Coffee Cup Dreams (A Redpoint One Romance) (17 page)

He pulled his arms through the top of the
spacesuit. "I do."

"Then we have two newbies. I count five bots
in here."

At the bots insistence, Tish continued to suit
up, managing to get the boots sealed with the pant legs. A black
bot with white splotches held out a helmet. A white bot with a
black scorch mark on the right side held out white
gloves.

Arthur paused for a second to look down at
them. "So we do. They must have been hiding and followed
us."

"I would be hiding from those things, too,"
Tish said. In fact, she would like to do so that very
moment.

She muttered at herself angrily at how slow
her fingers were to put the spacesuit on and getting the front seal
right. She ended up taking off the utility belt to get it to
tighten up around her middle. She finally knelt down and let the
bots do it, all the while promising herself that she would learn
how to do it faster if she survived all this. A few drills and she
would get it, she was sure.

Already fully suited up, Arthur took the
helmet from the white-splotched bot. A sizzling noise from the
inner airlock door had the attention of her and half the bots. Two
of them retreated to the other side of the airlock.

"I think they found us," Tish said as he
settled the helmet over her head and locked it in place. She took
her utility belt and expanded it so it could fit on the outside of
the spacesuit like what Arthur had done.

"Sounds like it," he said through the speakers
in the helmet.

He went over the features of the suit quickly
as he helped her clomp in the big boots towards the outside airlock
door. He finished explaining the directional jets with a, "If you
have a bot with you they'll take care of you. But, best not to take
a chance and drift off into space."

She decided she would be keeping her magnetic
boots and hand pads firmly on the hull.

She found herself shaking as the airlock
cycled. The outside speakers picked up the sizzling. Was it her
imagination or had part of the metal of the inner door turned
red?

If not for Arthur's grim silent calmness and
strong presence, Tish might not be so in control. She wanted to
run, and keep running. Run until nothing could possibly be behind
her.

With the cycling of the atmosphere gravity
disappeared. She held onto a looped metal handle just inside the
door. Her stomach dropped as if she were falling even though she
still stood in one spot.

Only weightless, she reminded herself. No need
to get upset about it. She was sure she would be doing it as a
regular part of the job. She needed to get used to it. Her stomach
mocked her thinking, declaring it didn't like the sensation one
little bit.

"Take a good deep breath and try to relax,"
Arthur said.

He stepped out of the door, leaned over, and
came to stand at a 90-degree angle from her. She knew he was
standing on the surface of the hull of the space station, but from
her angle it looked just wrong. He held a hand out to her. Between
him and the bots, she managed to reorient herself.

While Arthur worked at the controls for the
airlock door, she allowed herself a few moments to appreciate the
view. A view that immediately took away any stomach
discomfort.

The stars appeared so bright. A distant nebula
marked the black sky with a wide swath of color. Across the
background different shapes slowly moved. Every so often a bright
flash of light appeared, indicating a ship either entering or
leaving hyperspace.

Redpoint One extended in one direction for as
far as she could see, its length occluded by shapes rising up from
the surface and the habitat rings. In the other direction the hull
flared out to mark the exit of the center decontamination tunnel.
On either side the hull curved down away from them.

"Now for the bad news," Arthur
said.

She had to turn the entire upper portion of
her body towards him to look at him. "The warbots are right behind
us?"

"No, that we can't run." He pointed down the
arching surface of the space station. "We need to repair this
section enough so the self-defense systems can take care of the
warbots instead of us. Otherwise we, and anyone else who gets even
close, will be a target."

Her stomach flip-flopped again.

"If the pirates did this on purpose, then they
are up to something. Something big," Arthur continued. She could
hear the anger ripping through his voice. "I won't let them have
this station."

Tish was rather pleased with herself that she
didn't even squeak at the news. Not that she hadn't wanted to. But,
surely, it wouldn't be them against warbots. "Station
security?"

"We'll call them in when we get far enough
out. Hopefully the warbots will leave us alone now that we're out
of sight. We take the time to do a few repairs." He gestured
towards his bot, who slid into place in front of him, a stocky arm
appearing from a rear port. He grabbed the crook and let his feet
come off the hull. "Our bots will guide us to the problem area.
Grab hold of one."

She followed his lead, holding on to the
extended arm of Crimson. As they started gliding across the surface
of the hull her eyes scanned all around them, looking for anything
dark moving towards them.

Arthur may have suggested the things wouldn't
follow, but she'd heard the edge of doubt in his voice. With her
luck it wouldn't work out that way.

Bad luck that was confirmed when a nearby
airlock opened and two warbots and then a larger black bot rose up
from it.

She really needed to stop thinking about her
bad luck. It seemed to make things worse.

The larger one appeared to be having trouble
getting itself fully out of the opening. Not that having only the
smaller two flying after them made her feel any better.

Her bot darted to the left, leaving Tish to
whip-lash around to follow its path. She tightened her grip on the
bot's arm. She dare not lose her grip now, or she would be a
goner.

They flew over the surface, dodging behind
shapes rising up from the hull, but each time they came out from
behind one the two warbots were right behind them.

