Over the sound of weapons fire, Zephyr shouts, “You had to say something, didn’t you?”
“Hey, this isn’t my fault! I mean, they were definitely gonna attack at some point. I think.” Wil glances down at Bennie. “Where to?”
Bennie is looking this way and that, until he spots another blinking light up ahead. “This way!” He dashes off—Maxim on his heels, Zephyr and Wil holding the rear guard.
“At least there aren’t as many as last time!” Wil shouts.
“Are you trying to get us killed?” Zephyr hollers back, ducking a tentacle swipe.
“Come on!” Bennie shouts, waving them on. He turns to run down the next corridor—and runs right into a drone. His screech draws Maxim’s attention.
Turning, Maxim asks, “What—” then stops and raises his rifle.
The small drone has raised two of its tentacles in a don’t-shoot-me position and ducked, its sensors turned towards to the deck. Using its remaining tentacles, it scoots backwards, away from them. Realizing Maxim hasn’t shot it, it looks up, and one of the sensor domes starts blinking.
“Gabe?” Maxim and Bennie say at the same time. More blinks from the drone.
At that moment, Wil and Zephyr round the corner. “What’s the hold—what the hell?” Wil spins around to bring his rifle to bear on the drone.
But Maxim is faster, pushing the barrel down with one hand. “It’s Gabe.”
Before anyone can say anything more, the drone turns and scuttles down the corridor.
Zephyr is still firing at more drones behind them. “Fire in the hole!” she shouts, moments before the corridor shakes and a wall of dust explodes towards them. “That might buy us some time. What’s happening?”
“We’re following Lassie the friendly mechano-squid,” Wil shouts back.
“We’re doing what now?” she asks, following him through a hatch. As soon as she enters the room, the door slams shut.
“What the hell?” Wil asks, looking around. The small drone has climbed up on top of a massive machine. “What is that?”
Maxim is examining the now-closed hatch. Bennie looks the enormous machine up and down. “Some kind of gigantic industrial fabricator?”
Maxim turns back from the door. “Looks like, yes. What’s it making, though?”
There’s a bang on the door, and everyone jumps. The sound isn’t repeated—something must have been moving down the corridor. The little drone scampers over to a section of the machine, grabbing a data cable and plugging it into a port on the underside of its small frame.
I am glad they’re safe. I hope I can keep them that way, Gabe thinks, as he plugs the data cable into the drone. He sends a command to the Peacekeeper software; it’s been keeping Siege Perilous busy, running rampant through subsystems.
The sensors on the small drone go dark. “Gabe!” Bennie shouts, as the small device slumps, inactive, and slides down to the deck.
“Uh, okay. Now what?” Zephyr says, eyeing the giant machine, then the small drone resting next to it.
Wil shrugs. “Uh, yeah I kinda thought Gabe would be more active in his rescue, secret messages and all. I mean, if that was him, is he dead now?” He looks down at Bennie. “Ideas?”
The Brailack shrugs, which is barely noticeable under all his armor, “Not really.” The worry on his face is evident. He glances at the immense fabricator.
From somewhere in the back of the machine, a voice says, “I have a plan.”
Everyone spins to face what looks like a brushed-aluminum cross between Wil and Maxim: two legs, two arms, a broad body and long legs, a head that’s humanoid-shaped, glowing yellow eyes, a mouth and small nose.
It comes closer and stops. “I have missed you all.”
Bennie looks at it, then finally says, “Gabe? Is that you?”
The tall droid nods. “Indeed. My original body was severely damaged and subsequently recycled by Siege Perilous once my spark was uploaded into the primary computer core. I was forced to create a new frame for my spark.”
“Siege who-now? Spark what-now?” Wil says.
The shiny new Gabe turns his head towards Wil. “Siege Perilous. That is the designation of this vessel. It is part of something called the Amalgamation of Parts; an entire society made up of machine intelligences. It views biological life forms as an infection to be excised. From everywhere.”
“Oh, lovely,” Maxim says.
Zephyr is still staring at new-Gabe. His new body is more organic-looking than his old one. The small fine-manipulation arms are gone. His torso is solid and blocky, but also far sleeker than the first version of Gabe.
“You have a mouth now,” Zephyr points out.
Gabe bow his head. “I decided to make improvements, since I was designing a new frame for my spark.”
Maxim nods appreciatively. “Makes sense. Good choices—this body seems more robust than the previous you.”
New-Gabe nods. “Thank you. I took the liberty of incorporating designs the Peacekeeper software uncovered within Siege Perilous’ data files. It seems this general shape and design is typical for more mobile units within the Amalgamation.”
“Uh, what now? Peacekeeper software?” Wil asks.
Gabe points to where the mystery box had been welded to his old body. “As it happens, that device was a specially designed data core to house cutting-edge Peacekeeper software. The software possesses a rudimentary intelligence. In the past few months, Bennie and I had never attempted to reason with the ‘hunchback,’ as you called it.” He shrugs, something he’s never been able to do before. “It has been instrumental in keeping my spark alive and hidden within the systems of Siege Perilous. Before unleashing it, I made a compressed copy. It is now fully integrated into my core systems.” Gabe rests a metallic hand on his chest. “I am vastly improved. Not only do I still possess my engineering skills, but thanks to the Peacekeeper software, my infiltration and counterintelligence capabilities rival those of Bennie.”
Bennie tuts. “We have a hacker!”
Wil makes a face. “Oh, well, okay. That sounds… cool. Look bud, this is great, and we obviously have a lot of catching up to do, but we really should get out of here.” Again, to punctuate the point, the entire ship rocks and the lighting in the room dims, then returns.
“Agreed. We must hurry, though. The Peacekeepers are overwhelming the ship, but it will still send its transmission before then unless we stop it.”
“Transmission?” Zephyr asks, heading for the door. There’s no control panel, Wil notices.
“That is the reason the ship is here. It is reprogramming the long-range sensor arrays to become a massively powerful transmitter. It intends to send a message back to where it came from, informing the Amalgamation of biological life in this quadrant. It is calling in reinforcements.”
“That’s not good,” Maxim says.
“Understatement of the week,” Wil says. He points to the door. “Gabe?”
New-Gabe nods, and the hatch opens.