Cyberdrome (17 page)

As the couple
approached, Alek realized that they were even larger than he originally
thought.

“What sort of
pet have you brought me?” Jas Kaido said, sniffing the air and looking down at
Alek. “I have not seen its kind before. It might please my mate if I were to
gut it, and serve it up for her next meal.”

Alek fought back
a lump in his throat and replied, “I too, would welcome the challenge.”

Kaido lunged at
him so fast he barely saw it coming. His huge teeth were suddenly a centimeter
away from Alek’s nose. His hot, foul breath made Alek want to vomit, but he
held firm—more out of shock than bravado.

Kaido backed up
and grinned. “He stands well for a newcomer, even though he reeks of fear.
Perhaps I will gut him anyway. Blood food is nonexistent in this barren region,
and my people are hungry.” He raised his arm and Alek saw that his fingernails
were several inches long and looked like the claws of a tiger.

“None of you are
hungry,” Javid said, stepping between Kaido and Alek. “HomeSpace sustains all
of you, as it does me.”

“It is not
natural,” Kaido snarled as he lowered his arm. “We need food that bleeds. We
must kill something.” He looked over Javid’s shoulder at Alek.

“Is your life so
easy now that you have nothing better to do than play your games?” Javid asked.

Kaido stepped up
to the Sentinel and stared down at him. “Do you mock me, Rho? If the others overheard
you, I would have no choice but gut you as well.”

“You could try,”
Javid said with a snarl. “You would, of course, fail. Then I would lead the
KaNanee and Kay Broon would be my mate.”

Kaido raised his
head back and screamed. It sounded so much like a bear’s roar that it startled
Alek. What was Javid trying to do, get them both killed?

“Don’t worry,
old friend,” Javid said calmly when the KaNanee’s roar ended. “I have no taste
for your position, or desire for your mate. I am a Sentinel, as you well know.
I am only here to offer you something more interesting than gutting games.
Something to appease your appetite for conflict.”

Kaido suddenly
erupted in laughter, but Alek wasn’t sure what the joke was. “It is true that I
am in need of things to kill,” Kaido said, patting Javid hard on the shoulder.
“Tell me, Sentinel Rho. What have you in mind?”

“I plan to
rebuild the Sentinel force,” Javid said evenly. “To achieve this goal, I must
first resupply my Tracer’s energy. There is a building in the next sector that
was once a Sentinel facility. I need access to that facility and I need your
help to get in.”

Kaido’s eyes lit
up. “The CeeAut.”

“Yes, it is in
the sector containing the CeeAut. Will you join us?”

Kaido was
actually drooling. “We are ready to leave immediately,” he said as he turned
and signaled his people. A cheer came from the group. Alek glanced at the
female, Kay Broon, who stood closer to him, sniffing the air between them. When
she noticed him looking at her, she smiled. Her teeth were chiseled and sharp,
and her overly long incisors made her look like a vampire.

Just then, Kaido
turned back around. Alek dropped his eyes to his feet and waited for the blow.
It never came. When he looked back up, the two KaNanee were running back toward
their transport.

“You did well,”
Javid said.

“Why the hell
didn’t you warn me about them?”

“I told you
about the females,” Javid said with a shrug.

“I thought Kaido
was going to kill me.”

“As you no doubt
discovered, as a Sentinel, you are able to speak and understand the languages
of all Tans. This does not mean, however, that you will understand their
customs. Since the Intruder’s attack, there have been many strange, and often
violent, life forms making their way up to HomeSpace. As a Sentinel, you will
be required to deal with all of them at one time or another. Consider this your
first test.”

As Javid climbed up
onto his Tracer, Alek watched the two KaNanee leave. Kay Broon glanced back at
him twice. Alek shuddered and climbed back into the comparative safety of his
Tracer. They headed off across the sector with the KaNanee transport following
a short distance behind. They cruised at a relatively slow speed because the
transport couldn’t move any faster.

“Not a very
efficient way to get around,” Alek said through his intercom.

“The KaNanee
brought no advanced technology when they left their home world and came to
HomeSpace,” Javid replied. “They are a clever people to have built such a
machine.”

“So, what’s the
deal between the KaNanee and the CeeAut? Did you see the way Kaido’s eyes lit
up when you mentioned where we were going?”

“The KaNanee are
always on the hunt for something to eat,” Javid said. “I believe that they allow
their stomachs to guide their behavior at times.”

“They actually
want to eat the CeeAut?”

“As I told you,
HomeSpace sustains all who stand upon it, but apparently for some Tans, the
need for physical nourishment is overwhelming.”

“So, where did
the KaNanee come from? I mean, they can’t be standard human simulations. Who
would model people like that?”

“I have
encountered Tans of various sizes and shapes, entering HomeSpace since the
attack. Some of their skin colors are light shades of Tan, while others are
darker. They are all Tans to me.”

He thought he
heard a hint of disdain in Javid’s voice. Perhaps from the Sentinels point of
view, humans, or Tans, were nothing more than cattle to look after. He didn’t
like that idea—considering his own skin color—so he changed the subject.

 “I noticed that
you seemed to be able to change your personality back there. You talked to the
KaNanee as if you were one of them. Is that another Sentinel skill?”

There was a
pause before Javid answered. “Sentinels are not programmed to deal directly
with Tans. The system created us to patrol HomeSpace and protect the
simulations from outside attacks. Nothing more.”

“So, how did you
learn to talk so tough?”

“Adaptive skills
were programmed into me during my initial reformat. They allow me to adjust my
parameters to deal with nearly any situation.”

“Well, most
species on Earth have done pretty well because of adaptation.”

