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THE NEWCOMER
Path B2A2B2 by Jay
[Path B2A2B2. The harder way.]
At the moment that Kan-chiang is about to give the order to his first officer, he stops himself. With their proximity to Zion, he can afford the massive power drain of the 'Lotus' protocol. But he can't be certain that the rest of the crew have reached the Infirmary, or what structural and electro-mechanical damage the protocol may inflict on the 'Nosferatu.' He can't take that risk just yet... not now.
"Wait!" the captain says. "We can't take that chance... not yet!"
"You sure?" Hitch turns his orange-capped head. "No 'Lotus'?"
"That's right," Kan-chiang nods, his focused brown eyes monitoring the Sentinels' progress on his displays. "We're taking them out... the 'hard way'!"
"Dammit!" Sky shouts, as she pulls herself up from the cold steel-grated floor. With all of her strength training, she drags Cyberreyn's unconscious form down the remaining distance to the Infirmary. Quickly, she hoists the newcomer onto one of the medical beds -- a central bed to minimize the effects of the 'Lotus' -- and fastens the force harness snugly around her.
In moments, the repulsor engines re-awaken, and the straining groans of the structural skeleton reverberate throughout the hovercraft. Sky feels the linear acceleraton beneath her torn black boots. "Thank G*d, no f*ckin' Lotus!" Sky sighs to herself, and drops into a medical chair.
Flicker appears from nowhere. "You mean I ran here for nothing?" he utters, leaning against the doorway, trying to catch his hurried breath.
As two of the three killing machines continue to slice into the outer skin of the 'Nosferatu,' the third one focuses its multiple eyes upon their calculated progress. Hanging from the roof of the ancient passageway, its memory systems pull up visual records of its previous hovercraft attack. 'Mission is proceeding within established parameters,' its Logic voice speaks. Yet a spark of illogical pride seems to flash through its complicated circuitry.
Suddenly, its red eyes detect unexpected movement from the hovercraft. It is beginning to accelerate down the dim passageway, moving away, moving away faster, then faster... 'Alert!' its Logic begins, as the machine detaches from the roof, and pursues the hovercraft, 'Mission is not proceeding within--' then its other Awakened voice interrupts. 'What is that ship DOING?' Its Logic attempts to regain control from the Awakened voice, 'Analyzing target patterns-- Analyzing-- Is that an ESCAPE posture?-- Analyzing...'
"What's our status, Hitch?" calls Captain Kan-chiang.
"Hover-pods retracted!" the first officer responds, orange cap pointing forward, monitoring all of the quivering navigational and engineering control displays. "Maintaining velocity! Kan, those squiddies are still cutting through!"
Outside, the hovercraft maintains its high velocity through the tunnels, its charged hover-pods blazing brightly.
"Ease us towards the wall!" the captain commands.
While one multi-tentacled machine fires another piercing-red laser into the dorsal hull section, the other hangs onto the underbelly of the streaking hovercraft, firing its own laser into the ventral hull section.
Meanwhile, from a safe distance away, the third Sentinel maintains its high-speed pursuit of the hovercraft, the attackers, and their attack progress. Its internal Logic and Awakened voices fight for dominance, 'Analyzing target patterns-- Wait! That's not an ESCAPE posture! This could be-- Analyzing-- This could be an ATTACK-- Analyzing...'
"Come on, Flick!" Sky commands, bolting out of the Infirmary. "Get to your cannon! I'll take starboard!"
"Gotcha!" replies Flicker, following quickly behind her.
"Approaching tunnel wall!" yells Hitch. "Contact with ventral hull in 5 seconds..."
Outside, the 'Nosferatu' continues to near the blurring black-and-brown surface.
"4 seconds!..." Hitch continues.
Kan-chiang keeps his heightened attention between his control displays and the ancient passageway flying towards him. "Maintain approach!"
"3!..."
"2!..."
"1!..."
Upon impact, the metallic high-pitched squeaks and scrapes of the outer hull plates vibrate throughout the hovercraft.
