Endgame (Olly versus the Mechanoids Book 3) Read online

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  COPYRIGHT

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Endgame

  Olly versus the Mechanoids Book 3

  By Frank Carey

  COPYRIGHT

  Copyright © 2017 by Frank Carey

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  League Tale #56

  CHAPTER ONE

  Olly walked around the arcade in a vain attempt at clearing his mind of worry, but he was failing at every step. Thoughts about the fate of his wife, his friends, hell, even the Earth, kept trying to overwhelm him. They also fought to unleash the demons inside him. He had to find his people and stop Iona and Zoe.

  "Is that Space Creepers 4? I thought it was a myth!"

  Olly looked over and saw six elf-like people--three men and three women--all with glowing blue eyes and a bright-blue something or other embedded in their sternums. "Yeah, we're a test facility for all the major game makers in the League and a few not in the League. The gamers who play here sign non-disclosure agreements before we let them access this part of the facility. No offense, but who and what the hell are you?"

  "I'm Anne Irithyl," the woman who spoke earlier said, "and this is my brother Nels, my other brother, Randy, and my sister, Jewel. The pretty gray one is my grandniece, Ashley McMurphy, and the gray guy is my grandnephew, Grayson McMurphy. You must be Oliver Wilson."

  "Yeah, that's me, Olly the GELF."

  "Wow, Zoe left out all the extras," Anne said. "The Muntzes usually throw in at least one option package."

  Olly frowned. "I read about you six. You four are GELFs from the labs of Josiah Muntz, while Ashley and Grayson's father, Chasm, is a Crystallanian elf GELF. All six of you are Logash, which explains the crystals. Wow, do we have a club or a union or something?"

  "No, no union, though we do get together for all the holidays. I get the feeling that you don't know Zoe or her brother from Adam," Anne said.

  "Nope. I was created as a weapon by that woman out there on the main floor, Mara Trinity. Those two gentlemen with her are my 'Brothers,' Terrance and Bobby. They're much less dangerous GELF weapons. Mara is very good at turning out living, breathing weapons. So, why are you here?"

  Anne stepped over and put her hand on his arm. "You and I need to talk." She looked at her family. "They've already been briefed."

  "Fine. Computer, scan room and record biosignatures."

  "Scanning... Signatures recorded."

  "Grant full, unlimited access to all six biosignatures. Comp them."

  "Yes, sir." Every machine in the room lit up and waited for play to begin.

  "If you need food or drink, just ask a drone. Have at it." Anne's family ran off like kids in a candy store. "Let's go find a quiet place to talk. "He led her to a lounge area. Once inside, he activated privacy shields. The noise level dropped to a whisper. "Can I get you anything?"

  "A beer, if you got one," she said. A beer rose from the center of the table, frosty cold and already opened. A frosty glass appeared next to it. "Did it read my mind?"

  "I wish. No, the computer has access to the IntraWeb. It determined your preferences from thousands of news reports and restaurant orders you've made over the years, then made a selection which matched those choices with what we have in stock. In the event it didn't find a match, it would have asked you."

  She raised an eyebrow. "Damn."

  "People normally pay 100,000 credits a year to gain access to this facility. When you pay that kind of coin, you usually expect more than someone sliding a bottle down a damp bar."

  "One-hundred-thousand...! Damn. How long does our access last?"

  "A lifetime. I have a feeling you're going to earn it."

  "My family and I are going with you. We have certain skills which lend themselves to freeing kidnapped people."

  "And if I say no? I just need a pilot."

  "To do what? Kill your sister and destroy Iona? How are you going to free your wife and the two stryker teams? How are you going to get them back here? Oh, and how are you going to get to the Omega Nebula and find the Mechanoids before a protector patrol finds you and blows you and your ride out of existence?"

  "I'm working on it."

  "You just worry about dealing with your sister and leave the rest to us and our plus-one."

  "You have a plus-one? What hell is this, a wedding?"

  "Been there, done that." A tall, muscular human male walked in and joined them. A beer rose from the table unbidden. The man popped the top off with a thumb-flick and drank deeply from it. "I thought the Olympians restricted export of this stuff."

  "I've got a smuggler who brings me a case now and then. Who are you?"

  "My name is Bob. How do you do?"

  Olly just stared at the newcomer. "Bob? As in Zeus, King of the Olympian Immortals? Father of over 100 children including the Muses? That Bob?"

  "Guilty as charged," he said as he grabbed Olly's hand and gave it a good shake. Are you a follower?"

  "Sorry, no. I tend toward monotheistic religions."

  "Just kidding. The whole god thing was a dust-up. So, Anne, have you told him yet?"

  "Not yet..."

  "Great, let me." He turned to Olly. "Back in the day, I liked to travel, so I created portals connecting this part of space with faraway places like the Large Magellanic Cloud. One of the places was the Omega Nebula. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to go there, until now."

  "Let me see if I've got this straight. The king of the immortals is going to take me and six members of the Logash race almost six hundred light-years to a part of space ruled by sapient machines called mechanoids for the express purpose of saving two stryker teams and the mechs from a rouge starship, a half-mad scientist, and an insane telepath."

