Coffee Cup Dreams (A Redpoint One Romance) (16 page)

Tish gulped, realizing he must be talking
about the attack she'd witnessed while going through the hyperspace
radiation decontamination process. It brought to mind the worry
plaguing her when she'd first arrived.

"Does Redpoint One have a big problem with
pirates?"

Arthur shook his head. "Not usually, as the
station is too well-defended, but they've been brave lately. That
doesn't bode well."

She liked none of the thoughts that came to
mind as they continued winding through the corridors. The romantic
novels of space pirates was a far different thing than the reality
from what little she'd seen. Why couldn't the movie have focused on
pirates instead?

She almost jumped out of her skin when Arthur
touched her hand. He laughed. "Relax. Stop worrying so much. There
are no pirates around right now. If we get the node going they
won't be a threat to the station."

Which made her determined to do everything
possible to make it happen. With her three bots, and Arthur's
experienced black and white bot, they might have a chance. Plus,
there would surely be other bots in the area who would join them.
With that much help, surely they could knock out the repair in no
time.

She started repeating the names of the main
systems as they passed, desperate to keep the connection that had
helped her the last two days. When she would falter Arthur would
help prompt the name along with a, "You're trying too
hard."

Of course she was trying too hard. She didn't
like the idea of pirate attacks. With her luck she would get
kidnapped by one.

She knew they'd arrived in the right area even
before Arthur said, "We're here."

The area showed all the signs of a disaster.
Scorched surfaces, burst pipes, filaments hanging from the walls
and ceilings. At first she saw many bots of all different sizes,
hard at work along all the walls and ceilings. Arthur didn't stop
to help them. He led her deeper into the damaged area. As they
moved the bots petered out until the only bots around were
theirs.

The lack of activity made her nervous. It
didn't feel right. There should be bots everywhere, taken from
other areas of the station if necessary. The repairs in the area
were too vital to the well-being of the station.

To make up for it she started asking questions
about the station and the maintenance department. Arthur answered
them but the tone of his voice told her he was distracted. In the
end she stopped asking, nervously studying the same damage he
focused on.

The air cooled. Water dripped down the walls
and off pipes, splattering in puddles. As they walked, the bots
became more and more excited, but not in a vocal way. If anything,
they had gone silent. But, their eyestalks were constantly in
motion, studying everything around them. They zipped from one side
of the corridors to the other. Something in the pit of her stomach
told her they were worried.

"Should we go back and ask some of the other
bots to come with us? Since this is so important?" Tish asked
almost in a whisper. Speaking any louder felt wrong.

"If our bots need help they'll call for
reinforcements." Arthur stopped, going down to his haunches to look
at a cluster of pipes. "There are breaks here that shouldn't
happen."

"A ship did crash into the superstructure,"
Tish said. "It was pretty spectacular."

He glanced back at her. "How close were
you?"

"Fairly close. They went right past my ship
before clipping another ship. Then it was right into one of the
gaps through the side of Redpoint One."

He gave a half-grimace and a half-smile. "I'm
surprised you didn't get right back on the ship and
leave."

A small part of her had wondered the same
thing. Fortunately it had been overpowered by the rest of her. "I
wouldn't do that. I promised I would come."

Which earned her another introspective stare.
"Glad you did. Shall we start repairs?"

"I'm ready, and these guys sure are," she said
with a gestured towards their bots.

He reached into the dark edge of the corridor
between two pipes, grabbing something and pulling. "Looks like we
have a lot to clean up."

She looked past him down the corridor. "And it
looks like we might have help."

The piece came loose, and Arthur stood up
quickly, looking down the corridor. The bots rushing to cluster
around them first tipped her off something was wrong, followed by
the tense stillness of Arthur's body.

Then she realized he held part of the outer
shell of a bot in his hands, with a hole burned right though the
middle of it.

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

THE UNIFORMLY SHAPED object emerging from the shadows
suddenly took on an ominous tone. As did the laser shots hitting
the piping along the side of the corridor. Fluids and fumes burst
from the broken lengths.

Tish found herself stepping backwards before
she could stop herself. When she realized Arthur was also stepping
backwards she didn't feel so bad about being a coward.

Then the bots shifted backwards, their
eyestalks watching the dark shape further down the corridor. The
echoing of the dripping water, rushing fluids and whistling air was
enough to have her right back at the panic level again.

This didn't feel right. None of it did. The…
thing… wasn't a part of the station.

At the sound of metal falling down a side
corridor the thing paused in its advance, turning a flattened
angled head towards the noise. She didn't need an invitation to
turn and make a run for it while it was distracted.

Arthur grabbed her arm, diverting her down a
different corridor. She nearly slipped on the standing water trying
to make the sharp turn. She let him take the lead, unsure where she
should be heading, only knowing it would be dangerous to remain
where they were.

At the juncture of a corridor turning to the
left, Arthur came to a screeching halt, putting a hand back at her.
She stopped, almost falling in the process. The bots stopped next
to her, still eerily quiet.

