The Caverns of Mare Cetus (16 page)

   The Kalo almost upon them, a tense silence formed. As the men crouched next to a large boulder, the women hid in a small side passage. Though Hunter was aware the Kalo could detect them by a dozen means, he signaled for the others to turn off their symotes.

   He peered through the targeting scope of the MC, seeing two parallel rows of green lights shining like beacons in the blackness. The Kalo slowed for a second, chirped, then resumed its speed. With that pause, Hunter knew it had detected their presence and instantaneously reprogrammed its memory arrays. He put his finger on the trigger, the robotic dead in his sights. Then it stopped, as if it had run into a wall, its green lights turning yellow. The hum of its engine but a whisper, the lights turned red. Hunter sighed with relief and lowered the Machine Cutter.

   "It's immobilized," said Renata over her com. "I finally got a K-sig through. Response A-3."

   "Good job," said Hunter. "Turn on your lights."

   Renata and Arielle cautiously walked up to the front of the robotic and began to examine it.

   Ramon squatted behind the robotic. "Are these female or male robotics?"

   Arielle laughed. "Only you'd ask something like that."

   Renata removed her gloves and hardhat, took off her backpack, then clipped her hair up in a messy bun. She began using her Vimap to run diagnostics on the Kalo while she looked over its bluish-green frame.

   Devon dropped her pack to the ground, then threw her hardhat toward the cavern wall. As she watched Renata, she began fixing her hair up in a bun as well.

   "Let's be quick about this," said Hunter. "Just make sure this thing isn't malfunctioning, then let's get on our way." He watched as Renata ran her fingers along the robotic's oval-shaped body, which was protected with hundreds of layered rows of flexible green and gray cerametal plates. Except for the disk-shaped guidance module perched on top of the unit, its only other exposed features were four sampling claws and six segmented mobility appendages that had been pulled in close to its frame. In its current condition, it looked like a grotesque genetic cross between a bloated, tailless armadillo and a gigantic beetle.

   As Renata stooped beside the Kalo, Devon stepped behind her. After a moment, Renata looked up. Devon was playing with the hair that still fell on Renata's shoulders.

   "Snow," said Renata. "Let go of my hair."

   Devon stepped back. "Sorry. I didn't realize." She put a hand to her forehead. "I have this horrible headache."

   "I have a horrible headache, too," said Renata.

   "You do?" asked Devon. "Right here?" She pointed right in the middle of her forehead.

   "Yes," said Renata sarcastically. "Right there."

   "I feel dizzy," said Devon.

   Hunter thought she was going to faint. He abruptly put down the Machine Cutter and grabbed her. "Let me help you."

   "She needs help all right," said Renata.

   He led her away from the Kalo and sat her down against a passage wall. He waved for Richelle to come over. "Sit with her. She's feeling sick."

   "It'll be okay," said Richelle as she sat next to Devon who now had her head on her knees. She began rubbing Devon's back.

   Hunter returned to the Kalo just as Renata opened two panels on the robotic, exposing its starboard-side monitors, which were covered with a thin coating of dark gray mud. She wiped off the mud with her fingers, then looked up at Hunter. "What is that girl's problem?"

   "I thought you said you liked her." He chuckled.

   "Maybe I spoke too soon. I wish she'd back off. Every time I turn around now, she's there—smiling, putting her hands on me. I don't like being touched all the time." Renata began running a series of signal processing tests, watching the analyses scroll across the Kalo's screens as 3D diagrams of its internal operating modules systematically flashed up beside them.

   "Maybe she sees you as a mentor. Who wouldn't? Remember, she's just a kid."

   "She doesn't act like one," said Renata. "I've been meaning to tell you. When you were out, she kept putting her hand on your neck like she was feeling for a pulse. And she kept saying things like—he's okay, I can tell, he'll snap out of it soon, trust me." Renata looked up at Hunter. "Finally I told her to back off. It was weird."

   "Speaking of weird," he said, "I had this dream."

   She turned back toward the monitor.

   "A very real dream." He looked at the reflection of Renata's face in the monitor, focusing on her eyes.

   "So far everything looks okay," she said.

   "You were in it," he said, noticing she was sending glances his way with only her eyes.

   "I don't understand why I had a problem controlling it. Everything's checking out."

   "And we were, uh, kissing."

