Endgame (Olly versus the Mechanoids Book 3) Read online

Another mech joined them. "I'm Nenda. How do you know our language?"

  "My friends Margaux and Reton taught me."

  "Margaux and Reton live? Where are they?" another asked as the other mechs overcame their initial fear and joined them.

  "They, along with a number of carbon-based life forms, have been kidnapped by Iona and brought to your nebula for reasons unknown. Can you help us find them?"

  "It's the rebels!" Ricca said. Olly was quickly getting the hang of telling their voices apart. "Probably the same ones who kidnapped us if Iona is involved. After she disappeared, the ruling council found out about her shenanigans and tried to arrest her rebel friends, but they all went into hiding. Where has she been all this time?"

  Olly pointed toward a group of stars. "About 600 light-years that way. What about your friend," Olly said while hooking a thumb back at Brute Man.

  "He's a rebel protector and one of Iona's minions. His name is Shadauck, but we call him Brute Man. Is he really asleep?"

  "Yep. Listen, do any of you know where the Iona would have taken my friends?"

  "Haven't got a clue, but Brute Man might. He's supposed to free us in a few hours, then meet up with some friends of his," Neda said.

  "Great. Can I ask a big favor of all of you?"

  "Sure!" Kranston replied.

  "Could you go tell the authorities about the rebel's plans and about us being here. All we want to do is rescue our friends, and when we do we'll get out of your hair."

  "Are you sure you don't need our help?" Kismet asked. He could hear the concern in her voice.

  "Thanks for asking, but telling the authorities about us could prevent another group of protectors from blowing us out of the sky."

  "We're on it, Olly! Good luck!" Ricca said as he and his group disappeared into hyperspace.

  "Olly, do you have kids?" Anne asked as she walked over to join him.

  "No. Nana and I talked about it, but we're waiting on tests to see if we can have any."

  "If you can, then have them. If you can't, then adopt. You're a natural and those are rare in this universe."

  "Thanks." He thought for a moment. "Anne, can we connect to Brute Man's internal network? If he's like Iona, then his specs should be in the data banks."

  "I read Iona's dossier. It should be easy. Why?"

  "Because we have an Alue on board, and Alue's love computer networks."

  "I heard that!" Sarah said over the intercom.

  Olly and Anne smiled.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Jewel parked Zephyr next to Brute Man while Sarah, Ashley, and her other aunt and uncles established a network connection between the two ships. Meanwhile, Grayson kept an eye on the active scans while Olly served drinks and little sandwiches to the troops. Finally, the preparations had been made. All they needed to do was make a withdrawal from the bank.

  "Sarah, we're set at this end," Ashley said. "Just find the coordinates of where they're holding our people and get back here."

  "Speaking from experience," Olly said, "we really want to avoid meeting any more rebel protectors. I'm worried that Brute Man might be getting relieved soon."

  "Got it. Be right back." Sarah disappeared and entered the Zephyr's network to access Brute Man's.

  "Shit, we've got a problem!" Grayson called out. "Five incoming tangos. Energy signatures suggest protectors with 95% confidence."

  Anne ran over and donned headphones before twiddling knobs on the communications set. "He's right, and they're not happy," she said as she ripped the phones off her head. "Such language from supposedly sapient beings."

  "We're being scanned. How the hell can a scan look so damned angry?" Randy asked.

  "Sarah, get your gray ass back here. We've got visitors!" Anne yelled over the comm."

  "I found the data. I just need a minute to access it..."

  "Grayson?"

  "They're almost here. We have fifteen seconds at most."

  "Sarah?!"

  "Almost got it..."

  "They're here... What the hell?" He flipped a switch which routed comms through the ship's PA system. "Dammit, how the hell can a ship move that fast?" one of the protectors asked.

  "Don't ask me. I just work here," another added.

  Sarah appeared, then stopped as Anne raised her fingers to her lips.

  "Hey, Moron! Wake up. The kids are gone!"

  "What? Where? How?" Brute Man said.

  "They lit out after some small fry heading toward the outer rim. Glom got a fix on them, didn't you, Glom?"

