Machinations (Olly versus the Mechanoids Book 2) Read online

  She nodded. "Yes, I'm in charge of this colony."

  "My name is Colonel Titus King, commander of Elf Marine Expeditionary Force Team 1. Are there any other people like them running around town?"

  "You mean people wearing armor? Yes, four are holding my people hostage while several more were heading out the back door. There's an open field behind the buildings on this side of the street. I was calling for help when they burst into the room and took me captive."

  King tapped his earcomm. "Murph! There's a ship lifting off. Stop it!"

  The Mugwump appeared above them as another ship lifted off from behind the building. Murph fired two warning shots, but the other ship was already heading off-planet. Murph fired twice more, hitting the other ship, but doing no damage as it disappeared into the sky.

  "Do you want me to follow. Sir?" Murph asked over the comm.

  "No. I assume you were able to attach tracker pucks to her hull."

  "Aye, sir. Their signals are strong and steady."

  "Transmit their frequencies to the Mekla, then get down here and secure our prisoners. King out." He looked up at the woman. "What about the other miners?"

  "About half are being held in the basement of the general store, while the rest are locked in the storage building at the end of the street. Those people said they wouldn't be harmed, that they were here for some machine part. This way," she said as she ran into the nearby building.

  " Mersa, take Parker and free the others. The rest of you, defensive formation. Move!" King ordered.

  The team ran in and found a wide stairway leading down. Watching for danger, they headed down to the basement in twos. At the bottom of the stairs, they found four more strykers on their knees with their hands on top of their heads, fingers interlaced, while several dozen miners watched over them. "How the hell did you stop four-fully-functional strykers?"

  "We have our ways," Mara said.

  King walked over and tapped the armored head of one of the strykers. "Why did you surrender?"

  The stryker reverted to organic form. It was a human woman. "They asked us nicely to surrender, so we did."

  King recognized her. She was a known merc with a rap sheet a mile long. The word cooperative was not found anywhere in her description, yet here she was, cooperating. King's earcomm bleeped. "Go for King... Right... Out... The Mekla is here. Ms. Trinity, I would like to take these four into custody, if you don't mind."

  "Please. Jeremy?"

  Jeremy, the one standing over the female, nodded. "Friends, you will cooperate with the Colonel, won't you?"

  "Yes, ma'am," the woman said as her companions changed into organic form. They stood up just as a security contingent from the Mekla came down the stairs.

  "Lieutenant Rez," King said to the security team leader, a Katalan male, "take these four into custody along with the two Murph is holding in the Mugwump. Be advised those two will probably be less cooperative."

  "Yes, sir!" While the prisoners were escorted to the Mekla, medical personnel checked the miners over.

  Trent ran up with a report. "Sir, the engineer was correct, the miners bought a 124/a and installed it on an ancient mass sorter. The strykers found it and sent it back to their ship right when we arrived. Five minutes later and we would have missed them. Sir, I called up to the Mekla and they have two replacements in stores. I took the liberty of having them sent down. The miners have installed one of them and the operation is up and running."

  "Good work, Sergeant. Have the Team make a final sweep of the town before preparing for departure."

  "Yes, sir."

  King saw the chief medical officer writing something on a datapad. "How are they, Doctor?" King asked as he walked up.

  "They're fine. No injuries and no sign of any sickness. I'm jealous, they make the Mekla crew look sickly." He handed King a datapad. "Here's the summary of the report I gave the Captain.”

  King read it and raised an eyebrow. "Any explanation? This planet is only marginally habitable and they all work in a mine, not the healthiest of workplaces even with modern safety systems."

  "Don't know. I asked Ms. Trinity and she said it was due to clean living and a shot of whiskey every evening before bed."

  "What did the captain say?"

  "She wants to get underway. Zoe and Iona are first priority. When we finish with those two, we can return to this mystery."

  King nodded. "Works for me. It looks like you're packing up."

  "Yep. Give us ten minutes and we're out of here."

  King walked back to where Nana, now back in her organic form, and Mara were talking. "Ms. Trinity, it looks like we're getting ready to get out of your hair. If you want, we can leave a security contingent here."

