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Chapter 8

Following their attempted capture by the brain-damaged protogen drone, Lautrec had begun to take point, being the smallest of the group.

"We're clear," he hissed, and the group hurried towards him.

"How much further to the computer room?" Niall asked. "And how are we going to get inside? It'll be locked, surely!"

"Second corridor on the left," Quirk said. "And don't worry about the locks. I'm a hacker."

"Hey! Robot," Lautrec hissed.

"Rude," Niall said. "...Oh! You mean patrolling?"

"Duh," the panther said. "One of them, coming this way in a minute. I don't think it saw me."

"Fun," Quirk burbled, and his eyes started flashing "KiLL" again. The others held back, not quite sure whether to stay or follow. Crouching, Quirk took a small device from his belt, pressed it twice and then threw it out in front of him so that it slid along the ground for a short section and out of the view of the others. He slid a grenade towards it too for good measure and then stood up.

"Wheee!" he yelled, jumping in the air and waving his arms as if he had gone crazy. The robot, built like a squat tank, made an angry beeping sound and made a bee-line towards. Quirk ran, taking a hit to one of his ears from the robot's energy weapons, and dived out the way.

As the tank robot drew close to the proximity mine there was a sudden and very violent blast, reducing it to scrap metal and leaving a large scorch mark in the metal flooring.

"They'll hear that," Xerian opined. "We'll have to hide."

"In a properly-functioning and well-manned ship, yes," the protogen pointed out, pulling a med-kit from his belt pack. "Here... Not so much. Even security robots like that one... They aren't known for their curiosity."

"I am a security robot," Lautrec said, looking put out.

"Yes, but you're fully sentient," Niall said, patting the jaguar on the back reassuringly as they trotted off to scout the next junction. "What about cameras and audio pickups, though?" he added, glancing at Quirk. "Surely this place is covered by security monitors?"

"I broke them," the Protogen said, looking proud of himself. "How else do you think I've survived so long without being detected? They've either run out of replacement cameras or decided that it's not worth the effort over little old me."

"Are you going to be all right?" Xerian asked, looking at the hole burned through the protogen's ear.

"I've had worse," Quirk responded, patching himself up with some kind of synthetic skin. "I might have a bald spot for a bit but since my skin's dark too it won't be that noticeable."

"Guys, trouble!" Lautrec said, bounding back with a worried expression. "You know that turquoise kangaroo guy? I saw him! He's been captured!"

* * *

"The nearest medical facility is down here," Quirk said. "That's probably where they'll take him."

"Why haven't you sabotaged it?" Lautrec asked. "If that's where they convert people into zombies, destroying it might be a good plan, right?"

"Firstly, I'm just one man," the protogen reminded them. "I can't take on an entire starship single-handed. Secondly, I need medical facilities too. So long as I go into there under my own power, and can specify the procedure myself, my brains will remain unmolested. Finally, if I blew it up and one of the Emperor's toadies died as a result because they couldn't be revived in time, it would be head-on-a-pike time. Anyway, we're here."

"How are we going to get in?" Xerian asked, watching in horror as the struggling kangaroo creature was forced onto an operating table and restraints slid out, clamping him in place. "It's locked! It seems to need a pass-card! Can we smash the window?"

"It's reinforced," Quirk said. "But I can hack the door. Whether I can hack it in time, though... " He spurred into action, pulling the cover off a nearby control panel and tinkering with the wiring.

"Info: Anaesthetic administered successfully... Subject unconscious."

Niall watched helplessly through the window as sinister probes and energy blades powered up and moved into position beside the captive Protogen's skull.

"Info: Locating prefrontal cortex..." the robot said. A red beam of light scanned across the protogen's head. There was a harsh beeping sound, and the scan repeated two more times.

"Error," the robot said. "Error: Brain not found (this should never happen). Info: Checking vital signs... Warning: Subject unrecoverable. Info: Retreiving bag for disposal."

So saying, it touched a control and the restraints unlocked and slid smoothly back into the slab. The ProtoRoo lay there lifeless and unmoving as the robot headed out of view.

"No!" Xerian gasped, looking distraught.

Lautrec gave a concerned glance at the horrified Synth, but this was all he could spare. At that moment the robot unlocked the door, stepped through and was promptly mauled by an angry metal jaguar. Niall joined in and Quirk delivered the finishing shot, blasting at the robot's carapace with an energy pistol until something vital failed and the machine collapsed inert.

Quirk dragged the broken machine out of the way, and Niall went to attend Xerian.

