Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Shock made Mal slow.
The massive robot was striding toward her, but she couldn’t tear her gaze off the spot where Xander had disappeared.
The canine bumped into her side. She blinked and forced her mind to focus. She looked at the robot dog. “Attack.”
The canine sprung forward, moving fast. It hit the other robot, going for the control panel at the robot’s neck.
Mal circled them, running to the edge of the platform. “Xander.” A broken whisper.
Kneeling, she leaned over the edge to peer into the darkness.
And saw him clinging to the side of the platform with one hand.
“Thank the stars.” She reached down and grabbed his arm.
“Help me up.”
With him doing most of the work, she helped drag him back over the edge.
With a swift glance, he noted the battling robots. “You are a genius.”
She tried to smile but staring at the horrible wound where his arm had been ripped away made it impossible. “Oh, Xander.” Shock made her shiver.
He used his remaining arm to pull her close. “I’m fine. It can be replaced.”
She pulled back. Wiring was exposed and the wound was bleeding. Not much, thankfully. She tore more fabric off the hem of her dress, wadded it up, and pressed it to the injury.
“Malin, I need you to seal off the wiring.”
She nodded and pulled out her multi-tool. She pressed her left hand to his firm shoulder and used her right to do the work. It took her a few seconds, and she knew it had to hurt him, but he stayed silent, keeping a wary eye on the robots. She tucked the wiring in.
“All done.”
“Thanks.”
“Any pain?”
“I’ve dampened it.”
There was a loud crunch. Mal spun and watched her new friend crush the other robot’s head. The humanoid robot lay still, and the canine came over to her and sat. Its green eyes were latched onto Mal.
“Looks like you have a pet,” Xander said dryly.
“It was pretty easy once I got in there. I found the controls, made the changes, and he was all mine. There’s some sort of receiver in there.” She glanced around. “I’m guessing all the robots have them, and from some control point, Forge is transmitting orders to them.”
Xander stilled. “Control point?”
“Yes, a central control point with a transmitter…” Oh. My. Stars. Find the point and become the master. “You think this is what the riddle talks about? Find the central control point and become master of all the robots in the maze?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, okay.” She ran a hand through her hopelessly tangled hair. She scanned around. “How the hell do we find it?”
“It would be emitting a frequency, right?”
She nodded, then she saw something over Xander’s shoulder. Stars help them. “Uh, Xander…”
“What?”
She pointed and he turned his head.
All the robots were traversing across the platforms and bridges. Headed straight for them.
“We’d better find it quickly.” He got to his feet, still graceful despite his missing arm. “I can set my scanners to find the right frequency.”
“Great.” She saw the robots getting closer. “Do it. Fast.”
Neon green flared to life in his eyes. “I’ve got it.”
“Can you find the source?”
“Working on it.”
Her canine moved forward, his gaze glued to the approaching robots.
“There.” Xander pointed. Up.
She stared up and two platforms over. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Sorry, no.”
There was a long slim pole that rose into the air. A red light blinked at the top.
Looked like she was going climbing.
But first, they had to get there.
The dog went first, then Xander, and Malin followed behind.
“Stars, I want this over with,” she muttered.
Xander agreed with her.
They hurried over a bridge, ignoring it as it swayed. On the first platform, the canine bounded forward and engaged the robot coming at them. They clashed with a clang of metal.
“Come on.” Xander dragged her around the fighting robots.
To get to the transmitter platform there was only a long, slim piece of metal crossing the void.
“I’m going to be sick.”
“No, you’re not.” Xander gave her his back. “Jump up. I have good balance. You just hang on.”
With a gulp, she climbed on his back, her arms and legs holding on tight.
He moved across the strip of metal, keeping his steps slow and easy, using his enhancements to maintain perfect balance—even while missing an arm and with Malin’s slight, but added, weight.
He stepped onto the platform and let her down.
“Thank the stars,” she mumbled.
But he was looking beyond their platform. At the robots moving quickly toward them.
“Go. Get up there and work your magic.” He tugged her close for a quick, hard kiss.
She gave him a nod, then gripped the pole. He helped her jump up and wrap her legs around it. She shot him a narrow glance. “Don’t lose any more limbs, okay?”
“Would you care if I was all mechanical limbs?”
She poked her tongue out. “Dumb question, tough guy.” Then she grinned. “Although there is one appendage of yours I like just the way it is.”
Xander laughed. Jesus, here they were, robots bearing down on them to kill them and he was laughing. Malin Phoenix brought out the best in him.