  "No, we'll be fine, especially with the new part your Sergeant Trent obtained for us. Thank you."

  "You're welcome. Corporal, I think Trent is putting together a sweep of the complex and he would like you to join him."

  "Yes, sir!" She turned back to Mara. "Please, stop by the next time you're near Las Vegas." After a brief hug, Nana ran off to find her team.

  "Such a wonderful girl. It's hard to imagine she can be a formidable weapon."

  "She's a Marine and that's how we train."

  "Colonel, can you tell me who was behind all this?"

  "Dr. Zoe Muntz and a being named Iona. As for why they didn't just go to a parts store and buy something off the shelf, it’s beyond me. Ma'am, is there anything else you need from us?"

  "I can't think of anything. I hope you find those brigands and bring them to justice."

  "We will do our best." He looked up and saw the team return from their sweep. "Good bye, ma'am. Have a pleasant day."

  She smiled at him as he trotted off to join his people. Twenty minutes later, the League personnel were gone.

  Mara looked at a card Nana had given her. On it were pictures of Nana, a mechanoid named Margaux, and a young man named Oliver Wilson. A miner named Terrance walked up and stood silently as he waited for her to speak.

  "Terrance, find out everything you can about Oliver Wilson," she said while handing him the card.

  "Yes, Mother. Several people report feeling the presence of Ali nearby just before the criminals left."

  "On planet?"

  "No, more tenuous, like she was in orbit."

  She nodded. "Terrance, while you check on Mr. Wilson, could you generate a complete dossier on Dr. Zoe Muntz and someone or something named Iona. Check all League and law enforcement databases."

  "Yes, ma'am. Should I get the mine back in operation?"

  "Yes. It is imperative that we maintain our cover, at least for now."

  Bowing, Terrance walked out of the room leaving Mara deep in thought. "Could it be?" she whispered to the empty room.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Olly stared at the screen as it filled with code, the same code he'd already erased at least twenty times, yet it kept coming back. He sat back and rubbed his eyes. "This is impossible," he said. "We've cleared the drives, the backup drives, the tapes, hell we even erased the EPROMs, then reloaded the code from the master drives, yet here it is again. Is this damn thing haunted?"

  "It must be from the Iona parts. The code is mechanoid for sure, and I promise you, it's not coming from me, and Reton is light-years away on assignment."

  "Ah, the life of a planetary survey ship crew member," he said as he sat forward. "But where the hell is it coming from?"

  "Found it!" a voice said from inside the Stryker Team main control unit. Shortly, an Alturan slid out of the bowels of the unit with an alien device hanging from one tentacle. "Damn thing tried to bite me." She handed it, wiggling, to Margaux who did something to deactivate it. "I'm on break," the Alturan said.

  "Thanks, Becky," Olly said while handing her a nutribar. She slid off, humming a happy tune while peeling the wrapper off her treat. "So, old friend, what the hell is that creature?"

  "It's called a restorer. Basically, it maintains a backup of any data recorded by the system it’s attached to and reloads it in the event of data loss or data corruption by the primary system."

  "I had a computer that did that. Had a hell of a time getting rid of a virus," Olly observed.

  "Luckily, our people don't get viruses. Delusions of grandeur, but not viruses." Margaux walked over to a terminal and connected the restorer to it. She typed in several commands. "Why didn't I see this before?"

  "Don't play with my emotions, young lady, see what?" Olly asked.

  "This data is from her flight log. It contains every flight hour she experienced from the moment she became a protector. Damn, the old girl moved around a lot..." She stopped talking while her hands flew over the keyboard. The screen quickly filled with data, graphs, and charts. She stopped and stared at it. "By all that's holy," she whispered.

  "What? What's wrong?"

  "Nothing's wrong. See this data here?"

  He looked and saw a dense collection of gibberish. "If you say so."

  "Lord. This is data taken right when Iona and I entered the worm hole. Every sensor she had was recording data, and it’s all right here."

  "What kind of data?"

