Escape 3: Defeat the Aliens (25 page)

“
Zrrnap!”
went the magnetic disruptor block. The entry hatch opened.

Bill fired a taser beam through the open entry door.

The nearest demo ball blew.

“
Kaboom!
” went its shaped charge.

He stepped to the near edge of the five foot wide hole, aimed both tubes, bent his helmet, and looked inside.

Two teddy bear crewpersons were on the floor, their laser tubes knocked from their paws by the force of the demo ball blasts. They wore tube suits.

“You!” screamed Death Leader from his perch six feet above the bridge floor.

Bill jumped inside and rolled left as he brought up both tubes. He fired the taser. It missed the snake-gorilla, which was moving its laser tube from an aim at the entry hatch towards him.

A green beam lanced out.

Death Leader looked down at the smoking hole that cut through his tube suit and into his giant chest. He looked up. Inside the clear helmet, white eyes fixed on Bill. The creature jumped from the top of the command pedestal, his scaly tail flaring to one side for balance.

Bill fired both his taser and the laser, then rolled further left.

“Thunk!”

Twisting his body away from the black-furred fist of the mortally wounded monster, Bill aimed his laser tube at the creature’s blue-scaled head. White eyes stared. The gorilla mouth snarled. The thickly muscled arms raised up the creature’s upper body. Two laser holes in the monster’s gut and chest poured out red blood. Which smeared the inside of the clear tube suit.

“No one defeats a Mokden!” it snarled, bloody spittle flying from its mouth. The spittle hit the inside of its helmet. Black-furred legs pushed against the floor. It came at him.

Bill fired.

A red hole appeared in Death Leader’s head.

The monster landed atop him.

Two massive hands gripped the rim of his helmet.

It lifted off.

Dying spasms sent black-furred fingers to his throat.

They squeezed hard.

Then the grip slackened.

He pushed up against the monster’s dead weight.

It fell to one side.

Rolling away, Bill grabbed his taser, lifted it, aimed it at the two teddy bears on the floor and fired twice.

They went into taser shakes that had them spitting blood into the inside of their helmets.

“Command Bridge taken.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Jane heard Bill’s words. Was he wounded? What had happened?

“Bill! Is Death Leader—”

“He’s dead. Two crew are alive up here. One crew alive in a cell. One crew dead back at the Engine. It’s vapor now. Give me a moment. Gotta have a takeover chat with this AI.”

“Understood. Congratulations!”

Nothing came from him except for grunts and the sounds of movement. She looked forward.

“Chester, how are the engines?”

“Green Operational, according to my status holo,” the man said, relief in his voice. “We are moving at 10 percent of lightspeed, which is less than our momentum. We have full maneuvering power.”

“Good.”

She checked her systems graphic holo. The surviving three subs and Stefano’s ship were still in the ring formation. Their Magfield engines were operating to maintain that position. Everyone was back at the normal 10 percent engine power level. Including the ships and subs far behind her. Relief filled her. Her heart’s fast beating slowed. Bill was alive. The enemy commander was dead. Bill would soon be in control of the unpowered ship. And they had just passed the orbit of Mars. Which meant they were one and a half AU away from Earth. That put them just shy of two hours from home. Maybe sooner given how her group of ships were moving at 14 percent of lightspeed. Soon, every ship in all the fleets and groupings would have to go to deceleration if they were not to shoot by the planet. But first things first.

“Bright Sparkle, you did wonders with your fusion plants, thank you! Wind Swift, your dispersal of the collector pods and your arming of them was outstanding. Thank you.” She looked to the right. “And Lofty Flyer, your dodging of enemy laser and antimatter fire was incredible. Thank you all, and I hope your spouses can rejoin you after we arrive at Earth.”

The Megun woman who wore only her trademark blue shorts looked back from her seat at her station. Her jade green eyes were bright. She smiled a big, human-natural smile. “So glad we survived! And I am glad our engines held up to the strain.”

Jane gave the woman a thumbs-up. “I’m sure the rebuilding work by your Megun engineers was the reason our two engines held up so well. No matter what our ship mind thinks!”

Chester also looked back. Sweat showed on the man’s lightly tanned forehead. His gray eyes looked tired. But he showed a smile. “Double what you just said re those Megun engineers! It’s a wonder we didn’t lose one or both engines. I’m super glad Stefano’s engines also held up.” He gestured back to his Engines station. “I am very eager to return this post to Time Marker’s care! Diplomacy is easier than handling volatile engines!”

She smiled back.

Wind Swift’s horse-like head, encased in a tubular helmet, turned her way. The silvery scaled kangaroo person leaned back on her thick tail. Her fabric skirt was bunched up inside her tube suit. Her red eyes fixed on Jane.

