Cyberdrome (15 page)

As if on cue, a
familiar shape suddenly appeared out his right window and came to a stop
directly in front of him. It was a large metallic gray sphere held up by eight
piston-driven legs sprouting from its top. Even though this one was twice the
size of the one on the Survey Vessel, he found himself strangely fascinated by
the Spider as it turned to face him. More than a robot, he reminded himself; it
was a
living machine
. And, like most living things, it probably wasn’t
traveling alone.

He glanced left
and right, and cursed when he saw them. At least a dozen Spiders were closing
in—each identical to the first—their huge metallic bodies glistening in the
strange twilight of the Core. An opening appeared in the body of the one in
front and something inside began to glow. Before he could react, a red ball of
energy launched itself directly at him.

Unable to move
the Tracer, he realized there was nothing he could do except hold on tight and
hope for the best. He didn’t believe in miracles, but at that moment, he knew
that he needed one.
As
the energy ball closed in, he shut his eyes tight and
instinctively
tightened his grip on the two T-shaped handlebars. Suddenly his Tracer roared
to life. “All power diverted to shields,” he heard a female voice say, just
before the energy ball exploded all around him.

The concussion
sent his Tracer spinning out of control. When he came to a stop, he tried to
make sense of what had just happened. Klaxon had said that the Survey Vessel
contained a built-in intelligence, which acted as an autopilot. Maybe that was
true for the Tracers as well.

“I need help,”
he said aloud.

“Help is now
online,” a female voice said.

He saw several
Spiders in his forward window, turning around to face him. “We need to get out
of here,” he yelled.

“Direction?” the
voice asked calmly.

Since most of
them were now in front of his ship, he yelled, “Backward.”

“Affirmative.
Course is now plotted and ready for activation.”

“Do it now,” he
yelled.

As the Tracer
began to move, the voice said calmly, “Incoming fire detected. Multiple sources
and trajectories confirmed.”

He looked out
the forward window. Several glowing balls of light were heading right at him.
One was already very close.

“What are those
things,” he asked.

“Weapons
identified. Electromagnetic charges. Six seconds to initial impact.”

“I’m guessing
that Electromagnetic charges can’t be good for digital programs,” he said,
trying to calm himself. He needed to think clearly and panicking would not help
him. “Is there a way to maneuver this ship manually?”

“Manual override
is now engaged,” the voice said.

“Wait. What do I
do now?” he asked, but the ship was silent.

Need to turn the
ship
,
he thought, and as he looked out his left window, his ship pivoted ninety
degrees to the left. Unfortunately, the energy ball turned as well and continued
to close in.

“Recalculating
trajectory. Eight seconds to impact.”

Direct mental
control, he realized. Appropriate for Sentinels, now that he thought about it.
Turning the ship had bought him a few extra seconds, but it still didn’t get
him out of his current predicament. He needed his Tracer to go faster.
Faster
,
he thought.

“We are at
maximum speed for Explorer Mode,” the ship replied. “Six seconds to impact.”

He looked down
at his dashboard and noticed the placement of three glowing letters on the right
side. The letters were W, E, and R. The middle letter, E, glowed green.

That must stand
for “Explorer Mode” he realized. Then he remembered that most energy-based vehicles
balanced their power between three systems: weapons, shields, and engines.
Slower ship meant more powerful weapons and shields. Faster ship meant weaker
weapons and shields. Explorer Mode could be the default mode, with power
distributed evenly between all three systems.

If that were
true, then “W” and “R” should stand for the other power modes. The “R” could be
for Reconnaissance, he guessed. That would be a fast ship with weak or no
weapons. If that were true, then the “W” key should trigger the offensive mode.
What did the “W” stand for?

“Recalculating
trajectory. Two seconds to impact.”

His cabin began
to fill with light and he knew it was the energy charge almost upon him. He
yelled the words “Warrior Mode,” and held his breath.

The windows went
pure white and he felt the shock of the explosion, echoing through the ship’s
hull. The display on the dashboard now had the “W” lit up. He had guessed
correctly.

He looked out
his forward window and saw a holographic heads-up display projected in front of
him. It showed his shields holding at eighty-five percent and a green cursor
was now tracking the next energy charge.

He thought the
word, “Fire,” and a yellow beam of light erupted from somewhere above him. It vaporized
the incoming charge. The heads-up cursor then locked on the next closest
charge.

He repeatedly
shot and destroyed all remaining charges. “Is that the best you can do?” he
asked aloud. It all began to make sense to him now, and he felt himself becoming
an extension of the Tracer, something that usually only happened to him after
many hours inside a virtual ship. He realized that he really was beginning to
think like a Sentinel.

The Spiders
appeared to be formulating a new attack plan, because while they continued
their pursuit, none of them were firing at him. He used the time to quickly
test the last remaining power modes of his Tracer. Recon Mode transferred all
shield and weapons power to the engines, just as he had guessed. He might need
that later, but not right then. He had no plans to run away from this particular
fight.

The heads-up
display also showed that his Tracer had two types of weapons on board; the beam
weapons he had been using were called Electro-Magnetic Pulsars, or EMP, but he
also had something called Electrostatic Discharges, or ESD. The display showed
that he had only four of those so he decided to hold off testing them for the
moment.

The Spiders
suddenly increased their speed. In Warrior Mode, his Tracer couldn’t match
their speed. He waited until they were just seconds away, then reactivated his
Explorer Mode, reversed course, and pushed his thrusters to maximum. He shot
right through the middle of the Spiders, which sent them running into one
another as they tried to stab at him with their metallic legs. He then turned
hard and began circling the group. He switched back to Warrior Mode and began
firing his pulsars into the crowd as fast as he could. Nothing seemed to hurt
them.