With another saucy smile, she shimmied up the pole, hampered a little by her sore feet. But she didn’t let it stop her.
Xander turned to face the oncoming attackers.
He’d already adjusted his balance due to his missing arm. He focused on the first of the robots coming at him, analyzing them for weak points.
Then he attacked.
He hit, ripped, and kicked. He kept his moves smooth and powerful. Malin’s canine moved in beside him, working in sync.
But the robots kept coming.
He risked a glance upward. Malin was hunched over the top of the pole, working with her multi-tool. He heard her not-so-quiet curses over the din of the fight.
Something slammed into his side. He gripped the robot, ducked low, and punched his hand through its abdomen. It stuttered, the light behind its eye slit flickering, then it slumped over.
Malin cried out.
Xander risked a quick glance over. She was shaking her hand before she stuck a finger in her mouth. “Okay?”
“Fine.” She waved. “Electrical burn. Nothing to worry about.”
He blocked a swing by another robot. He thrust the robot back and spun to kick the midsection of another coming from the side. A third was rushing him like a VelocityBall player, but a big, metallic body flew in front of him and took the robot down.
Damn, the robot dog was good to have around.
He looked up again and his heart stopped. “Malin!”
A small monkey-like robot was scurrying up the pole. Its metal tail waved around as it used it to balance its ascent.
She looked down and her eyes widened. The robot opened its mouth…baring a mouthful of needle-like teeth.
She lifted one leg away from the pole and kicked the robot in the face.
It clung on and tried to bite her.
And she was barefoot.
Xander was so focused on her that he missed the next attacker coming at him.
He was slammed so hard to the ground, his head smacked into the metal floor. Stars flickered in his eyes. A huge piston-like fist appeared in his vision, and Xander jammed his arm up to stop it landing in his face.
Then it became a battle of strength. He put all his enhanced power behind his shove. The robot moved an inch, but it had the luxury of gravity working with it.
Malin cried out again. He risked a glance her way. Dammit. The monkey was clamped onto her leg, and she was kicking like crazy trying to dislodge it. Xander saw blood dripping down her slim calf.
Fury roared through him.
Another wild shove and he sent his robot flying backward. He leaped to his feet, just in time to see Malin whack the monkey robot over the head with her multi-tool.
It lost its grip and fell backward, twisting like an angry cat in the air, before it sailed over the platform and into the abyss below.
After a shaky breath, Malin went back to work.
Xander looked away and his jaw went rigid.
More robots were pouring in. More than he and the canine could fight off.
He let his mind cool. Focus on the fight. On protecting his woman. It was all he could do.
He fought. With everything he had. But for each robot he damaged or destroyed, three more replaced it.
Xander went down under the onslaught. He felt something sharp pierce his side and pain burned through him.
Malin. She was his first and last thought.
Something slammed into his chest, forcing the air out of his lungs. More robots filled his vision, their red glowing eyes on him.
Then suddenly they all froze.
He blinked away the sweat and blood stinging his eyes. In the next moment, all the glowing red eyes went blank, then green bled into them. The robots moved off him and stood quietly at attention.
Malin dropped off the pole beside him. “Just call me goddess of all things mechanical.”
He picked her up and slammed his mouth down on hers. When she kissed him back, her tongue sliding along his, he felt something loosen inside him. “Does that include me?”
She slapped his shoulder. “I like your mechanical bits just fine, but I also like your human parts.” Her face turned serious.
“You are nothing like these.” She nodded at the robots.
“You are more than just a weapon, a machine, or your enhancements, Xander, regardless of what those idiots in Centax Security made you think.”
Her fierce defense made him smile again. “You burned your hand.”
Her eyebrows rose. “This?” She held up a reddened finger. “Meanwhile you’re bleeding and missing an arm.”
He glanced at his side without much interest. His diagnostic scan told him it wasn’t anything to worry about. He leaned forward and sucked Malin’s finger into his mouth.
Her amethyst eyes darkened. “Xander.”
“Let’s finish this and get out of here.”
“Best thing I’ve heard all day.” She unwrapped her legs and let them hit the ground.
Together, with the canine by their side, they passed all the now-silent and unmoving robots.
“They’re a bit freaky,” she said. “But not you, Krypto.” She patted the canine on the head.
“Krypto?”
“Yeah. I heard it mentioned once in an old Earth story. Thought it suited him.”
They crossed the first bridge and made their way to the center platform.
They stopped a meter from the altar.
From the Antikythera.