  "Gravimetric field strength, eleven-dimensional entry vector, temperature, protonic flux, hyperspace domain entry vector; you name it, and she recorded it. I wonder..." Margaux tapped some buttons which caused several status lights on the restorer to flash. "As I thought. This is a compilation of several databases which are normally stored on several other devices that make up the system. It's possible that the part Iona's people stole wasn't important. She was looking for the data."

  "Why the hell does she need old data?" Olly asked. He stopped and looked at his friend. "Unless she needs it to..."

  "Return to the Omega Nebula!" Margaux
said. "We need to tell someone before that bitch heads back to the nebula with a team of strykers..."

  "And a psychic who can take over machines." Olly looked to the ceiling. "Computer. Emergency commlink to Commissioner Priscilla Adon. Use my Air Force ID code if she refuses the call."

  "Working..."

  "This is Adon. What the hell is going on, Wilson? What's the nature of your emergency?"

  He explained.

  "Shit. OK, stay put, I'm coming over, and I'm bringing friends. Lots of friends. Adon out."

  "I hope to hell we're not too late," Margaux said as she paced the room.

  Olly had nothing to add.

  ###

  Colonel King, Gabe, and the members of EMEF Teams 1 and 2 waited for Captain Menos, the Mekla's commanding officer, to arrive and start the briefing. Orbiting Earth, the Mekla was preparing for a short jump to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter where, hopefully, they will be able to stop Iona and Zoe. The door opened and two mechanoids--Reton and Margaux--walked in and joined Gabe and the colonel. "Sorry we're late, but traffic is horrible this this time of day," Reton said.

  Nana walked over to join them. "Margaux? Where's my husband?"

  The mechanoid checked her pockets. "Damn, I had him here a minute ago. Reton, did you take Olly?"

  "Nope. You had him last. Who else have you misplaced?" They stopped when they saw the look on Nana's face. "Sorry."

  "Sorry," Margaux said. "I talked him out of coming. Look, he's got no combat training, and we don't plan on killing Iona and putting him in the driver seat..." She stopped and looked at King. "Do we, sir?"

  "No, we are just going to stop her from getting back to the Omega Nebula with her passengers."

  "I missed the part about how we're going to do that," Margaux said.

  "The captain has a plan," he said as the door opened again. This time, Captain Menos walked in flanked by Ciara Devlin, ex-Director of the Cube, and a dozen men and women.

  "Attention!" Mersa ordered. "Captain on deck!"

  The room came to attention, including the two mechanoids.

  "At ease. Listen up! We are breaking orbit and heading to the asteroid belt. When we get there, we will hide in wait for Iona. When she arrives, Ciara and her team of Venlanten royals will neutralize the girl while the strykers take the ship. Reton and Margaux will advise. Any questions?"

  Margaux raised her hand. "Yes, Margaux?"

  "The young woman in question threw my friend, considered the most powerful telepath of the 21st century, twenty feet through the air with just a thought. Are you sure you have enough people or big enough guns?"

  "Margaux," Ciara replied, "we've analyzed the data collected during Olly's only meeting with the woman. We estimate my team has at least five times the power necessary to stop her. You have nothing to worry about."

  "Then I guess you've never made a soufflé. No matter how good the plan, there is always a possibility of failure."

  "Don't worry, Margaux. We've got this covered," Ciara reassured her.

  Margaux wanted nothing to do with what she felt was self-delusion. "Let's hope so."

  ###

  The Bridge crew of the Mekla breathed a sigh of relief as the lights and life support systems came back on-line. "Report! Captain Menos ordered as her people brought up system after system.

  "Lights, life support, communications, computer systems, and main energizers have returned from the dead," her first officer reported. "Engineering reports FTL, weapons, and shields should be up within ten minutes."

  "What about external cameras and sensor systems?"

  The main view screen came up with an image from the forward camera overlaid with limited sensor data. "Dammit! Where the hell is Mugwump and Iona?"

  "Long-range scan to one light-year!" the first officer ordered.

  "Long-range scan, aye," the sensors officer replied. "Scans clear! No sign of Mugwump or Iona. We are picking up residue from a worm hole formation off the port bow."

  "Any debris?"