  "Bingo!" Bob said while Anne nodded.

  A triple whiskey arose from the table. "Yes, the computer read my mind," Olly said as he downed the drink in one gulp. "So, when do we leave?"

  "Three hours. Our ride is in transit. Once it arrives, we have to prep it before we can launch."

  "I hear this joint has some bomb video games," Bob said.

  "Yeah, it does. Computer, scan subject Bob and give him full, unlimited access to all games."

  "Scanning. Access granted."

  "Enjoy, My Lord," Olly said as he swept his hand toward the game area.

  Rubbing his hands in glee, Bob hurried out of the room, leaving Anne and Olly to discuss the particulars of the mission.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Gabe sat staring at the wall as his mind went through plans and permutations of plans to escape the damn trap they were in. Both teams depended on him, and he wasn't about to let them down.

  The door opening interrupted his musings. He looked over and saw Zoe walk in without escort, so he got up and walked over to greet her.

  "Hey, Gabe..." the rest of her g
reeting was choked off as he grabbed her by the throat and threw her into a bulkhead. "Hey, Zoe. Guess what? You're going to get us out of here, and I may just let you live." He'd had enough of her bullshit. For the last twenty years he'd had enough of her machinations and threats. He once stopped another version of his wife from killing her. In retrospect, this mistake needed to be rectified.

  Instead of struggling to break free, she pointed to the youngest stryker on his team, a woman named Adriel. She screamed as she dissolved into nothing, with not even a wisp of smoke to mark her passing. Gabe dropped Zoe and took a step back as wracking coughs marked her return to breathing.

  "Gabe, misbehave and I will start killing every stryker on both teams, so you understand."

  Gabe stared at her with rage-filled eyes. "I'll behave, but I swear to God, I will kill you the first chance I get. Understand, Zoe? You are dead."

  It was Zoe's turn to take a step back as Team 1 and Team 2 joined Gabe, each member watching her with hate-filled eyes, Even Marcus and Nana, Zoe's own creations, watched her in disgust and anger. Zoe now knew what a steak felt like in a cage full of hungry tigers. She slowly, carefully, backed out of the room. Moments later, Reton and Margaux joined them, the hatch locking behind them as they walked in.

  The two mechanoids stopped moving as they sensed the mood in the room. Shortly, the strykers moved off to mourn their dead while Gabe and King joined the mechs. Margaux gently placed her hand on Gabe's shoulder. "I'm sorry for your loss," she said, not knowing quite what to say in a situation such as this one.

  "Thanks. No one should die like that," he said.

  "Like how?" Titus asked. "Look, not to sound inhuman, but what the hell just happened."

  "My best guess is Zoe ordered the nanorobots in Adriel's bloodstream to turn her into base elements--carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen with a smattering of trace elements. They ate her alive."

  "Can she do that to any stryker?"

  "We have to assume that Zoe can kill any stryker with a single gesture."

  "It gets worse," Reton said.

  "Really? How, pray tell?" Gabe asked.

  "Iona is heading to a rendezvous with a number of invader mechs and rebel protectors. They plan to take over the mechanoid empire by installing Iona as Empress, then return in force to take over the League and install Zoe and the Tralaskans as the rulers of the League."

  "The Tralaskans are part of this?" King exclaimed.

  Margaux shook her head. "The Tralaskans are part of Zoe's delusion. Hell, I got a call from the Tralaskan ruling council asking if I could open a restaurant in the capitol city. No, Zoe is truly nuts, as the Earth people say."

  "And what part do we play in all this?" Gabe asked.

  "You're hostages. It seems that Ali has convinced everyone that Olly is coming, and he is pissed. Iona figures that Olly won't do something heroic if she threatens to kill you."

  "Nana told us after she was through visiting with our other resident psychopath. How powerful is Olly?" King asked.

  "Powerful enough to scare Ali," Margaux said. "As far as I know, he thinks all this telepathy and psychic stuff is just hooey."

  "Anyway, how can he get here? Your technology can't create wormholes, so traveling 600 light-years will take centuries. Our drive tech is different, Iona was able to back-track using data from her stolen parts Zoe's strykers retrieved. There is no way for Olly to come here anytime soon," King said.

  "So, we wait for an opportunity to stop this shit before it hit the fan," Gabe said.

  ###

  The ship was big and imposing sitting on the tarmac like a beast ready to pounce. Olly whistled. "She's beautiful. How does she handle around town?"

  "She's a sweet ride, that's for sure," Jewel said as she wiped a non-existent spot off her hull. Her name is Zephyr, and she's my brother's design."

  "You brother Nels or Randy?"

  "Lucien, back in the day when he went by Harmon Aymar, the Smuggler Elf. Harm would get bored and design a drive or ship to pass the time."

  "I thought those were just urban legends about the ambassador. You mean they're real? Hell, we've got several video games based on those legends."

  "I've played them, and they are all true. Harm's brain worked in strange and wondrous ways, that is until he was reunited with his clone, Atmar. On that day, his sister, then Queen Losira gained a brother and the League lost a true artist."

  "And this ship is his?"

