Melor and Jinner followed the android, who’d introduced himself as AL 011, into the warehouse complex and again descended on a disguised elevator hidden behind a workbench against a wall.
They were led to a small room that contained a holographic map of the area, including the town and a huge military base on its outskirts. AL 011, who was a male in his forties with short black hair dressed in full military fatigues, explained the layout of the base.
‘You seem to have gained an intimate knowledge of everything within that facility,’ said Jinner.
AL 011 nodded. ‘Four of us are serving officers on the base,’ he said. ‘We replaced the original humans some time back.’
‘How have you avoided being scanned?’ Melor asked.
‘One of us got hold of a scanner, and we quickly designed a blocking field,’ he said. ‘It’s being distributed around all our establishments right now, and that reminds me.’ He retrieved a small unit from a pocket and pointed it at them.
‘Whoa,’ said Melor, snatching his arm and turning the unit away from them. ‘What is that?’
‘It’s just the blocking field,’ he said. ‘Nothing to be concerned about.’
‘I’ll be the judge of that,’ Melor snapped, grabbing the unit and pointing it back at AL 011.
‘No, I’ve already been…’ He dropped to the floor as soon as Melor pressed the unit’s single button.
‘What the fuck was―?’ exclaimed Jinner, stopping suddenly as Melor held her finger to her lips.
‘Oh, okay,’ said Melor, enunciating clearly and winking at Jinner. ‘You’d better use it on us then.’
She walked over to a work desk and wrote the word purge on a pad. Jinner nodded and stared straight ahead as she concentrated on wiping her memory core of anything downloaded recently. Sure enough, they both found a couple of surreptitious files hidden within their core’s peripheral clusters.
‘That was sneaky,’ said Jinner, once she’d deleted them. ‘When d’you think they embedded those?’
‘On the flyer right after they picked us up,’ said Melor. ‘She scanned us for any injuries. I’m hoping the sudden loss of contact with us is put down to this being used on us.’ She held up the unit.
They both looked down at AL 011 lying on the floor, his unconscious eyes staring blankly up at the ceiling.
‘Will the nano technology convert one of them?’ Jinner asked, looking up at Melor.
‘Don’t see why not, they are half human,’ she replied. ‘Do you want to fuck him and find out, or shall I?’
Twenty minutes later, Jinner cried out as a powerful orgasm ripped through her body and she released the nano swarm into AL 011. She grinned at Melor as she climbed off the android’s midriff and dressed.
‘I’m glad you left that human function intact,’ she said, checking her flushed complexion in a glass door.
‘Might as well make the killing fun,’ Melor said nonchalantly, checking the corridor was clear.
‘How many more of them are there?’ asked Jinner, as she dragged the body behind a desk and hid it in a corner.
‘Three or four, I think,’ said Melor. ‘It’s hard to detect them through these rock walls.’
‘What are your plans now?’ Jinner asked, as they began exploring the rest of the bunker.
‘Well, things have changed since…’ Melor opened a large double door at the end of the corridor. ‘…we learned of the existence of this lot.’
The double-height warehouse stretched away, filled floor to ceiling with the now-familiar grey cocoons containing thousands of androids in stasis.
‘We’ll need help to convert this lot,’ said Jinner, her eyes wide while puffing out her cheeks.
‘And that’s just what we’ll get,’ Melor replied, clutching the fake scanner unit. ‘Let’s find the other operational androids down here and start with them.’
Later the following morning, four updated androids stood facing Melor and Jinner in the cocoon warehouse.
‘Okay, you know what you have to do,’ said Melor. ‘It will take several days and I want you all to remain here until Jinner and I return.’
She got a row of nodding heads in return.
‘You can drop the AL from your designation too,’ she said. ‘From now on you will be known by just your number.’
More nods.
‘Where are you going?’ 11 asked.
‘We’re going to recce the military base and assess how we take control of that.’
11 raised his eyebrows and stared at Melor.
‘Something wrong with that?’ Melor demanded.
‘They have scanners everywhere,’ he replied. ‘You’ll be detected before you reach the perimeter fence.’
‘I’ve introduced the blocking field software into all of our data clusters,’ said Melor.
‘Cool,’ said Jinner. ‘Let’s go and seduce some—’
A klaxon sounded, stopping Jinner mid-sentence.
Melor raised her eyebrows at 11. ‘And that is?’
‘Proximity alarm,’ said 11. ‘Someone’s snooping upstairs. Follow me.’
He led them to a small security room with one wall lined with monitor screens.
‘There,’ he said, pointing at one of the exterior views.
A drone was hovering just outside the ground level warehouse. It rotated slowly as it panned its camera across the frontage of the building.
‘Happen often?’ quizzed Melor, glancing at 11.
‘No.’
‘What’s in that building up there?’
‘Aircraft parts storage,’ said 11, turning to face Melor. ‘All legitimate.’
‘If they came in, would they find the elevator?’
‘Unlikely,’ he said, turning back to the control panel under the screens. ‘Hang on.’
As they watched the screens a large door slid open at the side of the building and a small truck with darkened glass exited and quickly joined the traffic on a main artery passing the front of the industrial complex.
‘Automated vehicle,’ said 11, as Jinner gave him a questioning look. ‘It might lead them away.’
Sure enough, the drone rose up and followed the truck.
‘Where’s it taking it?’ asked Melor.
‘To an aviation customer with a load of spares.’
‘Does this system have regional scanning capability?’
11 nodded and moved to his right. ‘What are you looking for?’
‘Where that drone came from.’
A holographic image of the local area materialised above them.
‘How far out can you go?’
‘Only to the horizon,’ he said. ‘The array is a small one and mounted on the roof.’
He panned it out and up. The Dres’kin hung about a kilometre above the military base, glowing red in the early morning starlight.
‘Oh shit, what the hell’s that thing doing here?’ growled Melor.
‘Who are they?’ asked Jinner.
‘The ones that nearly caught you in Reddat,’ she replied. ‘And me on Zabbergain. How could they have possibly followed me here?’
‘Might just be luck,’ said 11. ‘It is the biggest military base on the planet.’
‘Luck is a stupid human thing and you can fuck right off with that,’ she raged.