"The Anti-X Encounter"
Part 8
"That was- stupid of me- I'm sorry-"
Raptaur's voice was hoarse. He was weakening fast. Zana squeezed his hand, begging him to hang in there. But the wound was too severe. She knew it.
Rivqua was pounding the passage with sonic charges. It didn't seem to stop Commander Cordyte's approach. Any second now and the big robot spider would come out of whatever corner she'd been hiding behind.
"You must- destroy Cordyte!" wheezed Raptaur. "Aim for the joints-! She's vulnerable there!"
"Got it, boss," said Zana. "Hangar bay twelve, which way?"
Raptaur coughed, then smiled a bit.
"The boss says, big elevator- at the far end. Level nine. Makes sense, right? Here- take my keys. The hangar bay doors-"
"Thank you my friend." Zana took them and kissed his hand, holding it close. "You're in our hearts forever."
"Godspeed you two. I think- I'll be off now."
A gurgling cough brought blood to his lips. His face relaxed. Raptaur was gone. Then he half opened one eye and said in a broken whisper, "Don't forget your tea."
He slumped. A lump hit Zana's throat.
"Sure. Till we meet again, elsewhere."
"Quick Zana!" Rivqua shouted. "She's coming round the bend!"
Zana jumped up, guitar at the ready.
"Aim for the joints!"
"I know that already!"
The Blonde Plutoz tucked close to the walls, waiting. Cordyte appeared, firing her head-mounted laser cannon. Sparks rained on the girls. Ceiling panels fell, chunks of plaster spun through the air, fittings shattered. The mad robot lady was wrecking the place and didn't seem to care.
"You can't escape from Anti-X!" she screamed.
Rivqua and Zana let rip good and proper in return. Guitar laser and bass drum kicks slammed into Cordyte's bulbous body. Zana's right hand was a waving blur over the strings, cranking out a loud rhythm guitar groove and firing the laser. It bore down on the steel spider with sizzling red strikes, snapping legs, popping lenses.
Rivqua's double bass-drum barrage shook large pieces off the robot. Its clattering run turned into dragging limp.
"I will destroy you!" the big robot insect screeched, some of her voices gone. Then her head snapped sideways and her last legs caved in. The big body collapsed to the floor with a clang. Commander Cordyte looked very finished.
"That's her out of the way!" Rivqua said. "Quick, let's get Raptaur and go!"
Zana shook her head. "Too late, Rivvie."
Rivqua stepped over the slumped figure of Raptaur and knelt beside him, feeling for his pulse on the neck. She had hoped this was the beginning of a long friendship. It wasn't to be.
"Later, Raptaur," she said with a hand on his cheek. "Thanks for your kindness."
Zana grabbed her sister's hand and pulled her away. "Come on, we gotta go!"
They passed the smoking wreck of Commander Cordyte and hurried on.
The elevator wasn't there. Zana slammed the button but nothing was happening. The car was stuck on another floor.
Rivqua tried a nearby door.
"Here! Let's take the stairs!"
Into the concrete stairwell they went. "Level three!? We need to get up to level nine! Come on!"
Back in the passageway a beeping sound started in the body of the big spider. Emergency systems were kicking into action. Secondary hydraulics pressured up. The front legs grabbed the head and twisted it right. But it fell back sideways. Something had broken for good.
"I'll ge- those pretties for th-s!" snarled Cordyte's remaining voices, glitching terribly. The damaged robot turned around and dragged itself toward the elevator, its head bobbing like it was attached to a spring.
The Blonde Plutoz burst through the stairway door into hangar bay twelve. There stood the Star Bucket. The droid technicians were still hard at work on the nearby military ship.
"The hangar doors," Zana said, scanning around. "Where's the control panel?"
"Over there!" Rivqua said, pointing. They rushed over the steel floor to the opposite wall. Zana found the right key and twisted the lock. A screen lit up.
"How long do we need?" Zana asked.
"We're on pre-heat, so less than a minute," said Rivqua, thinking hard. "Give it forty seconds."
Zana punched it in. The hangar doors would open in forty seconds. That would give them time to hop in, lock up and start the boosters.
They ran for the Star Bucket.
Only to screech to a stop halfway, staring in disbelief at the sight of the Blonde Plutoz step out of their ship.
"The infiltrators!" cried Rivqua. "They're ready!?"
The robots were exact copies of them, down to the last detail. It was like seeing themselves on film. Cordyte and her Anti-X techs had even nailed the body language, the way Rivqua and Zana moved. The girls couldn't believe it.
"They were going to use our ship!" Rivqua said, stunned.
"Riv, don't you see, those two are going to ruin our reputation!" Zana cried. "They'll go around, adding fuel to fires, selling weapons and destruction. And everybody's going to think it's us! Word will spread! We'll never get another gig! Fans will hate us!"