  "Yeah. Never saw anything like it, but the kids were following it like kits following prey."

  "As for you, Big Guy, what the hell happened. Party too much yesterday?"

  "I... I... I don't know. One minute I was riding herd on the brats, then I was here minus brats."

  The Logash looked at each other. "Hey, guys, they can't see us," Sarah observed. "Did someone turn on the stealth field?"

  Anne looked at the control panel. "It's still off. We would have collapsed the network and killed you if we had turned it off. Are we invisible?"

  The speaker squawked again with the voices of the protector surrounding them. "Big Guy, are you up to chasing down the brats?"

  "What? Yeah, I'm fine."

  "Good. Let's move people! We have brats to retrieve!" The group disappeared into hyperspace.

  "Are they gone?" Olly asked.

  "Yeah, I think so," Jewel said. "Hey, is something wrong with the environmental system. It feels damn hot in here..." She stopped and screamed as she glanced at Olly. The others turned and gasped.

  Olly stood in the center of the room, his skin covered in blue flames. His eyes were blue embers which glowed bright enough to cast shadow. In slow motion, his eyes went dark and his flames extinguished as he crumpled to the ground.

  "Sarah! Prep the medbed. Grayson, scan him! Jewel, get us underway. It won't take long for those morons to figure out they've been had," Anne ordered while she ran over to where Olly lay. She hesitantly touched his wrist. "Normal body temp!" She checked his pulse and pupils while her nephew ran a scanner over his body.

  "Talk to me, Gray!"

  "Blood sugar levels are crashing. BP and respiration are barely reading. These readings are about as close as you can come to dead and still keep breathing." He did a double-take. "This thing must be broken..."

  Anne picked Olly up and carried him to the waiting medical bed. Placing him inside, she hit the red emergency activation button. Immediately, the bed closed and began life-saving procedures for his species, size, and gender.

  Anne glanced at the bed's status screen. "No, no, no! It thinks he's an Orta!" she reached over to hit the panic button, but Grayson grabbed her wrist before she could get to it. "Stop, auntie! That's what I was trying to tell you. He's part Orta!"

  "What?" she said as she looked at Olly's face as microwave emitters kicked in and irradiated him with energy. She glanced at the status panel and saw his vital signs improving as his body absorbed the radiation. Grayson released her wrist as she slowly withdrew her hand from the panic button. "What the hell is a 21st century Earth human doing with Orta DNA?"

  "Probably the same thing as the basili," Sarah noted. She handed Anne a scanpad. "Orta, human, basili, and at least five others I have never seen before."

  "He's had physicals, he's been scanned, yet this is the first time we know about this?" Anne asked.

  "Look," Sarah said. She pointed to the medical bed's main screen. As they watched, the non-human DNA signatures slowly disappeared from the scan.

  "They're gone?" Nels asked as he adjusted the scan sensitivity.

  "I don't think so since we're pumping ten kilowatts of microwave power into him," Sarah said. "I think his body is selectively masking parts of his DNA."

  Anne placed her hand on top of the bed, then jumped back as it suddenly completed its cycle and began the open-cycle. In moments, the cover was stowed out of the way. "Hmmm. I think the pizza is done," Sarah noted.

  O
lly opened his eyes and looked around. He stopped when he saw the looks on everyone's faces. "Should I go back to sleep?"

  Anne shook her head, then helped him out of the bed. "How do you feel?"

  "I'm fine, though I could use..."

  Sarah handed him a cup of hot, dark liquid.

  "...a coffee. Thanks. So, what happened?"

  "What do you remember?"

  "Several protectors on an intercept course, then waking up. Did something happen while I was sleeping?"

  "Nothing of note. We hid the ship and the protectors got bored and left."

  "Why was I in the medical bed?"

  "Turbulence caused you to fall and hit your head. The bed was just a precaution."

  "Oh. OK. What now?"

  "Sarah got the coordinates, and we're heading there now."

  "Cool. Anybody got a nutribar? I'm..."

  Seven bars appeared in front of him."

  "...starved. Thanks. Are you sure nothing out of the ordinary happened while I was out?"

  "Define ordinary," Ashley said.

