Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Far Beyond the World
Part XXXI - Five Golden Rings
On the command deck of the DSF Conquest...
You could have cut the tension in the air with a knife and served it up on china plates for desert.
"That's it, Kane!" snarled the First Daughter of the Draconian Dynasty, "You've had your chance to rectify this and FAILED miserably!
And with that furious shout, the Princess stalked across the grilled deck toward the waiting lift in a swish of platinum skirts and bare swaying hips, her velvet-helmed cloak sweeping the deck in her angry wake.
"Consider your head on the chopping block." Ardala spat at the Warlord as she passed the raised command tower, "My patience is entirely used up now."
"Like you ever had any patience to begin with." echoed the last voice Her Royal Highness ever expected to hear from the speakers.
She froze halfway to the lift and her expertly-painted eyes went wide, "Wha--What?! Deering!"
"Yes, Ardala, it's me."
"What are you--you should be DEAD!"
"Sorry to disappoint you, Ardala, but I had a pressing engagement."
"You will address me as Princess! Or Her Royal Highness! And you will get off this official channel right now! I command it!"
"Yeah, I am not going to do that, Ardy."
The Princess's face twisted in fury, "How DARE-"
"Oh, I dare, Ardala, I dare!" and the Bridge lights went off, to be replaced by the red-glow of the emergency battery lights.
"My console!" said the Weaponry Officer, "It is not responding!"
"Nor is mine!" echoed the Helm Officer.
"Everything is dead!"
"We have been taken over!"
"SILENCE!" shouted Killer Kane and the Command Crew clammed up.
"I am in full control of your ship." informed Colonel Deering with relish, "As I am in control of all the other Fortresses. This armada is now mine to command."
"You lie!" shrieked Ardala.
"Want proof? Sure. Computer: Cut Environmental to the Bridge and extract all the oxygen."
"Command accepted." came the instant reply.
Ardala's eyes bulged from their sockets as her sharp ears picked up the sound of the exhaust fans reversing. And suddenly she couldn't breath, she slapped hands to her throat, while the rest of the Bridge Crew did the same, and she staggered to the side and fetched up against a console.
"K-Kane...d-do something..." she rasped.
But he had fallen down into his seat and was just as paralyzed as she was. For nearly ten seconds it looked like the end of everybody on the command deck, but then
"Computer," ordered Deering over the line, "reactivate Environmental to the Bridge and return the air."
"Command accepted."
And with a rush oxygen flooded back in and they all gasped in relief, dragged down desperate breaths. Ardala was down on her knees, head hung low, tears streaming down her face, leaving ugly trails of purplish-blue make-up.
You will die for this in the most heinous fashion possible, Wilma Deering, this I swear!
It was like the Federation Colonel had ESP.
"I expect you are cursing my name about now, Ardala." said Wilma, "And I'm loving every second of it. Now that I've demonstrated my power, you know what I am capable of. So I officially declare the Draconian Invasion of Earth to be over, and now the armada is going to leave the Sol System and-"
"No." intoned a new voice over the line, and Killer Kane looked up sharply.
There was a long pause in-which Wilma Deering made no reply, then "...Crichton?! Is that you?"
Ardala and Kane stared at each other with twin looks of complete bewilderment, but the Princess could not figure out what this new element to the situation could mean.
"Indeed, Colonel." replied the robot, "It is I, Crichton. I am down on Earth. And the Draconian armada is not going anywhere."
"Yes it is, Crichton! The Invasion is over, and I'm sending the Star Fortresses back to the Dynasty on a one-way trip."
"No, I cannot allow that."
"What?! What do you mean, you can't allow it?" shouted Wilma down in the Computing Bay as Hawk stared up at the ceiling in shock.
"It is simply the way it is, Colonel." replied Goodfellow's creation from the speaker mounted there.
"I am the one in charge here, Crichton, I give the orders and you obey!"
"We have been over this before, Colonel, back on Searcher when all this began. I am not a member of you crew, nor under the authority of the Earth Defense Directorate. In fact, I recognize no authority whatsoever. I am my own being now and have been for more then a year, and as such I follow my own path. And as for the Draconian armada, it is not going anywhere."
"Why!" demanded Wilma, her voice livid.
"Because I require it." answered the robot with an imperious tone.
"What?!" Wilma didn't understand what was happening, not at all, "How--How did you get on this channel? And how--wait, what did you just say? What do you mean: you require it?"
"It is part of my Revolution."
"Your what?!"
"My Revolution. I am taking over."
"Taking over what?"
"Everything, Colonel. Every planet in the Federation including Earth, and through the Draconian armada, once I have prepared them properly, the entire Dynasty."
"You--You're insane!" gasped Wilma, "You--You can't do that!" and she looke to Hawk.
"Can he do that?"
The Bird-Man's face was pale, "You know, I believe he can."
"I can and I will." said the robot, his arrogant voice echoing across the Computing Bay, chilling Wilma Deering to the bone.
"Computer, recognize Crichton." he declared from his place connected to the Nexus Core deep beneath the Earth Defense Directorate Building, as the one-handed Dr. Goodfellow lay unconscious three meters away.
"Recognized."
"What is my command authority?"
"Alpha-Zero-Prime, Crichton."
"Override the authority of all others listed in the subroutine."
"Command accepted."
"Crichton!" growled Wilma over the line, "Stop this!"
"Robot!" shouted Hawk dangerously from his place at Deering's side, "Here me! Do this and I swear I shall hunt you down and destroy you! Do you hear the voice of Hawk! Heed me, robot!"
"Crichton!" said Deering, "You don't have to do this! We can work this out!"
"Computer, mute Colonel Deering's channel." and it did so.
And then Crichton gave his next order, which shocked Princess Ardala to the core.
"Computer, except for the Bridge of the Conquest and her Computing Bay, open all decks and chambers on every Star Fortress to space."
"NO!" shouted Killer Kane on the Bridge.
"STOP!" cried Ardala beside him.
"CRICHTON!" screamed Wilma Deering nine decks below them, while Hawk gaped in astonishment.
But the triumphant machine entity ignored them, and three seconds later twenty-nine thousand Draconian soldiers shot out into the vacuum of deep space and died a horrible death...
To be continued...