“Thank you, captain of our endeavor,” she barked. “My Life Support post is mostly automatic, thank the Great Egg. The Collector Pods station was interesting. But I too am eager for our crewmate Long Walker to return and join us.”

Jane nodded, then fixed on the brown-furred squirrel woman who had moved the
Blue Sky
like a bee buzzing around and away from an attacking wasp. It was incredible how she had kept them away from most laser strikes.

“Lofty Flyer, how do you feel?”

The human-tall flying squirrel stood up from her nav seat and stretched out her arms. The skin flaps that ran from her arms down to her knees flared a bit, but were constrained by her tube suit. Her pug face’s mouth opened. Her yellow eyes fixed on Jane.

“Would feel much better if I could shed this terrible suit and let my arm flaps feel the way they feel when I glide through the trees!” she chittered. Her long prehensile tail curled up, then straightened out. “Is that possible?”

“Soon,” Jane said as she looked back to the true space, system graphic and weapons holos in front of her. “We are still in combat status. Until that last ship out there is shut down. Or destroyed. Please be patient.”

Her navigator nodded in the human-style the Aelthorp person had learned from a year spent with humans, then she turned back and sat at her station. Her four-fingered hands touched her nav control pillar. The orientation of the
Blue Sky
adjusted slightly.

Jane felt exhausted. They were intact. Though the hull opening above the Collector Pods Chamber was a problem. Her ship status holo showed the gaping rip left by the glancing antimatter strike was too big to be healed by flexmetal stretching. The part of the hull that normally opened up like the cargohold flaps of the old Space Shuttles was partly gone. One flap did not work thanks to it being fused to the unmoving part of the hull. Still, the other flap could move. Its movement outward, added to the fact half the flap was gone, would allow the entry of pods. Which were non-existent thanks to their use as attack devices. Well, that could be fixed, eventually. Now, she waited for word from Bill on what he was doing, had done, would do. She was eager to know. But she would not bug him. He had won the fight against the monster who had started all this dying and destruction of ships. He had fulfilled their mutual obligation to duty, honor and country. He deserved her confidence and her patience.

♦   ♦   ♦

Bill sat on the command bench of the
Fear Arrives
and waited as the pedestal pillar lifted him up to six feet above the floor. Which held the two tasered teddy bear crewpersons and the bloody red body of Death Leader. The air of the room didn’t smell of death. Cooked meat maybe. And he liked having his helmet off. It lay against the back of his tube suit, hanging on the hinge that allowed the wearer to breath, eat and do whatever without having to rely on the helmet’s water sack for nourishment. He looked up at the room’s ceiling.

“Ship mind Dexterity, I assert my right to be the new captain for this vessel.”

A low hum sounded. “Are you the primary bioform present in this room? Protocol Four, Emergency Operations of the Ship dictates that I respond to the primary bioform still alert and aware whenever all ship crew and the ship master are not alert and aware.”

“I am,” Bill said. “Three crew still live but they are not aware at the moment. I am the only aware bioform on this ship.”

“So long as you are the primary bioform that is aware and alert, Protocol Four dictates that I respond to any order or request by you so long as it does not endanger ship operations, or ship crew,” the AI said, its tone curious. “What are your intentions?”

Bill scanned the six holos that surrounded the command bench. The system graphic showed this ship, his nearby transport and the distant ships of Jane’s combined fleet. The true space holo showed the red ball of Mars receding as they passed it. The world was not on the direct track to Earth, but off to one side in its normal orbit of Sol. Still, it was close enough to show as a small red ball. The yellow glare of the Sun filled the middle of the holo. A tiny blue sparkle was far distant Earth. Other holos included the ship status holo. Which displayed the ship in an overhead cutaway like his weapons holo. The rear third of the ship was missing. Well, that was what five kilotons of atomic power would do. The plasma ball of a five kiloton nuke was rather small, but it had been enough to vaporize the Engine Chamber, the fuel tanks, the Factory Chamber, part of the Recycling Chamber and the nearest fusion reactor. Which left two reactors powering everything on the ship. Good enough for the moment.

“My intentions are multiple,” he said, remembering to be clear, direct and uncomplicated. “First, I direct you to disable the still active repair robot outside the entry door to this chamber.”

“Disabled.”

“Second, send hover bots here to pick up the two unconscious crew and transport them to a collector pod. The third crewperson is in a containment cell. Are there any other bioforms in the other containment cells?”

“Hover bots are dispatched,” hummed the AI. “Yes, captive bioforms occupy six of the containment cells.”

