Coffee Cup Dreams (A Redpoint One Romance) (18 page)

Then he saw one of the eyestalks perk up and
swivel around. "The thing is still functional!"

"Her name is Violet," Tish corrected. "Now,
can we get out of here before we lose any other bots? Aqua's
sacrifice should not be in vain."

Nothing would please him more. The moment he'd
seen the warbots following it had been his sole focus. Alice
Rainsong and her security forces could take back the section. They
were trained for this sort of thing and his maintenance engineers
weren't. Well, other than Vasiliy. He hoped she could do it with
the limited weaponry she had available. If pirates were going to
become a huge issue, Director Stemski was going to need to improve
security's firepower.

But he didn't pass it on to Tish. He was sure
she was already overwhelmed.

"You heard the lady. Time to get out of the
area," he told his bot. With the head-start they had on the bigger
bot, and how fast their bots could zip across the surface they
might be able to get to safety.

Leaving behind a communications array they
picked up speed over a stretch of flat hull. A small crater emerged
ahead of them, the edges jagged and scorched. He ordered his bot to
slow down so he could inspect the damage.

"The pirate ship crashed towards the inside of
the tube, in one of the open spaces," Tish said as her bot came to
a stop just ahead of him and on the other side of the crater.
"Where did this one come from?"

"I don't know, but something hit."

Piping and cables waved in space, moving as if
pushed by a breeze. No sparks, so the power cables must be without
power. Made sense. If there were power to the area, they should be
seeing at least some healing along the edge of the hull, but he
could detect nothing.

Tish and Crimson drifted back towards him.
"Let me guess, something important?"

"My instincts say an important node was
damaged." He squinted his eyes. "Yes, look towards the right, the
bit of blue metal. Well, it was damaged, not destroyed. That's
good."

"Damaged means it can be repaired," she said
as if reading a book. Then she added, "This definitely didn't come
from the pirate ship."

"As you said, this is the wrong area. We're on
the outer hull," Arthur said as he continued to study the damage.
With a good group of bots and the right raw materials they could
have the systems in the crater repaired in no time.

"No, I'm referring to shape. It's bigger
inside and the edges bent outwards. It looks like it exploded from
the inside."

Damn, she was right. Which meant they probably
had the warbots to thank for it.

The bots squealed into their headphones,
rising up from the hull, carrying Arthur and Tish with them despite
Arthur's shout of protest. They shot forward, Violet joining the
squeals as she was towed behind the white bot.

Tish groaned, "It got out of the
airlock."

The distant image of the rounded lower body of
the larger warbot rising up from the curve of the hull made him
feel just as fearful as she sounded. They needed to find cover
before the weapon systems surrounding the upper body found their
mark.

He touched the communication box on the
outside of the spacesuit on his left arm, hoping for a signal.
"Control, where is our evac? We have a large warbot in
pursuit."

"But if we can repair the node?" Tish asked.
"Then the station could defend itself with the restoration of
power."

"No time. We save ourselves first. Bot, get us
behind something fast," he said. His bot chirped an answer, all the
bots altering direction to the nearest rising on the
hull.

He heard Tish saying something as a voice
responded to his summons, asking for clarification. Which made him
angry.

He answered quickly, "Control, this is Arthur
Getty. I am on an EVA in Sector 5936, near the area damaged by the
pirate ship crash. A warbot that looks like a model C-238 is in
pursuit of myself and Tish Douglas."

"Stand by," the female voice said.

Stand by? Was she serious? After the call he'd
made before? The bot darted, putting a series of boxy protrusions
between them and the warbot.

"A warbot?" Director Stemski demanded over the
speakers. "Tell me this is a bad joke."

"I wish it were. If you don't want to have to
look for a new Maintenance Supervisor you will evac us now. I asked
for it minutes ago," Arthur said, trying hard not to yell. "We're
outside the hull. Grab us and get out."

"We're sending people out now. Give me all the
bad news."

"I can confirm the existence of at least four
warbots, two of which one of Tish's bots destroyed. I found the
remains of bots in the area and deliberate damage to the station,
including the main defense systems for the forward side of Redpoint
One. I believe there are more warbots still inside the
station."

He heard Director Stemski suck in his breath.
"Are you saying we're defenseless from another pirate
attack?"

"If they approach us from the transit exit
side, yes sir. I do not know if they planned this, but the fact we
now have multiple warbots in the area may indicate they did."
There, he'd said it. He could only hope the Director had
information of some sort from the Space Patrol in the area. He
wanted his suspicions to be wrong.

"Damn, they are planning it," Director Stemski
said. "I'm calling in reinforcements."

So much for his hoping the pirates weren't
planning something.

"What are they planning?" Arthur demanded,
trying to think of any habitable areas along the front portion of
the station that might need to be evacuated if an attack were
imminent.

"Worry about yourself. Evac is on the way.
Keep yourself intact until it gets to you."

