towards the lip of the doorway carved into the rock wall. The fingers of one hand found the edge of the opening and she latched on to the solid rock as the abused gantry finally gave up its fight with gravity and toppled downwards into the pit with an enormous crash.

  Raven pulled herself up into the doorway and looked back down into the pit. Far below the robot was still moving, struggling to free itself from the pile of twisted metal that was all that remained of the viewing gantry. She could not help but be impressed as it slowly rose to its feet, pushing the debris aside, and looked up at her. It would take a tank to stop one of these things, she thought to herself, and she realised with a slight shudder that it was unlikely that Cypher would have abandoned the machine if it was the only one he’d built . . .

  There was the rumble of another explosion nearby and Raven knew that she had to get moving. She turned and ran silently down the corridor beyond the doorway. Far below, in the pit, the giant mechanical assassin strode through the scattered debris towards the wall, and looked up at the doorway overhead. It slammed its hand into the wall with a crunch, crushing the rock until it had a solid hold, and slowly but surely it began to climb.

  Otto snuck closer to the dock, taking cover behind one of the piles of crates that littered the loading area. The gangway leading up to the deck of Cypher’s ship was thirty metres away but it might as well have been thirty miles due to the two robotic assassins that guarded the ramp. There was no way that he was getting on board past them – he would have to find another way. He looked around desperately; he was running out of time and ideas.

  Suddenly the two guards turned as one and hurried up the ramp to the ship as the gangway started to retract, sliding back into the ship’s superstructure. A klaxon began to sound and the huge steel sea doors at the far end of the cavern slowly slid aside with a low rumble. Otto could just make out the first dim light of dawn outside as the steel cables that had tied the ship to the dock released from their mounts and reeled in. As the ship began to move Otto realised that he had to act now. He stood up and prepared himself to run across the dock, but before he could move he felt a hand close over his mouth.

  ‘Don’t be stupid, there’s no way on board now,’ Raven whispered, her mouth just centimetres from his ear. She removed her hand from his mouth and Otto turned to face her.

  ‘I thought you were dead,’ Otto said, relief mixed with disbelief.

  ‘You know, I’m getting really tired of hearing that today,’ Raven replied with a thin smile.

  ‘Cypher’s on that ship,’ Otto said quickly. ‘We have to get on board.’

  ‘I know, but unless you’ve acquired the power of flight while I was away that’s not going to be possible,’ Raven answered. Otto knew that she was right. There was no way to scale the smooth hull of the ship even if they did manage to get near to it. He suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of frustration.

  ‘I’m not letting him get away,’ Otto said angrily. ‘We have a score to settle.’

  Raven looked Otto straight in the eye.

  ‘I know how you feel, Otto, I really do, but this isn’t the way.’

  Otto slammed his fist into the metal container in frustration. They’d come so close and now Cypher was slipping through their fingers again. The huge ship continued to move away from the dock, gathering speed as it passed through the sea doors and into the grey light of dawn. Once the stern of the ship passed through the gates they rumbled closed again, sealing the docks.

  ‘Getting out of here is the first priority,’ Raven said, scanning the docks for any sign of an escape route. Suddenly the biggest explosion yet shook the entire cavern. Huge chunks of rock fell from the ceiling, smashing into the docks and hitting the water like cannonballs. Otto and Raven struggled to maintain their balance as the whole cavern rocked.

  ‘Cypher must have activated the self-destruct sequence,’ Raven said quickly.

  ‘Erm . . . actually . . . that was me,’ Otto said, his cheeks burning. Sabotaging the robot production line had seemed like a good idea at the time but he realised now that it might have had rather more severe consequences than he had intended.

  ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake,’ Raven said with a sigh, ‘I leave you alone for a couple of hours . . .’

  Suddenly there was an enormous crash from behind them and they both turned to see the giant robot assassin
from the pit tearing through a pair of large steel doors that led out on to the dock. It tore the heavy gauge steel like it was tissue paper, forcing its way through.

  ‘What the hell is that?’ Otto said with a gasp.

  ‘Trouble,’ Raven replied, pulling her swords from her belt. ‘Get to cover.’

  Raven stepped out from their hiding place, raising her swords in a defensive stance.