"I take it back. We need to retreat. I didn't
count on a big chase," Arthur said as he glanced behind them. "Even
if we had weapons, one of those things would be too much for
us."

"I'll agree with that," Tish said, unable to
take her eyes off the things coming after them. The bots were
swift, but were they fast enough?

"Damn. I'm calling in help. It doesn't matter
now," she heard Arthur say.

The way he said it struck even more fear in
her heart. It made her angry, as well. She was starting to fit in,
on a training session with the boss himself, a place she rather
liked, and now she might die? At the hands of pirates who wouldn't
know an honest day's work if it bit them on the
hind-end?

She tore her eyes away from the warbots. There
had to be an alternative to trying to run, just waiting for the
things to catch up with them. Had to be a way to slow them down, if
not destroy them.

But, what did they have? She might be wearing
her toolbelt on the outside, but there was nothing useful in it to
use as a weapon. Sacrifice another bot?

No, she would not lose another one like she
did Aqua.

So, what else? The environment didn't give
many choices. The only things around was the uneven surface of the
space station itself, with all its bumps, extensions, protrusions,
and outer cables.

She stared as they flew over several straight
lines on the surface. Cables.

"Control, it's catching up to us. Get someone
down here to evac us now," Arthur said.

As a woman's voice assured him that they were
working to get someone to them as fast as possible, Tish asked,
"What about a power conduit? One of the big ones? That should be
big enough to stop those things."

"We don't have the time or tools to set up a
trap like that and too many of these lines have no power at the
moment.," Arthur said. "But, good thinking."

"Well, we can't just fly along waiting for
those things to pick us off. They have laser weapons, remember?"
Tish said.

"I'm fully aware of that. What do you call
your bot? Crimson? Crimson, get ahead of me and fly as fast as you
can," Arthur said.

Her bot maneuvered into place. Immediately she
could see why he'd done it. Arthur and his bot now flew between
them and the warbots. While the move towards protection moved her,
she wasn't about to let him get away with it.

"Arthur, we fly together. Don't you dare slow
down," Tish almost shouted.

"I'm not slowing down. I have far too much
living to still do."

And then she noticed a small bot veering off
away from them. One with one of her hair ties around an
eyestalk.

"Violet, get back here!" Tish
shouted.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

TISH SHOUTED LOUD enough to make Arthur cringe, even with the
last part dramatically lower as the speakers in his helmet adjusted
for the rise in volume.

Violet and one of the tag-along black and
white bots didn't turn back or hesitate for a moment, zipping back
towards their pursuer. Even with Tish continuing to call for her
bot, it did no more than glance back at them with one
eyestalk.

Violet settled near a raised juncture box,
attaching itself to the hull, the white bot to another a short
distance away. Before their path turned to circumvent a sensor
array he saw a plethora of tools rising from the bots
backs.

Another turn and they had a visual of the
warbots continuing their pursuit unabated, not bothering to go
after the small bots. They were catching up, and he didn't know if
he should tell Tish or not. Knowing her, she'd probably already
noticed. Once they were in a clear area he was sure they would be
fired upon.

"I don't see an evac," Tish said, her voice
strained as if she were holding back tears.

"Nor do I. Control, where is our rescue?"
Arthur demanded, activating the comm-unit on the outside of the
spacesuit. A wave of static greeted his efforts, making him fear
the warbots had just cut off their line of communications from
those who might be able to help.

A brilliant arc of blue and white sliced
through space between two juncture boxes as the warbots passed
Violet. The arc moved past the boxes to dance along the hull before
striking out in another strong arc. The warbots shook between them,
orifices opening and closing to spark and light up with tongues of
flames.

The arc disappeared, leaving the warbots
floating away, streaming smoke from several openings and the
occasional lingering arc of electricity dancing across their
surface.

The white bot turned away from them, zipping
back.

"Hey, wait!" Tish said after the departing
white bot. The white bot ignored her, continuing on its
flight.

She demanded, "We really need to name these
guys so you can call them. What am I supposed to say? 'Hey
you!'?"

"'Hey you' usually works pretty well. It might
not answer you anyway. The single bots are rather independent,"
Arthur said, some small part of him amused at her anger. "It
worked. Good idea, although I'm not sure I like the bots taking
that much initiative."

"Violet heard me talking about it and
understood. From what everyone says, that's a good thing," Tish
said, twisting to get another view behind them.

A logic Arthur couldn't argue with. She was
right. The bond was so strong they understood what their mistress
wanted, and then went and did it. To the point of risking their own
existence.

"Violet? Are you okay? Time to come back,"
Tish called out.

The white bot disappeared around the curve of
the hull as they quickly expanded their distance from the site of
the small victory. Only to reappear, rapidly catching up to
them.

Tish gave a cry of joy as it neared them, the
shape of Violet towed behind it. The bot that helped Violet trailed
after the first two, giving the appearance of a bot-train. He
wasn't sure she would be very happy once she saw the damage he
could see on the side of the brave bot's lower outer shell. The
energy arc had damaged more than the warbots.