The Ruins of Karzelek (The Mandrake Company series Book 4) (27 page)

Kalish bit her lip and picked up the robot. Nothing happened. She let out a relieved breath and tucked the foot-high device into one of her nets.

“
Thanks, Tick. I—”

An animal’s cry came from somewhere outside the building, the eerie shriek part roar and part screech.

“
I’m afraid it’s time to cut the hunt short, Ms. Blackwell,” Tick said, grabbing her arm. “Let’s get back to the door. Sir, you still back there?”

“
Yes.” Thatcher stepped out of the shadows with a find of his own, some flat oval disk with glyphs etched on the side. He tucked it under his arm and led the way back toward the door.

The screech sounded again, closer this time. Something banged on the roof. Kalish sprinted after the men, her pack bouncing on her back, her pistol in hand. She reached the door at the same time as Sedge, Striker, and Tia, and squeezed her sister’s arm briefly. Tia, her eyes rounder than full moons, lunged for the exit square. But Striker stepped in front of it, blocking the hole at the same time as Thatcher spoke.

“
Don’t go out,” he said. “We’ll be more vulnerable out there. Here we have cover.”

“
But Mom,” Tia blurted, looking to Kalish.

Kalish was inclined to hunker here, with the roof and machinery for cover, as well, but she also worried about their mother. Just because she was back in the ship did not mean she was safe, not if this was the same creature that had torn open the hull of that mining craft.

Sedge shifted his flashlight toward the hole in the roof. Yes, some ferocious creature had likely torn that jagged gap as well.

Even as they were looking in that direction, a shadow fell across the hole. Claws or talons landed on the roof, the high-pitched metal scrape assaulting their ears.

“
Then again,” Tick whispered, “leaving the building might not be such a silly notion. Especially if it’s got a new weather vane.”

Striker crouched and peered through the hole in the door, poking his rifle out as he looked in all directions. “Nothing out here yet,” he whispered.

“
I would prefer to fight an aerial creature from the air myself,” Thatcher said, “but it’s a half mile back to the ships.”

Before they could debate further, the claws scraped again, and a bulky, dark shape flew through the hole in the roof. Rifles fired, painting the shadows with red laser beams. The creature arrowed behind machinery and towering vats that blocked the view from the floor. Kalish lifted her own weapon and tried to find someplace to aim it, but it was too dark to see much. She had the sense that the creature either had not been struck or that it
had...
and had not been wounded by the laser fire. The image of those bones scattered around the mining ship flashed into her head.

“
I hit it,” Striker said, dropping his rifle to swing the grenade launcher off his back. “Don’t think it did much.”

A squawk came from the shadows near the ceiling. The creature swooped down at them, almost as big as the Mandrake Company shuttles. Darting flashlights struck it briefly, revealing scales rather than feathers and a beaky proboscis full of long, sharp fangs. Machinery toppled, and Kalish was pushed to the ground behind the men before she could think to fire.

Tia was squished against the wall beside her. Sedge, Tick, and Thatcher stood their ground, blasting laser fire into the oncoming creature. It screeched but did not slow down. It fell upon the men, talons raking the air.

The mercenaries hurled themselves to the side, ducking or rolling to avoid the attack. Those talons were longer than daggers and one sliced within an inch of Sedge’s head. He flung himself to his back but kept firing as it sailed past. Kalish rose to her knees and shot at the creature’s backside, a leathery tail whipping back and forth in agitation. At least one of her laser bursts hit it—she was sure of it—but the crimson beam bounced off the scaly hide.

“
Down, everyone,” Striker barked.

A split second later, a soft thunk sounded, and one of his grenades arced out, chasing the creature.

“
I’m not sure blowing things up in here is the best idea,” Kalish said, thinking of booby traps as well as the danger of machinery and roofs toppling and crushing them.

She had no sooner than finished the sentence, when someone grabbed her and forced her head down. A deafening explosion rang out, and a blaze of yellow and orange flames brightened the upper corner of the building like a sun. Heat roiled from the inferno, and Kalish needed no further urging to bury her head on whomever’s shoulder that was. Metal screeched, or maybe that was the creature. Kalish could not trust her battered ears. Then came the shrapnel, pelting the walls and pinging off the vats. A piece sliced through her clothing and embedded in her shoulder. She gasped, tears springing to her eyes.

“
It’s coming back,” someone yelled.

“
Outside,” Sedge said in her ear. Only then did she realize he was the one with his arms around her, protecting her head. “We’ve got to get back to the ship.”

He pushed her toward the door, and she didn’t object. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the winged creature flying back toward them. It shrieked, and she could not tell if it was injured or merely angry.

She rolled through the square hole she had cut, bumped into someone, and landed without grace, her pack on top of her. Kalish scrambled to her feet. Tia was already outside and grabbed her arm.

“
Back to the ship?” she asked.

Lifting her pistol, Kalish scanned the mounds of ore around them, searching for more trouble. Just because there was one creature inside did not mean there was not another out here.

“
Wait for the men,” she said, expecting them to fling themselves through the hole right behind her.

But another explosion came from inside the building. The walls shuddered, and something that must have weighed a ton slammed to the ground, causing a chain reaction of clatters and bangs. Someone shouted a battle cry that almost matched the ferocity of the creature’s screeches.

