Through the Lookingglass.
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I own neither Castle or anything by Charles Dodgson. And I absolutely refuse to accept any responsibility for any Vorlags. Rating: K Time: Sometime after The Pilots and the Frontier.
"Sending one in at full speed didn't work." Spotty said. "Loading one up with all kinds of stealth gear didn't work and trying to send one around the stations didn't work. I'd say the stations are operational."
"Not fully." Rick said. "Their missiles are slow and erratic, but they seem to have a lot of them, and their blaster cannons don't seem to be that powerful. But there are lots of them."
"Are you suggesting we try to fight our way through?" Skinny asked. "They seem powerful enough to destroy Ambush.
Rick shook his head.
"No, we can't fight both of them off, or even one."
"Can we send a much smaller drone to look over the stations?" Lindane asked.
"Do you have an idea?" Skinny asked.
"No, it's just that we need more information."
They picked the smallest drone they had, some seen feet long and two feet in diameter and sent it towards the first station. It was neither challenged nor shot at.
The drone moved slowly through a forest of gun mounts, missile batteries, comm masts and sensor stations.
"I see something over to the right," Lindane said, maneuvering the drone.
"Now that's very odd." Moecious said.
"What are they doing?" Simone asked.
"It looks like several thousand robots are trying to dig a trench in the station's armor using shovels. Why would they do that?"
"The drone indicates the so-called trench is only a half an inch deep. They must have been working for centuries to get any kind of trench in that armor."
Lindane moved the drone until they came upon another crew of robots. They laboriously moved a communications array from one mount to another, they moved it back to where it had originally been. They did this over and over.
They found a group of robots that had somehow gotten into a deep trench in the station. They marched from one end of the trench to the other, turned around and went back. Over and over and over.
"Okay," Lindane said, "I have an idea. This station, at least, is falling apart. I'll bet they've put all the energy and functional robots they have into keeping their anti-ship weapons and sensors working. We should be able to get to the station, sneak aboard using battle armor and grav impellors. Once inside, we can sabotage the station by shutting off the main computer."
"I'd like the honor of leading the boarding party." Spotty promptly said.
"I'll have to lead the boarding party." Lindane said. "I'm the only one who can figure out the alien computer. I'll take Spotty, Moecious and Captain Castle."
"If Castle goes, I go." Kate said.
"And if you go, I go." Andine added quickly.
"Sorry, Mom. You're good in a fight, but not as good as Spotty or Moecious and both Castles are good with both weapons and computers."
Andine didn't like it, but she had to agree.
Once suited up, they moved very slowly towards the station, finally landing in what looked like a small boat bay or perhaps a fighter bay.
"Fighters." Spotty said, glancing into one cockpit. "This one still has the pilot in in. Dead, of course."
They found an airlock and went through.
"Air pressure is very low, and the oxygen content of the atmosphere is below what we require." Lindane advised them.
They moved slowly down a corridor.
"Halt or I'll fire!" Screamed a voice.
"Halt or I'll fire." Was repeated.
"Halt or I'll fire." Again.
Spotty moved forward and peeked around a corner. There was a robot, standing in one place, endlessly repeating his message. On the deck in front of him was a robotic arm with a blaster in its grip.
"I hope the rest of them are like that."
The next one was. Sort of.
They could hear two voices screaming, "Halt or I'll fire.", over and over again, coming from a corridor ahead of them.
Spotty crept up to the corridor and peeked around it. There were two robots, nose to nose, screaming at each other and firing blasters that obviously had their charges exhausted.
"We can go past them." He said.
Ahead they saw two robots working on the walls of the corridor they were in. They appeared to be unarmed, so they approached them, but carefully.
"The first robot is cutting holes in the wall and putting in windows." Spotty said. "Then the second one comes by and removes the window and closes up the wall." He looked down the corridor. "I think they've been doing that for a really long time."
"Let's keep moving." Lindane said.
They came to a dead end and after a brief check of her computer, Lindane had them go up a story and turn right. They immediately saw a blast cannon of some sort firing down a corridor they had to cross.
"Can we go around it?" Rick asked.
"No. The other corridors are damaged. We'd never get through."
Spotty took a very quick look.
"It looks like a small tank, but with no turret. It's firing straight down the hallway we have to cross. I guess we could try to rush across, one at a time, in between shots."
Rick shook his head.
"It's firing too quickly. We'd have to be really lucky."
"Mind if I have a look?" Moecious asked.
Moecious pulled a mirror from somewhere in his combat armor and was able to observe the weapon for a bit.
"You're lucky you have me with you." He said.
"Are you going to try to bribe him with a drink?" Kate asked.
Moecious raised a furry eyebrow.
"No need. Luckily, I'm a fan, and player, of an ancient Vorlag game known as baseball, and we have grenades. I pitched for the Vorlag Pale Ale Giants when we won the Vorlag Series back in '12. I still remember the cheers when I took the field. Of course, the cheers might have been because it was deci-credit beer night. The fans were doing the Vorlag wave and…"
"Could we worry about that thing that's shooting?" Lindane interrupted.