   She looked up. "Really? That's interesting." She looked at her Vimap. "Sounds like you have a vivid imagination."

   He reached down and touched her cheek, turning her face toward him. "Do I?"

   "I don't know. It's your dream."

   "And when I woke up, you were right there in front of me."

   "Of course I was." She turned back to the monitor. "Sorry about the ammonia. It's the first thing I grabbed. I was anxious to wake you."

   "Oh, yeah. That would make sense now, wouldn't it?" He noticed how flushed Renata's face was now, how she wouldn't move her eyes from the monitor. "I guess my hunch was wrong then."

   "What hunch?" she asked without looking up.

   "That you might have actually been kissing me before I woke up."

   "Uh, well, we did kiss. After you woke up. I thought it was kind of nice, didn't you?"

   "Yes. Of course I did."

   She looked up at him. "Do you really believe I was kissing you while you were unconscious? Tell me, how could I have done that with everyone around?"

   He didn't answer.

   "Face it. Sometimes dreams and reality blend together. You had quite a knock on your head. To be honest, I kind of like the intent of your dream, and this talk's fun and all, but I need to finish what I'm doing. Okay?"

   He was certain now. She had kissed him. Why wouldn't she admit it? Then again, kissing him while he was unconscious—that in itself was completely un-Renata-like. He took off his hardhat. Maybe he could handle this new Renata. In fact, she intrigued him more than ever.

   "Hey, Commander," said Edison. He had opened up the Kalo's rear engine compartment. "Want to see what makes this thing go?"

   Hunter went to Edison and crouched beside him.

   "The power levels look okay," said Edison.

   "Hey, Renata," said Hunter, "I mean, Rene. Trent once told me some kind of special diags can be run on this beast."

   "Already working on it," she answered.

   Hunter sighed. Then there was that "other" Renata. Though he had worked with her on a number of expeditions and projects during the last three years, he still found it hard to get used to her always being two steps ahead of him in almost everything he did. He sat down beside Edison, nudging his shoulder with his hand. "How's it going, champ?"

   Edison stretched out on the ground and opened a couple of small sliding panels at the lower rear of the engine compartment. He began looking inside them with a small flashlight. "Let's see what makes this thing tick."

   "I'm going to run a central core monitoring process," said Renata, looking over at Hunter.

   Hunter looked up.

   "The override diagnostics you wanted." A proud smile glistened on her lips. "I'm going to use the Vimap to route an ultra-low frequency current through a series of sequential image-mastering filters that have partial parity with the unit's flexcore logic-circ…"

   "Don't explain it," said Hunter. "Just do it."

   "Okay, boss," she replied. As she crouched by one of the open panels, the two tri-clawed sampling tools on her side of the robotic came together with a clack.

   Hunter looked over at Devon and Richelle. Devon was sitting with her back against a group of four backpacks. Richelle was in front of her, and Devon was playing with Richelle's long hair, twisting it into various styles as Richelle looked at them with the compact mirror in her hand.

   "Hey, Hunter," said Edison gruffly.

   "What is it?" he asked, looking down.

   "Something's got to be wrong. The ID number on this machine says it's Number Two."

   "What are you talking about?"

   "I said, this ID indicates this machine is Kalo Two." He scratched his head. "Now that doesn't make any sense."

   "What do you mean it's Kalo Two?" asked Hunter. A terrible realization fell on him. He gulped.

   "Hunter, watch this." Renata clicked the Vimap into the Kalo's interface. As she looked up, the two starboard-side sampling claws lunged back at her, closing around her wrists. "What the hell…"

   "Get away!" shouted Hunter. He sprang to his feet and frantically waved his arms. "Rene! Get the hell away from that thing!"

   Immediately the engine kicked in, the robotic's lights turning green.

   "It's got my hands!" she shouted. "It's got my hands!" The fingers on her hands pressed tightly together, she began trying to pull her hands through the robotic's handcuff-like hold.

   Edison, who had pulled his hand out of the compartment just as the sliding door came slamming down, was hit with a tremendous shock that racked his body. He slumped to the ground. Ramon and Arielle stumbled away from the robotic, having been hit with the same electric shock. Ramon tripped and fell to the ground on his back, Arielle landing on top of his legs.

