Even at this scale, the place looked huge. Jael tried to pinpoint their location, but he had no luck. Navigation hadn’t been his specialty in any combat unit. He was always on the front line, soaking heavy fire so the rest of his team didn’t die behind him. Often they walked over his body and then vomited when they saw him stagger up despite horrific wounds, stumble after them with holes where no living creature should have them.
Wills frowned, then said, “Show our present location.”
A glowing light appeared on the model. Still not helpful, he thought, since we have no idea where Queensland is from here. And the bot doesn’t know our names for things.
“I can work this out,” Dred said, bending closer. “Where’s the central dormitory on deck 47?” Another dot appeared. Then she added, “Light a path as I go if you can, 17.”
She traced a route from there to the access point where they’d gone down the ladders, then the corridors. Since a white line sprang up where she indicated, Jael guessed the bot had some interesting capabilities. Next she pinpointed the salvage bay and charted the course up the lift to their current location. By the time she was done, Jael knew exactly where they needed to go. Unfortunately, it was past a pair of blast doors that didn’t open anymore.
Dred wheeled and booted a dent into the nearest wall, then spat a virulent curse. Just when he thought she might lose it, the princess in chains pulled herself together, took a breath, and looked to them for solutions. “Think the laser could cut us a path?”
Wills shrugged. “Not sure how much juice the power source has left. Wired into the Peacemaker, it had a self-charging system, but it’s been out of the circuit for a while now.”
Einar looked tired and pissed. “Can’t hurt to try.”
“The Shredder might do it,” Jael suggested. “It would mean blowing through a lot of ammo, though.”
She snarled a few more choice epithets, but she didn’t flinch from making a choice. “Laser first. If it sputters or can’t cut through, then we’ll try the Shredder. Damned if I’m leaving this stuff and backtracking after we went to so much trouble to retrieve it.”
“Is there anything to cut through a blast door in the salvage bay?” Wills asked R-17.
The bot searched its databases, then answered, “There is a grade two mining drill, but it requires repairs in order to be functional.”
“How big is it?” Einar demanded.
Good question. If it’s a huge piece of equipment, it won’t fit in the lift anyway.
“Five meters by four,” the bot replied.
“That’s not a whole lot bigger than the pallet,” Wills said.
“That’s plan B.” Dred gestured. “Get moving, all of you. We’re marching all the way to those damned blast doors.”
“R-17 might be helpful up front,” Wills put in. “He can scan for movement.”
Jael doubted there would be any living creatures, except maybe the rodents, but it would be good to know if they were about to run into another Peacemaker. “Do you detect any other droids active on this deck?” he asked the bot.
“Unknown. I am not configured for long-range surveys. Please refer to my counterpart, the RS-99, complete with upgraded sensors and scanning capacity.”
Ah well. Worth a try.
Jael scrambled over the piles of gear on the pallet, nearly overbalancing, but it was so close to the wall that he caught himself easily, then leapt down in front. “Send him up.”
What the hell. Maybe it’ll draw fire away from me if we run into trouble. Einar lifted the bot bodily and handed him over. Once on the ground, R-17 whirred into motion, checking the area for broken components. Since Wills hadn’t told him not to, Jael let that go. They might end up with additional useful parts.
It wasn’t far, and they encountered no trouble. The fragging doors are the problem. Jael stopped, giving himself room to maneuver, then turned to call, “Hand me the laser.”
Dred brought it to him personally, graceful even as she clambered across the pallet. Between her chains and the weapon, she was overloaded, but she gave no sign of it. Her shoulders were square, eyes fierce with determination. Without asking for help, she jumped down beside him.
“Hell of a day, huh? And it’s about to get louder.”
“Damn right,” he said, realizing he sounded an awful lot like Einar.
“You ready to make some noise?” she asked.
“Count on it,” he said, taking the laser.
Dammit, he might even like this woman.
That never ended well.
19
And the Walls Come Tumbling Down
Jael looked natural with a weapon in hand; to Dred’s mind, he handled the laser expertly. She backed up a few steps at his insistence, and he fired. That first shot slagged partway through the door, leaving another layer of durasteel between them and Queensland. He rotated the power pack, bounced it, while whispering to the gun in a coaxing tone.
“You think that’ll help?” she asked, amused.
“Can’t hurt. Treat a weapon like a lady, and she won’t let you down.”
“Is that your experience with women, too?”
“Most women aren’t ladies,” he said.
“Would you want them to be?”
“Not in the slightest.”
He threw a cocky wink over his shoulder, and for the first time in half a turn, Dred experienced a flicker of pure chemical attraction. She didn’t enjoy it, but on another level, it was good this place hadn’t broken her. Perdition had hardened her, but it hadn’t succeeded in destroying every human impulse. That was reassuring. His jiggering received no response from the laser, however. Dead is dead, apparently. Unless it’s Jael.
The man in question called, “Einar, toss me the Shredder. I’m taking this door down even if I have to use your head as a battering ram.”
Dred waited to see how that suggestion would be received. To her astonishment, the big man climbed on top of the air pallet and chucked the rifle. “Yeah, well, if you can lift my ass, I’ll let you.”
Jael laughed; it seemed their camaraderie was permanent. “Let’s try something else first. Take cover. Some of these shots may not chew clean through.”
In a metal corridor, that was sound advice. If a fragging door killed one of them, the rest would never live it down. She hauled herself onto the air pallet and hunkered down behind a pile of scrap metal. Then she checked behind her to make sure the other two had done the same.