Free Fundamental Force Episode One by Albert Sartison Page B

picked it up, whistling.
    “Where did you
get a gun like this, feller?”
    Zach slowly
lowered his arms.
    “Keep your
hands up!” ordered the other one.
    “What if I
don’t?”
    The two looked
at each other. The one holding the pulse gun raised it, put the
butt against his shoulder and aimed it at Zach. Grinning at the
imperturbability of his target, he pressed the trigger. Instead of
the shot, there was only a click and, at the same time, hydraulic
muscles were heard working in the minivan.
    The vehicle
leaned heavily to one side and, an instant later, the two infantry
robots stepped out one after the other. The heavy tread of the
steel soldiers was rapid and precise. Relieved of its heavy burden,
the minivan’s springs straightened out and it sprang back up with a
ringing noise.
    There was
swearing from above and the heads and long barrel instantly
disappeared. The two down below froze in horror and immediately
dropped their guns to the floor, shivering.
    Zach raised his
hand to face level with his fingers spread out, then closed them
into a fist and pointed to the two on the ground. The electronic
brains of the robots wasted no time in querying the order. An
instant shower of sparks came from the barrels of the rifles
attached to their shoulders as tracer bullets were fired from them.
The two, who now had their hands up, fell at the same time as the
two shots were heard, one on top of the other.
    Zach’s lips
parted in a smile. He unhurriedly approached the fallen enemy and
picked up the pulse gun from where it lay in the grass. There was a
bright red diode shining in the handle, slowly pulsating in
brightness. He gripped the handle firmly. The red light was
replaced by a green one, which winked and went out. The gun had
sensed the correct DNA and was ready to fire again.
    Zach opened his
flies. At last. He had been on the point of wetting himself.
Relieved, he took out his tablet and made a sign to one of the
robots to relay to him the image from its cameras. A rectangular
picture appeared on the screen. It was already getting dark
outside, but the image on the tablet, amplified by large top-class
optical lenses, looked as if it had been taken in broad daylight
with the Sun lighting the area well. Even the shadows, which had
almost disappeared, were clearly distinguishable on the tablet.
    He pointed up
to where the heads of those aiming at him had been. One of the
robots squatted down slightly before making a six-meter jump. From
the jets around its hips, a barely noticeable flame flared briefly,
giving him further impetus. Its metal feet came down heavily on the
sandy arch above the entrance, causing an avalanche of small
stones.
    Through the
relayed image, Zach could see two off-roaders racing away along the
road at high speed, bouncing over the bumps. In their panic, they
were driving too fast for such an uneven road. When they reached
the first fork, they turned different ways and rapidly parted from
each other. The old strategy of running off in different
directions. Zach smiled wryly at such naivety. Tricks like that
wouldn’t do them any good.
    He enlarged the
image, the better to see those sitting inside. There were two in
the passenger compartment of one vehicle and one in the other. The
three silhouettes remained in his memory, making it easier to look
for any others. It seemed they were all in the vehicles. They had
been waiting for him, so they must have sniffed out something about
the package inside. Such witnesses could not be left alive, and he
didn’t want to do that anyway...
    “Targets on the
road,” he said softly. Bright target indicator circles appeared
around the vehicles, which were jumping about like mad on the field
road, leaving a long strip of dust behind them. The robot was
taking aim.
    “Shoot to
kill!”
    The deafening
whoosh of missiles being fired was heard from above. Two shining
points could be seen on the relay, soaring up in an anti-aircraft
manoeuver, then swooping down like