• Timer: -07:25


  

  Robin and Alena both used their steering nozzles to fly back to the hangar’s entry. They passed a metal rack that was mounted to the floor and used it to pull themselves forward and gain more speed.

  Robin fired one Echo Pulse after another, even though his head already reacted with a piercing headache each time. When they closed in on the still open door, they drifted along a row of industrial crates he hadn’t noticed earlier.

  Just as Robin’s passive energy sense sent a tingling sensation across his body, Alena grabbed his leg from behind and abruptly pulled him back. He sharply slowed down as Alena shot past him, switching positions.

  “Careful!” She shouted and kicked forward just as something small shot out from under the crates. Her foot connected and with a bang, a clump of metal appeared on the wall next to the door. It sizzled with electricity.

  “Fuck!” Robin yelled, “What the hell was that?”

  It happened so fast, he hadn’t even seen what attacked him before Alena had reacted.

  “No idea, but we should hurry up. We’ve overstayed our visit here.”

  “Yeah, and thanks for saving my ass!” Robin said and felt sweat dripping down his face.

  

  
• Analyzing video feet…


  
• Segmenting frames…


  
• Extracting relevant images…


  
• Attacker found


  
• Constructing 3D model of the entity…


  
• Searching database…


  
• Entity unknown.


  

  “Proto also has no clue what it was, but he at least got us an image.” Robin relayed the information from his Interface to Alena as they reached the stairs. They rushed forward, using the railing to gain another speed boost.

  “Shit. The robot or whatever it was is back.” Robin warned when and pointed upwards where he sensed the unit.

  “Probably the same kind of thing that attacked us.” Alena said, her breath ragged, “It was sneaky, fast and definitely some kind of machine or robot.”

  Robin fired off another Echo Pulse as they rapidly flew through the hallway. Combining the Echo Pulse with his Energy Sense and the visualization to keep track of the little robot in the vents above them caused a major strain on his brain. But while he had to grit his teeth to not lose his concentration on all the active skills, Robin also felt elation and pride.

  ’I’ve come so far, my training really paid off. Just a few months ago, this would have been impossi–’

  More green lines formed in his vision as new clusters of energy appeared around him, following them within the walls.

  Before he could warn Alena, the comm crackled and transmitted Ang’Tue’s panicked voice. “Proto just showed us the image. You need to get out of there! That little thing was a robot, an autonomous drone. It’s definitely hostile and will try to attack.”

  “No shit! It already did and was splattered against the wall.” Alena scoffed.

  “No, you don’t understand, these things don’t come alone. If there is one, there should be more. They normally try to sneak up on their target but if they are detected, they sometimes switch to a head-on attack with all available units. You need to be off the ship before they find you!”

  “Ah, come on.” Robin cursed, “It’s too late. They’re already here. Two are in the wall to our right, three to the left, two above in the ceiling and one in the floor.”

  “Damn it.” Alena grunted and pulled out the gun, “Old man, how do you know so much about these things?”

  “Not now!” Robin interrupted, “And don’t rely on the pistol. If it works like the ?ther-pulse from the monolith, it will only affect biomaterials.”

  “Right, fuck.” Alena said, holstered the gun and then used her suit to stop in the middle of the hallway, “Give me a moment.”

  They were about to reach the next stairs which would lead them to the room with the hole in the hull.

  “Attention! Time remaining for authorization: 5 minutes.”

  “We don’t have much time.” Robin tried to urge her.

  Alena ignored him and floated to the left wall. She pressed both her hands against the metal and flicked it with her finger. Once, twice and then a third time a low pling echoed through the hallway before getting swallowed by the missing atmosphere.

  “Damn, I need to use my Overload. Are we clear from the robots?”

  “Uhm, yeah, they moved ahead and are already out of my range.”

  Alena grunted a confirmation and repeated the process. After a moment she nodded and heeded to the other wall and flicked it, too.

  While the stern woman was inspecting the hallway, Robin opened the comm to the Relentless Stride. “Happy, retreat for now. Whatever happened here, it happened not too long ago, considering that there is still a countdown ticking down. Reinforcements can arrive at any moment.”

  “We won’t leave you behind!” Happy shouted scandalized.

  “Yeah, that would suck.” Robin chuckled, “But now that we know that this is a hostile ship, I really don’t want to be found. Just retreat a few kilometers and make sure you’re out of sight. You can warn us, if anyone else is coming to the rescue. As soon as we get out of here, you return and pick us up.”

  “I don’t like–” Happy began but Proto muted her.