  He looked at her eyes and the glowing crystal in her chest while a gray alien stood next to her with her fists on her hips as if daring him to answer the wrong way. "I see what you mean."

  "Out ETA is one-hour. Get some rest," Nels said. "You are sort of the lynch-pin of this op."

  "Right," Olly said. He found a couch and laid down. In moments he was sound asleep.

  "We should tell him," Sarah said as she checked his pulse.

  "He's got enough on his plate. I am worried, though," Anne replied.

  "Why would you be worried?" Nels asked.

  She cuffed him. "Because we're about to face his identical twin, and Ali doesn't sound nearly as nice as Olly.

  "There is that," Randy said before ducking to avoid a thrown shoe.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Zoe watched Iona's mobile--which was the identical twin to Reton and Margaux, though the mechanoids seemed to tell their kind apart with ease--paced the room like a caged tiger. She had just gotten word about the adolescent protectors disappearing, and she was mad as a wet hen or whatever the mechanoid equivalent was. "So, are you going to tell me what happened, or do I need to guess?"

  The mech stopped and glared at her, or at least Zoe thought she glared at her. The lack of eyes made it tough to tell. "Our plan was to hold the two EMEF teams and the adolescent protectors hostage while we take over the mech government followed by the League government. We don't have the kids anymore, so we have no protection when we do the take-over."

  "We have Ali; we don't need protection."

  "I have to check the oxygen levels in here. You're becoming delusional. And you've forgotten Olly. He's coming, you know."

  "How? There are no League ships capable of traveling 600 light-years in a reasonable time."

  "You're sure?"

  "Yes, I'm sure. Ignore Ali's rantings; the girl is not well."

  "Assuming she is Olly's twin..."

  "She is, I checked."

  "...then she has enough power to paralyze a protector. Shouldn't someone with this much power be stable?"

  "She is controlled, and that's all we need for now. I'll fix the rest later."

  "I can see why people want you dead. Your arrogance is overwhelming. Look, not to sound rude, but I need to scheme... Sorry, you scheme, I plan. I need to come up with a new plan and I need some alone time to do that, so why don't you go torture a computer or something."

  Zoe stormed out of the room, but not before throwing a passive-aggressive smile at the mech. Once the Tralaskan was gone, Iona snapped her fingers. A door opened, and three drones led King, Gabe, Nana, Margaux, and Reton into the room. The drones positioned themselves near the room's doors before shutting down.

  "Hey, Iona, love what you did with the place," Margaux said.

  "I think a small nuke could do wonders. You know, I think I have one," he said while checking his pockets.

  "Gabriel, I want to apologize for the death of your stryker. No one was supposed to die. You have every right to be angry. Try to understand, Zoe is running off the rails on her own."

  "Odd," Reton said.

  "What's odd?" King asked.

  "She's telling the truth."

  "And you know this how?" Gabe asked.

  "Didn't he tell you? Reton was supposed to rule the mechs but wimped out. He still has all the tools necessary including the ability to truth-tell."

  King looked at Reton. "I don't remember that being on your resume."

  "Enough!" Nana yelled, spraying a gout of fire into the air for emphasis. "Where is my husband?"

  "Back in Las Vegas?" Margaux asked. "I think he was trying to fix something."

  "He's here, dammit. I can feel it."

  "Corporal! Snap out of it! There is no way for him to be here..." King stopped when a holographic DNA chart appeared in the center of the room. Nana walked over and stared at it in shock. "That's impossible."

  "No, that's Ali's DNA according to scans recently taken by Zoe. Now watch..." The scan shifted slowly to human.

  Margaux stared at it. "Start from zero and rerun, please."

  Iona complied. "How many species are we talking about?" Margaux asked.

  "At least eight of them," Nana said, "and we share five of them."

  "But the scan changes," Gabe said.

  "The final sequence is human-based on my analysis of your DNA, Gabriel," Iona explained. "Now, my people don't know DNA from rivets, but I've studied Zoe's file and I think things are a lot worse than our little mad scientist is letting on. There is mention of an elven twin-link. I think Olly is twin-linking with Nana."

  "From 600 light-years away?"

