“Nothing that can get through these.” Bontenough slapped the nearest trunk, and went back to sorting the rocks. She’d created five separate piles, so they wouldn’t bump into each other while reaching for ammunition. Amery and Litely already had stones ready to throw, and Elliott held the long branch diagonally across her body while bouncing on her toes. Ayliss scooped up two of the rocks, and then the spheres were on them.
“Come on! Come on!” Elliott screamed, and the globes appeared to respond. They dived close to the ground, bunching up, and the target was too good to resist. A volley of rocks flew at them, but they separated at the last moment and came at the grove from three sides. Rising and falling, reversing direction with blinding speed, the spheres abruptly charged in as if on command.
Ayliss dropped to a knee, grabbing another rock, and heard a loud metallic clang. Amery hooted with joy before heaving another stone at a sphere that hung in the air, shivering as if stunned. A flat arm sticking out of its side seemed to be pulling it off balance until Ayliss recognized it as a pruning chainsaw, and then heard the roar when its blade turned on. Amery’s second missile struck the damaged ’bot, and the machine toppled to the ground. It hopped crazily, the saw spewing dirt all around, and Ayliss hurled her rock straight at it. The mechanism gave off a loud burp, and lay still.
A high-pitched buzz drilled into Ayliss’s left ear, and she swung around to look into a set of gnashing clipper blades only a yard away from her face. She hurled herself to the ground, and was trying to roll away when a rock hit her in the chest. Several more rained down as the others found the new target, the stones clanging against the metal. The sphere wobbled as if punch-drunk, and then shot straight up and out of sight.
A stuttering, slapping sound brought Ayliss’s eyes back around to see Elliott repeatedly jabbing the branch at the last aerobot. The limb never reached the dancing ball, but the bizarre sound erupted with every lunge. Ayliss saw that the ’bot had deployed its deadly filament, and was chopping segments off of the branch. Elliott’s makeshift lance was rapidly turning into little more than a club, but a salvo of rocks flew over her head to strike the sphere. It gave off an agonized screech before zigzagging away, but its propulsion system had been damaged and it wasn’t nearly as fast as before.
Ayliss managed to throw a rock along with the others, smashing the ’bot and sending it bouncing past them down the slope.
A sudden silence embraced the woods, and the five soldiers dropped to their knees in a group, chests heaving, mouths hanging open, and then gripped by the swell of victory. Crazy expressions of triumph and amazement moved across their dirt-streaked faces, and their hands reached out for the nearest shoulder.
“Holy shit, that was close.”
“No it wasn’t. We kicked ass.”
“Height of technology, and we killed ’em with rocks!”
“Seriously, now.” Amery gave off an insane giggle. “What did we do to piss them off?”
Already swinging back into defensive posture, turning to watch the ground and the air, the trainees joined in her laughter. Bontenough cut it off.
“Four of them, right? There were four of them?”
“Yes. Yes! Four.”
“Then what am I hearing?”
Joyful looks changed to puzzlement. The distant engine sounds had died, leaving a fragile silence. A gentle wind brushed the trees far above them, the swishing of the tufts making it difficult to hear anything else, but then it came on. Loud. The whining of so many aerobots that it sounded like a swarm of angry bees.
The spheres crested the ridge and raced straight for them this time, one right behind the other. In the moment before they struck, Ayliss thought there were at least a dozen of them. An instant later, her vision disappeared in a curtain of silver that blasted straight through the widest space in the grove. Her arms came up, and then a tidal wave bowled her over.
Ayliss went over backward, feeling the soft flesh of another falling body before crashing into the bole of one the trees. She landed on her back in the dirt, feeling the rush of air as the first spheres sailed straight through. Her running shoes came up, kicking madly, and she felt hard contact. Something slapped her left foot out of the way, but she kicked again with the right. Completely missing, the flying leg rolled Ayliss onto her stomach.