Two flying hover bots entered through the open hatch and swept down to the two suited teddy bears. Small manipulator arms extruded from the silver balls and took hold of the teddy bears. One bear per hover bot. They lifted up and headed soundlessly for the open hatch.

“Okay. My third decision is for you to eject those six cells plus the crewperson’s cell out to space. The hull ceiling above the cells chamber opens up for such transfers, right?”

“It does. I am opening the hull. The seven cells are ejected.”

“Good. Number four. Open the working hull flap above the Collector Pods Chamber of this ship. Move the collector pod containing the two crewpersons out into space. Then move seven more pods out of the chamber. Send them to grab the containment cells with their gripping arms. Understood?”

“Understood,” the AI hummed. “Complying.” Seconds passed. “The seven cells are now captured by seven pods. The eighth pod will join them once the crewpersons are loaded into it.”

“Good. Dexterity, you reside in a chamber just behind the captain’s habitat room, right?”

“I do reside there.”

Now came the key issue. “Are you able to exit from that chamber? And still retain enough power to stay aware?”

“I am able to do that,” the AI hummed low. “There is a transit shaft directly above my chamber. It is the route by which I was delivered to this ship. Why do you ask?”

He looked down at the floor, checked that his weapon tubes were still there along with his backpack, then looked up. “Because my captain, Jane Yamaguchi, does not wish for any ship mind to die when she destroys a Collector ship.”

“Will she destroy my ship? This is my home.”

Bill thought he heard a tone of anxiety in the AI’s voice. Good. “I understand that. She understands that. But this ship used its weapons against her ship. The battle this ship’s captain started cost the lives of Captain Jesse Winthorp and her five crewpersons. It has also cost the lives of hundreds of humans onboard eight space-going submarines. Worse, it cost me the life of Mark Neller. My drinking buddy. I do not forgive his death. This ship must die.”

“How will this happen?” the AI hummed, its tone strange-sounding.

“First, you
will
live!” Bill said loudly. “This ship has three transports in its Transport Exit Chamber. I saw them as I passed through. Right?”

“Three transports are present in that chamber. Why?”

Bill half-grinned. “Cause I intend one of those transports to be your transport to my ship, the
Blue Sky
. That is the Collector ship closest to this ship. You can take remote control of that transport’s nav panel, can’t you?”

“I can.”

“Can you fit inside the transport?”

“Yes. My shape is as tall as that of a Human bioform and as wide as you. I can pass through the transport’s midbody airlock. Its fusion reactor can be tapped by me to provide the power I need.”

“Good!” Bill glanced again at the systems graphic holo. It showed his ship and Stefano’s ship and subs were no closer than before. “Can the collector pods you now control move the cells containing Captives and crewperson so they follow your transport?”

“They can.”

He nodded to himself. “Then that sorts nicely. After I leave this room, I will head up to my transport that is above the Command Bridge. As I exit, I want you to eject yourself from this ship, enter your transport, take control of it and the pods and cells, and follow me back to the
Blue Sky
. You will be safe there. And the cells can be deposited into that ship’s Containment Cell Chamber. Will you come with me?”

Low humming came from the ceiling. “Joining you is the way of survival. I will do as you have directed. What happens after I enter your ship’s transport chamber? What happens to me?”

The question every living person always wondered about. He thought this AI would come out of this pickle in decent shape. “You will travel to my world of Earth on my ship. You can stay on the
Blue Sky
, chatting with our ship mind Star Traveler, until we have built a new Collector ship at our orbital factory. You can then inhabit that ship as your new home. Sound good?”

“Not good. Very desirable,” the AI said. “I am now in contact with Star Traveler. A most talented ship mind. When do you leave this ship?”

“Now.” He stood and waited for the command pedestal to lower to deck level. He stepped off, grabbed his backpack, put it on, then grabbed his taser and laser tubes. Bill stuck them into the top of the backpack. He reached back, grabbed his helmet, pulled it down until he heard the snap-click of it sealing against the suit rim, then looked up. “Dexterity, please open a hole in the ceiling above me. And the ceiling of the particle accelerator room above. I wish to travel up to the ship’s outer hull. Where you will open a hole so I can pass through and up to my transport.”

“Opening hole in ceiling,” the AI hummed.

“Kill all gravity in here.”

“Gravity off here and in the rooms above.”

He smiled. Nice that the AI had anticipated his need for null gees in the rooms above. Maybe it would end up being as cooperative as Star Traveler. Maybe it would even start to care about the actions of the bioforms who occupied its new ship. Which would be its new home. Maybe it was just being pragmatic, trading a partial ship with no engines for a future whole ship with engines. There was time enough to work with this AI after he got it onboard the
Blue Sky
. He kicked against the deck’s metal floor and rose up.