by David Aries
We threw our arms into the air and cheered.
If DD thought draining the life out of this station would stop us, she was dead wrong. We weren’t prepared to hand over our happy ever after without a fight.
We were going to rip it from her metal claws if it was the last thing we did.
Chapter 28
After we’d rushed through our preparations, we left our busted ship and went back into the maintenance tunnels. However, we didn’t follow the same path as earlier. Instead, we went a different route given to us by Ruple.
Those schematics best be right…
We obeyed his instructions to the letter—told ahead of time due to our armor’s communicators not working—and quickly arrived at the lift that would take us to the upper floors.
That was supposed to take us to the upper floors.
The elevator was dead.
“It seems DD noticed we destroyed one of her lifts,” I commented as I checked the empty shaft.
“Ya mean you did?” Sylvetty replied.
“And I don’t regret it, even if it means getting up will be more awkward than we planned.”
Let this setback stop us? Never! I hadn’t been blessed with the gift of climbing to be chased off by a challenge like this. My eyes scanned the shaft and plotted a path to the top.
If I could get up, then Trez was a no-brainer. Faris and Vay weren’t far behind, even if I did have half a mind on the injuries my xioth lover was hiding, and Faris was weighed down by a little extra something.
She was carrying a tarp-wrapped bundle for… reasons.
I’d rather not push them, but we’ve got a deadline to beat.
Sylvetty’s wings made her a non-issue, which left Casella and Akko.
“Are we going to climb?” the former said while stretching her arms. “At last, a chance to show off my training.”
I picked Casella up and threw her over my shoulder. “Sorry, beautiful. Not today.” As much as I enjoyed seeing her show off, time was as precious as she was.
We rushed up as fast as we could, bringing Casella and Akko with us, until we reached the right floor.
I’m glad we only had to go up a couple.
I dread to think how we’d have managed going right to the top…
Instead, we were on the satellite’s middle layer, which didn’t seem too dissimilar to the other floors in design. The maintenance tunnels remained consistent, as did the décor outside.
There was no sign of any robots patrolling the halls.
“Okay, let’s go,” I said once Akko had given our bubbles a quick refill. “Hopefully, DD won’t notice us.”
“Do you really think that’ll happen, sweetie?” Akko asked, voice muffled by her apparatus. “I mean, there must be cameras all over this place.”
I couldn’t see any, but I suspected as such.
“We’ll do what we can,” I said while pushing forward. “Just because she’s in charge doesn’t mean she’s watching everywhere at—”
The door ahead slammed shut.
“I do not require omniscience to notice someone sneaking through my halls.”
“DD,” I said, snarling at the walls.
“Hello again, everyone,” she said through the station’s speakers. “I must confess that I believed our previous meeting to be our last. It seems I was foolish to underestimate those I admire.”
“Admire, admire, admire. You’ve got a funny way of showing it.”
“Must I remind you that I offered you freedom? That I offered you a place by my side? It was you who chose to reject my kindness, Brandon. A flawed decision. Whatever you are currently attempting will not work. Nor will I allow you to escape again. My servants should be demolishing the ship I foolishly overlooked as we speak.”
I ground my teeth. So much for retreating…
Not that such a thing was ever an option.
At least, not until we’d managed to disable the bomb threatening The Core.
Even delaying here was a waste, especially when the sound of approaching danger was rushing our way.
I snarled. “Trez! Can you get this door open?”
“Are you insane?!” she replied. “One, I’m not a damn hacker. Two, even if I was, you think I’d be able to beat her?”
“A good point well made,” I said as my goosebumps stood on end. “Then I guess it’s time for Plan B.” I took my axe and smashed the door with all the force I could.
It made a visible dent.
I knew it! This thing is nowhere near as sturdy as the entrance to The Core.
It wasn’t even as thick as the door to Walt’s garden. There was no reason I couldn’t brute force my way through.
However, naturally, an appearing pack of DD-controlled sentries disagreed. They rolled closer, boxing us in, before opening their bodies to—
The sentries exploded. One side was demolished by a barrage of lasers while the other was rushed by a group of close-ranged warriors.
“Do not fear, my Brandon,” Casella said, pistol smoking. “We shall watch your back.”
“Too right!” Sylvetty said as she drilled her hammer into an oversized bowling ball. “Now hurry and smash that fecker open!”
My lips curled into a grin. “Right away, girls.” I turned to the door and didn’t bother looking back. I’d assembled the most wonderful collection of mates there was. If they promised to protect me, who was I to disbelieve them?
My every hit crumpled the door, caving its metal screen inward. After a good half dozen, I exposed a hole to the other side I swiftly made bigger by wrenching the panels apart.
“We’re through!” I told them.
“Move!” Faris yelled.
I took the lead and was greeted by incoming reinforcements desperate to plug the gash I’d made.
Yeah… no.
I charged into the rolling robots and shattered their shells before they could even think about attacking me. “Are these the only pawns you’ve got to play with? It’s going to take more than this if you want to beat us.” I proved as such by putting my axe through another metal menace, turning it to scrap.
