The Ascendant Stars - Michael Cobley [176]
The question of who had launched the attack was still unanswered, but since Talavera’s ship and its Vor escorts had been heading this way it was likely that they were the culprits.
The gloomy radiance of hyperspace fitfully illuminated the outlines of fixed tables and wall lockers while a solitary emergency light shed a wavering blue glow from one of the remaining upper corners. As she drew near the couch she realised that there was no sign of Nicko – then one of the wall lockers swung open and a squat tracked bot inched its way out towards her. Julia was glad to see that Nicko had improvised a wheel attachment for his right side, whose track assembly was jammed.
‘Why are you hiding?’ she said on the short-range channel.
‘Hunter drone,’ Nicko said. ‘Came – looked – went.’ He ended by pointing with one of his pincer stalks at the direction Julia had returned by.
‘Does this ship have any hunter drones?’ she said.
‘None – attacker hunter drone – we finish craft – we escape!’
‘Yes,’ Julia said as she tipped the gas cube out of the mesh sack. It was the work of several minutes to fix the canister to the underside of the couch and connect it to the rudimentary control system devised by Nicko. With four canisters mounted on the back of the couch Nicko had insisted that they would provide enough propulsion to reach the Great Hub.
What they would do once they got there was a little hazy but involved finding a hatch or some other kind of access.
The couch was still attached to the deck by a single bolt, which allowed Nicko to carry out a brief test, four momentary gusts of white vapour.
‘All good,’ he said as he webbed himself to the head of the couch. ‘We go now!’
Julia manoeuvred up against the foot of the couch and deployed her strongest toolarms to haul herself up. Once in the curved seat she also used the restraint webbing to keep herself in place, then extended a long articulated limb and snaked it underneath to unfasten the last bolt. As she shifted the tooltip around to gain the best purchase, she tried to picture herself in her Human body and attempting this … and couldn’t. Am I even truly Human any more?
Just as the bolt began to loosen, a squat dark shape with tapered ends glided into the apartment, emitted a couple of flash scans then flicked out a stuttering red beam.
‘Viral subversion! – Viral subversion!’ said Nicko.
Suddenly the control panel was dangling on its cable across her sensor cluster as the smaller bot freed himself from his restraints.
‘Fire thruster, Julia – escape!’
Next thing she knew, Nicko had launched himself off the couch, track and wheel spinning as he half-flew, half-fell towards the drone. Julia didn’t hesitate and fired the thrusters – in a sudden billowing cloud the couch rose up through the hull breach.
It was barely clear of the ship when Julia registered a slight impact from behind. With an extendable toolarm sensor she looked back and saw the sleek dangerous drone emerging from the broken ship, some kind of launcher protruding from its casing. What had it fired? – then she saw what looked like a large-headed dart stuck in the back of the couch. A feeling like panic stirred in her – it had to be a tracking device of some sort, and was probably casting her location to every hostile within range. Quickly she reached round with another toolarm, plucked out the dart and flicked it away. The hunter drone was nowhere to be seen.
Then she scanned the murk for the Great Hub, located its energy profile and used the thrust controller to alter the couch’s flightpath, rolling forward then tilting right and a slight leftward turn … and fired off the canisters for a two-second burst. Repeated bursts built up the couch’s velocity and Julia estimated her arrival in about ninety-five minutes.
At