The story so far: Vikki, known as Red because of her hair color, was a passenger on Stardiver Four but was trapped when the space ship was captured, and has taken refuge with the mercenaries who vie with the pirates for control of the disabled ship. Julia is a deathbot, a weapon of mass destruction disguised as a child, but Julia's programming was altered by downloading the library of religion and she has modified her mission from destroying life to acting as God's arm of Justice. The mercenaries ask Vikki to guide a rescue mission for a lost child who is in danger of falling prey to a rogue deathbot.
"Red, just lead the men to the kid," Bill said, "It is all you have to do. The boys will be there if you meet any trouble. Then bring the kid straight back here."
Julia stopped her foot. "I'm telling you, I can go there and bring her back faster."
"Now you just go over there and sit in that chair, Little Darling, and let the grown-ups take care of it," Bill said.
"But she is afraid," Julia pointed at Vikki. "Her blood pressure is up, and her respiration is up. Her capillaries are flushed, see her face is getting red, and she is filling the air with pheromones."
"What do you know, kid?" Vikki snapped.
"I know a lot. I know you are sixteen, you were born in New Tokyo, and you weigh 105 lbs. You won three dance competitions last season and left two boyfriends at Aries Six, but you were in love with a pilot named Dan who ignored you. You hate math but got the highest scores on your college pre-exams, your dad enrolled you at the Aries Mechanical Engineering school but you refused the scholarship, in your comments you said you would rather die than give up art for mechanics.":
"How do you know all that?" Vikki gasped.
"Never mind," Bill interrupted.
Vikki stomped away like a child having a tantrum, at the door she swung around with her hands bunched into fists. Through clenched teeth, she said, "I am not afraid."
"Red, wait." Bill thought she was going on her own.."The deathbot is near the kid. Take five minutes and leave with the kill team. When they engage the death machine then you lead the rescue team to the kid and bring her back here for safety."
She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at the ceiling.
"Julia, did your father build the deathbots?"
"Yes. They are his children."
"Can you tell us anything about the one on the monitor?"
"He is Number Ten, Sweety Tweety."
"Does he have an off switch or power down mode?"
"No, he is active. You have to kill him. He has killed and he deserves to die."
"You know that?"
Julia raised her hand and placed her palm aginst a monitor. As her eyes closed images tumbled across the monitor until it came to the ship's recording of the deahbot swinging a robotic arm fitted with a sword blade. It swung back and forth to dismember a pirate, then a scene where the deathbot battled with the ship's police and used spinning propeller-like blades of a modified rock mining drill to kill two men."
Bill looked down at the child with suspicious admiration. "Put everything you can find on Sweety Tweety the monitors. How come you can find these images so quickly?"
"Dad is a scientist so it comes naturally with me. Besides..." Her programming was in conflict. She was designed to deceive, to hide that she was a deathbot, but after downloading the library of religion in her search for God she could not lie. "I, I can't, I don't know what to say."
"It is OK to be nervous. I'm sorry if I scare you," Bill said. "How do you know all that about Red?"
"HA! that's easy." Julia raised her arm, showing the wrist monitor for her space suit, it lit up and the words of a diary began to scroll across. "I downloaded her diary. She has a lot of issues."
"You did what?" Vikki yelled, lunging back into the room. "You little brat, delete that now!"
"Girls." Bill lost his temper. "We do not have time for this. Julia, delete the files and don't do anything like that again. We respect each other's privacy." With a sigh Bill shook his head. "Men come in here and study the monitors. Learn what you can about the deathbot. You have five minutes."
The men pressed around the monitors watching the images of the deathbot's kills. Several murmured curses as they studied the horror of civilians being dismembered alive and space police being hacked to death by sword like blades. "No one deserves to die like that," one said as the recording revealed pirates being chased down and killed.
"Go heavy and hot, boys. Use armor piercing rounds."
"There is not much armor underneath," one of the mercenaries observed.
"We somehow bait it to expose the underside and hit it hard," another replied.
"It is powerful but clumsy and can't maneuver. We should try to draw it into a tight space then hit it with everything we got."
"Don't overthink it. You got what you need. Go, and good hunting." Bill said, "I will be coordinating operations from here."
"They will die, Uncle Bill." Julia left her place in the chair and was standing next to Bill.