  “Will be done, good luck. We keep our eyes open. Don’t dally around!”

  Alena had finished her tests and pointed down the hallway towards the stairwell.

  “There are outlets for all four vents just in front of the entry to the stairs.” she explained, “If Ang’Tue is right, that would be their perfect spot to attack from all sides at once. Prepare for battle.”

  “Wait!” The Eltaran yelled, “Don’t fight them! These things are deadly.”

  “I think that ship has sailed already.” Robin sighed, “It is our only way out of here.”

  “What are their means of attack?” Alena asked as they halted a dozen meters before the door to the stairwell when the robots came into Robin’s range again, “Do they have laser weapons or something like that?”

  Robin activated his Echo Pulse one last time to make sure that there hadn’t joined more drones from behind and allowed his head some much needed rest. Then he concentrated his mutation solely on visualizing the eight enemies that gathered near the four vents, just like Alena had predicted.

  “No, they jump at their targets and pierce them with a thin needle.” He heard Ang’Tue explaining, “They’re injecting a fast working poison into the victim. Do not get close, do not let them touch you! They are made to circumvent the protection of most armored spacesuits.”

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  “That’s nasty shit.” Alena muttered and looked over to Robin, “Can you use your G-Anomaly to disable them from afar?”

  “No, I already tried that earlier.” Robin groaned, “My head is burning like it is on fire already, I’m close to my limit due to the constant usage of my mutation. Though, if they have to jump at us to attack, they are bound to the same limitations as we are in zero-g. I can take care of two, maybe three?”

  “Your head hurts? Are you about to, uhm, explode again?” Alena asked and Robin noticed a tinge of fear in her voice. A fear she hadn’t shown even when she had fought for her life.

  “No, it’s different. No worries.”

  She gave him a sharp look but nodded. Alena then turned around and flew back the way they came from. “Wait here, I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “Great.” Robin mumbled under his breath as he observed the eight clusters of green lines in his vision. From this distance it seemed like they were all one big lump, therefore he moved closer to get a better sight.

  Robin had a plan, kind of. But it probably would only work so often and depended heavily on good timing and more luck than he liked to admit. Nonetheless, his concentration became razor-sharp as he came to a stop less than ten meters from the door.

  He remained dead-still as he observed the many energy clusters in his vision. For a moment, everything remained still, but suddenly there was a movement. Just a small one, within the right wall.

  Robin tensed but waited patiently. He unfortunately couldn’t see the vent in the darkness well enough, so he needed to guess when the robot made his move to peek outside. Slowly the green lines moved forward.

  ‘Not yet…’ Robin calmed his racing heart.

  ‘Now!’

  He used his skill to lower its electronic’s resistance, making the robot take a hasty step and stumble forward. With a plonk, he saw some kind of metallic spider tumble out of the wall next to the door. It slowly drifted through the hallway, its eighth legs uselessly flailing about.

  “Yes! One out!”

  He knew that this wasn’t a permanent solution as the robot would reach the other wall at some point and regain its footing. But until then it was out of the game.

  Suddenly, ‘Attention!’ blinked twice in big, red letters all over his Interface, in addition with a big arrow pointing at the floor. A warning from Proto.

  “Shit!” Robin cursed as he noticed the robot that was crawling towards him. While he handled the one coming out from the right wall, he missed that the one in the floor also left its vent. It was less than six meters away and moved slowly, trying to sneak up on him.

  Robin quickly checked the position of the other robots and then used his skill on the approaching enemy, increasing the resistance, while he lunged back at the same time. The robot instantly reacted to his sudden movement and jumped forward, directly aiming for his upper leg.

  However, it was as if it was flying towards him in slow motion after its legs hadn’t used as much power as planned for the attack.

  Robin easily dodged to the side then swatted down his hand just as it passed him. The robot crashed heavily into the floor and Robin saw that it started leaking some kind of liquid. He assumed that the vial that contained the poison had been broken.

  He quickly scanned his surroundings for other robots and when he found none, he flew down to the bot on the floor. It was trying to get a hold and just about turn around.

  Without much fanfare, he stomped down. The metal spider was crushed under his boot with a loud crack.

  “Okay,” Robin wheezed, his heart racing and his head throbbing, “This is intense. Alena, status?”

  “On my way, will be back in a moment.”

  “I don’t think I have more moments…” He muttered with dread in his voice. Looking down the corridor to the stairwell, he saw that the remaining robots had abandoned their ambush-plan and were now quickly crawling towards him.

