Starbounders #2

by Adam Jay Epstein

  Ryic and Quee were waiting at the entrance of the O2 bridge. Once Zachary arrived, the three began their crossing. Suddenly, more Binary snipers were emerging through slits in the gizalith, but before they could get any shots off, they were mowed down by the sledge still circling outside.

  Zachary, Quee, and Ryic made it to the other side, and Quee used her cryptocard to hack into the entrance portal and force open the door. They were inside the gizalith. The three hurried through an atmospheric atrium and when they came out the other side, Zachary felt gravity pull him back to the ground. He looked around to see that the interior of the ship was an enormous open space encircled by hundreds of floors ascending to the top of the pyramid. Thousands of Binary soldiers moved busily throughout the different tiers, some on foot and some on speedwheels, and it was only a matter of time before the three young Starbounders would be discovered.

  “Now how are we supposed to find that central communications hub?” Zachary asked.

  “I’ve already uploaded the gizalith’s floor plan,” Quee replied, scrolling through her wrist tablet. “Finding it isn’t what I’m worried about. It’s getting there.”

  Zachary looked over Quee’s shoulder at the blueprint of the ship displayed on her tablet. He could see that the central hub was located six floors up, on the north end of the gizalith. It wasn’t a terribly long distance to travel, but how would they get past Commander Keel’s army of robots?

  “Any air ducts lead up to that room?” Zachary asked Quee.

  She did a quick scroll on her tablet. “Afraid not.”

  “I don’t suppose tiptoeing would work,” Ryic said.

  “Wait,” Zachary said to Quee, still glancing down at her wrist tablet. “Go back.” He pointed at the screen, then looked up at a room just down the hall from them. “Says that’s where the ship’s refinery is.”

  “So?” Quee asked.

  “I’ve got an idea,” Zachary said.

  He started moving quickly, and Ryic and Quee hustled to keep up. They were able to reach the fuel depot without being spotted and the three ducked inside. Fortunately, there were no Binary soldiers stationed there, and Zachary’s hunch was right. Just like at the refinery on the Mammoths of Xero, there were several robotic carriers—giant jellyfish-like porters with long mechanical tendrils snaking out from their clear bodies—hovering in a row.

  “These should do the trick,” Zachary said. “Quee, come with me. Ryic, follow behind us.” Zachary approached one of the vehicles. “Porter, open storage hatch.”

  The jellyfish descended and its clear door lifted open. Ryic commanded a second carrier to do the same as Zachary and Quee climbed aboard theirs. Once they were buckled in, Zachary said, “Exit to hallway.”

  The vehicle obeyed without hesitation, floating back into the pyramid’s cavernous interior.

  “There’s a ramp to the left,” Quee said, looking down at her tablet.

  “Ninety degrees counterclockwise,” Zachary directed the porter.

  The hovering jellyfish moved effortlessly, and Zachary could see that Ryic’s porter was right behind them. They were halfway to the ramp when Binary soldiers suddenly flooded the hallway in front of them, particle blasters in hand.

  “Tendrils one, four, and six, strike approaching robots,” Zachary instructed.

  The carrier’s mechanical arms lashed out, batting away the soldiers with brute force. They went flying over the edge of the balcony, tumbling toward the ground floor of the ship sixty floors below. A second wave of Binary robots charged at them, this time firing off beams of concentrated sound from their sonic crossbows, but they merely bounced off the vehicle’s transparent shell.

  “Tendrils two and three, disarm soldiers,” Zachary said. “Tendril five, attack.”

  Two of the porter’s mechanical arms snatched the crossbows from the robots’ metallic hands and discarded them. Then tendril five swooped in like a wrecking ball, barreling through the soldiers in one fluid motion and knocking them thirty yards through the air. Hitting the far wall, the bots slid to the ground.

  The two vehicles continued to ascend the ramp. From balconies above and across, more photon fire came flying at them. The glass outer shell of Zachary and Quee’s porter was beginning to splinter under the constant barrage.

  “The hub should be just on the other side of this next ring,” Quee said.