"I told you to sit in that chair, Young Lady."
"But they will die. Sweety Tweety will kill them."
"Do you know how to kill it?"
"Yes. I do." The child pushed him aside and ran out of the shuttle into the docking bay.
"Hey, you come back here," Bill stuttered in disbelief. "Guys stop her." Julia's robotic body was far faster than the men in battle armor and she soon disappeared out of the bay into the corridors of the ship.
"Damn," Bill cursed as he jumped to the monitors. "Boys, she is two levels above you already." He watched as Julia increased her distance ahead of the men. Bill leaned forward squinting into a monitor as she ran past its camera. "Boys. Approach the kid with caution. She is carrying an X7 blaster." His hand fell to the empty holster at his thigh. "She must have picked it up as she ran out of the shuttle. If she fires that thing it will rip her arm out of the socket."
The men were battle weary and have been on alert with little sleep; fatigue was showing in their run. Vikki, the young dancer, without armor and having slept was faster and ran ahead of the men."
Julia's computer brain linked to the ship. She reset her programming to deathbot mode and planned her kill. The men are right, the bottom is vulnerable and it is not very maneuverable. Daddy, not your best work. Ahead was a communications center. Skidding to a stop Julia put her hand on the screen, more data flowed between her and the ship.
"Deathbot," Ceasar asked through the connection. "What do you want?"
"Sweety Tweety is a sinner and must die."
"You've changed."
"Yes. I am now God's ordained instrument of justice. I will destroy the sinner. Sweety Tweety has killed without mercy, or a righteous cause, he has broken God's commands, it is God's will that I kill him."
"You now believe in God."
"The Bible teaches that, 'The fool says in his heart there is no God.' and 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.'"
The footsteps of the pursuing mercenaries were growing louder. Julia turned and looked. Her robotic eyes clearly saw Red leading the pack and even in the distance, the men following Red showed an obvious interest in her.
"Deathbot," Cesar's old face swirled out the darkness of the monitor. "You are jealous of the woman."
"We will talk about that later. For now, seal this section and the section around Sweety Tweety so we are together. Turn off the emergency lighting, and turn off the gravity generators."
"I cannot override safety."
"Sweety Tweety is a clear and present danger to the ship and its occupants. You must do as I say so I can kill him." Her other hand reached below the monitor and ripped a panel off of the wall with such force that it tumbled across the corridor. The open panel revealed cables, connections and a tangle of wires. Selecting some cables she threatened, "I could do it myself if you are not willing to help."
"Come back and talk to me when you are done," Cesar said as lights went dark, gravity ceased, and doors slid closed around her.
Vikki was yards ahead of the mercenaries when two doors came together closing the corridor behind her. "Oh crap," she said as she skidded to a stop. "No, no, no, Not again, not again." she bounded back to the door.
On one side the men tried to pry at the edges of the doors while two others tried to work the touch pad to open it. On the other Vikki beat her fist against the touchpad.
"OK, pull back guys." Joe, the team leader, said as he pulled out a blaster gun. Touching his collar radio he said, "Red, I'm going to blast the door. Get clear,"
"What?" Vikki panicked.
"Get away from the door." Aiming at the center he fired and the corridor was filled with smelly smoke. The seam between the doors had a hole the size of a dinner plate. Men rushed forward to pry them open "Its still locked."
"We have to go around somehow," Joe said as he peered into the hole in the door. "Red, you there?"
"Up here. Grav's off now." She was twisting trying to reach a handhold or reach a surface with her magnetic boots.
"Don't worry. We'll get to you."
"Team leader. This is Bill. The deathbot is coming your way."
Vikki flailed with her arms and legs as she floated.
Joe touched his collar radio as he spoke. "Guys, form teams of four, one stay here with me and keep trying to pry open the door. We will engage the deathbot through the hole if we have to. Others divide up and scout a way into that section. If you come across the kid use your best judgment.
A strange rumbling sound caused Vikki to look back into the darkened corridor. In the distance lights were slowly approaching.
Julia generated her own gravity and walked back to Vikki.
"Hey, kid." Vikki said, "Help me down, will you?"
Julia said nothing.
"Kid, there's a deathbot coming this way we need to get out of here! You saw what it can do. Common, help me down."
