Trampship Wars 2

by L. D. Roberts

  Mickey continued in his ears. “ Half the training of a scout is teaching them when what mode is appropriate and safe for various circumstances and how to use each mod to the full advantage of the suit during a mission.”

  “Well then, I will have to leave the modes up to you Mickey.” Mark turned to look around at his own butt and the quickly dissipating stream of hot air. Chuckling to him self Mark turned back around and studied the rings below looking for more targets.

  After a few minutes he turned to the little ball on his shoulder. “Ok well? We may as well test you out while we are waiting.

  Mickey , tell it to do a search pattern down the shaft and we will see what it can do and see.” Taking a breath as he frowned. “Hopefully it won’t get it s little butt shot off while it is doing it. Mak e my leap of faith playing Superman a big fucking waist.”

  "No Mark. I have finished programming it. You tell it. You need the practice."

  "Aaa .. …? What? Well. Ok. A aa. , s S ensor ball, drop down the shaft and search for enemy bots."

  The little ball detached itself from Marks shoulder and streaked out into the shaft and dropped down as it disappeared from his glasses. A few seconds later a picture of one of the bots Mark had already shot appeared with the bots position on a little map of the shaft in the corner of his glasses. The dead bot was dragged out of the way and replaced by another. M Six m ore bot bodie s being replaced appeared a few seconds later as 7 bots replaced the dead bots . The 6 marine bots looking down the shaft Six marines sighted their weapons at the criminal AI’s bots leaned over the rail in stealth mod . Mark smiled and leaned over himself taking the one bot not yet targeted. “Three, Two, One. Shoot.” on the last T seven shots pierced 7 bot ' s ’ brain cases. “Ok! Now that is shooting. ”

  Mark watched the little bot’s transmitted screen as it flew down the shaft checking out every nook and cranny on the rings of floors below. Even going up to stare at bots looking up the sh aft only a foot away before going on. Finally shaking his head at how close and easy the little bot was ma king it look. Making it look like fun. “Mickey, l L et’s try this suit out.”

  Turning and tak ing a few steps to the English Officer not far away . “I am taking a little trip down the shaft.”

  The English officer jumped to the side away from Mark’s voice as he looked around wildly. A curse escaping his lips.

  “Sorry.” Mark turned his stealth mod off. “As I said , I am going to drop down the shaft. Tell your men on the rings around the shaft not to shoot me.” Mark frowned. “Aaa. Better yet , tell them to stand down until I return. I don’t want an itchy finger shooting at my ghost.”

  Mark activated the gravity coils as his suit disappeared again and stepped up and out into the shaft dropping down the center of the shaft, weapon at the ready. Hovering in the center of the shaft , level with the dead bots as he watched them being replaced again. This time the bots started only peeking out at intervals to survey the rings above before pulling back. Mark smiled. Several seamed to look straight at him some 20 feet away as they waited to peek out again without seeing him.

  Quickly bored as the bots ignored him, Mark He dropped down the shaft wondering how deep it went as Mickey’s sensors were confused as to how deep it went and what was down there, with most of her processors busy on the tap . More bots started slipping out onto the floors ringing the core and pointing their weapons up the shaft or started cutting firing ports . The video in the corner of his glasses from the little ball was starting to get confusing as well as it started kept jerking and moving too fast to keep track of it as it kept showing more and more bots moving out onto the floors ringing the shaft. The little ball trying to take a close up of each and every new or changing bot position .

  Leaving the bots above , Mark d D ropp ed ing down until he he reached ground level and a concrete floor with hundreds of small conduits and even holes through it (possible meant for future conduits or pipes). Plasticrete blocks and sections of floors that had been rings hundreds of feet above that morn ing , littered the floor. holes through it into a The shaft that continued down past the 50 foot thick plug according to Mickey’s sensors down the holes . Several closed very thick plasti crete and armored hatches were spaced a round the middle of around the shaft with conduit pipes and water, air, service and sewer mains going straight down through the concrete floor circling around the outer edge .