“I must repeat
that you should not dwell on your previous existence,” Javid said. “The world
you called Earth, is nothing more than a simulation, one of a hundred running
inside Cyberdrome. When I was reformatted into a Sentinel, I gained true
knowledge of my existence. This will be difficult for you to accept, since you
were not properly reformatted, but you must try.”

“I’ll try,” Alek
answered, hoping that he sounded sincere. He didn’t need to get into an argument
about what was—and wasn’t—real with a program. Javid could believe what he
wanted—Alek knew the truth.

They traveled in
silence for over an hour. Alek actually dozed off at one point and then woke
with a start, thinking he had fallen asleep at the wheel of his car back home.
He was glad his Tracer was able to negotiate slight changes in the terrain by
itself. Finally, they came to another barrier wall and another Circuit Gate
spiraled open in front of them. The KaNanee transport had to bend low to fit
through the Gate opening. Obviously, the Circuit Gates were designed for Tracer
passage only.

The ground in
the next sector was even more cluttered than the previous one. Off to one side,
mountain-sized blocks of floor material rose hundreds of meters out of the
ground. In other places, smaller blocks of various shapes were scattered about,
some resting on others, forming arches and low bridges. It required much more
attention to navigate a path through them all, but fortunately, his Tracer was
able to do most of the work by itself.

They traveled on
for another half hour until they came to the base of a low ridge where Javid
ordered everyone to stop. The KaNanee transport walked up beside Alek’s ship
and bumped it with one of its huge legs. He checked his dashboard—there was no
damage. The KaNanee were probably just not very good at maneuvering the
lumbering machine in close proximity. Then again, maybe Jas Kaido was
challenging him again. He decided not to react to it. If Javid could adapt to
these people, then so could he. He slid his Tracer slightly away from the
nearest leg.

“The base is on
the other side of this ridge,” Javid said, broadcasting to both Alek and the
KaNanee. “I scouted it on my previous visit. Species-1 has patrols on all sides
of the base, but none inside.”

A holographic
schematic appeared on his dashboard. It showed a layout of the base, as well as
an outline of what Javid called Species-1. They stood on two long legs and
looked like a mechanical dinosaur. This was the last of Klaxon’s four Predator
programs.

“Do you have a
name for these creatures as well?” Javid asked, interrupting his thoughts.
Alek’s communications display told him that the Sentinel was speaking to him on
a secure channel. Apparently, he didn’t want the KaNanee to overhear them.

“Raptors,” Alek
said with a sigh, “and judging by the size of those legs, I’m guessing that
they are going to be fast—faster than any of the other machine creatures out
here.”

“Tell us your
plan, Sentinel,” Jas Kaido’s harsh voice interrupted.

Javid switched
back to an open channel. “The Species inhabiting this sector are called Raptors,”
he said, as though the term was his own. “The KaNanee will climb the ridge and
attack first to draw their fire. Alek and I will then enter the base through a
side passage. Once we have gained access, you may break contact with the
Raptors and await our return. When our mission is completed, we will meet you
at this location.”

“And?” Kaido
asked.

There was a long
pause, and then Javid answered, “You will receive four Tracers in payment.”

“I will accept
ten of your fighter ships,” Kaido said.

“You will
receive four Tracers,” Javid repeated calmly, “because that is all we can tow
out of the Base.”

There was
another lengthy pause, and then Kaido replied flatly, “Agreed.”

The KaNanee
vehicle then lurched into action and climbed up and over the ridge.

“What was that
all about?” Alek asked.

“We will discuss
this later, Alek. Get ready to go.”

Alek looked down
at his scanner. If he understood the blinking red and green dots on the display,
the KaNanee were steadily luring most of the Raptors away from the base.

“Now,” Javid
said.

Alek followed
Javid up the ridge and down the other side. The base looked like a digital
version of a medieval fortress. It appeared to be eight-sided and there were
turrets located high on each corner. Alek could see silhouettes of what looked
like people standing guard along the top of the walls. As the Tracers closed in
on the base, he realized that the people were actually the size of two-story
buildings. They were Raptors.

Two of them
jumped from the wall and Alek watched them fall a hundred meters to the ground.
Instead of being smashed by the fall, they landed flat on their two large feet.
The huge legs bent sharply at the back-facing knee joint, apparently absorbing
the impact. Then they began running toward Alek and Javid, moving even faster
than he had imagined.

Alek looked
ahead. Javid was leading them toward what looked like a glowing red river that
surrounded the base.

“What’s that?”
Alek asked.

“No questions,”
Javid said. “Activate your Warrior Mode and follow my moves exactly.”

Javid performed
a quick ninety-degree turn and let his Tracer slide sideways toward the moat.
Alek did the same, and then looked out his side window just in time to see a
Raptor closing in.

Just then, his
Tracer slid onto the red material and sank below the surface. The view outside
of his windows glowed bright red, like lava. He could still see Javid’s Tracer
right in front of him, so whatever the substance was, it wasn’t as dense as
lava.

“Negative energy
flow,” Javid said. “We cannot stay in here very long. Follow me.”

As Javid’s ship
moved off, Alek looked down at his shield display. It showed less than fifty percent
power remaining and falling quickly. The negative energy was draining his
shields. He quickly transferred all of his remaining weapons energy to the
shields, which boosted them by twenty percent. Not much, but it would help.

He followed
Javid’s ship. They turned several corners and Alek kept one eye on the shield
display. When it reached ten percent, he saw Javid’s ship lift up and
disappear. Alek boosted the magnetic lift on his ship and rose up out of the
energy river. He landed next to Javid on a solid surface.

They were in a
wide, dark hallway of some sort, presumably inside the base. Alek checked his
shields and saw that they were empty. Since he had transferred his weapons
energy into the shields, they were gone as well. If the Raptors found them now,
he would have no way to defend himself.