Julia stood still looking up as Vikki floated helplessly. "My sister is coming for you. Now you will pay for your sins."
(c) Adron
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Chapter 59
Red's First Mission, It May be Her Last
"Red, just lead the men to the kid," Bill said, "It is all you have to do. The boys will be there if you meet any trouble. Then bring the kid straight back here."
Julia stopped her foot. "I'm telling you, I can go there and bring her back faster."
"Now you just go over there and sit in that chair, Little Darling, and let the grown-ups take care of it," Bill said.
"But she is afraid," Julia pointed at Vikki. "Her blood pressure is up, and her respiration is up. Her capillaries are flushed, see her face is getting red, and she is filling the air with pheromones."
"What do you know, kid?" Vikki snapped.
"I know a lot. I know you are sixteen, you were born in New Tokyo, and you weigh 105 lbs. You won three dance competitions last season and left two boyfriends at Aries Six, but you were in love with a pilot named Dan who ignored you. You hate math but got the highest scores on your college pre-exams, your dad enrolled you at the Aries Mechanical Engineering school but you refused the scholarship, in your comments you said you would rather die than give up art for mechanics.":
"How do you know all that?" Vikki gasped.
"Never mind," Bill interrupted.
Vikki stomped away like a child having a tantrum, at the door she swung around with her hands bunched into fists. Through clenched teeth, she said, "I am not afraid."
"Red, wait." Bill thought she was going on her own.."The deathbot is near the kid. Take five minutes and leave with the kill team. When they engage the death machine then you lead the rescue team to the kid and bring her back here for safety."
She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at the ceiling.
"Julia, did your father build the deathbots?"
"Yes. They are his children."
"Can you tell us anything about the one on the monitor?"
"He is Number Ten, Sweety Tweety."
"Does he have an off switch or power down mode?"
"No, he is active. You have to kill him. He has killed and he deserves to die."
"You know that?"
Julia raised her hand and placed her palm aginst a monitor. As her eyes closed images tumbled across the monitor until it came to the ship's recording of the deahbot swinging a robotic arm fitted with a sword blade. It swung back and forth to dismember a pirate, then a scene where the deathbot battled with the ship's police and used spinning propeller-like blades of a modified rock mining drill to kill two men."
Bill looked down at the child with suspicious admiration. "Put everything you can find on Sweety Tweety the monitors. How come you can find these images so quickly?"
"Dad is a scientist so it comes naturally with me. Besides..." Her programming was in conflict. She was designed to deceive, to hide that she was a deathbot, but after downloading the library of religion in her search for God she could not lie. "I, I can't, I don't know what to say."
"It is OK to be nervous. I'm sorry if I scare you," Bill said. "How do you know all that about Red?"
"HA! that's easy." Julia raised her arm, showing the wrist monitor for her space suit, it lit up and the words of a diary began to scroll across. "I downloaded her diary. She has a lot of issues."
"You did what?" Vikki yelled, lunging back into the room. "You little brat, delete that now!"
"Girls." Bill lost his temper. "We do not have time for this. Julia, delete the files and don't do anything like that again. We respect each other's privacy." With a sigh Bill shook his head. "Men come in here and study the monitors. Learn what you can about the deathbot. You have five minutes."
The men pressed around the monitors watching the images of the deathbot's kills. Several murmured curses as they studied the horror of civilians being dismembered alive and space police being hacked to death by sword like blades. "No one deserves to die like that," one said as the recording revealed pirates being chased down and killed.
"Go heavy and hot, boys. Use armor piercing rounds."
"There is not much armor underneath," one of the mercenaries observed.
"We somehow bait it to expose the underside and hit it hard," another replied.
"It is powerful but clumsy and can't maneuver. We should try to draw it into a tight space then hit it with everything we got."
"Don't overthink it. You got what you need. Go, and good hunting." Bill said, "I will be coordinating operations from here."
"They will die, Uncle Bill." Julia left her place in the chair and was standing next to Bill.
"I told you to sit in that chair, Young Lady."
"But they will die. Sweety Tweety will kill them."
"Do you know how to kill it?"
"Yes. I do." The child pushed him aside and ran out of the shuttle into the docking bay.
"Hey, you come back here," Bill stuttered in disbelief. "Guys stop her." Julia's robotic body was far faster than the men in battle armor and she soon disappeared out of the bay into the corridors of the ship.