As far as I saw it, these sentries were just skittles born for us to bowl through.
“Excellent work, everyone,” DD remarked. “I should have known that mass-produced machines could not hope to stop your advance.”
“Your faith in us is admirable,” I said as I powered forward, my girls on my heels. “Tell me, how long were you counting on us getting you here? From before we met, I presume.”
DD offered no immediate response.
Vay laughed. “That sounds like an admission of guilt to me.”
“Have you really and truly been planning this all along?” Casella asked.
“It is as Brandon says,” DD replied. “My end objective was always to take control of this facility.”
I growled through my bare teeth. It was what I’d expected, but it was still uncomfortable to hear.
“You bitch!” Trez snapped while we progressed through the station’s halls. “And to think I trusted you.”
“To think I thought we could be friends,” Akko said under her breath.
DD giggled. “I am afraid that was all by my design. It seems I played my role spectacularly?”
“Your role?” I said.
“Even someone as isolated as I understands that androids are feared throughout the universe. For that reason, I had to make myself appear as harmless, subservient, and friendly as possible. That way, you would never suspect my true objective.”
My blood heated up to boiling, turning my face red. “Are you serious?! It was all an act?!”
“That is indeed so. I am afraid I have been deceiving you from the moment we met. Did you really think the overseer of The Core would be unable to deactivate a security alert? What would happen if one was flagged falsely? Was I supposed to overlook that?” Her giggles echoed through the passages, bouncing off the next door in our way. “All a lie to make myself seem weak and useless.”
It was a confession that left me lost for words, but I quickly turned my confusion into anger good enough to fuel my next door-smashing blow. “You can’t be serious!”
“Why would you let the robots attack us?” Casella said as she turned her lasers to those chasing us down.
“Yeah,” Trez agreed. “I get wanting to act inept, but you needed us alive to get you here… so what was the point of putting us through all that shit?”
“Is that not obvious?” DD replied. “It was a key part of making myself one of the team. From watching your adventures, I have come to understand that nothing forms bonds quicker than fighting alongside each other. Placing you in danger fostered a level of camaraderie that would not have been possible if I had deactivated the security functions. Besides, I had every faith that you would come through the matter unscathed.”
All I could do was shake my head and swing my axe as her revelations hit me one after another. I couldn’t believe how badly we’d been played.
“You’re wrong in the head!” Sylvetty correctly said back to DD. “Didn’t ya almost get fried yourself?!”
“Pff, come on,” Trez said. “This bitch’s been running her own pantomime. There’s no way the security bots would ever have shot her.”
DD giggled. “I knew I would not be able to get anything past you, Trez. While there were times when I miscalculated the situation, such as with Waltgomery’s willingness to fire upon the planet, within The Core, I was never in any danger. And may I also use this chance to thank you again for your excellent driving. That was one of my riskier gambles; I am glad my belief in your abilities paid dividends.”
“Belief. Faith. Admiration,” I said, growling as I smashed through another metal barrier and waved my mates on. “Isn’t it funny that you had faith we’d believe you, faith we’d survive, and faith we’d get you here, but when we asked you to take it one step further, it was all too much.” I raced through the opening and crushed the bots waiting on the other side. “Why didn’t you believe we’d keep your identity a secret? Why couldn’t you believe we’d protect you from the universe that considers you an enemy?”
DD stayed silent.
“Well?!”
“It is an excellent question,” she replied. “Maybe I could have done so if circumstances had been slightly different. However, that is no longer possible; faith is much easier to come by when you have nothing to lose. Right now, I have everything, and I will do whatever is required to keep it.”
I took another step forward, but my foot didn’t connect with the ground. On instinct, I tried to retreat, but I couldn't. Instead, I floated upward.
What the…?!
I wasn’t the only one experiencing this strange phenomenon. My mates and the remains of our attackers were rising as well.
“What’s happening?!” Akko squeaked as she squirmed in mid-air.
“She’s turned off the fucking gravity!” Trez said.
“An accurate observation, once again,” DD replied. “I am well aware of where you are heading, and it would be foolish of me to allow you to reach it unchallenged.”
A familiar buzzing sound echoed down the corridor. From straight ahead came another selection of the floating drones we’d already taken down by the dozen.
I tried to repeat the motion, but I couldn’t get close to them. With nothing to push off, I was stuck in place like a flesh piñata.
Shit!
I powered up my shield and threw it in front of me. If I couldn’t fight back, the least I could do was stop the drones from shooting my ma—
“Coming through!” Sylvetty said as she soared past me and bowled through the drones as if they were pins in a game of skittles. “Take this, ya fecking blighters!” she continued while unleashing her hammer upon them. “Haha! Did ya really think this wee trick would work on a lassie with wings like mine? What’s next? Ya gonna challenge me to a forging contest?”
I grinned at the ceiling. “See that? No matter what you throw at us, it won’t be enough. We’re coming, and we’re going to destroy you.”
DD sighed. “It appears you truly do have an answer for everything I can do. Very well, I await to see what comes of your attempt to take me down.”