  “Ok. Where is that little bugger now? ” Mark looked around for the little ball.

  “Mar k, I programmed it to follow your commands and even come to you using several methods of communications. Think of it like a little pet, a dog if you will. The easie st way to call it is to hold out your hand flat with your palm up to show it that you want it . I have a list of silent commands to allow you to communicate with it even if you are busy talking or doing other tasks with your comm. The hand signals should come in handy even using the stealth suit as its sensors are fully capable of seeing you even with the suit on stealth . Go ahead and give it a try.”

  “Ok , but if I am in stealth mod . H ow can it see my han d signals? Shaking his head Mark tried anyway. Holding out his hand the little ball suddenly appeared in it. “ Aaa. OK. Go down through one of those holes and show me what is down there and how far down the shaft go es please.”

  The little ball streaked away with it moving almost too fast for Mark to see it leave.

  Several The concr ete floor hundred feet down at the bottom of the parking garage , the floor turned out to be a nother 50 foot thick plug with the shaft dropping down anoth er couple er hundred thousand feet to end in another closed bottom with the conduits and service mains going in all directions. Though most of the smaller 6 inch diameter comm and security conduits merged into a half dozen 3 foot diameter conduit s that drop ped down through the floor around the outside edge of the shaft , most of the pipes and conduits turned and went out the sides. With no unsealed pipes or holes for the ball to follow. The little ball scanned the single hatch out one side at the bottom was scanned by the little bot and showed and found solid plasticrete behind it for a good 50 feet . There was no way out of the bottom of the shaft for anything but pipes and conduits.

  “My Godstar , who would do that? Damn. Well so much for the easy way.” Mark started back up. To find that a half dozen marines and their bots had follow ed ing him down the shaft .

  Finding that dozens of bots were had now taken the place of the first half dozen they had destroyed “They will be starting the attack in five minutes Mark. The Transport boats and bombers are starting their runs schedule. You should join the Command APCC in case changes are needed.”

  “All ready? I am sure the Captain of Marines can take care of that.” Mark started shooting bots on the way up with the rest of the marines that had followed him down, joining in to clean out the shaft. “Just make sure you hit them each time in the head.” He ordered the marines. “I don’t want a wounded bot reporting that we are stealthy and floating around the shaft. It would be too easy to trap us. Which means we need to get out of here.” Mark chuckled. Replacement bots started showing up with increased frequency until a steady stream of shots were being destroyed up fired up and down the shaft as he started working his way up . Only to find out from the little ball that new bots were appearing farther down the shaft forcing Mark to drop back down to destroy the new menace s.

  After turning at a warning from Mickey as he was hit by something that pushed him to the side just in time to watch a plasma ball zip past his left ear close enough to feel the heat as well as hear its hissing zing, Mark looked over at the little ball hovering next to him and frowned not sure if it was the little ball or not that had hit him pushing him out of the way or another bot shooting at him . But Mark could see only the one bot on the floor ring around the shaft.

  Mark finely said. “Ok this is enough, everyone back up and out before we get overwhelmed and someone gets hurt.” Placing his sight on the bot as it turned looking for targets elsewhere after Mark ha
d slid to the side out of its line of vision. Mark fired blowing it’s head off. Then started up making sure everyone including the marine bots went ahead of him.

  By the time Mark he reached the floor he had started on top , more and more AI controlled replacement bots all up and down the shaft that were just starting to shoot randomly up the shaft . The criminal AI controlled Bots ’ shots coming increasingly close to him and the last few marines and bots as they slipped over the rail onto the platform ring.

  “Now that was fun.” Ma rk Mark shut off his stealt h as he turned around to see more and more beams and blaster balls streaking past the donut’s inner rail and on up the shaft . The Englis h reserve lieutenant came rushing over to Mark as he appeared. Smiling Mark said. “The Squad is all back Lieutenant. I think we destroyed a lot of bots but they were being replaced faster than we could shoot them . When they started blindly shoo ting it was time for us to leave . But they will calm down and stop shooting in a few minutes so sit b ack and relax. ”

  Mark turned from the agitated Lieutenant to check the taps and cores. The mass of shots and going up the chase growing thicker by the second as M ark heard the Lieutenant order his men to return fire. L aser streaks and plasma balls started going down .