"I'm sorry," the android said. "We can try and put him into stasis - maybe we'll be able to revive him in future. Either way, we'll make this Emperor pay for..." his voice trailed away. The turquoise protogen was glancing around furtively. Suddenly he sat up, orange face blinking onto his visor.

"He's alive?!" Xerian looked astonished. Quirk and Niall entered the room quickly to assist the kangaroo creature.

"Thanks for the help," P3T3R said, "While the effort is appreciated, you needn't have bothered. You think this is the first time I've been caught?"

"I've never been caught," Quirk retorted.

"Well I have," the protoroo stated. "However their conversion procedure hasn't been designed for the likes of me."

"It couldn't find your brain," Niall said. "Nor any vital signs. I appreciate that a protogen might not have a detectable pulse with artificial arms, but still! How did you do it?"

"Ah, you have made the same error," P3T3R said. "They are looking for an organic brain..."

"Go Team AI!" Lautrec and Niall chorused.

"Alas, I work better alone," the kangaroo said. "But I suspect we will meet again soon."

Quirk made a sour face as the creature hopped down the corridor and was swiftly gone.

"Is that guy your ex or something?" Niall asked. Quirk's visor flashed "KiLL" for a moment and he turned away.

* * *

It took Quirk a few minutes to rewire the server room door, but they finally got inside.

"Well, this is it," he said, pointing to a couch. Next to it was a control panel and a length of cabling. "I sit in the couch and plug myself in. You wait, and guard my body from intruders. Hopefully I'll be able to break into the protected files and learn enough about the cloaking device to carry on with our intended plan."

"And what happens if it goes wrong?" Xerian asked.

"Well, if they find me and kick me out, I'll wake up immediately, possibly disoriented and sick. If that happens, we need to run before the guards arrive and kill us. Or worse - take us to the Emperor."

"What happens if we need to leave immediately?" Lautrec asked.

"Hit the emergency stop button on the wall," Quirk remarked, gesturing at the control panel.

So saying, the Protogen took the cable and lay on the couch. Carefully he connected the cable to a port behind his ear, and suddenly went limp. His visor displayed little X symbols where his eyes should be and his mouth went sad.

"Well, that's not ominous at all," Niall remarked.

"Oooh," Lautrec said, looking pleased with himself. Niall looked at the panther in askance, and Xerian looked a little concerned.

"What are you talking about?" the Synth asked. "Have you seen something? Is this some kind of feline sense we don't have?"

"No," the panther said. "I was just thinking about it... This is a bit of an odd way to hook yourself into a computer system, right? If you're just linking direct to get a nice head-up-display or something so you could perform a couple of database queries more rapidly than usual, you wouldn't need the couch. You'd just sit in the chair like a regular computer terminal. He wouldn't go all dead like that."

"Oh!" Niall said. "You think he's in a virtual environment?! Cyberspace hacking, like in the old science fiction novels?"

"If so, you'd want some kind of cutout to stop his limbs moving, like when someone is dreaming," the panther said. "Look at him now! His face is changing, like he's concentrating on a video game."

"A good point," Niall said. He reached over and inspected the control panel.

"Don't touch..." Xerian protested, as Niall pushed one of the controls. The screen lit up and displayed a strange wireframe world, where crude polygon objects were firing things at the point of view. Other things were fired from the screen's perspective and struck the enemy object repeatedly until it flickered and vanished.

"I hope this is him attacking the security automation," Niall said. "If he's dragged us out here into peril just for a gaming session, he's getting a pipe over his head as well."

"Interesting," Lautrec said. "But don't forget, we're supposed to be guarding his body. We mustn't get too distracted by whatever it is he's doing. In fact, I'd better get back in the corridor."

About fifteen minutes later, the screen went blank and Quirk's eyes went back to normal. He sat up and disconnected himself from the terminal.

"Any luck?" Niall asked.

"Some," the Protogen said. "I didn't get hammered too badly by the defences, but I didn't learn as much as I'd hoped before I ran out of time.
"What I can tell you is this - Sector G on Gamma Quadrant, Deck 2 is one of the places where the cloaking generator is controlled from. But I think there are others and I'm not sure where yet. I might need to use another terminal, one nearer to that location."

"Well, that's more than we knew before!" Niall said brightly. "Anything else?"

"Yes," Quirk said eagerly. "There is an experimental weapon on Deck 8, near the bridge. And I want it!"

At that moment there were three metallic taps on the door.

"Someone's coming!" Lautrec said, when they opened it. "Quickly! Hide!"