  ‘Hey, ugly!’ she shouted, and the robot’s head swivelled to lock on to her position. The red lights of its sensory array seemed to flare for a moment and it advanced towards her.

  Otto backed further into the shadows. He wasn’t foolish enough to think that he could offer Raven any meaningful assistance in this situation and so he looked around for anything that might help them in the fight. He looked up at the equipment suspended from the cavern’s ceiling and smiled. He suddenly knew what he had to do.

  Raven braced herself as the monstrous machine approached. Its black metallic skin was scored and dented from the shower of debris in the pit but it didn’t seem to have slowed down in the slightest. Raven backed up as the robot advanced. She knew that she had to keep her distance from the thing – there may be more room to move on the docks, but she couldn’t keep up this game of cat and mouse for ever. Raven stopped as she felt the rock wall at her back. The robot was still advancing and she realised with a cold chill that she was out of ideas. Suddenly she caught sight of something big moving behind the assassin and her eyes widened.

  Raven dived to one side as the enormous shipping container mounted on the electro-magnetic loading rig slammed into the robot from behind like a freight train, crushing it against the rock wall with an enormous crash. Fifty metres away, at the crane controls, Otto gave a little yell of victory. Raven picked herself up from the floor and dusted herself off. She inspected the shattered remains of the robot, crushed between the massive container and the unforgiving rock wall. There was no way it was getting up from that.

  Otto ran over to the scene of destruction, a broad grin on his face, and surveyed the sparking, twitching remains of the huge robot.

  ‘Nice work,’ Raven said as another explosion shook the cavern, ‘but we still don’t have a way out of here.’

  Otto’s smile faded as he realised she was right. They were still trapped as Cypher’s base disintegrated around them. Suddenly there was a horribly familiar bleeping sound from the twisted remains of the robot. Otto and Raven’s heads both snapped round and immediately saw the large silver canister that was protruding from the wreckage, a flashing light at one end.

  Raven moved faster than Otto had ever seen anyone move before. She snatched the foot-long canister from the wreckage, yanking it free from the tangled metal, still beeping. She hurled the canister in a looping arc towards the sea doors and threw herself on top of Otto, knocking him to the ground. The explosion tore the heavy sea doors apart, the shockwave making Otto’s ears ring like church bells.

  As the smoke cloud from the blast cleared Otto sat up and surveyed the wreckage. One of the sea doors was gone completely and the other was just twisted scrap metal. They had their exit.

  ‘Feel like a swim?’ Raven said with a grin as she offered Otto her hand and pulled him to his feet.

  .

  Chapter Thirteen

  The H.I.V.E. security guard walked into the detention area and gasped. The man who had been assigned to the brig lay slumped across the guard station, still breathing but unconscious. He ran to his fallen comrade and shook his shoulder. There was no response. The guard had seen the effects of Sleeper pulses often enough to recognise the effects immediately. He ran over to the cells and realised to his horror that they were all empty. Pulling his Blackbox from his belt he spoke quickly into it.

  ‘This is Guard Jackson in the detention centre. We have a Class One security alert. Colonel Francisco has escaped.’

  Shelby woke with a start. She’d been dreaming about Wing again. They’d been on a tiny rowing boat in the middle of the ocean and Wing had fallen over the side. She’d dived in after him, but had not been able to find him. Then she’d resurfaced to find that the boat had gone and she was left all alone adrift in the middle of a cold, dark ocean. She shivered as she recalled the terrible feeling of loneliness, surrounded by all that freezing black water.

  As she rubbed her eyes she realised that there was a soft bleeping coming from her Blackbox and that this must have been what woke her. She picked up the PDA and touched the screen to accept the call.

  ‘Good morning, student Trinity,’ H.I.V.E.mind said in the emotionless monotone that had become depressingly familiar. ‘There has been a security alert and Doctor Nero has requested that you and student Brand report to situation room three immediately.’

  ‘Umm . . . OK . . . situation room three,’ Shelby said, still only half awake. The Blackbox disconnected and Shelby walked over to Laura’s bed. She gently shook her friend’s shoulder until Laura finally woke up with a low groan.