  Mark took a deep breath smiling as he glan c ed over the edge just to make sure the bots were not coming up the shaft before backing way. “Yap we timed that just perfect.” It started raining pieces of rail and concrete past the floor’s rail and rail down the shaft. Mark stepped closer to the rail trying to make sure the AI bots were not trying to assault up the shaft. Mark watched one of the English troop s get hit in the shoulder and fall back onto the rings floor.

  Mark took a step toward him to help but was beat by a medic. Then looking down on to the other side of the shaft a t t one of the English controlled ring s only a few floors below on the other side of the shaft . Jack looked was just in time to see one of the English troopers trying to return fire get his head blown off as another not far away was shot in the chest and fell back with blood spurting out as he hit the floor laying there with a gaping hole in his chest and a growing pool of blood under him.

  A body came falling past the ring. The Troopers arms flailing as he fell screaming. Mark lunged up over for the rail not thinking as he started to jump in an effort to catch the man only to be pulled back into safety by the hand of one of the bots. Beams and blaster balls quickly converging onto the falling English trooper , quickly cutting and blowing him up into pieces , as arms and legs separated from his rapidly eviscerated no longer screaming body .

  A Sgt. walked over and took Mark’s other arm almost as fast as the bot . “He was already dead Commander. He just did not know it yet.” An arm, shoulder and head loosely connected, came tumbling down from above. As someone on the a floor below them screamed. Someone else started crying “MOMMY ! ” but Mark could not tell if it was from up or down the shaft.

  “They will be starting the attack in five minutes Mark. The Transport boats and bombers are starting their runs on schedule. You should join the Command APCC in case changes are needed.”

  “All ready? I am sure the Captain of Marines can take care of that.”

  “Mr. Collins.” Came the Marine Captain’s voice over hi s helmet. “I see that a battle has started in the shaft you tapped into the towers security feeds in . Nice job by the way. Now get your but t out of there before you get killed. I want you back in the Command APCC immediately where it is s afe until we can clean out the bot s and open a safe passage to the AI’s cavern in the Subbasement. ”

  “But Sir? I am needed here. I started this battle and I can’t leave until…”

  “I said get your butt out of there now! And that is an or der Commander. The English troops can take care of any problems in the shaft without your help. Out.” .

  Mark leaned over the railing and fired . T aking out bot after bot watched the as the growing number of laser beam shots headed down the shaft increase d over the next few minute s . M as m ore and more English troops joined the none battle as more men sc reamed or slumped dead as weapons and pieces of plasticrete railings rained down the shaft . S ometimes followed by bodies or parts of bodies . No matter how many bots he shot, 2 bots se e med to replace each of them.

  “One minute until the attack starts love.”

  An English squad came running in taking up positions around the ring . One of them not seeing Mark, shouldered him to the side and immediately started firing down the shaft. Mark stared at the trooper as another trooper pushed him farther away from the rail as he headed past Mark without seeing him. Mark realizing that his suit was gain on stealth without him activating it.

  “This action seems to be have draw ing n most of the bots from the outer shell of the Tower Mark. Good idea. You just increased the chances of the attack by our troops substantially love.” One of the new English troopers a quarter way around the ring had leaned out a little far to get a better shot, suddenly flew back hitting the wall to slump down to the floor missing half his head and one shoulder. Mark suddenly realized that another half dozen English troopers had been killed or wounded on that ring in just the few minute he had been firing. One of the English troops having to step on one of the bodies to fire over the rail.

  “My Godstar! What the hell is going on? Why is the AI attacking up the core now?” Mark could not believe the savagery as well as the volume of fire going up and down the shaft as it kept growing. The E nglish trooper that had replaced hi m slumped down only a few feet away from Mark as the side of his head was blown off. He had barely peeked over the edge with his weapon.