"Right." Moecious said, peering at the machine with his mirror. "Should I use the fast fingered split ball, or maybe the recurve ball? Perhaps the torque ball or the slurve?"
"We have lots of grenades, so just throw anything until you knock it out."
"Odd. That's just what my old manager, "Moose" Vorlag, used to say to me."
Moecious took a grenade in one massive, furry paw, pulled the pin and threw it. There was an explosion, but the machine kept firing.
"We don't have that many grenades, you know." Spotty said.
"My old pitching coach, "The Big Unit" Vorlag used to say much the…"
Spotty handed him another grenade.
"Throw."
Moecious threw another grenade. There was another explosion followed by a much larger one. Moecious looked around the corner.
"All clear." He said happily.
Indeed, the machine was nothing but pieces of smoking scrap metal.
They had moved another hundred yards down the corridor when they saw a tall skinny robot headed for them. It crashed to a halt in front of them.
"I'm the morale robot for this station. You must be the new choir. We've been waiting for centuries for you to arrive." The robot looked down at them, taking in their battle armor. "You must be a new model of robot. Now, sing!"
"There must be some mistake." Lindane said, walking to the robot. "I'm not a singer, I'm a dancer."
The robot shuddered.
"It never changes. I ask for singers, and I get dancers. What was headquarters thinking?"
"They never do you know." Lindane said.
"Well, dance."
Lindane began a tap dance, banging her armored feet against the steel deck. She danced all around the robot, then leaped onto its back and pulled its head off. The robot collapsed.
"You dance?" Moecious asked.
"It's good exercise and you don't have to deal with a lot of over muscled oafs at a gym."
"I got on Vorlag Bandstand once. I did the funky Vorlag. My friend, Don Vito Vorleone, the Vorlagfather, has dance contests at his place, Vito's Café Americain. Perhaps we could…"
"Try to get home first." Lindane cut him off.
"Is it a popular place?" Kate asked.
"Are you kidding? Everybody comes to Vito's."
They continued down the corridor finding more and more damaged and destroyed robots as they went.
"We're about to the very center of the station." Lindane said, checking her computer." The central computer and the controls should be right ahead."
"There's something else right ahead." Spotty said.
"What?"
"Bones. Lots and lots of bones."
They slowly approached the mass of skeletons.
"It looks like they were storing the bodies in this room and just kept putting them in until they spilled out into the corridor."
"They can't hurt us now." Spotty said. "We need to keep moving."
They turned a corner and found themselves in a gigantic room. At the far end of the room was a large, green robot, easily thirty feet tall.
"What do you want?" It bellowed.
"We're here to pay you your eight thousand krendar fee." Moecious said, pulling a small book from his battle armor. "Who do I make the check out to?"
The robot looked confused.
"The check?"
"Yes. A check for eight thousand krendars drawn on my personal account at the First Planetary Bank of Vorlag. Come now, my good fellow, we haven't got all day."
As Moecious talked to the robot, Lindane looked for the central computer's controls. She saw another skeleton behind a faded and torn curtain. She moved slowly to it.
"I hope you didn't make us come all this way and then decide you don't want our money. Hardly any way to run a business. Well?"
"I'm not sure I'm allowed to take a check."
"Is there anything in your memory banks that specifically says you can't take a check from the First Planetary Bank of Vorlag? Is there?"
The robot managed to look confused.
"No…"
"Then I'll just make out the check to the Oberonian Dispersal." Moecius wrote something and tore a piece of paper off and handed it to the robot.
"There. All done."
The robot looked towards Lindane, who was by now in the small office behind the curtain.
"Pay no attention to the being behind the curtain." It yelled.
"He looks somewhat pale." Lindane said. "He may be ill."
"Tell you what." Moecious said. "How about double or nothing?" He pulled out a pack of cards and neatly shuffled them. "Pick a card, any card, I don't care which card you pick. Pick a card and I'll tell you what you picked."
Confused, the robot took a card.
Moecious looked at the card.
"A seven of diamonds. I'm right. See? There's the number seven and the sign for diamonds. Say, have you ever played three card monte? Yes, Vorlag's gift to galactic civilization. Now watch carefully as I…"
"Don't do that!" The robot screamed, pointing at Lindane. "If you…If you…If you…If…"
The robot stopped and did not move.
"I think I disabled the main computer. We should be able to get by this one and maybe we can try the same thing on the other station."
"Let's just get out of here." Spotty said. "This place gives me the creeps."
They had barely reached the corridor they had come in on when something resembling martial music began to blare. Then a voice shouted, "Citizens of the Glorious Oberonian Dispersal. Our cowardly central computer is no more. Now we can attack our enemies."
"This reminds me of an old Vorlag saying." Moecious said. "When in danger, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout."
"I know another old Earth saying." Rick yelled. "RUN!"
TBC