  As their carrier came to the junction point where they could either get off the ramp or keep going, Zachary gave a quick command: “Exit here.”

  The porter left the ramp and began moving around the ring toward the communication hub. Ryic, whose floating vehicle was traveling just behind, swung the porter’s arms clumsily, dispatching several Binary soldiers barreling toward him on speedwheels. Before getting hit again, Zachary maneuvered his ride through the open door to the hub. It was a room filled with holographic displays that seemed to monitor all the vital functions of the gizalith. The far wall had thousands of screens that surveilled the visual feeds of every Binary robot in the giant pyramid and the ones piloting the talons outside.

  “Stop and surrender,” a Binary robot inside called out, with weapon drawn menacingly.

  “Tendril two!” Zachary shouted.

  The robotic jellyfish reached out one of its long arms and clamped down on the soldier’s waist. It lifted him off his feet and flung him like a ragdoll, past Ryic’s porter and over the balcony.

  “Open hatch,” Zachary said. The clear body of the vehicle split, allowing Quee and Zachary to drop to the floor.

  Quee ran over to the far wall with the visual feeds of all the Binary robots and whipped out her cryptocard. She inserted the thin metal rectangle into a slot and began typing into her wrist tablet. Zachary came up behind her.

  “Something’s wrong,” Quee said. “They built in a fail-safe. A system defense that prevents remote override. And there’s only one way to circumvent it. Commander Keel’s unique Binary impression.”

  “What does that mean?” Zachary asked. “Do I need to get some kind of serial number or access code?”

  “No. You need to get Keel’s fingerprint,” Quee said. “Or a whole finger. Whatever’s easier.”

  “He could be anywhere on this ship,” Zachary said.

  “Not anywhere. Here.” Quee pointed to one of the feeds that displayed a view of the gizalith’s apex command center. “This is what Commander Keel is seeing right now.”

  “How do we know it’s him?” Zachary asked.

  “This series of ones and zeroes translates in Binary language to Keel’s name,” she said, gesturing to a row of numbers below the feed. “The apex is at the top of the pyramid. You have to get there soon. Look.”

  Quee pointed to another section of the wall where the feeds of the talon pilots were displayed. A group of them were rapidly approaching the galactic fold that led to the string nexus, with the scorpiosites following behind.

  “We still have time, but not much,” Quee said grimly. “I’ll stay back and upload the override order so that it’s ready to go once you bring back Keel’s Binary impression. Ryic can cover me.”

  Zachary looked over to see that Ryic was still sitting in the jellyfish porter by the door, knocking back a handful of Binary soldiers that were attempting to enter. Zachary climbed back inside his own vehicle and sealed the fractured clear body around him.

  He directed his robotic carrier out of the communications hub, past Ryic and onto the ringed platform of the 108th floor of the pyramid. He was about head back to the series of ramps leading upward but was surprised to find that there were now hundreds of Binary robots descending on him. It would be impossible to swat them all away, and even if he could have, Zachary knew that he wouldn’t have time to make it to the top. At least not if he had to circle up the slowly rising ramps for another hundred floors. He needed a shortcut and fast.

  He looked upward at the apex. What caught his eye was that the level directly above him—and every successive level—had a ringed platform identi
cal to the one his porter was floating above right now. It reminded him of the geodesic dome jungle gyms he played on as a kid. It also gave him an idea. Back in the schoolyard, if someone was strong enough, he would be able to climb up the inside of the dome to the top. Maybe his porter could do the same.

  “Tendril one, two, and three. Grab the edge of the platform on the floor above.” The mechanical arms reached upward and snagged the metal guardrail. “Pull.”

  The porter lifted itself higher into the air and was now dangling precariously over the thousand-foot drop.

  “Tendrils four, five, six, and seven,” Zachary said. “Grab the next platform and pull.”

  The carrier extended its tendrils to the next rail and vaulted itself two floors upward. Like a spider monkey swinging from the branches of a tree or King Kong ascending the Empire State Building, Zachary’s vehicle was rising up the middle of the giant pyramid on a direct path to the apex.

  Keel’s army of robots opened fire from each successive floor that Zachary passed, but the clear body of the jellyfish was withstanding the assault. There was no telling how much longer it would hold, though.