Arthur stood rock still, staring intently down
the corridor. She leaned forward to look around the corner, but
stopped when he waggled the tops of his fingers at her. The fact he
remained frozen told her further advance would be
unwise.

The sound of laser fire, more burst pipes. The
sound of liquid spraying out at high pressure and the aroma of
chemicals, water, and sewer drifted back to her.

Her heart-rate picked up.

"Warbot," he whispered, his lips barely
moving.

Her blood ran cold.

The closest she'd ever come to seeing a warbot
was in the movies, or in documentaries about their use in the Chion
war. Not things she ever wanted to see with her own eyes. She
guessed she now had, that the robot they'd just run from was also
one.

The bots huddled in a circle, their eyestalks
bobbing up and down, looking from one to the other, as if having a
silent animated conversation. She glanced back at a sound behind
them, her mind flashing back on the shadowy shape approaching them
in the other corridor.

One behind them in the corridor they'd just
come down. Another down the hallway joining theirs. Their only
escape was the corridor directly in front of them, but they would
need to cross the wide juncture to get to it.

With the way Arthur remained frozen, she
guessed the thing wasn't far away.

She turned in a full circle, studying the
walls, even the floor and the ceiling. Searching everywhere she
could think of for another way out of the area. Where were the
shifting walls of the movie when you needed them?

Something tapped her leg, and she almost
screamed as she jumped away. Aqua looked up at her, a three-finger
metal hand extended towards her with a small cube in it. She took
it in her hand, but the light was too dim to see what it might be.
A bit of electronics, to be sure. But, what did Aqua want her to do
with it? Wasn't she supposed to give things to the bots to make
repairs with and not the other way around?

Aqua lay the hand a moment on her knee before
retracting it. Moving past her, it approached Arthur. She reached
forward to grab him back, but other bot hands reached out to her
clothing to pull her back.

Arthur glanced at them out of the corner of
his eye, his eyebrows pushed together. Aqua spun around the corner,
flying fast across the ground, whistling shrilly.

"Run!" Arthur shouted as he sprinted across
the opening.

Horrified by the noises she heard coming from
around the corner, she ran for it. She glanced down the corridor as
she crossed the juncture, but everything was a fast-moving blur.
Including the weapon fire. Along with the impression of a bot so
big it almost took up the entire width of the large
corridor.

"Aqua is down there," she said as she reached
the other side where Arthur was waiting.

He grabbed her arm and kept her running. "And
Aqua just saved our lives."

"We need to warn someone."

"First, we survive."

Arthur stopped at another 'T' in the corridor
as they came up against a wall. He looked down both, shaking his
head, his lips compressed. "We can't outrun those
things."

"Do we have something to destroy them?" She
doubted anything on her utility belt would do any good.

"No, but maybe we can outsmart
them."

She realized she still held the little cube
Aqua had given her in her hand, the corners of it biting in her
skin as she gripped it tightly. Her throat closed up as she
realized Aqua had known exactly what he'd been doing and had given
her one last gift.

As Arthur urged her down one of the corridors
she tucked it down into her bra. Uncomfortable, but at least it
would still be with her even if she lost her belt.

He stopped, opening a door, waving her in. The
bots followed her inside, almost running into the back of her shoes
in their haste.

She stopped in the middle of the long room,
her heart sinking. "An airlock? Please tell me you didn't take a
wrong turn or that you have a maintenance pod waiting for
us."

"A heavy-duty airlock," Arthur said as he
sealed the door behind them and worked at the controls. "Door
locked. And no, I do not have a pod. I don't dare call for one
until we are at a safe distance. The warbots would surely pick up
the transmission and home in right to our location."

Anger surged in her, replacing the sheer
terror of only a moment before. "Where did warbots come from? We're
not at war."

"Except with pirates."

She froze at that comment. Of course. The
damage from the pirate ship crashing into the station. "They
planned this? Do you think they planned the crash?"

Arthur shrugged, opening up a tall cabinet in
the side of the wall. "Who knows. Planted purposely or remains from
the crash? Here from a previous attack? The point is, they are
here, and they are destroying this part of the station. No wonder
the forward defense systems are down."

He pulled out a white suit from the cabinet,
handing it to her. He pulled out another and quickly started
slipping it on over his clothes.

"We're going outside?" She asked with a
gulp.

"Have a faster way of getting out of the
area?"

She swallowed a new fear. She'd never been
outside a ship before. Barely even been in a ship. The spacesuit
had controls along both of the arms. How did they work?

Trying to put on a spacesuit was another first
for her, and not one she enjoyed, even with several helping bot
hands. She knew she needed to dress fast, yet it seemed like she
did everything wrong the first time. Trying to put the wrong leg in
the wrong pant leg. Turning the top of the spacesuit the wrong
way.

She paused in the action of getting her feet
situated through the bottom of the pant legs and into the big bulky
boots. "I thought you only had one bot."