They turned to face the speaker. He was just over 6 feet tall, had brown hair and brown eyes. Four security androids flanked him, two on a side.
“Well, Captain Dobbins,” Desmond continued in a flat voice, “I give you and your team full credit for getting this far. When I saw the reports that you had escaped from the brig, I figured it was only a matter of minutes before we re-captured you. I underestimated your ingenuity. Congratulations.
“And, now, your blasters, please.” One of the security androids stepped forward and relieved Samuelson of his weapon.
“How did you find us?” asked Samuelson.
“Quite simple, really,” replied Desmond. “I knew that once you had escaped from us initially that you would eventually come here and try to shut down my androids. All I had to do was watch for unexpected computer access and then bring four of my best guards down.
“Enough answering on my part. Now, you will answer my questions. Where are the other members of your team? How many other people have you contacted besides the Watchmaker?”
No one answered.
“No one wishes to answer?” Desmond said menacingly. “Very well. You leave me with little choice. Take them back to the security center by the underground route, and prepare them for interrogation, level 5. No tactic is off limits.”
The android guards moved around the team and began to prod them towards the auxiliary entrance. “Come on, human,” ordered one, “get moving.”
Suddenly, Samuelson grabbed one of the guards by the hand and executed a perfect judo throw, tossing the android against a wall. The other androids responded immediately, opening fire on Samuelson, who collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath but otherwise unhurt. The blasters had been set to stun.
“As you can see,” Desmond said, “we value your lives, at least, right now. Any more tricks, and that attitude could change. Take them away!” He spun around and left the Control Center.
One of the guards dragged Samuelson back to his feet, while another helped the fallen android to its feet. It was unharmed by the attack. The guards positioned themselves behind and to the side of the prisoners, giving them no options for escape.
They walked out to the hallway and turned right. They continued on in silence for about a minute when the sound of a blaster echoed off of the walls. The two guards on the prisoners’ left collapsed to the ground. The other two guards looked around, desperately searching for the source of the blaster fire. A second blaster shot resounded, and the remaining two guards also fell over, disabled.
A ventilation panel in the wall just slightly ahead of them opened up, and from out of the duct crawled Skylar, blaster in hand.
“Nice work, Mr. Skylar,” commended Dobbins, “but why are you here? I ordered you and Commander Ella to stay board the shuttle.”
“I know, sir,” replied the young helmsman, “but we thought it would be wise…” he paused to sneeze. “…to use the shuttle’s sensors to keep track of your progress, just in case you got into any trouble. It sure looks like it’s a good thing we did, too. When we saw that there were…” again, a sneeze, “…androids confronting you in the Control Center and that they were escorting you back towards the Security Station, we quickly hatched a plan to rescue you.”
“A plan that involved you crawling into an air duct,” added Ella as she came around the corner from her hiding place. “Better you than me.”
“Ah, come on,” Skylar responded. “It was kind of fun, like those games I used to play as a kid. Although,” he paused yet again to sneeze, “it was a bit dusty.”
“Did you contact the Hyperion?” Dobbins asked.
“Yes,” answered Ella, “but we didn’t get to explain the situation very well before we had to come rescue you.”
“Well, then, let’s head back to the shuttle. I’m sure Commander Brackers would like an update on what’s going on. Then, I want to pay our dear friend the Mayor a little unannounced visit.”
Before they headed down the hallway, Leon and Zhang quickly pulled out the power module from each of the androids. There was no sense in allowing them to recover from being stunned and reporting the escape to Desmond or one of his minions.
They soon arrived at the shuttle and went in. As Samuelson and Skylar worked on assembling the necessary equipment—scanners, blasters, portable hyperwave radios—Dobbins contacted the Hyperion and filled Brackers in on their adventures to that point.
“It sounds like it’s quite a mess over there, sir,” said the First Officer when Dobbins had finished. “We have the teams you requested, sir, but it sounds to me like you need some back-up. I could have two security teams over there in twenty minutes.”
“No, Mr. Brackers, not yet,” answered Dobbins. “I don’t want to start an all-out battle over here with androids. I’m worried that the passengers might get hurt. Instead, have Lieutenant Sawyer search the Hyperion’s computer to see if she can find a program that we could put into the Lethe’s computer that would disable all of the androids at once. Contact me once you’ve found something. While you’re doing that, we’re going to go pay a visit to Mayor Desmond Loman.”
“Aye, sir,” replied Brackers, “good luck.”
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