Helios by Jeremy Robinson & Sean Ellis

Author:Jeremy Robinson & Sean Ellis [Robinson, Jeremy & Ellis, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Breakneck Media
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-FIVE

With an indifference only possible for a computerized automaton, the construction robot brought its spinning saw down on Dourado, but in the instant before contact was made, the blade shifted sideways. With an eruption of dirt, the blade buried itself in the ground, just a few inches to her right.

Before she could move, almost before she realized she was still alive and intact, the manipulator arm reversed, the saw tearing free of the earth. She rolled left, scrambling on all fours to put some more distance between herself and the robot, but she knew it wouldn’t be enough.

The manipulator arm shuddered, and began moving away from her. The saw plunged down again, burying itself deeper into the ground than the first strike. Then, with an ear-splitting shriek, a six-foot long section of the manipulator assembly broke loose from the hydraulic joint. Lazarus, his arms still wrapped around the other end of the disarticulated appendage, leapt from the base of the machine.

The damage seemed to have no real effect on the robot. Its other arms came forward, clamps and manipulator claws opening wide to grasp him, treads moving as it lurched ahead.

Instead of retreating, the big man wrenched the saw blade out of the ground, spun around like an Olympic hammer thrower building up momentum, and then brought the blade down hard on the treads.

The air rang with the impact. The severed appendage twisted out of Lazarus’s grasp and he half-staggered backward, scrambling to avoid being run down. The blow, however, had done what he intended.

The robot’s left track came apart, one end flinging about like a decapitated snake, and then the left side stopped moving. The massive machine spun around, its one remaining track causing it to pirouette, and it slammed into the transmitter building, smashing an enormous hole in the concrete wall.

Dourado, still in full-flight-mode, retreated several more steps before realizing that the battle—man versus machine—was over. What she had failed to do with technology, Lazarus had accomplished with brute force.

She stopped running and leaned over, resting her hands on her knees until her breath returned and the urge to throw up passed. Carter hastened over and embraced her, but the moment of triumph lasted exactly that long.

“Heads up!” Lazarus shouted. “We’ve got incoming!”

Three more of the construction-bots rolled into view and turned toward them. Lazarus bent to retrieve the makeshift axe that he had used to take down the first machine, but Dourado knew the odds of defeating all three were not good.

She looked around for her computer and found it.

Both pieces of it.

Lazarus had spared her from the first swipe of the saw blade, but in so doing, he had diverted the blade down onto the laptop, slicing it in two.

“So much for that idea.”

Lazarus hefted the broken saw-arm and stood his ground. “Get to cover,” he shouted. “I’ll deal with them.”

Carter grabbed Dourado’s arm and pulled her toward the wrecked robot. With her free hand, she pointed to the hole in the building. “In there!”

Of course! Dourado thought.

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