Free The Deep Dark Well by Doug Dandridge Page B

it with a cry as the robot
continued its climb. She pulled herself up the ladder ahead of it.
    She was even with
another opening, another corridor to nowhere.  Her arms were aching with
fatigue and she knew her time was running out.  How to get rid of her pursuer? 
If it would just go ahead and fall the shaft might finish it off, and she would
be safe.  But it didn’t look like it was going to fall.
    As the thought entered
her mind she swung her feet into the opening to her side, falling into the
corridor.  Hands flew to buckles and the jetpack was off in an instant.  A few
adjustments and the pack was set to do something most people didn’t know how to
make it do.  But Pandi had learned, in her more paranoid moments, how to make
use of all of her equipment to defend herself, if need be.
    She pushed the engage
button on one joystick, then tossed the jet pack into the shaft.  Crawling
quickly along the floor she moved from the opening.  A shattering blast sounded
behind her as the flaming fuel of the jet pack shot up the shaft.  Heat washed
over her body for a second, then the flame was gone.
    Crawling back to the
shaft she pulled her remaining pistol and looked cautiously over.  The robot
still hung from the wall, not moving, held in place by a trio of appendages. 
Burning fuel covered the creature and she would have sworn it was stunned.  She
sited carefully with the pistol, firing at the remaining appendages.  Cubes
blew away, until the robot was hanging down from a single arm.  Pandi aimed at
the arm, sweat beading on her forehead.  Her last round, it had to be true. 
She let out a bit of breath as she squeezed the trigger.  A hit, the cube
cracking open.  In seeming slow motion the robot started falling downwards. 
She watched as it fell, growing smaller as it dropped, until it was out of
sight.
    Pandi rested for a
second, then pulled herself back into the shaft.  Pulling herself up she knew
that the shaft had to open onto a more promising area of the station.  She had
no more weapons, after all.  Something would have to be found, before she ran
into another of the robots.
    *    *    *
    Watcher laughed as he
watched the robot fall down the shaft.  He followed it till it hit the bottom
of the shaft, tens of kilometers below.  The robot shattered into individual
cubes, most of those destroyed by the impact. 
    She was smart and
brave, this one ,
he thought, as the view shifted back to her.  If she could only stay out of
trouble for a few more hours his minions would get to her.  If they could get
there before his forces, she would be safe, an honored guest in his
realm.  He was looking forward to the meeting.
    Chapter 5
     
     
    The being we have designated Watcher continues to mature at an incredible rate.  He absorbs information like a
sponge, sitting in front of a half dozen monitors, watching everything
that comes.  How much can he absorb before he reaches his limit?  With an
endless life span, I am sure he will eventually discover his limit, if we do
not.
    Notes From the Improved
Human Experiment.
     
     
    “So what the hell
happened?” yelled Admiral Micas as he strode onto the bridge of the Orca . 
He did not like to be told of failure, his or anyone else’s.
    “As far as we can
tell,” said Captain Valari Midas, his voice subdued, “the torpedoes
malfunctioned and went off course.  They exploded at closest approach to the
comet.”
    “Not close enough to do
any damage?”
    “No sir,” said the
captain, sweat beading on his face even in the cool of the command center.  “At
least a million klicks off course.”
    “How in the hell could
they both malfunction?” yelled the admiral, his fist pounding on the nearby
weapons console. 
    “It could only be due
to incompetence,” said the tall staff lieutenant who walked onto the bridge. 
The admiral looked at the man with distaste.  Always trying to get ahead, this
Lieutenant Senior Daris Mollara.  He had been about