A scream cut the air as she scrambled around the tree, terrified to be outside the protective ring but knowing there was no choice. Seeing Bontenough curled up in pain, a splash of blood on the trunk next to her. Elliott and Litely both fighting over a silver beach ball, their bodies twisting and tugging while the ’bot tried to shake free. Its clippers deployed, snapping at the air while the two soldiers strained to jam the tool into the bark. Amery shouting madly as she charged forward, skidding down under the ball and putting her shoulder into it. The clippers snapping off, and the three women bashing the device against the tree.
A cloud of brown mist exploded all around them, and the escaping aerobot shot up into the treetops. Plodder, Lightfoot, and Legacy transformed into frenetic dancers, hands rubbing at eyes and clutching throats while they coughed and shrieked.
Insecticide. The one tool they’d forgotten. Ayliss was already scrambling to her feet, too far away, seeing another one of the hated machines coming, the three women standing, blinded, right in the path of its saw. Knowing she’d be too late, Ayliss charged forward, legs pistoning with every fiber of muscle and throwing dirt as her running shoes refused to gain traction. The blade howled, and then disappeared when the sphere began to spin in anticipation of impact.
Ayliss left her feet in a frantic dive, shocked to reach them and expecting to feel the metal teeth at any second, but then all four of them slammed into the ground. The noxious aroma of the insecticide rose up all around her, but she was looking for the sphere. The ’bot bounced off of the grove, but now they were all outside its shielding circle, rolling, twisting, looking up to see nothing but the whirling silver balls.
A series of flat explosions sounded, and the orbs were being flung around like tethered balloons in a high wind. More sparks, and then the rattling gunfire was joined by a chain of metallic pings that reminded Ayliss of hail on a metal roof. The spheres were swept away, some of them exploding while others simply fell, and then Ayliss was looking up at the trees and the sky between arms that were crossed over her face.
More gunfire up the hill, women and men shouting for them to stay down, and then another roar of machinery, this time vehicular. Two MPs slewed by on motorcycles and continued down the slope. Then armed figures were running past them, Banshees and a mix of others, taking up positions in a protective circle.
An instant later Stempful was in their midst, again telling them to stay down. Torso armor with no helmet, Scorpion at the ready, she knelt over their prostrate bodies. A drop of water landed on Ayliss’s upturned face, and she frowned in confusion. Looking for Bontenough, she saw Chief Scalpo skid to a halt in front of the fallen trainee. A med pack slid from his shoulder as he holstered a large handgun, but Bontenough was already starting to sit up. Her hand pressed to her cheek, blood streaming red between her fingers, Bontenough mumbled that she was all right. Ayliss’s muscles all relaxed at the same time, a delicious sensation of release, and her shoulders sagged into the dirt.
Looking up, she saw that Stempful’s hair hung in damp tendrils and that shampoo suds were running down her neck. Under the armor she wore a pink bathrobe, and her feet were bare.
“You know who was behind this.” Blocker stood at the top of the crest with Ayliss. Bunched at the bottom of the landslide was a smoking pile of shot-up landscaping robots, being examined by the MPs. “The Guests needed it to look like an accident.”
“They didn’t seem any more interested in me than in the others,” she answered. “And they killed Sergeant Nestor.”
“Supports the cover story. Defective software, crossed signals because of all the waves beaming all over this base. If they just went after you, it would have been too obviou
s.”
“Even if they’d killed us all, Reena would know what really happened.” Ayliss turned affectionate eyes up at Blocker. “You would, too. So why would ZQ take a chance like that?”
“They’re a hard bunch to figure. One moment it’s all about profits, the next it’s about saving face. The truth is, they don’t fear the Mortas family the way they used to.”
“They’re gonna learn how, all over again.”
“Maybe. But it won’t be you teaching them. Or me.”
“Speak for yourself.” Ayliss looked back down the hill, to where the investigators were interviewing the rest of the squad. Plodder, Lightfoot, and Legacy were doing much better, having had their eyes flushed out and receiving injections to counter the insecticide. Ayliss absently kicked the toe of her left running shoe on the ground, trying to shake out the loose dirt. The slap she’d felt from the aerobot had been its whipping leaf line, and it had neatly sliced the sole in half.
