14
Lily
“What the hell are these things?”I kicked two more of the knee-high metallic creatures into deep space like footballs. Didn’t matter how many of them I fought off, more appeared as if by magic. And knee high to a Titan? Well, I figured every single one of the things was nearly the size of a show horse.
“Unknown. However, they appear to believe we are debris to be removed from the ship’s surface.”
“No kidding.” I picked one of the repair robot horses and tossed it into space. “Are you sure I can’t just smash them?”
“Of course. Destruction or attack would most likely trigger an alarm.”
“How do they know I’m not part of the ship?” I bunched the Titan’s legs and leaped toward the opposite tower to buy myself some time. Deploying my grappling claw, I pulled myself in until my magboots finished the job of attaching me to the surface of the ship.
I looked back to discover that the robots opposite my location began to disperse. However, when I looked toward the top of my current location, a new swarm had gathered in response to my landing and was headed my way.
“Tor? We need to make these things think we’re part of the ship.”
“Working on it.”
“Work faster.”
“I am currently working at maximum capacity. Your request is denied.”
“Of course it is.” I couldn’t help myself. I was beginning to think sarcasm was not limited to humans.
Seconds before this fresh swarm reached me, I leaped again. I couldn’t keep this up forever. I needed a plan. And I needed help. “Any sign of Dea?”
“No.”
“Of course not.”
“That is a very annoying phrase.”
“Is it?”
“Of course.”
I leaped again, this time down toward one of the main joints that connected three of the towers. Ships. Points of the demon star, planet destroying monster I had to kill. Perhaps if I could get below the surface the repair robots would ignore me. “Tor, I’m going to crawl down inside. Maybe they’ll leave us alone.”
“That is dangerous, Lily. Should the ships begin to detach, we will be crushed instantly.”
“Got a better idea?”
Tor’s silence was deafening.
“Didn’t think so.”
I ran for the edge of the ship and slid the Titan onto its stomach so I could crawl over the ledge and take a look around. God forbid I jumped into an even worse situation. Not sure how that was possible, but I was ever the eternal optimist.
As my Titan’s hips slipped over the rounded corner of the tower, I glanced up at a flicker of movement.
“Tor! See that!” Using the tracking protocols in my helmet, I created a target on the movement. “Enlarge.”
I wanted to shout with joy when I recognized the Titan’s frame moving toward me.
“That is not Intrepidus.”
“What? Then who is it?” I asked, but I already knew.