Battleship Raider by Paul Tomlinson

Author:Paul Tomlinson [Tomlinson, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Paul Tomlinson
Published: 2021-04-05T22:00:00+00:00

The warehouse floor had twin steel doors similar to the ones I’d come through on the floor above. They had been more heavily scarred by the crash, but they didn’t appear to be buckled. With a little encouragement, they would probably open – at least wide enough for me to slip through. The platform in front of the doors was much narrower, just wide enough for me to be able to squat in a corner with the rifle ready to fire at the robot as soon as it appeared. I didn’t have long to get in position, the robot was only a few seconds behind me.

“Trixie, you there?” I was still hearing static in my ear. I flicked my eyes to the right and my heart sank as I saw why Trixie wasn’t responding. There was not enough of my box of tricks left for the nanos to rebuild. There was a splat of melted silver on my shoulder that looked like stainless steel parrot squit. I suddenly felt very, very alone. But there was no time to feel sorry for myself. I had a robot to deal with. I aimed the snout of the rifle at the spot above me where I thought the robot would appear. It must have slowed down to assess the situation.

I heard the sound of a soft impact and thought a bird had landed in the tree opposite where I was huddled. There was a dark shadow, a crash, and the top of the tree waved wildly under the impact. It was the robot. Of course, it didn’t share my fear of broken bones or impalement. It was gripping the top of the tree with one arm and raising the rifle with the other. I swung my gun around and squeezed the trigger twice. A hole appeared in the robot’s chest that I could see daylight through. Apparently unaware of its new body piercing, the robot continued to try and compensate for the wild swaying of the tree and get me in its sights. I aimed for its head – but then its limbs stiffened, jerking backwards, and the hollowed-out robot swallow-dived into the ground. Two down, one to go.

I lay on my stomach and slid towards the edge. Looking down, I could see the fallen robot. Its comrade stepped out from the cover of the trees and examined the robot carcass, then it looked upwards. I ducked back as a blast struck the metal above me and showered me in sparks and bits of hot shrapnel. Down below, I could hear the robot begin to climb, probably using the route I had planned to use for my descent. I didn’t want to risk poking my head over the edge again – there was every chance that the robot was climbing with one hand and pointing the rifle at my last position.

The metal door was cool against my back. I looked over at the locking mechanism but knew I didn’t have the time or the equipment to get it open before the security robot crawled over the edge.

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