“It’s already decided.” Blocker started down the incline, and Ayliss went with him, emitting a squeaking noise every time her left foot hit the ground. “Normally a squad stays here for the full basic training cycle, but the war’s not going well. Your group has been doing okay, so you’ll complete your training with a Banshee company assigned to the fleet. It’ll be much harder for the Guests to do anything stupid if you’re on a warship in the zone, surrounded by Banshee veterans.”
Ayliss studied the damage as they moved, amazed by the marks on the trees. Precise cuts stood next to ugly gouges, and she pointed at the dead ’bot still wrapped around the tree trunk. It had been shot several times, just to be sure. “That one’s mine. Came right at me.”
Chief Scalpo had spray-sutured Bontenough’s forehead where the leaf line had cut her, and the three-inch wound was now hidden under a bandage. Ayliss hugged her briefly, and then introduced Blocker.
“This is an old friend of mine. Two full tours in the war zone, and a couple of scrapes I got in on, too. His name’s Dom Blocker, and he’s running our maintenance support.” She stopped, alarmed. “Hey, are you staying here when we ship out?”
Blocker shook hands with Bontenough, ignoring the question. “I’m Sergeant Blocker. That’s a nice ding you got there.”
“Finally got my nickname. Sergeant Wolcott wanted to call me Bullseye because of this.” She pointed at the wound. “But Sergeant Stempful changed it.”
“What is it?”
“Bullhead.” She radiated pride, and Ayliss embraced her again.
“It fits.”
Bontenough spoke to Blocker. “So what was this about us shipping out?”
“Just a slight acceleration of the timeline. You’ve handled all the stress test nonsense they can throw at you, so you’ll all be going to an active Banshee outfit to complete your training.”
“All of us?” Bontenough appeared confused. “I thought they split Basic squads up when they assigned them to units.”
“Not if I have anything to say about that.” A cheerful voice came from above, and Ayliss turned to see Tin standing at the crest in fatigues. The Banshee bounced down the slope without once looking down, stopping next to Blocker. “You see, there’s a Banshee company out there that needs to be rebuilt. Hard service, lots of vacancies. I happen to know the new skipper, so I sold her a package deal.
“Your whole squad’s going there, along with some maintenance personnel headed up by Sergeant Blocker.” Tin’s lips parted when she looked at him. “We’re even bringing along this squirrely guy named Ewing, supposed to be some kind of commo genius.”
“Excuse me, but who are you?” Bontenough asked.
“No need to apologize, Bullhead. From what I hear, you’ll be one of my team leaders in just a few months.” She looked directly at Ayliss. “I’m Sergeant Tin, and I’ll be your squad leader in the war.”
In a darkened room at Unity Plaza, Reena Mortas hung in space. She was only three legs into the daily replay of Olech’s aborted Step voyage, but she’d been halted in the middle of nowhere for several minutes. The cosmos spread out all around her, and yet she saw none of it. Gerar Woomer’s taped confession played in her mind instead, blowing on the glowing ember of hope that her husband was somewhere out there, still alive.
“Excuse me, Madame Chairwoman, but Minister Kumar is insisting on an audience.” One of the technicians spoke to her out of the void. “He says you’re avoiding him. He’s outside the chamber, and refusing to leave. Should I have him escorted out of the tower?”
“No. Let him in. And then secure the room’s communications.” The lights came up, and the chair known as Olech Mortas’s throne descended. When she reached the empty floor, Kumar was standing there dressed in a gray suit.
“Nice to see you changed out of your adviser outfit.” Reena spoke without rising. “Is there some significance to that?”
“You could say so.” Kumar’s sureness had returned, reminding her of why she so disliked him. “I’ve moved on. I’m working with a certain big corporation now.”
“Zone Quest. Why am I not surprised?”
“If I were you, I’d go easy on the sarcasm. You’re in deep trouble, and you don’t even know it.” Reena didn’t respond, causing Kumar to smile. “That’s better.