Arthur would have plenty to say to the
Director later about that. He needed to know what was going on if
he was going to be able to give proper priority to the repairs
needed.

"Stop behind this one," Tish said as the
connection closed.

Her bot did as she asked, turning to come
behind the solid wall of a sensor array. The other bots followed,
carrying Arthur with them.

"Are you crazy?" he demanded even as his own
bot turned to follow hers.

"I might be, but before we continue this chase
let's see what Violet can do."

"What are you talking about? We're losing our
lead."

The bots came to a pause at the other side of
the array, allowing them to look around the edge of it. In the
distance, almost occluded by the curve of the hull, the warbot
moved towards them. He counted the bots, then noting the one she
called Violet wasn't among them.

"Where is Violet?" He demanded.

"I gave her a job."

"No, you didn't. We aren't waiting for that
thing to catch up to us. We leave now," he said, tapping the top
shell of his bot. It looked back at him with one eyestalk, the
other one firmly fixated on the warbot. The other bots were just as
intent in their attention. "Time to go."

His bot ignored the order, turning it's full
attention back to the approaching warbot.

"In a few seconds, if this doesn't work," Tish
said.

"And if it doesn't work?" he demanded. "What
did you have her do?"

"We're about to see just how clever Violet
is."

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

THE WARBOT DREW closer, the flattened angular head swiveling
back and forth as if searching for a target. Tish didn't know which
part of the head or body held its arsenal of weaponry, making it
impossible to know if it was aiming at them. That it was still
flying towards them was bad enough.

She tensed. Maybe her idea wouldn't work? She
glanced down at the bots, including Crimson. Their attention
remained firmly on the ugly dark object barreling across the
surface of Redpoint One. So far none of them were indicating a
desire to flee.

No, she needed to wait. Needed to wait to give
Violet a chance. The bots would tell her when it came time to run
again.

Arthur remained silent beside her, watching
the approach, one hand resting on the back of her spacesuit. She
could practically feel the anxiety radiating from him, but he
didn't move.

He trusted her?

Just the possibility filled her with warmth.
She was the newbie on the job and he trusted her idea, and he
didn't even know what it was yet.

Now to only hope it worked.

A spark ran along the joint of the head to the
body. A burst of light enveloped the head. The entire body of the
warbot tilt to the left and started to scrape along the hull. A
piece of the black outer casing exploded from the side, shooting
off into space to quickly disappear against the black sky, shoving
the warbot violently to the left.

The white bot at her feet shot forward, both
eyestalks held high. The black and white bot followed, both heading
towards the warbot as fast as they could go.

When the warbot showed no signs of moving, she
told Crimson, "Let's get Violet."

Crimson rose and followed, carrying Tish with
it. Tish kept her eyes on the warbot as they left the safety of the
shelter, hunting for any signs of movement.

Behind her, Arthur demanded, "We're heading
towards the thing and not away?"

"I thought you said we needed to repair the
defense systems?" she asked.

"Not at the risk of our lives."

"It's not moving," she pointed out. She hoped
it would stay that way.

Violet popping out of the portion of skin that
had blown away gave her hope. The white and black and white bots
nestled up close to Violet, tools running up and down her ruined
eyestalk.

Tish settled to the hull, allowing her
magnetic boots to adhere. She pushed at the warbot. It moved
backwards a few inches, but the side scraping against the hull was
going to cause a problem.

"What just happened?" Arthur asked, settling
down next to her.

"I was hoping the warbot wouldn't view Violet
as a threat because of the injuries. So, the warbot passed over,
and Violet popped up underneath."

"I can't believe it worked." Arthur didn't put
his hands on the warbot as she continued pushing. She didn't blame
him. She didn't like touching it, either. "So, it's disabled. For
now. What's the idea before any internal self-repair systems kick
in?"

She didn't need to hear about that
possibility. If it activated while they were so close they wouldn't
stand a chance. "We need to do a massive repair and don’t have the
raw materials and no time to get them. It's only a matter of time
before more warbots appear."

Tish noted Violet's second eyestalk lit up.
Good. Maybe she could repair herself in other ways, too. She
pointed at the warbot towering above them. "But we have the raw
material. We just need to get it into place."

Arthur looked past her towards the crater they
could no longer see. "Good idea, if we can do it fast enough. Then
we get out of here."

"I agree with that."

Violet disappeared back into the warbot as the
other bots spaced themselves around to push or pull. Arthur placed
the black and white bot under the fallen side of the warbot,
lifting it up from the hull.

"I don't understand. We're in zero gravity.
Shouldn't this thing want to float off into space?" Tish
complained. With the boots she couldn't move very quickly, and with
every passing moment grew more nervous they would have a new
unwelcome visitor. Or the warbot under them would come to
life.

"These things are designed to work out here.
Which means they also have their own version of our boots," Arthur
said. "You, white one, see if you can disable the magnetic
boot."

"I would name him Snowy," Tish said as she
continued to push. The bot in question zipped under the
warbot.

"I am not naming it."