Free Approaching Omega by Eric Brown Page B

helmet.
    Above them, Emecheta was slowly opening the hatch. He peered out, pulled back his head and signalled AOK back to them. He opened the hatch fully and stepped out. By the time Latimer reached the opening and eased himself through, he realised that he was shaking uncontrollably and sweating so much that the fluid had pooled in his boots.
    They were in another empty corridor, and it seemed to him that the very emptiness, the silence, was ominous. They know we're here, he thought. They're waiting for us.
    Leading the way, Emecheta crept along the corridor, laser at the ready. Latimer unclipped his own weapon and levelled it at imaginary foe.
    From his recollection of the schematic, Latimer guessed that they were very near the theatre now. Around the next bend was a pair of double doors which gave access to the surgical unit.
    Emecheta paused, staring at that section of the softscreen wrapped about his forearm. He touched helmets with the others. "There's a service hatch around the corner," he whispered. "We get into it and climb. It gives on to the gallery. Ready your lasers. Okay, after me..."
    He crept forward, peered around the corner. He gestured at them to follow. Latimer looked over his shoulder, jumpy. He raised his laser as he followed Renfrew around the bend. Emecheta was entering the code into the hatch. Renfrew was covering the corridor ahead. Latimer turned and raised his weapon, covering their backs.
    He felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned to see Renfrew disappear through the opening. He squeezed in after her, quickly closed the hatch behind him, and let out a long breath.
    He gathered himself and climbed.
    Minutes later Renfrew came to a halt above him. Latimer peered up, past her bulky suit, and watched, his heart thudding painfully, as Emecheta cracked a hatch and squinted though. He closed it immediately and looked down at them, shaking his over-sized helmet in an exaggerated negative.
    So the AIs had the gallery covered...
    Emecheta gestured for them to continue their ascent.
    Latimer climbed. If the gallery was guarded, then what chance did they have of rescuing Li? They could dive in with all lasers blazing, but there were only three of them, against how many AIs and cyborgs?
    So where was Emecheta taking them now?
    Above him, the Nigerian was opening yet another hatch. He crawled through, Renfrew after him. Latimer followed and found himself in another cramped and dusty crawlspace. They were on all fours, facing each other. They banged helmets.
    Emecheta said: "The gallery was crawling with the bastards."
    "Was Jenny in the op room?" Renfrew asked.
    "Couldn't see over the rail. I'd guess she was, by now. Anyway, they have the place guarded, as if they were expecting us."
    "So what now?" Latimer asked.
    Emecheta gestured along the crawlspace. "There's an inspection cover further along here. We might be able to see what's going on, see if we have any chance of..."
    He let the sentence drift, then turned awkwardly and crawled into the dimness. He came to a halt seconds later and gestured to a panel in the floor of the crawlspace.
    Delicately, taking great care, he slid it aside.
    A block of light filled the crawlspace, and all three peered through.
    ~
    They were high above the operating theatre, looking down from the ceiling. The blindingly white chamber was packed with cyborgs and AIs and a host of medico-roboids.
    They were gathered around an operating frame, suspended in which was a naked Jenny Li.
    Around the periphery of the chamber, a dozen armed cyborgs stood guard.
    Emecheta slid the hatch across the opening, so that only a thin strip gave view of the horrors taking place below. All three lay on their bellies, applying their faceplates to the strip, and stared down.
    They were, it appeared, too late to save Jenny Li from the depredations of the AIs. She was trapped in the suspension frame like a fly in a web; the frame resembled a gyroscope, movable to give surgeons free and easy access to