  ‘What time is it?’ Laura asked croakily, looking up at Shelby.

  ‘Just after 5 a.m.,’ Shelby replied. ‘Nero wants to see us. There’s some kind of security alert.’

  Laura suddenly looked more awake. ‘Did he say what was wrong?’ she asked.

  ‘No, it was H.I.V.E.mind that called, and he doesn’t seem to be keen on long conversations these days,’ Shelby replied. ‘Whatever it was it sounded urgent.’

  Laura knew what Shelby meant about H.I.V.E.mind. There was still no sign of the AI’s old personality; whatever had been done to him after their failed escape attempt a few months ago had clearly erased any trace of his previous independence.

  ‘Well, then,’ Laura said, sitting up and putting her feet down on to the cold floor, ‘we’d better get a move on.’

  Otto was cold and miserable. He sat huddled on a rock near to the cliff-face entrance to Cypher’s hidden dock that was still belching out thick black smoke. The thin dawn rays of the sun did little to warm him or to dry out his cold, damp uniform. Raven stood nearby, scanning the horizon as she had been for the past hour. Otto looked over his shoulder at the sheer rock face behind them. He suspected that Raven might have been able to pick her way upwards through the jagged black rock, but he was no mountaineer. Swimming further along the coastline seemed impossible, too; there was no visible break in the rock wall in either direction and the way in which the waves smashed violently against the base of the cliff suggested that he’d need to feel a little less exhausted if he was going to stand any chance of making it more than a few metres. Otto appreciated the irony of the fact that they had both made it out of Cypher’s base in one piece only to find themselves trapped by mother nature.

  ‘Keep rubbing your arms and legs,’ Raven said with a look of concern. ‘The last thing I need is you coming down with hypothermia.’

  Raven for her part looked as if she’d just woken up from a good night’s sleep. If the cold was bothering her she was showing no signs of it. The wind suddenly picked up and Otto hugged himself more tightly, trying to retain what little warmth was left in his body.

  ‘About time, too,’ Raven said, and Otto looked at her quizzically. She was looking straight up and as Otto followed suit it took his exhausted brain a moment to make sense of what he was seeing. A dozen metres above them a figure was standing in midair surrounded by a bright light.

  There was a shimmer in the air and the rest of the Shroud suddenly became visible as a cable and harness dropped from the rear hatch.

  ‘Need a lift?’ the pilot’s voice asked over the aircraft’s external loudspeaker.

  Nero was furious. The expression on his face as he looked down at the cowering security chief was enough to freeze the blood. The other operatives in the command centre were focused on their own tasks, desperate to avoid doing anything that might attract Nero’s attention.

  ‘Correct me if I’m wrong, Mr Lewis, but I believe you once described the brig as escape-proof.’ There was ice in his voice.

  ‘Ye
s, sir. I don’t know what happened, we lost all of the camera feeds from the brig just before Francisco escaped. Somebody must have helped him, but I have no idea how they got into the brig itself. That area is cleared for authorised and senior personnel only.’

  ‘Neither of which describe Mr Block or Mr Tackle, so would you care to explain to me how they managed to get into the detention area?’ Nero was losing patience. Somebody was threatening his school and he was not going to stand for it.

  ‘I don’t know,’ the Chief replied weakly.

  ‘I am rather tired of hearing that, Mr Lewis,’ Nero said, glaring at the Chief. ‘H.I.V.E.mind, do you have any record of any interference with either the brig security network or your own systems that might explain this?’

  ‘There is no record of any access to any of my systems that might explain this aberration,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied quickly, his hovering blue head projected into the air a few inches above a nearby console.

  ‘It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that someone has actively erased those records,’ Nero said impatiently.

  ‘That is a logical assumption,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied.

  ‘Professor,’ Nero said, turning to face Professor Pike, ‘could Mr Block or Mr Tackle have been given sufficient access to H.I.V.E.mind’s data core to wipe those recordings?’

  ‘No, it’s impossible. Only you and I have that level of access to the data core. Even if Francisco had given them his own access codes earlier he did not have clearance to carry out a data purge like that. Besides which, I disabled all of his access clearances when he was captured. It’s just not possible.’