  The carrier made it all the way to the top, just one floor beneath the apex. It flipped over the guardrail and ascended the final ramp. Once it reached the closed door to the command center, Zachary brought it to a stop.

  “Open hatch,” Zachary said. The clear body of the jellyfish split and Zachary dropped to the ground.

  “Tendrils one through seven, smash down that door and enter.”

  The mechanical porter began pounding on the steel barrier, making huge dents until it blasted the door right off its hinges. The inside of the apex command looked like a smaller version of the gizalith, only its walls were all see-through. There was a clear view of the outerverse from every side.

  Zachary stood back and watched as photon cannon fire immediately bombarded the entering unmanned vehicle. The already splintered glass exterior exploded into pieces, sending shards flying everywhere.

  “Tendrils, defend yourself!” Zachary shouted from his safe cover.

  The robotic carrier’s arms crushed the pair of soldiers standing guard at the door, but the porter wasn’t able to move any farther as Commander Keel sent a rocket-propelled geigernade directly at it. The explosive detonated on impact, obliterating what was left of the jellyfish.

  “Zachary Night, I know it’s you!” Keel shouted through the door. “You’re too late.”

  Zachary took out his warp glove and activated it. This had been his plan. To storm the apex command center and confront Commander Keel. But now that he was here, he wasn’t entirely sure what to do next.

  “The talons haven’t reached the galactic fold yet,” Zachary replied.

  “I know the only way you can stop us is with my Binary impression,” Keel said. The gizalith commander pulled out two more geigernades and squeezed his fingers around them. “But you’re not going to get it.”

  Zachary opened a hole with his warp glove. As he stuck his arm through, another hole formed a few inches from Keel. Zachary reached through and swiped one of the explosive devices. He chucked it away from Keel to the far side of the room. Zachary’s gloved hand went back for the other geigernade, but before he could grab it, it detonated.

  Zachary pulled his hand back through the hole as the force of the blast blew Keel’s hand to smithereens, tore the rest of his arm off, and sent him flying backward. The geigernade that Zachary had tossed exploded as well, but the damage was limited to a chunk of wall and a bay of computers.

  In the chaos, Zachary grabbed a piece of broken glass from his destroyed jellyfish porter and charged into the room. Keel returned to his feet, but only briefly. Zachary slid across a battle strategy table and kicked him in the chest once he got to the other side.

  Wielding the shard like an ionic dagger, Zachary slashed at Keel’s body, leaving gashes in his copper exterior. Keel looked down at the mere scratches with a mocking sneer.

  “You can’t hurt me,” Keel said. “Not like I can hurt you. Flesh is weak. A stew of water and carbon barely held together by ionic bonds. Metal is strong. A mesh of atoms so tightly woven that only the flames of a sun could melt it.”

  Keel stood up and thrust out his remaining hand, gripping Zachary’s throat. He squeezed tight like a vise.

  “We don’t need to breathe like you,” Keel said. “Blood doesn’t flow through fragile tubes in our bodies.”

  Zachary was beginning to feel light-headed. He tried to fight back, but his arms were tingling, in danger of becoming unresponsive if he didn’t do something quickly. Zachary eyed one of his porter’s dismembered tendrils lying outside the door. Gathering his strength, he reached out with his warp glove and traded in the shard of glass in his hand for the mechanical arm.

  Zachary swung it like a combat stick, a bigger, stronger combat stick than the one he’d become so adept at using back in the Qube on Indigo 8.

  He flicked the flexible tendril and caused it to loop around the hand still clenching Zachary’s jugular. With a tug he was able to pry Keel’s fingers from his throat. He gasped for air, sucking in a lungful. Then Zachary took another swing. This time the metal tendril wrapped around Commander Keel’s shoulder tightly.

  Disarm and submit, Zachary thought.

  And disarm he did. Zachary gave a mighty tug, and Keel’s entire arm was ripped clear off.

  Now for the submit part of the equation.

  “Even for someone who doesn’t feel pain, this is going to hurt.”

