The Girl Who Stole A Planet (Amy Armstrong Book 1) by Stephen Colegrove

Author:Stephen Colegrove [Colegrove, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-08-01T16:00:00+00:00

Betsy trotted under a wooden cart and collapsed. The dog panted with effort and his long tongue drooped from his jaws.

“Why do they have to run so fast?” he gasped.

“Query,” said the mechanical voice from a tiny speaker on Betsy’s backpack. “Do you wish for an increase in velocity?”

“No! It’s dangerous on those rooftops, and I don’t want them to fall. Slow down and shoot behind them.”

“Standing order is not to harm target.”

Betsy sighed. “That’s why I said to shoot behind them.”

He wished for a moment that he could’ve switched places with Nick, who was supervising the cleaning and refit of the Lady’s personal ship, the White Star. He always hated sitting in one place for too long, though, and the chance to demat with an inspector drone was an opportunity any operator would treasure for the rest of his life, especially when it was a personal request from the Lady. But in this maze of thousands upon thousands of dangerous humans, Betsy hoped that the rest of his life would last longer than the next few minutes.

“Targets descending. Approaching ground level.”

Betsy squinted at the video feed in front of his eye. The two teenagers and Sunflower scrambled down a stepped series of roofs and landed safely on the street.

“They need to go west,” murmured Betsy. “Rotate one-eighty. Target that human structure.”

The video from the inspector’s camera blurred. Red lines in the screen highlighted a brick building with the sign, “Wilson’s Chemical Supply.”

“Confirm structure?” asked the monotone voice of the inspector drone.

“Yes.”

“Nitrates detected. Confirm structure?”

Betsy groaned. “Confirm structure! Ten second blast!”

The tiny screen flashed white and the street shook with a mighty boom. A hot, sulfurous breeze ruffled Betsy’s fur. Beams of charred wood and chunks of brick thumped on the cart and the street outside.

“Good gravy,” barked Betsy. “Switch to starlight mode!”

A wobbling green and yellow fire covered the screen. The supply building was now a deep pit of smoke and flame.

“I didn’t mean to do that! Is Sunflower okay? I mean … switch back to the target.”

The camera rotated to the image of two humans and a cat lying prone on the cobblestone.

Betsy squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head violently.

“Oh no! I’ve done it, I’ve done it! I’ve killed them.”

“Targets are not damaged. Proceeding northwest on Middlesex.”

On the video feed, Philip and Amy picked up Sunflower and slowly shrank as they ran down the street and away from the camera.

“Thank the Lady,” breathed Betsy.

“The Lady is great and glorious and I am grateful for every second she lives.”

Betsy growled. “Not you! I was talking to myself.”

“I have received damage to my servo casings and now operate at ninety percent efficiency, if you are done taking a doggie break,” said the metallic voice of the drone.

“Disable snark mode,” barked Betsy. “Follow the targets on a thirty-meter leash!”

Feet ran past the cart. Betsy tensed his muscles, hesitating on whether to leave. The drone would soon fly out of range if he didn’t run after it, and even if it didn’t, he might lose track of Sunflower.

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