Chapter 18 #3
Tim thought about helping them, but they took another hit, and this drove it out of his mind. At their rate, the already unstable integrity of the flyer wouldn’t last.
He waited for a moment of relative smooth progress and scrambled to the pilot’s side.
“You’ve got to put down,” he said.
“No!” This from the big alien, who had managed to roll over onto his stomach, but might be regretting it. It appeared to concentrate all of his mass in a way that made his arms and legs flail rather than provide thrust.
There was a copilot seat and Tim dropped into it, spiking into the flyer’s systems without trying to hide his intrusion this time.
It wasn’t a smooth transition, unlike their days as robots, but it was a flyer and even if the parts looked different, they did much the same things as ships he was familiar with.
He wrenched control away from the pilot, sighted a clear space and brought the flyer to a jolting, sliding stop that only lightly bumped a ship remnant.
“We will be killed!” The big man yelled.
“A good reason to get out of here,” Tim said. He pulled the bigger man, then the smaller man, to their feet and went to the hatch.
“It won’t open…”
It opened. When Tim or any of his crewmates, full or partial cyborg, took over a ship, it was thoroughly taken over.
He sprinted down the hatch, not waiting for it to completely lower and dove for cover behind the damaged remains of a smaller craft of some kind.
The others waddled down the ramp, as a row of incoming shots tracked toward the flyer.
“For…” Tim wished he were more familiar with human curse words. He felt the lack as he jumped up, yanked one after the other into cover and dropped down himself, just before the flyer exploded.
During his interface with the ship, he’d managed to download some data, but probably not enough.
He watched as their attacker flew by overhead and wondered if they’d come back for another try.
“We should move,” he said. He never liked giving an enemy another chance at a shot at him.
He had to yank them upright again. They were heavy and he’d have failed without his cybernetics. The pilot, Tim noticed, looked impressed.
“This way,” that pilot said now and began leading them between the jumbled piles of debris. He couldn’t see the Q’uy ship now, but he thought he knew what direction it was. But was that knowledge useful? He wasn’t sure. If it couldn’t fly…
Tim thought he also still knew the way back to the shuttle, but surety would not be possible until he tried and succeeded. Or failed.
He pushed failure out of his mind. He couldn’t fail. He had to get back.
“Do you know who attacked?” he asked. He walked beside the pilot, aware of the puffing and panting behind them.
The pilot glanced over his shoulder, then said in a lowered voice, “It’s probably Xenmar. This was his depot until Valza took it…over.”
Took it from him, Tim guessed. He glanced around. Why would anyone fight over this place?
“I need to get back to my ship,” Tim said.
A shadow passed over the surface of the piles of ship parts, and they ducked into cover. Valsa and his side kick weren’t quite as fast and were spotted, if the tracery of shots that spurred them into actual speed were any indication.
“That will be difficult,” the pilot said. “On foot with Xenmar overhead watching for us. We need transport and that is this direction.”
Tim nodded, mulling whether to question the man about their whereabouts in the wider universe. He decided against it for now. They’d been forced to work together. That did not make them friends.
“Wait for us!” The order was imperative, but Valsa lacked the ability to enforce any command.
It was hard for Tim to feel the need to slow down for either of them.
At the same time, he had a feeling that Riina wouldn’t approve of him just abandoning them to their fate.
She had a kinder view than he did. There was also the other fact that he might need the big one at some point, either for knowledge or as a hostage.
Their attacker might trade information and safe passage for him, or Valsa’s own people might be held off if they turned out to be hostile, too.
He glanced at the pilot. Or they might just shoot him themselves.
“Where is this transport located? How far away is it?” Tim asked.
The pilot looked away. “It won’t be easy to get there.” He glanced back again. “Be faster without them.”
Tim nodded agreement. No question it would be easier and faster.
“But we might need him,” Tim said, not looking at the pilot.
When the pilot didn’t speak, Tim did look in his direction. He nodded thoughtfully.
“He’s got to be the worst hostage ever though,” the pilot said.
It was a truth that Tim couldn’t argue with.
“The smaller guy is armed.” Tim looked back again. Both men were visibly puffing and panting.
“We should take it away from him.”
“Yes,” Tim said, but he was looking around. They needed a way to keep the two moving, or they wouldn’t be worth the risk. “If you can, get it.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Find a way to transport them. They are slowing us down.”