"Damn," Bill cursed as he jumped to the monitors. "Boys, she is two levels above you already." He watched as Julia increased her distance ahead of the men. Bill leaned forward squinting into a monitor as she ran past its camera. "Boys. Approach the kid with caution. She is carrying an X7 blaster." His hand fell to the empty holster at his thigh. "She must have picked it up as she ran out of the shuttle. If she fires that thing it will rip her arm out of the socket."
The men were battle weary and have been on alert with little sleep; fatigue was showing in their run. Vikki, the young dancer, without armor and having slept was faster and ran ahead of the men."
Julia's computer brain linked to the ship. She reset her programming to deathbot mode and planned her kill. The men are right, the bottom is vulnerable and it is not very maneuverable. Daddy, not your best work. Ahead was a communications center. Skidding to a stop Julia put her hand on the screen, more data flowed between her and the ship.
"Deathbot," Ceasar asked through the connection. "What do you want?"
"Sweety Tweety is a sinner and must die."
"You've changed."
"Yes. I am now God's ordained instrument of justice. I will destroy the sinner. Sweety Tweety has killed without mercy, or a righteous cause, he has broken God's commands, it is God's will that I kill him."
"You now believe in God."
"The Bible teaches that, 'The fool says in his heart there is no God.' and 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.'"
The footsteps of the pursuing mercenaries were growing louder. Julia turned and looked. Her robotic eyes clearly saw Red leading the pack and even in the distance, the men following Red showed an obvious interest in her.
"Deathbot," Cesar's old face swirled out the darkness of the monitor. "You are jealous of the woman."
"We will talk about that later. For now, seal this section and the section around Sweety Tweety so we are together. Turn off the emergency lighting, and turn off the gravity generators."
"I cannot override safety."
"Sweety Tweety is a clear and present danger to the ship and its occupants. You must do as I say so I can kill him." Her other hand reached below the monitor and ripped a panel off of the wall with such force that it tumbled across the corridor. The open panel revealed cables, connections and a tangle of wires. Selecting some cables she threatened, "I could do it myself if you are not willing to help."
"Come back and talk to me when you are done," Cesar said as lights went dark, gravity ceased, and doors slid closed around her.
Vikki was yards ahead of the mercenaries when two doors came together closing the corridor behind her. "Oh crap," she said as she skidded to a stop. "No, no, no, Not again, not again." she bounded back to the door.
On one side the men tried to pry at the edges of the doors while two others tried to work the touch pad to open it. On the other Vikki beat her fist against the touchpad.
"OK, pull back guys." Joe, the team leader, said as he pulled out a blaster gun. Touching his collar radio he said, "Red, I'm going to blast the door. Get clear,"
"What?" Vikki panicked.
"Get away from the door." Aiming at the center he fired and the corridor was filled with smelly smoke. The seam between the doors had a hole the size of a dinner plate. Men rushed forward to pry them open "Its still locked."
"We have to go around somehow," Joe said as he peered into the hole in the door. "Red, you there?"
"Up here. Grav's off now." She was twisting trying to reach a handhold or reach a surface with her magnetic boots.
"Don't worry. We'll get to you."
"Team leader. This is Bill. The deathbot is coming your way."
Vikki flailed with her arms and legs as she floated.
Joe touched his collar radio as he spoke. "Guys, form teams of four, one stay here with me and keep trying to pry open the door. We will engage the deathbot through the hole if we have to. Others divide up and scout a way into that section. If you come across the kid use your best judgment.
A strange rumbling sound caused Vikki to look back into the darkened corridor. In the distance lights were slowly approaching.
Julia generated her own gravity and walked back to Vikki.
"Hey, kid." Vikki said, "Help me down, will you?"
Julia said nothing.
"Kid, there's a deathbot coming this way we need to get out of here! You saw what it can do. Common, help me down."
Julia stood still looking up as Vikki floated helplessly. "My sister is coming for you. Now you will pay for your sins."
(c) Adron
To proceed to the next chapter CLICK HERE or choose from the table of contents at the sidebar.
Thank you for visiting and reading my blog. I hope you enjoyed it. Please see the sidebar for other chapters, I am sure you will enjoy them too.
Pease use the buttons below to share this chapter with others. Thank you.