"Believe me, I know," said Rivqua. She clenched her teeth and pulled the slide on her sonic blaster. "You fix you. I'll fix me."
"This is gonna be weird," said Zana.
Now the robots saw the girls. There was no sign of information overload going on in them. They just stared. Calm and cool.
"Infiltrators," one said. "Kill them," said the other. They drew laser guns and fired.
Mid-air in her dive, Rivqua shot a double kick flam. Zana hit the floor, thrashing on her guitar. The sonic charge hit Rivqua's identical artificial twin square in the chest. The robot flew back as if kicked by a horse. It hit the wall and completely fell apart.
Zana's guitar laser punched straight through her robotic double, fritzing electronics. The synthetic face bubbled up and melted like film in a projector. Then the robot exploded.
Rivqua was back on her feet.
"Pretty but fragile, eh Zana?"
Zana nodded. "There's a word for that, isn't there?"
"Yeah. 'Stereotype'. Come on, the hangar's going to open!"
From the elevator came a noise. It was on the move.
The Blonde Plutoz jumped into the Star Bucket, pulled up the stairs and secured the door.
"Captain!" shouted Rivqua, running through the cabin. "We're leaving right away!"
"There you are, Miss Rivqua!" said Captain Bucket's voice. "I tell you, those other two didn't fool me for one minute!"
She hopped into the cockpit seat and began flicking switches.
"Systems are go, Miss. We're ready!"
"Great! Just waiting for the hangar doors, then boosters on max. Come on come on...!"
The elevator arrived. The doors swung open and Commander Cordyte dragged herself out. The Star Bucket was revving up.
"Are you blind!?" she screamed. Around the military ship the service droids lifted their heads and looked around like dumb birds. Cordyte pointed a shaky leg toward the older spaceship. "Stop them!"
Working fast, the tech-bots began to shut panels and get the military vessel ready for flight.
"Not that, you idiots!" Cordyte cried. "The hangar doors!"
Just then the huge doors clunked into action and started sliding open. The robot spider shook with rage and her loose head wobbled. "Close them! Override the system! They must not get away!"
"Here we go!" said Rivqua, working the controls. The Star Bucket lifted off the hangar floor and began a one-eighty to face the widening gap. Stars glittered out there, and freedom.
All of a sudden the doors stopped moving. Over by the wall panel stood a droid holding a key in the lock. A warning light flashed.
"Excellent!" said Cordyte. "Now close them again!"
The droid turned the key and the wide doors began sliding shut again.
"They've seen us!" Rivqua shouted.
"We'll never make it out!" Captain said.
"Yeah we will!" Zana cried. "Hit it, Riv!"
Rivqua slammed the throttle levers up.
"It's too narrow!" cried Captain Bucket.
"Go sideways!" Zana shouted.
"Hold tight!" Rivqua hollered.
The boosters fired. It was like a huge kick in the pants. Which is precisely what boosters are meant to be like. The Star Bucket shuddered from the force. Rivqua yanked the controls, banking the ship hard. Out of the Anti-X cube it sailed, just missing the heavy doors, and shot off into the darkness of space like a comet with its tail on fire.
Back in the hangar, the take-off blast had made rather a mess of things. Cordyte was upside down in a corner, holding her head and screaming for help. The military ship had fallen off its supports. The droids were scattered all around, like trash cans after a storm.
"Oh dear oh dear!" some shouted. "What now, what now!" others cried. "I'm reporting to the union!" said one, kicking its legs. "We no longer have one, stupid!" was a reply.
The Star Bucket tore past the floating wrecks and the dust clouds. The vast Anti-X cube was quickly becoming a small speck behind the racing tour ship.
Zana laughed and gave Rivqua's hand and ringing slap. "We did it!"
"That was brilliant work, Captain," said Rivqua. "You stayed on standby, ready to go!"
"Too close!" Captain Bucket said with a moan. "This departure was much too close for my comfort!"
"So what did you think of our copies, Captain?" Zana asked.
"Those two robots? Hrmph! I saw through them at once!"
"You did?" Rivqua was curious. "How? They looked exactly like us."
"I'll tell you Miss Rivqua, and you too Miss Zana. Perhaps they did look just the ticket. But there was one thing very wrong with them, and I sensed it the moment they entered. They had no heart! And you do!"
Rivqua and Zana exchanged a look of near surprise. That wasn't a bad verdict, coming from their autopilot.
"Yep," Rivqua said, nodding in appreciation. "The heart is where it's at."
"From it everything comes, and to it everything goes," said Zana and leaned back in her seat. "Well what do you know, I just got an idea for a new song!"
The Star Bucket zoomed on, heading flat out for the quadrant border.
Right behind the ship a large black shape had appeared, like a silent shadow...
Stay tuned for the edge-of-your-seat conclusion in Part 9 of "The Anti-X Encounter"!
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