  "Yep. We found her in storage inside the Smuggler's Cove asteroid. I talked to Lucien and he said it was built during his 'Hyperdrive' period. The engines are a match for the ones the mechs use, so we should be able to mask our movement through the nebula. The NAVComp is state of the art."

  "I assume no Alue would take the job with me being designed to exterminate them."

  She smiled. "Ah, the sins of our parents. Per agreements put into place after the Alue joined the League, we sent out a call for an Alue NAVComp pilot. It contained your dossier which included your design specs. Like you, we thought we would hear crickets. Instead, we had over 400 applicants. You've modified all the games for optional non-corporeal operation?"

  "Yeah, it's an under-served market. Immortals, Alue, and now the Necrue, like to run games in less-than-solid form, yet it's too easy for them to just invade a machine. I talked to Elven Industries and they came up with an interface which allows a non-corporeal to run a machine just like a corporeal down to the same limitations. The kids love it."

  "Damn, I knew there was a reason why I like you. Our NAVComp pilot is Sarah and she's dying to meet you. She's inside running system checks with Anne and Randy while Nels is checking out the rest of the ship."

  "Was it your turn to keep track of me?"

  "Yeah, luck of the draw. Come on, let's help Nels prep the ship, that is if you're through gawking."

  "I'm through." He followed her into the ship.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The Zephyr emerged from the portal at minimum forward speed as the rescue team got its bearings. "I love it when a portal works," Bob said while leaning back in his seat and propping his black butterfly leather boots on the dashboard.

  "They can fail?" Randy asked as he and Sarah ran position checks against the data supplied by Iona's backup database and the League’s Milky Way Galaxy far-star survey.

  "I wouldn't use the term 'Fail,'" Bob replied as he looked out the windows at the unfamiliar stars. "I prefer 'Lost' or 'Not on target.'"

  "Well, this time it worked," Sarah said as she appeared next to Olly. "We are inside the nebula about two hours out from the mechanoid home world." She patted Bob's arm. "Nice shootin, Tex."

  "Thank you; thank you very much," he said in his best Southern drawl. "I aim to please." He got up and straightened his shirt. "Since I'm here, I'd like to run some errands. Call me on the comm when you're finished," he said before disappearing in a flash of light.

  "Wait a minute," Sarah said while staring off into space. "I'm getting multiple distress calls. Course 158 degrees by -13 degrees, distance 1/2-light-year."

  "Can you put their signature graphic on the main viewer?" Olly asked.

  "Sure." A frequency versus time graph appeared.

  "It’s mechanoid. I had to memorize their signatures when I was training to fly Iona. That section indicates we're dealing with one or more post-adolescent mechs. The latter part of the signal indicates fear."

  "Your training covered that?" Jewel asked while the rest of the team watched him.

  "Actually, no, it didn't. I just know... It doesn't matter. Those kids are scared, and we've got to help."

  "Why do we have to help a bunch of teenagers?" Grayson asked. "They have nothing to do with our mission."

  "Because they're scared kids. Anyway, maybe they can help us."

  "He's right," Nels said. "Come on, haven't you always wanted to run into the face of danger and save the day?"

  The Logash thought about it for a moment. "Battle stations," Anne said. "Let's go kick some ass and look
good doing it."

  ###

  "Shut the hell up," the battleship-sized mech yelled over the comm frequencies. "I'm not going to hurt you. Just settle the hell down and everything will be fine..." He stopped talking as he went to sleep. A small ship uncloaked between the big mech ship and the gaggle of smaller mech ships off his bow. It hovered there, waiting.

  "Who... Who's that, Ricca?"

  "How the hell should I know, Nenda. Kranston, you got a clue?"

  "Nope. Never seen anyone like it. Kismet?"

  "Sorry guy's, the design isn't mech. Maybe it’s an invader," she replied. "Hey, you, what did you do to Brute Man?"

  "I put him to sleep," Olly replied. "Any of you kids hurt? Anyone need first aid?"

  "You talk funny, are you an invader?"

  "No, but I have dealt with one. My friends and I are looking for a protector named Iona. Do you know her?"

  "Friends?" Kismet asked. "There's only one of you."

  "Yeah, about that. The ship you see, we call her Zephyr, isn't alive. My friends and I are carbon-based life forms who live inside her. Do you have scanners?"

  "Carbon-based life forms. Right. This is a joke, right?"

  "Ricca, you need to shut up right now," Nenda said. "I just scanned Zephyr and she's got no nexus, but she has ten carbon-based life forms inside her and all ten have nexuses."

  The four mechs backed off. "Carbon-based life is impossible!" Kranston declared.

  Just under the Zephyr's bow, the forward door lowered while an atmo force field kept the air from rushing out. Olly stepped out to the edge of the open ramp, mere millimeters from the field's boundary. He waved to the ships, which, though small by mech standards, still dwarfed the League vessel. One of the mechs inched over to hover just outside the field. "Hi, my name is Oliver Wilson, and I'm carbon-based. Which one are you?"

  "Kismet..."

  "She's training to be a protector like the rest of us."

  "Kismet? That's a beautiful name. In my language it means 'destiny.'"

  "You're so small. How can you live?"

  "Carefully. Very carefully."