Kalish scowled at the hole, realizing the men had pushed her out here to protect her and that they were not following, not until they dealt with their attacker. An attacker that could survive direct hits from lasers and had flown through the blast of a grenade...

“
You were close,” came Sedge’s voice. “See if you can drop that thing over there on it. You can—”

“
Look out!”

Kalish crouched, torn between jumping back in to help and not wanting to get in their way. What could her small pistol do against that thing, anyway? Still, it felt cowardly to wait out here while they battled such a deadly foe. Maybe she could think of something more effective than laser fire to hurt the creature. Maybe—

“
Kalish,” Tia whispered, tapping her shoulder frantically. “More trouble.”

Another crash came from inside, but Kalish had spun to see what her sister was looking at and barely registered it. A blocky humanoid construct had walked around the corner of the building, its hide—or was that armor?—gleaming an oily black under Tia’s flashlight. It must have been eight feet tall, and as it walked toward them, its eyes burned a malevolent crimson from the shadows of its helmet.

“
Robot?” Tia asked.

One of the construct’s arms lifted, the barrel of a weapon existing where a person’s hand would have been.

“
Security robot,” Kalish barked, grabbing her sister and pulling her out of the way. “Sedge,” she yelled as they scrambled up the slope of the hill Striker had been digging into earlier. “More trouble out here.”

The robot fired its weapon, a short burst of energy that made the air crackle with blue lightning as it blasted into the ground where Tia had been standing. Ore and limestone flew up, pelting her and Kalish in the backs. They raced behind the mound, but not before Kalish glanced back and saw the size of the smoking crater that shot had left behind. The words
swimming pool
jumped into her mind.

She ducked around the mountain of ore, hoping it would provide enough cover if the robot fired straight at them. Though it probably was not wise, Kalish risked a peek back to see if their attacker would follow.

At the same time, another boom came from inside the building. Half of the roof collapsed. A cloud of dust rose into the dark air, and dirt and metal rained down outside, landing all around the robot. It continued walking, unfazed even when a rock the size of its head glanced off its shoulder.

“
Got it,” someone inside cried. Striker? The voices were muffled, and Kalish couldn’t tell.

“
Don’t come out the door,” she yelled in case they had not heard her before. “There’s trouble out here. A robot.”

Said robot reached the square in the door and turned straight toward her. Another crackle of electricity burst from its arm. Kalish was already flinging herself down the back side of the mountain of ore. She lost her footing and tumbled, rolling halfway down the pile. That was fortunate, because the assault blew the top of the mountain away.

Tia had been higher up than Kalish had been, and she was hurled down the slope, arms flying in all directions, her terrified face lit up by the electricity from another bolt flying toward them. On hands and knees, Kalish scrambled to her sister, grabbing her.

“
Tia, Tia?” She resisted the urge to shake her, but barely.

Tia’s eyes were closed, and Kalish did not know if she could carry her sister all the way back to the ship. Fortunately, her eyes flew open.

“
It’s coming.” Tia jumped to her feet, even though she wavered, her legs shaking. Her hair stuck out—she must have caught some of that electricity.

“
I know.” The sounds of fighting in the building had quieted, and Kalish could hear the thud of heavy feet climbing the ore pile. Heavy
inhuman
feet. “Let’s get back to the ship.”

She wrapped her arm around Tia’s waist and headed in the direction of the ships, guided only by the light coming from the end of the platform.

“
What about the others?” Tia asked, her words slurred.

“
They’ll have to find their own way back.” Kalish hated to abandon anyone, but that security robot had a bead on them. They needed to return to the ship and get the hell off this platform.

“
Kalish?” Sedge called as soon as he stepped outside the remains of the building and did not see her. He swung his flashlight around. He had thought he had heard her yell something a minute earlier, but the posts and machines toppling inside had drowned most of it out.

Striker and the others clambered out beside him, but Sedge barely noticed. His flashlight had chanced across a crater smoldering on the side of the closest mountain, a crater that had not been there when they went in.

“
Good work,” Striker said, thumping him on the shoulder. “If you can’t shoot your big ugly bird enemy to death, bury it under half a building. Always a good plan.”

“
The women,” Sedge said, pointing with his flashlight. “They’re in trouble. There’s something else out here with them.”

“
Uh,” Tick said, facing a corner of the building. “There’s something out here with
us,
too.”

“
A robot?” Thatcher asked, shaking a layer of dust out of his hair. There was dust on the robot, too, but that did not hide its powerful, humanoid form as it strode toward them. Its arms lifted, aiming toward their group.

“
An
armed
robot,” Tick said. “Let’s get out of here.”

“
This way,” Sedge ordered, racing toward the smoking crater. If the robot had shot in that direction, it must have been aiming at something. Kalish and Tia.

Without waiting to see if the others followed, he sprinted up the lumpy side of the ore mountain. Energy crackled in the air, and something slammed into the wall of the building behind him.

“
Shit,” Striker cursed.

Footsteps pounded up the ore pile behind Sedge. More blasts followed, the air charged and full of energy with each one. Sedge did not look back to see the results. He raced in the direction he believed Kalish had gone—back toward the ships.

The mercenaries’ rifles blasted laser fire.