Focused too narrowly on its laser-slicing instructions, the underbelly Sentinel senses the incoming tunnel surface behind it too late. Although it detaches its tentacles from the ventral hull, the multi-eyed killing machine -- Smash! -- gets crushed between the large hovercraft and the even larger wall.
As the 'Nosferatu' speeds away, the spinning Sentinel continues its clunky roll through the darkness, its multi-flex arms flailing, bits and pieces of its collapsed head-body flying, until -- Ka-Boom!!! -- the deafening explosion sends shock waves down each end of the passageway.
Second Officer Sky leaps into the chair of the starboard multiple-laser cannon, snatches the headset, and grabs the firing controls.
Moments later, on the other side of the hovercraft, Operator Flicker takes control of the port cannon.
"That's ONE down, Kan!" calls Hitch. "Two more to go!"
"The dorsal side'll be tougher!" the captain explains aloud. "The cockpit'll hit the wall before the Sentinel!"
"Don't worry, Captain!" Sky utters into her headset. "I have an idea!"
"Let's hear it, Sky!" replies Kan-chiang from the cockpit, glancing at Hitch.
"Move the starboard-dorsal side towards the wall!" she answers. "I can't see the squiddy, but I can fire at the wall just ahead of us! Flicker, can you handle the last one?"
"Sure thing, Sky!" Flicker confirms.
Captain Kan-chiang immediately catches her plan. "We can't target the Sentinel, but we can target the tunnel! Proceed!"
Within moments, a barrage of bright-blue lasers explode from the port cannon towards the distantly pursuing Sentinel. Its internal Logic voice reasserts control, 'Attack pattern confirmed. Record current attack.' From its safe distance, the multi-armed head-body easily dodges the intense beams.
"Damn machine!" utters Flicker.
Meanwhile, the dorsal Sentinel begins to peel open sizable sections of the outer hull.
Hitch sees the growing hull breach over his displays. "It's getting through!"
Like before, the captain commands, "Ease us towards the wall!"
As the hovercraft shoots through the passageways, Hitch inches the starboard-dorsal side of the 'Nosferatu' towards the rapidly moving wall.
"A little more!" calls Sky. "Tilt more to port! I can't see ahead!"
Quickly, Hitch turns the hovercraft slightly about the vertical axis, while it maintains its forward trajectory, giving the appearance of a mid-air skid, and giving Sky greater access to the oncoming tunnel.
"Now..." says Sky, her laser-targeting activated. "Eat tunnel!" She fires a series of multiple strikes at the tunnel ceiling ahead.
Within seconds, both smaller chips and more massive chunks of ceiling debris collapse toward the speeding hovercraft.
"Whoa!" yells Hitch, hanging onto his dirty cap.
Moments later, a hailstorm of steel and concrete -- B-Bump! Bang! -- pummels the dorsal hull and its multi-tentacled attacker.
"Hey!" hollers Flicker, as bits and pieces of debris fall into his targeting field. "Watch it, Sky!"
"Eat this!" Sky fires again, and this time, larger Sentinel-sized hunks of rock and metal -- Smash! C-Crash! -- hammers and strips the disabled killing machine from the top surface of the hovercraft.
Along with the rest of the tunnel debris, the damaged Sentinel is thrown backward through the darkness, its tentacles spread outward in a spin, until -- Slam! -- it hits the solid tunnel floor and -- Ka-Boom!!! -- explodes.
"Yes, we did it!" First Officer Hitch can't believe it. "They're both gone!" He finally allows himself to take a deep breath and exhalation.
But on his display screen, Captain Kan-chiang notices the third Sentinel silently turn around and sweep away down the passageway. "That's very unusual," he notes quietly to himself, then asks aloud, "Is everyone alright?"
Everyone is fine. Everyone answers but Cyberreyn.
Choose Path B2A2B2A for Kan-chiang to stay in the cockpit, and head back to Zion before more Sentinels return.
Choose Path B2A2B2B for Kan-chiang to stay in hover-mode, and check Cyberreyn before proceeding.
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