   "Help me!" cried Renata as she continued to struggle to free herself. "Someone help me!" At once the robotic wrenched her wrists toward it, bashing her hands against its frame. Then it began thrashing its claws up and down, scraping her hands against its coarse surface.

   Hunter, untouched by the Kalo's electric shock, lunged forward and grabbed the clawed arms that held Renata's wrists. They stopped thrashing and thrust toward him, causing Renata to stumble and nearly fall.

   "Get me loose!" she cried.

   Hunter strengthened his hold and pulled the robotic's arms toward him, wrapping his left arm tightly around them. Immediately the Kalo moved to the right with a lurch, and its three starboard-side mobility appendages began lashing out at him, striking his back and shoulder. With each blow seeming harder and more ferocious, its attack had taken him by complete surprise. He shifted his body and threw out his arm to block the onslaught, but the machine evaded him, striking him twice in the chest with colossal force. Stinging pain radiating through his body, Hunter reeled back and fell into the robotic's frame, nearly losing his footing. An appendage whacked him on the back of the head with a
crack
. Hunter let go of the Kalo and staggered forward, narrowly avoiding a fall against Renata. He took two more steps and fell to the ground on his hands and knees.

   "Edison! Ramon!" cried Renata. "Help me! Someone! Help me!"

   Dazed, Hunter looked up and watched as the Kalo threw Renata directly in front of it like she was a fish on a line. It jerked forward, as if to run her over, then stopped. She scrambled to retain her balance, planting her left foot firmly behind her and her right leg up against the frame. The Kalo punched one of its port claws forward and grabbed her right foot by the ankle.

   Despite Hunter's grim determination to help her, as he tried to stand, his knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground. Then he felt a hand on his face. It was Devon.

   "Do something," she said. "Help her."

   He turned his head and saw Edison running up behind the Kalo, a geologist's hammer in his hand. He began pounding on it with the hammer. "Take that, you mother!" he shouted as the hammer bounced wildly off its frame and soared out of his hand. Its motor revving, the Kalo shot back toward him, knocking his legs out from under him. Edison flew forward, landing against the Kalo with a groan. Immediately the Kalo jerked forward, and Edison fell to the ground. Then it swung hard to the right, Renata letting out with short, shrill cries as she hopped along on her free left leg, trying to keep pace with the robotic. One of the Kalo's starboard appendages whacked Edison savagely on the back, drawing blood.

   "Do something," said Devon, struggling to pull Hunter up to a sitting position. "I've never dealt with a machine. Others deal with the machines."

   Just then the Kalo's fourth claw snapped forward and snatched Renata's free ankle. It dropped its clawed arms and pulled her legs out to the left, her head slamming against the ground. Then the arms extended, raising her off the ground and holding her out in front of the robotic like she was a sack of rice. As it began pulling on her arms and legs, as if trying to rip her apart, she began squirming and crying in pain. Abruptly the arms retracted, slamming her into its blunt nose. She wailed in agony.

   Ramon, who had just gotten to his backpack, pulled a long knife out of it, then sprang to his feet and rushed toward the Kalo. He stepped past Edison and shoved the knife into one of its open starboard panels, sparks spraying over him as the blade cut through some circuitry. Its engine humming in a crescendo, it spun toward him, soundly knocking its three starboard mobility appendages into his torso. Ramon let go of the knife and staggered back as the robotic continued to lunge after him with its appendages, its flexible frame instantly ballooning in size as if the robotic was a puffer fish fending off an attacker.

   Suddenly Hunter's senses returned, almost like a brisk wind had swept away a fog. He dropped his pack to the ground, then picked up Edison's hammer and scrambled up to the rear of the enlarged robotic. After he had clambered his way on top of it, gaining a tenuous hold on its guidance module, the Kalo thrust forward, then back. Then it did it again, trying to throw him off. As the robotic continued to punch forward, pause, then kick into reverse, he began trying to whack the pick end of the hammer into a seam on the guidance module. Much to his amazement and relief, with his first solid strike on the module, the robotic stopped its jerking motions and began slowly rotating in place. He braced himself for an attack by its appendages, but instead it raised them up like they were the legs on a daddy longlegs spider. Then one-by-one, it began flinging the long lowermost segments of its appendages toward the others as if trying to keep them at bay, even though none of them were near the machine.