Chapter 417 (2/2)

--281 fire off munitions-- 030 ordered, doing his best to ignore the sounds of the screams that echoed around him.

--roger roger-- 281 answered, climbing down off the Maktanan, who was shivering hard enough that 281 had to be careful where he stepped. They were out in vacuum now, so his ramjet wouldn't work.

He scampered across the battlesteel, getting away from everyone as they climbed out of the hole he'd cut in the hull.

The Terran came out last and was almost out when the edges of the hole suddenly warped, twisted, turned into thick gums with jagged teeth that were drooling clear slime. The teeth slammed together and 030 half expected to see the Terran's leg get severed at the mid-calf.

Instead teeth shattered and the Terran looked down, clenching his fist, and smashed the teeth out till his ankle was freed and pulled his leg out.

The hole seemed to scab over.

--promising-- 030 said, adding sarcasm emojis.

”Tried to bite off more than it could chew,” Two said. He looked up, shuddered, and looked back down. ”This just keeps getting better.”

281 set up the three devices. They were designed to all work at the same time to boost one another and enable one another to function. The superluminal flare and the realspace flare were first, which would power the rescue beacon. He knew he had to hurry, the screaming from space around him was beating against his mental fortress, slamming against the barriers and fortifications he had erected all of his life.

Finally he scurried over next to the others and crouched down, assuming the psychic recovery position.

030 watched as the Terran moved over and knelt down in the middle of everyone, leaning against his upraised knee and looking up at the sky.

The flares went off, bathing the human's face in light.

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Marduk was moving toward the massive Precursor when the realspace flare and the superluminal rescue flare went off. After a long 1.312 seconds a beacon fired up. Feeling cold satisfaction, or as close as he was able to come to that emotion, he altered course, slowing down and checking his internal systems.

The troops he had built were ready and he had the gantries and systems move them from the growth pods to the arming station to the vehicle, which was a vacuum capable combat vehicle designed and theorized when he was being programmed, fielded, tested, and perfected by his own logical systems.

He loaded the combat vehicle into the powered zero-G landing frame and sent the signals to wake the pilots and the ground troops after ensuring that his instructions were completely loaded in and would be obeyed without question or modification.

It was only a scant few minutes before the position was correct. He came to zero relative velocity and movement in relation to that section of the hull, opened the bay door, and released the clamps. He monitored the telemetry on the vehicle dropping down, making sure it was a safe distance to prevent the people he was trying to save from being baked by the fusion engines.

He was Marduk, while he did not have to worry about such things, those he sought to aid did and he was not going to make a basic mistake of such type.

The frame landed, the cramps released, and the combat crawler headed toward the beacon. His sensors could pick up the small team.

They would soon be rescued.

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Palgret looked up at the vibration and the lights, seeing a tracked vehicle extend out past the edge of the crater then drop down to grind down the side of the crater. It hit the bottom and leveled out, coming forward.

--ON FEET-- 030 commanded.

Everyone struggled to their feet, staring at the vehicle as it got close. It had a strange emblem on it but to Palgret it was obvious it was a Terran craft. It turned sharply so that the side was facing Palgret and the others and came to a stop.

The side lowered into a ramp and two armored soldiers waved them in.

--lets go-- 030 ordered.

Something made him nervous, but he pushed it aside. The transponder for the vehicle was Terran Combine, which to 030 meant Idiots or the Martial Orders.

One by one the troops, Palgret included, got inside. There was a few moments they had to wait while the crash seats adjusted for the Maktanan, Lanaktallan, and Mantid troops.

Palgret noticed that the Terran, in his heavy armor, outmassed the ones in the sleek looking armor and refused to sit down. One of the armored troops that had been aboard the craft fixed Palgret's straps.

For a second a trick of the light made the visor clear and Palgret frowned inside his own helmet.

The face looked almost Terran. Sunken cheeks, square blade of a nose, thick forehead almost like a square, pale skin and odd appearing eyes.

Almost Terran.

”System,” Palgret said.

”Waiting,” his onboard systems said.

”Rewind,” he said. When he saw the flash he stopped it, overshot, played it, overshot, then rewound at 1/10th speed until he got the image just perfect.

”Snapshot. Send to Captain 030,” he said. ”Message as: I don't think this is a Terran. Is it a robot?”

Palgret waited, tabbing up a piece of gum and chewing it.

After a minute he got a reply. It was chilling, made him feel as if a cold breeze had run up his spine even though he didn't understand why.

--no android-- 030 said.