  Robin immediately backed up, but his suit gained speed only so fast. The spiders were faster.

  The first one jumped before he could even attempt to use his mutation and he reflexively pushed off the wall next to him, barely evading the attack. The robot flew past him, missing him by a hair’s breadth.

  From behind a loud crack echoed and then Alena rushed past him, covering his retreat. She held a metal chair in her hands. The little robot was nailed to the seating surface and liquid sprayed out of the other side.

  “Holy shit! That was close.” She cursed when she saw the needle poking out on the seat’s back.

  Robin, still flying back, concentrated on the approaching robots. He chose the closest one and waited for the right moment to activate his skill. The spider bot did slow down for a second but then jumped at Alena full speed.

  “Shit.” Robin cursed, having messed up the timing.

  A second robot also attacked and Alena hurled the chair around as if it was a club. With a loud crash, the robots were both bashed into the wall and Alena spun around once before the suit stabilized her.

  “Attention! Time remaining for authorization: 1 minute.”

  “Three to go!” Alena gasped without taking her eyes off the enemy, “Try to get the one in the back. If they all come at the same time, I don’t think I’ll be able to block them. The lack of mobility with our suits is a severe disadvantage.

  “Okay.” Robin nodded, tried to ignore his increasing headache and let the other two bots fade out of his vision. If Alena said she could handle them, he trusted her.

  The bots were now less than four meters away and quickly came closer, even though Robin and Alena never stopped retreating.

  Robin pushed all unnecessary thoughts to the back of his mind and fully concentrated on the last robot. He needed to find the exact moment it wanted to jump or he would miss again.

  But when he suddenly passed a small bump on the floor, directly in the way of the bot, he made a split second decision and instantly activated his mutation. Robin felt pain ripping through his head as if it was struck by a hot knife, but he still managed to lower the electronic’s resistance just as the robot rushed over the little bump. Its legs made one hasty movement out of rhythm and the robot lost its footing, tumbling helplessly through the hallway.

  At the same time, the other two bots jumped and Alena swung the chair. Robin quickly flew down and stomped on his approaching robot, destroying it on the spot.

  “That’s it?” Alena asked and turned to look around.

  “Attention! Time remaining for authorization: 30 seconds.”

  Robin barely heard her or the announcement. His head was pulsing in pain and his mind was cloudy. He had overused his mutation, he couldn’t think straight.

  “We need to get out of here.” He groggily said, the corridor in his vision swaying. Something was wrong. He knew it, he was forgetting something. Something important. But his thoughts were one big mess. It was a miracle that he had managed to hang on until he took out the last of the robots.

  ‘The last?’ He wondered, but didn’t manage to keep a grip on the thought.

  “I fully agree, let’s go.” Alena said and threw the chair away to pull him along.

  She had just started to fly them back to the stairwell when the countdown finally ran out.

  “Warning! Authorization failed. Crew presumed eliminated. Protocol C-645 activated.”

  The loud announcement was immediately followed by a new countdown.

  “Warning! Self-destruct initiated. Immediately evacuate the ship: 120 seconds remaining”

  “Fuck! We need to get out of here!” Alena yelled.

  Robin was still dazed and just tried to follow her. His vision swam and he had a hard time keeping his eyes open.

  “Watch out!” Proto yelled over the comm, “There is one robot left!”

  A jolt ran through Robin when he heard that. His mind cleared for a brief moment. That was what he tried to remember. The bot he made stumble and float through the corridor earlier.

  He forced himself to fire an Echo Pulse and while the result was a bit blurred, he immediately spotted the green cluster rushing towards them.

  “There!” He croaked and used every last strand of energy in him to activate his skill and make the bot stumble.

  “What?” Alena yelped in surprise, still flying full speed ahead. Robin saw her eyes going wide in shock when she noticed the approaching robot. She pulled out her gun just as his skill finally activated.

  The robot made a clumsy lunge forward but didn’t lose his footing.

  ‘I’ve missed…’

  Robin’s head exploded in a world of pain and his vision slowly turned dark. In horror he watched as the robot jumped forward and passed through the nearly invisible pulse that was fired from the pistol without being hindered at all.

  Then Alena grunted in pain and was flung around.

  The last thing Robin saw before his vision fully failed was the spider-like robot that was now embedded in Alena’s belly.

  Clinging to his consciousness, Robin heard the panicked cries of Niu over the comm, the pained moans from Alena and the damned announcement.

  “Warning! Self-destruct initiated. Immediately evacuate the ship: 90 seconds remaining”