Up Against It - M. J. Locke [94]
Amaya scrambled back, well out of the machine’s reach, and reeled Geoff back in. By the time he had alighted on the hull, the machine had applied some sort of compress to Ian’s shoulder, and was giving him an injection. Geoff and Amaya were ready to attack again, this time with flares, but Moriarty waved them back.
“Stand down. For whatever reason, it’s rendering first aid. We’re here, Ian,” Moriarty told him. “Stay calm.”
“What’s it doing to me? Am I going to die?”
“Just relax. That’s a smart compress it’s putting on you. It’s got all kinds of fancy medicine in it to staunch the bleeding till we can get you to a doctor.”
Moriarty told Geoff and Amaya, “We’ll get him back. I’ve seen those things save a soldier who was nearly cut in half. Stay alert. Follow my lead. Kurupath! Get the hell out here. Now.”
Even as he spoke, Kam shouted, “Get back!” and dove out the opening to the xaser station. He went tumbling out into the Hollow as the power generator inside the small building erupted. They all ducked and were peppered with burning sparks.
Geoff shot a tether to Kam, who caught it and hand-over-handed back to the Hub surface. Geoff helped him regain his footing.
The machine seemed oblivious to the explosion. Once it had finished treating Ian, it rolled down toward the main airlock. The rest of them followed. At Moriarty’s order they fanned out and brandished flares, alert to any further threatening move. But it showed no hostility.
The airlock door opened automatically as they approached. The machine stopped at the entrance, too large to enter.
“What now?” Geoff asked. The old man shrugged. Then the machine lifted Ian up. He moaned, and Geoff moved to attack it again, but Moriarty said sharply, “Belay that!”
The machine whistled some strange tune. Amaya, Kam, and Geoff exchanged surprised looks, and Geoff turned back to stare at the machine. Its cameras gazed implacably back.
“Get into the airlock,” Moriarty ordered them, and when they hesitated, snapped, “Do it now!”
They hurried into the small chamber. Moriarty was whistling back and forth with the machine.
Kam said, “They’re speaking Tonal_Z. I think it’s telling us to get him to the hospital right away. The old man is asking what injection Ian got.”
Kam listened to the machine’s response, then shook his head at their querying looks. “I couldn’t make it out.”
The machine lowered Ian into the old man’s waiting arms, and Moriarty stepped back slowly into the airlock. The machine froze in place: it did not lower its arms, nor make any other movement.
“Let’s not push our luck,” Moriarty said, and punched a button. The outer airlock door shut. They had to wait a minute or two while the room pressurized. Geoff’s ears popped painfully.
Amaya pulled off her mask and came over to Ian, ran her hands over his blood-drenched chest. She grabbed his clothing, shook him, snarled, “Ian, listen to me. You listen, you asshole! Idiot! Don’t you dare die.”
Geoff came up behind. He tried to avoid staring at his friend’s detached arm, which the machine had taped to his body, and his bloody, swathed stump. The sight of the amputation made him want to throw up. He called Ian’s name, but Moriarty shook his head.
“He’s been sedated, and injected with antibiotics and blood-building assemblers. He’s lost a lot of blood. He’s still in danger. Come on, hustle! The hospital isn’t far. Stay alert—the feral could still be out there. This could be some kind of trick.”
Weapon drawn, Moriarty led the way out of the airlock as it opened on the Hub’s interior.
17
Jane wrapped up her call to Sean and returned to Tania, whose team was struggling to get all the backup copies of the critical systems ready. Meanwhile, Jane’s remote views showed a hundred or more robot arms and craft attacking Zekeston. How many people would die? She thought about Xuan and the clan, and hatred for the feral swept through her. She trembled with the need to attack: to shred its structures to component bits with her own hands.
Then power flickered. Her waveface