“Ya better, cos I’m gonna smash the feck outta ya!” Sylvetty said while waving her hammer at the sky.
Our former ally didn’t reply. She also didn’t turn the gravity back on. We had to make the rest of our journey pushing ourselves from wall to wall while taking out the occasional drone attack.
She couldn’t exactly send the sentries under these conditions.
After a few more turns, and a few more drones had met their end, we arrived at a big solid metal door.
“Is this it?” I asked.
“As long as Ruple was telling the truth,” Faris said.
“And we followed his instructions correctly,” Casella added.
Vay chuckled. “Either way, we know what comes next.”
Together, the two of us assaulted the door. It was harder than usual with the gravity working against us, but we weren’t to be stopped. We walloped the metal with our weapons until we created an opening, at which point we switched to our hands. Taking a side each, we pulled and pulled and pulled until all was revealed.
It was our target, alright. You didn’t find many rooms with a presence as striking as this.
In a sense, it reminded me of the Inner Core. Both rooms were shrouded in darkness, with the exception of a giant computer hooked to the wider facility via glowing blue pipes. However, this space was on another level. In design, the room was a vast empty cylinder that served almost as a moat for the tower of electronics in its center. The only way to reach the device was across four thin walkways located on the main compass points.
Falling wasn’t suggested; it was quite a drop to the pit’s bottom. The area was covered in glowing tubes feeding into the station’s heart, but I didn’t imagine they’d do much to cushion the impact.
As soon as we entered, the gravity corrected itself, dropping us onto a walkway.
“Well that puts an end to that,” I said as I shook life into my land legs. “I’m guessing that’s the generator.”
“It’s huge!” Casella said.
True enough, the glowing blue reactor had to be at least five stories tall, and that wasn’t including the wire hill it sat upon or that crawled into the ceiling.
Vay readied her weapon. “What now? Do we smash it?”
“No, we don’t smash it,” Trez snapped. “Don’t you remember what Ruple said?”
“Not at all! I presumed someone else would handle it.”
Trez sighed. “Unbelievable…”
Casella thrust a hand into the air. “I remember!”
“Me too,” I said. “I’m glad it sounds pretty simple. I was worried we’d need a code, fifteen keys, and to solve a crossword puzzle in the time allotted.”
In the end, all we had to do was hold down the right button.
“Don’t underestimate the laziness of technicians,” Trez said.
“We don’t have time for this,” Faris said, showing the timer on her wrist. “Fifteen minutes remains.”
That didn’t seem like much with our target just ahead, but we still had to find a way to disable the bomb after we’d gotten rid of DD.
And that was presuming things were going to go smoothly.
My instincts couldn’t detect any enemies, and the room passed the eye test, but I still didn’t feel at ease.
“Everyone, keep your guard up,” I said. “I doubt DD’s given up.”
After Akko had finished refilling out bubbles, we edged forward along the walkway.
“I-I don’t like this,” Akko said as she looked at the drops on either side of us.
“Don’t look down,” Faris said.
“I’m trying!”
Vay rubbed Akko on the shoulder. “Don’t fear, little one. I won’t let you fall.”
“We’re almost there,” Casella said, e
ven though we’d barely passed the halfway mark.
Seriously, why did this walkway have to be so lon—
My instincts came alive.
“Watch out!” I yelled.
A huge metal whip swung from the very top of the room. It smashed through the walkway with such force that it separated it from its supports, sending it and us flying toward the wall.
My heart jumped in my chest.
Dammit, no!
Hitting the wall would be bad enough, but the fall would be the real killer. If we didn’t do something, quickly, we’d be in trouble.
I reached out and pulled whoever was closest against my chest. With all the strength I could, I kicked off the falling walkway and flew toward the wall to our side rather than the one we’d been shot toward. It was still a vertical drop with no platforms, but it would have to do. I slammed my axe into its surface and used it to slow our descent as we slid to the pit’s bottom.
It wasn’t where I wanted to be, but we were alive.
At least, I was.
What about the others?!
“My Brandon!” Casella said into my chin, the pulses of her rapid-fire heart transferring from her chest.
That was one safe, but where was everyone else?
A familiar laughter echoed around the area. “What did I tell you, little one?”
Vay stood in a position similar to mine, sword pressed against the wall. Akko was over her shoulder.
Her attempts to reply came as a teeth-clattering jumble.
“Feck! Why do ya gotta be so heavy?” Sylvetty complained from above as she fluttered down while holding Trez from behind.
“I’m an expectant mother! Don’t make me sound like a fatso,” Trez replied.
“I dinnae care why you’re bloated! It’s making this a right pain in the bahookie.”
Sylvetty could grumble all she wanted, but that was another two accounted for. It left one straggler.
My heart tightened. Where was Fa—
“Brandon,” she said from my blindspot.
I jumped out of my skin and spun toward the spotless herix who seemingly had evacuated the same way as me and Vay. It was a sight that made me exhale. “Yeah… like a fall would have finished you of all people.”
For the briefest of moments, she wore a triumphant smile. She’d even made sure to protect her mystery package.