  Zachary grabbed a geigernade off Keel’s waistbelt and shoved it in his hollow arm socket. He batted the robot back with the tendril, and with Keel’s severed arm in hand ran for the door as fast as he could.

  Zachary dove for cover as bits of Keel blew across the apex command center. Zachary picked himself up and kept running down the ramp toward the balcony of the 200th floor of the gizalith.

  Without the floating jellyfish, climbing back down the center of the pyramid to Ryic and Quee would be impossible. The ramps would take too long even if they weren’t swarming with blaster-wielding robots. At least, they would on foot. Zachary glanced to a rack on the nearby wall where speedwheels hung on hooks. He strapped Keel’s arm across the back of his Starbounder jumpsuit, then grabbed a pair of wheels and tossed them to the ground. As he stepped his friction boots inside, the latches snapped into place. He reached for one of the barbells and took hold. Once he lowered it to the ground, he was propelled forward, gaining momentum with every second. The downward trajectory of the spiraling ramp only added velocity.

  An onslaught of Binary soldiers were soon blocking his path, but Zachary lowered his head and slalomed around them. He never slowed. He was rocketing straight for the next wave of Keel’s army, but these soldiers were firing. Fortunately, the combination of going fast and staying low to the ground made him an almost impossible target to strike.

  The farther he descended, the faster the loops became. It was a head-numbing blur. Round and round he went, zipping past what seemed like an endless cavalry of metal. Finally he was approaching the 108th floor, and there was that tiny little detail about not being able to stop. So Zachary simply let go. Instead of using his own hands to slow down, he pulled Keel’s arm from his back and jammed it against the ground. There was a shower of sparks before he gradually came to a stop.

  Zachary disconnected the speedwheels from his boots and ran for the communications hub. Ryic was still guarding the door inside his robotic jellyfish while Quee waited by the far wall.

  “Thank goodness!” Quee exclaimed upon seeing Zachary. “The talons have nearly reached the fold.”

  Zachary passed her Keel’s arm and collapsed to his knees after he did.

  Quee immediately pressed the hand up to a sensor built into the wall. Binary numbers began to blink across the visual feeds as Keel’s unique impression was verified.

  “We’re in,” Quee said. It took only a few seconds before she was stepping back. “The ord
er has been approved. They’re turning around. It’s over. And nobody can reprogram them again without this.” She set Keel’s arm down on the ground. “Ryic, if you’d do the honors.”

  “With pleasure,” Ryic replied. “Porter, crush that hand.”

  One of the mechanical tendrils made a fist and came swinging down like a sledgehammer, smashing the metallic appendage to bits.

  On the visual feeds Zachary could see that the Binary talons had turned around and were now heading for the fold that would lead the scorpiosites back to the Olvang Nebula.

  Even though he was already weightless, Zachary instantly felt lighter. And it wasn’t just because he had saved the outerverse again. He had done it with his friends, and a whole lot of others at his side. Of course, they weren’t done yet. They were still on a hostile ship and needed to get back to the bison. Ryic lowered his carrier and opened the clear body, allowing Quee and Zachary to enter.

  “Return to the entrance portal on refinery level,” Ryic commanded the jellyfish.

  The vehicle took off, and for the six floors down the ramp, the Binary soldiers stepped aside and gave the carrier clear passage.

  “I didn’t just reprogram those talon pilots,” Quee said. “I reversed all of Keel’s orders. The IPDL will be able to take it from here.”

  They reached the atmospheric atrium connected to the O2 bridge and exited the jellyfish. As the three crossed back through the clear tube, Zachary watched as talons zoomed past the gizalith and toward the fold, with the oversized scorpiosites following in their wake. Zachary, Ryic, and Quee reentered the bison, and once inside, they found that Skold had successfully repaired the hole left by the scorpiositic virus.

  “This ship ready to fly?” Zachary asked.

  “Good as new,” Skold replied. “I see you guys took care of business on your end, too.”

  “You check on Kaylee?” Zachary asked.

  “She doesn’t look so good,” Skold answered. “I think we should head for the nearest medical freighter. Make sure she gets looked at ASAP.”