Scattered Suns - Kevin J. Anderson [177]
The only remaining Ildiran on Maratha, completely isolated from the thism, Vao’sh looked stunned and dazed, barely able to keep moving. But Anton did not give up on his friend. “The hangars! Off to the side of the dome. I saw ships there. Maybe one of them will still function.”
The old rememberer mumbled something unintelligible, but when Anton yanked his arm and kept running, he followed without question. Adrenaline gave Anton a burst of speed, and he jumped over low piles of debris, dodging construction machinery and half-assembled structures.
Klikiss robots continued to emerge from their underground tunnels like ants boiling out of a disturbed nest. Anton wove back and forth in an erratic course so the attackers could not determine his intent. Once the Klikiss robots saw where he was going, they would surely try to intercept them at the hangar.
“We’re going to make it, Vao’sh. Right this way. Just keep going.” Now the hangar was in front of them, a straight shot. At last, the Klikiss robots anticipated his plan. “Run for all you’re worth, Vao’sh!”
They sprinted forward. Anton had never been so tired or so terrified in his life. The muscles in his legs felt like fraying strings, but he forced himself to keep going. Vao’sh stumbled on the uneven ground. Anton caught the old rememberer before he could sprawl. “Keep going! Just a little farther!”
Now he could see the Ildiran cargo ships that had been stored at the construction site. One looked half disassembled, as if a scheduled maintenance routine had been interrupted before it was finished. One craft near the rear of the hangar appeared intact and ready to go. Anton hoped the engines would work. “Do you know how to fly one of those ships, Vao’sh?”
The rememberer could barely answer, but Anton didn’t want to think about the next problem just yet. Vao’sh wasn’t in any shape to act as a pilot, but he managed to gasp as they kept going, “Standard controls...primarily automated...You can do it.”
“Looks like I’m going to have to.”
Behind them, the pursuing Klikiss robots cracked open their black carapaces and spread wide solar-panel wings. The heavy machines began to fly, swiftly closing the gap between themselves and their prey.
“That’s not fair!” Anton finally ducked under the sloping metal roof of the small hangar. “Into the ship, Vao’sh. We’ve got to get in.”
It was a relatively small craft used to shuttle personnel and supplies down from larger vessels in orbit. Anton hoped the engines and the navigation system could take them all the way back to Ildira or some other inhabited world. And he prayed the coordinates were already stored; he certainly couldn’t navigate by dead reckoning.
As the weak rememberer climbed in, Anton heard a loud clatter. Five heavy robots landed just outside the hangar door, folded their wings, and began to stride forward, all of their articulated arms extended.
Anton swung himself into the ship and scrambled to find the hatch controls. It took him much longer than he expected, and the nearest robots had crossed the floor by the time Anton got the hatch closed. “We should be safe in here for a few minutes,” he said, not actually believing it.
Shaken and disoriented, Vao’sh collapsed inside the cockpit, gripping the copilot’s chair with trembling hands. Anton looked at the confusing array of controls and suddenly his mind went blank. All the Ildiran letters and words, the language he had studied so carefully, now left him. He couldn’t read any of it. The symbols were incomprehensible! He squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, he could focus once more.
The robots clanged against the outer door of the shuttle.