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Derek returned to the engineer department to see Bradbury standing beside Isaac.
“Welcome back,” Bradbury said.
Isaac’s head spun to look in Derek’s direction. “Good evening, Derek.”
Derek stared with surprise. Isaac was back together and fully functional. “You’ve been busy, Bradbury. You already have Isaac in working order?”
“If anyone should know how to reassemble one of us, certainly it would be easier for me than you, would it not? After all, I know how I function and what part connects to which component and so on. We have built-in repair manuals, too.”
Derek smiled. Indeed the A.I. program was continuing to evolve. “Those Chinese robots are headed for Olympus Mons.”
“I expected as much,” Bradbury replied. “Which is why we’ve been working on this.”
Derek looked at the long metal table where the two robots had been building something. “What is that?”
“We’ve comprised a weapon capable of utilizing a strong electromagnetic pulse to incapacitate those robots,” Bradbury replied.
“That will work on them?”
“Not certain. Do you have any other suggestions?” Isaac asked.
“No.”
“Their exterior armor is resistant to lasers, fire, and metal projectiles,” Bradbury said. “That leaves nothing for us to strike against them in your arsenal’s weaponry.”
Bradbury was right. They didn’t have any weapon on Olympus Mons capable of destroying these robots except the turrets, but those were at the Phobos Crash Site and not hooked up. An EMP wasn’t something that Derek had ever considered building. It held the potential to work though, but only if they were able to set it up in time.
“How close are you to having this completed?” Derek asked.
“It is ready,” Bradbury replied.
Derek marveled.
“You look surprised,” Isaac said.
Derek nodded.
“You needn’t be,” Bradbury said. “We are in sync with all of the computers and information is readily available for us within a microsecond. We don’t need to browse and search databases. We are databases.”
Derek studied the EMP device. It wasn’t much larger than an average microwave oven, but as EMP devices went, it was a good-sized one. The electromagnetic pulse could short out the circuits of any computerized mechanism within its radius, which did present problems in addition to the actual benefits. Most pulse devices not only damaged computer components the weapon was aimed at, they tended to destroy whatever similar devices were to the sides and behind it as well. This meant that he needed a human to fire the weapon because the robot that fired the weapon would be short-circuited and no longer usable.
The locked steel doors that opened to the Martian terrain rattled hard. The sound was like a heavy hammer or battering ram being slammed against the door. A few seconds passed and the doors shook again.
Derek looked at Isaac and Bradbury. “Our enemy robots are here.”
***
“You really think that Matthews is going to try to kill me?” Jonas asked.
Norm shrugged. “Who else is in charge? Any final decision that needs to be made is yours, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. I suppose so. But I don’t see how killing me makes him anymore powerful. There isn’t much he can do. He’s a fool if he thinks he can succeed with a revolt here on Mars. We’re a colony of Earth, reliant primarily upon the shipments that Grayson sends us. Without them, we’ll die. We cannot support ourselves with food, paper supplies, and other necessities.”
Boony brought up Matthews profile and picture on a large screen. “Here he is. We have two identification photos. The one on the right is after he had major plastic surgery to redefine his appearance. He looks nothing like the original.”
Jonas looked at her. “Send his profile picture to the guards via their hologram visor screens. If anyone sees him, Matthews needs to be taken into custody immediately.”
She typed quick commands on the keyboard. “Done.”
Norm finished off the bottle of water. “That’s not all you’re going to tell them, is it?”
Jonas frowned at him.
“He’s not going to peacefully surrender to you. Grayson had a woman he hired to kill Matthews, but then he changed his mind and decided it was more entertaining to ship Matthews to the mining pits. Now, he should have let the woman shoot Matthews between the eyes. Your best option, sir, is to issue a kill-on-sight order to your guards.”
“I appreciate your advice, Mr. Schrader,” Jonas said. “But let me handle this. I’d rather question him for information. If he’s dead, I can’t do that.”
“Sir, guards will die. And if he sees you first, he might kill you before you even get a chance to speak to him.”
“Noted!”
Boony pointed to the screen. “I combed through the HR records of Grayson Enterprises and found when Matthews had been hired. Grayson has listed every sinister encroachment Matthews had performed to undermine Grayson and how Matthews had tried to steal top-secret property and scientific technology from the company. His I.Q. is substantially high.”
“But not too high to prevent being captured,” Jonas replied.
“He’s no longer in custody,” Norm said.
Jonas glanced toward Gary. “Take Mr. Schrader to the infirmary and have a nurse evaluate him.”
Gary nodded. “Come with me, sir.”
After Gary exited with Norm and the door closed, Boony said, “I think maybe you should take Norm’s warning more seriously.”
“Oh, Boony, not you too?”
“Jonas, with everything that’s happened, don’t you think—”
Alarms wailed through the corridors.
“Shit,” Jonas said. “What now?”
A red light flashed on a computer monitor, indicating where a guard had issued an alert for help.
Mineshaft 15.
***
Derek stood near the steel doors. The robots continued to batter at them with such fierceness that the metal was denting and bending inward.
Three engineers had grabbed laser weapons and joined Derek at the doors. Isaac and Bradbury held their EMP device between them.
“You cannot fire that at the door. You’ll only incapacitate yourselves,” Derek said.
Both robots tilted their heads toward him with a silent stare.
Even Derek knew he had stated the obvious. Of course, they’d know that! He felt foolish for even addressing the comment.
The alarms wailed. Red lights flashed along the perimeters of the engineer department.
“What is that?” Adam asked. “Is that for this?”
Paul tapped his visor and then shook his head. “No. Mineshaft 15. Should we go?”
Adam glared at him. “Do you need to ask?”
Derek shook his head. “This is top priority. We cannot allow the outside robots entrance or we’re all dead.”
“Then what’s going on in the mineshaft?”
“My guess is the strange insects,” Derek replied.
Paul lifted his visor. His eyes widened. “You mean the ones that put Roy into a coma?”
“Yes.”
“Shit.”
Derek shrugged. “I don’t know which situation is worse for us. The Chinese robots or the poisonous insects, but I don’t think it matters.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re stuck in between.”