Then he took a
chance and changed his targeting cursor to aim for the leg joints. One Spider
fell as three of its legs broke off. One of the Spiders launched an energy
charge, but Alek’s circling motion caused the charge to hit another Spider,
which exploded and took out two others. Chaos erupted in the group as they
began fighting with each other.

In a few
moments, only two spiders remained standing. Alek locked on the nearest and
fired, but nothing happened. He looked at his weapons display and saw that it
was empty. “Damn,” he said as he switched back to Explorer Mode and steered his
ship out toward open space. He looked behind him and saw both spiders running
after him.

He was about to
try out the Recon Mode when the heads-up display scanner showed what looked
like a hole forming on the ground behind him. He rotated his Tracer 90 degrees
and looked out his side window just in time to see the closest Spider attempt
to jump over the sudden chasm in the ground. Halfway through the awkward jump,
something huge lifted up out of the hole and pulled it down.

He turned back
around just in time to see a section of the ground collapsing in front of him.
He turned his Tracer hard to the right, but continued to slide sideways toward
the opening. He remembered too late that the Tracer’s magnetic lift worked like
a hovercraft—sharp turns just couldn’t happen at high speed.

He looked out
the side window into the approaching hole. Something was rising from the
darkness, something big enough to swallow a building-sized Spider whole. He
took a last-second gamble and turned his ship toward the rising creature. Just
as it broke the surface, he hit full thrust. He bounced once, then felt his
ship rising. He dropped back down to the ground a moment later, the magnetic
lift breaking his fall.

He turned his
ship hard to the side, and was able to see the creature out his side window
just before it fell back into its hole. It was another machine—tube-shaped with
treads on its sides and rows of digging blades circling its mouth. It had to be
the Mole that Klaxon mentioned—another one of her programs brought to life by
his Panspermia Bomb.

Moles began
rising up through the ground all around him. He kept turning, trying to avoid
them, but they were forcing him into a smaller and smaller area. Within a
minute, the Mole openings had surrounded him; forcing him to a full stop. He
sat there in stunned silence as the ground beneath him began to sink.

“Do not move,” a
male voice spoke from his cabin speakers. It didn’t sound like Cloudhopper, but
it could’ve been any of the other members of mission team.

Before he could
reply that he had nowhere to go, another Tracer appeared in the distance. It began
dropping small objects behind it, which exploded as soon as the Tracer had
moved on. Depth charges, he guessed. Someone was trying to lure the moles away.

It worked. The
ground beneath him stopped sinking. Whoever was in the other Tracer had just
saved his life.

“When HomeSpace
reformats,” the voice said, “head to the following coordinates at maximum
speed.”

A series of
numbers appeared on his heads-up display. He started to ask what “HomeSpace
reformats” meant, when he saw the holes near him begin to seal themselves. “So,
the Core can repair itself,” he said aloud.

When the area
around him finished mending itself, he thought the words, “Recon Mode,” and
then felt the ship around him shudder slightly as it transferred all power to
the main drive. He thought the words, “Maximum thrust.” Instantly, the acceleration
shoved him back into his chair. He flew across the ground at an alarming rate.
His ship seemed to know where it was going, because within a few minutes, it
slowed to a stop by itself. The other Tracer was already there.

“Thanks for the
help back there,” he said. “Is Maya with you?”

Instead of
receiving an answer, a white light appeared out of the top of the other ship,
and then everything went dark. When he opened his eyes, he was staring into the
face of a blue-skinned man.

“Greetings
Sentinel,” the blue man said with a slight nod of his head. “What is your
status and designation?”

Alek stared at
the face of the strange man sitting before him. He had seen some weird Avatars
before, but this one could win an award. His had a bald head and he seemed to
be naked, except that he had no discernible genitals, which suggested that he
was either sexless, or wearing some sort of thin bodysuit. His skin, or
bodysuit, was translucent blue from head to foot with embedded patterns that
seemed to go deep into his body.

The blue man was
sitting on the ground in front of him and they were both inside some sort of
large circular tunnel. The walls and ceiling were glass-smooth and the material
gave off a slight reddish glow, lighting the tunnel and the strange man before
him. He had no memory of climbing out of his Tracer or coming in here.

“Is your
language processor operational?” the blue man asked. He looked concerned.

“I’m fine,” Alek
said. “Where am I?”

“This is a
tunnel created by Species-4. We are safe down here for the moment.”

Alek looked
around and then back at the blue man. “I assume that you’re one of
Cloudhopper’s people. I never got a chance to meet any of his team members.”

“I have no
knowledge of the designation, Cloudhopper,” the man said. “I am Javid Rho. Do
you recall your designation?”

“If you mean my
name, it’s Alek Grey.”

The blue man’s
eyes widened. “You are a Gray?”

“Well, yes,”
Alek replied. “That’s my name or designation as you call it. I’m Maya’s
friend.”

“This is an
interesting turn of events,” he said, almost to himself. “Very well, Alek. Do
you have any knowledge of why you are here?”

Alek started to
tell of the mission to delete Ceejer but then thought better of it. Something
was up with this guy. Better to play along, and find out what he was doing in
there. “My memory seems to be a little foggy,” he said. “Do you know why I’m
here?”

“You are here to
protect and improve the system,” he said as he stood. “Even though you are
destined to be a Gray, you are still a Tan, which is unusual. Normally, the
system would have reformatted you before entering HomeSpace service. I can only
surmise that damage to the system has resulted in your current preformatted
state.”