  "No, from about an hour's travel from here." She explained what happened with the young protectors.

  "No offense, but why are you telling us this?" Gabe asked. "I thought you and Zoe are BFFs intent on saving us from ourselves."

  "Laugh it up, carbon boy, but Zoe's only a little saner than that creature she calls a daughter."

  "Then space her and her minions," Gabe suggested. "Show me the lever and I'll pull it. That woman crossed a line and there's no going back."

  "I can't."

  "Excuse me?" King asked. "You're 600 feet long and weigh almost 10,000 tons. Zoe is what, 5' 4" and a hair over 120 pounds? What's holding you back?"

  "She's planted a nuke near my #2 engine and its wired to a dead man's switch in her chest. She dies, and we all die."

  "Why in the name of all that's holy would you allow her to plant a bomb on you?" Nana exclaimed.

  "She didn't; Ali did. That thing has some kind of stealth capability. I didn't know until Zoe told me shortly after I chewed her out. She doesn't like it when other people steal her show."

  "You want us to off Zoe?" Gabe asked. "Won't that set of da bomb?"

  "Margaux, how the hell can you stand all this levity?" Iona asked.

  "It's not levity. He's right. If Zoe dies, then we all die."

  A chair rose from the floor and Iona sat in it. "I know that. I want asylum in the League. Give me that and we leave the nut case to her own devices."

  "Why the sudden change of heart?" Gabe asked.

  "My operatives report that the ship that freed the youngsters lit out like a bat out of hell, then disappeared into thin air along with the youth. No stealth fields, no dropping into other-space, just poof, they were gone. It was just like when Ali planted the bomb. She wasn't there, then she was. I think Olly cloaked that ship with his mind, a cloak so good that it fooled the ship it was next to. He and Ali are going to meet, and I don't want to be anywhere near that reunion when it occurs." She looked at Nana. "Can you control your husband?"

  "What do you mean by control?"

  "Convince him not to kill me. I think he's pissed at me for growing in his chest."

  Nana looked to the ceiling. "He'll listen to me. Yeah, I should be able to stop him from killing you and turning your hull into a train set." She glared at the mech.


  "I'm just not feeling the love," Margaux said.

  "Neither do I," Reton added.

  "Iona, do you have a plan?" Margaux asked.

  "Yes, but I need asylum."

  She looked at Reton. "What do you think?"

  "Give it to her. It's not like our tech hasn't already been compromised."

  "You have asylum assuming any of us survive," King said.

  "Good. I've contacted a League ship that is on a rendezvous course. It'll be here inside an hour. I've also contacted a group of mech protector regulars. They're also on their way here. They've already dealt with my companions, the ones watching the kids."

  "By 'Dealt with,' you mean..." Nana said.

  "Yeah, blew them out of the sky. I guess it sucks to be them. The drones will see you back to the holding area. Be ready to save my ass when the shit hits the fan, and hit it will, big time."

  Once clear of the room, Gabe whispered to King, "Iona's as bad as Zoe. Are we really going to give her asylum?"

  "I said we would, so we are, assuming we're alive when all this is over."

  CHAPTER SIX

  Olly was getting tired of these dreams of post-apocalyptic horrors. He'd fall asleep only to "awaken" surrounded by death and destruction, and this dream was no different. Standing in front of him with countless bodies strewn on the ground between them, was Ali, just as he remembered her from their last encounter, only this time she was bathed in blue fire. He rubbed his face with his palms in frustration. "Is it even remotely possible we could just talk like two human beings instead of all this fire and death mumbo-jumbo?"

  The fire and death were replaced by a forest glade complete with butterflies, singing birds, and the scent of flowers on the wind. In the distance, a large dragon landed on a castle turret and preened itself. "Better?" she asked as she sat down next to him.

  "A little over the top, but it'll do. So, what do you want? I assume you already know that I'm close by."

  "Yeah, and you're bringing friends, I see."

  "Oh, these guys? They just happened to be in the neighborhood, so I asked them to give me a lift."

  "They can't help you, no one can. I'm more powerful than you, or Mara, or any of her creations."

  "Ah, so you remember Mara! That's a step forward."