“Your man Leeger has been sighted on Celestia. No, don’t bother telling me he’s still here, or on a mission of some kind. The rumors about his disappearance have been flying all over the complex, so I alerted Celestian Command to be on the lookout. Apparently your chief of security has gone over to the rebels—just like his former subordinate, who confessed to Horace’s murder.”
“I assume you came here with an offer.”
“A generous one, considering you murdered your own father and plunged your native planet into chaos. Lucky for you, the Celestian delegation to the Emergency Senate was here on Earth when your idiotic plot blew up on you. It’s surprising how malleable they’ve become, now that they’re homeless paupers.”
“Malleable enough to forget about what happened to Horace?”
“Let’s just say that my new sponsors have promised to help them rebuild their wealth in return for voting in a certain fashion.”
“Would this fashion leave me in power?”
“You’re going to have to earn it. There are some mineral-rich planets in the war zone that your dead husband gave to the Veterans Auxiliary. You’re going to reverse his decision.”
“That’s going to be very unpopular.”
Kumar walked up close. “More unpopular than the revelation that you caused all the suffering on Celestia, as well as the resulting reverses in the war?”
“No, I suppose not.”
“Then we’re in agreement?”
“I’m going to have to give it some thought.”
“Take all the time you need. You have until I leave this room.” Kumar’s eyes ranged over the bare gray walls and the towering ceiling. “They say that only Olech and you were allowed to use this contraption.”
Reena vacated the heavy seat. “Please. Be my guest.”
“Olech’s throne.” The tall man settled into the cushions. He rested his hands on the wide, block-like arms, and tilted his chin upward. “How do I make it work?”
“It has several pre-programmed trips.” Reena stepped around to his right, and pressed a button. “You’ll like this one.”
The chair ascended atop its telescoping pole, and the room darkened. A tiny white dot appeared, rapidly expanding until Kumar was looking down at the Earth from orbit.
“This is amazing!” he called out. “I had no idea it was so realistic. What an effect!”
“Just wait. It gets much better,” Reena called from somewhere below.
The glowing orb of the Earth dropped away, and Kumar hooted as the projections shot him through space. Past Mars, through the ghostly asteroid belt, and then he was moving so fast that he barely registered the gas giants before leaving the galaxy. Darkness descended again, but not for long. Another white dot ca
me to life, growing as it approached.
“What am I seeing?” the scientist shouted. “I don’t recognize this.”
“You will.”
The looming planet slowed, and then resolved into a craggy, flesh-colored mass. No oceans or lakes were in evidence, and Kumar was leaning forward when the orb opened its eyes. He gave off a low moan.
“My name is Gerar Woomer, and I wish to make a complete confession.” The planet coalesced into the dead physicist’s face, consuming Kumar’s field of vision. “I was coerced into attempting to murder Olech Mortas, Chairman of the Emergency Senate, by my colleague Timothy Kumar. Kumar was speaking for Horace Corlipso, who offered to protect my grandson while he served in the war zone. He also threatened to murder my grandson if I didn’t comply.”
“No. No. This isn’t happening!” Kumar yelled.
“I personally charted the multi-Threshold voyage Chairman Mortas was about to undertake, and also arranged to have his capsule destroyed in the middle of that voyage. When the Chairman disappeared, Timothy Kumar congratulated me on his murder.”
The gigantic face went silent, blankly staring at him as another light approached from below. Kumar’s legs came up against his chest, and he wrapped his arms around them while mumbling unintelligibly. The view beneath him was the expanse of a star, a seething sea of fire waiting to consume him.
“What do you think, Timothy?” Reena called out from the center of the fireball. “Quite a show, right?”
“This proves nothing! He’s dead. You have no evidence.”
“Aren’t you forgetting who my father was? What he was like? How do you think Horace would have responded to something like this?” Reena’s words echoed all around him. “When I walk out of here, Nathaniel Ulbridge is coming in. He’s going to take something with him when he leaves and, unlike my father, I’m going to give you the choice of what that is. Your confession . . . or your life.”
“That won’t stop anything! You’re finished! Zone Quest owns enough votes to have you tossed out of power, no matter what happens to me!”
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