  “This is not a general attack Mark . The AI’s bots are not trying to advance, just defend what they think is a massive attack by the English t o get down the sh aft . The AI most likely thinks th ey are trying to get down and to his core which I believe is directly below the lowest plug in the shaft we had dropped down to . ”

  Shutting off his stealth again, Mark turned to the nearest officer. “Have your men stand back. This is not a major attack. Stop firing and the bots will stop.”

  “Who the hell do you think you are? The last time they attacked they crawled up the sides and slaughtered tens of thousands of civilians and wounded troopers. Now get out of the way. We are stopping them here this time.”

  ( Many posthumous meddles and promotions would be given over the next few months after the battle for the shaft ended. With the troopers credited with saving thousands of civilian lives from the horde of AI bots trying to keep them from being evacuated. So the papers and official reports would say.)

  “There is nothing to stop Damn it.” Mark pleaded.

  Mark looked up as a marine was thrown across the platform against the wall.

  With his heart trying to get out of his chest Mark started for the marine only to watch him get up with a gash across the armor of his shoulder and go back to shooting bots. Taking time to pick his target before firing again then going to another target. Which was what all the Star Queen marines were doing instead of just firing wildly down the shaft as was most of the English Troopers.

  “Mark. The bots will stop as soon as we attack the outer shell of the Tower . There is nothing you can do now here.”

  “Mr. Collin’s. I ordered you and your squad out of the damn central tower shaft . N ow move your butt !” Came the Captain’s voice in Marks helmet.

  Mark watched the English officer he had ordered to stop firing die only a few steps away as his head was blown off and his body slumped across the rail . Mark closed his eyes as he turned away. “Marines; stand down. We have more important things to do. Check the taps and cores one last time.” He headed out of the chase, core noticing that all seemed to be quit around the rest of the Tower as the little ball took up position over his shoulder. The battle behind him growing more violent by the second as English troops continued to arrive at a run and die d in increasing numbers.

  Mark He started jogging as another scream pierced his ears from behin
d him through the open door . Deciding that watching the start of the attack from the outer shell of the tower just might be interesting. As long as it was away from that hell hole. A hell hole he had started. His eyes blurring up as he ran trying to put more distance behind him and all the death he had and was causing. Mickey had an icon directing Mark toward the Command A PCC now sitting out by the SP gun Mark had first been shot at so many hours before. Reminding him of another bout of stupid ity. The last place he wanted to go even though he had been ordered to leave the core chase shaft.

  (Many posthumous meddles and promotions would be given over the next few months after the battle for the shaft ended. With the troopers credited with saving thousands of civilian lives from the horde of AI bots trying to keep them from being evacuated. So the papers and official reports would say.) __________________________

  Mark approached the make shift landing platform and the large opening blasted in the side of the building, much too fast. One of the English jeeps APC 's they had brought along pulled out from the landing zoon floor filled with after delivering another load of men and supplies and quickly disappear into the distance as it climbed at full power. Suddenly he was upon the stacks of supplies and equipment unloaded from the truck piled high. With the platoon of troops around the piles, busy transferring the supplies deeper into the tower . A squad of men from round the outer ring and the newly arrived at the supply zone and turned toward the passagew ay Mark was troops streaking out of much to fast now , in their rush ed to reach down the passageway toward the pointless battle he had started . , Mark had suddenly ran out of clear room to run and no way to stop. At some 60 miles an hour to his disbelief as he suddenly realized how fast he was going. He knew that if he hit the mass of troops in their junk suits as well as all the loosely stacked supplies he was li kely to kill someone though he was certain that his s uit would protect him . at his speed , Mark was just reaching for the gravity lift controls when he realized he had run out of time and space and gave one last jump flattening out his body horizontally like superman to sail over the heads of the troops. Brushing the overhead , two floors above the troops.