  "None, ma'am."

  The captain stabbed the intercom button. "Sick Bay, this is Menos, status of our Venlanten passengers?"

  "Two seriously injured, five unconscious, the rest are nursing massive headaches."

  "How's Ciara?"

  "Mad as hell and a little frightened. Do you want me to send her up?"

  "Yes, if there's no medical reason not to."

  "She's on her way. Sick bay out." She turned to her crew. "Anybody nursing a headache should beeline it to Sick Bay and that's an order. God only knows what that woman did to us."

  The port-side door opened, and Ciara walked in looking like a drowned rat. Menos got up and helped her friend to sit down in the command chair. "I can't sit here," she said. "What if you need to call someone?"

  "She'll yell," the first officer noted.

  "Ciara, what the hell hit us?"

  "A nuclear thought charge, if something like that was possible. Think of it as someone mentally screaming on top of her lungs. No Venlanten or human telepath has ever been able to pull something like that off. The yell was so powerful, it killed two of the most powerful royals we've ever produced. She literally stopped their hearts."

  "How the hell do we stop something like that?"

  "A supernova? Maybe a dozen stealth bark-borer missiles? I just don't know." She looked around the bridge. "We need a bigger ship."

  The captain gently patted her shoulder. "That I can do. Communications Officer!"

  "Ma'am!"

  "Send a message to Earth and League Space Commands with our logs and code it Level Omega."

  "Ma'am, that's planetary disaster level."

  "I know. Let's hope the two commands respond accordingly."

  CHAPTER TEN

  Olly stood in a city square surrounded by spires of glass and adamantine steel rising into the sky. The ground around him was littered with the bodies of hundreds of mechanoids and organic beings, each with dead faces filled with expressions of pain. He looked around and saw his wife lying on the ground, her body broken. Standing over her was a woman with a purple gaze. "You'll be joining her soon, I promise."

  He woke up screaming as the lights came on. "Sir! I am detecting elevated levels of adrenaline in your body. Do you need assistance?" the computer asked.

  "No. No, I'm fine. I'm just having a nightmare." The comm unit next to the bed bleeped. Composing himself as best he could, he took the call. "Go for Wilson."

  "Olly? This is Priscilla. I'm on my way over. We need to talk. It's urgent."

  "Is Nana OK?"

  "Why would you ask that?"

  "I had a nightmare. She was in it as well as the woman with the purple gaze. Pris, Nana was dead. Everyone was dead..."

  "Dammit. I can't discuss this over an open line. We'll be there in five minutes. Pris out."

  Olly sat on the side of the bed as long-suppressed memories came forth perhaps due to the dream, perhaps from something else. His past collided with his present as his true identity presented itself for his approval. He nearly threw-up when the truth about his creation and purpose finally revealed themselves. He sighed. For better or worse, it is what it is. He needed to concentrate on saving his wife and ending the nightmare facing the League before it ever got started. He got dressed, then prepared the arcade for the arrival of Commissioner Adon.

  ###

  Pris and two SWAT teams arrived to find the front door open and a drone waiting for them. "This way, Commissioner," it said as it trundled off in the direction of the arcade's snack bar.

  "Captain, set sentries both inside and outside the facility. No one in and no one out without my express approval," she ordered.

  "Ma'am!" he replied before barking orders to his people. She followed the drone with two guards in tow.

  She found Olly in the snack bar drinking coffee. Leaving the guards at the entrance, she joined him at the table. "Coffee?" he asked.

  She saw an empty cup in front of her and a thermal flask in the middle of the table. "Sure."

  He poured her a cup, then sat back in his seat. "How badly did the op go pear shaped?"

  She told him. "We don't even know who this woman is. No one like her has ever been seen before."

  "Her name is Ali Wilson, and for lack of a better term, she is my identical twin. Right, Mara?"

  Pris turned and saw three people standing at the entrance to the snack bar, each with glowing purple eyes. She recognized the woman from Team 1's Olgath System after-action report. "Ms. Trinity? What are you doing here?" She pulled out her comm. "SWAT Team Commander, I've got three people in here. How did they get past your people?"