Time Bomb

Chapter 12

by Richard Ryley

Daisy crept stealthily down the passage. It wound around a few times, then finally ended, in a small chamber. Daisy held her weapon at the ready, as she entered the room, Zozo right behind her.

Zozo cried out as he spotted a Crown Trooper sitting in a dark corner, and Daisy leveled her gun at him. When he didn't move, however, she stepped closer. "He's dead," she said, putting a finger against his neck. She then lifted off his helmet. "He's been shot..."

"There's another one over here... it's a robot. The circuitry's all fried, and half of his head's gone."

"This one's blaster's gone."

Zozo looked up. "Doc?"

"Could be." Daisy nodded, then walked over to examine the robot. "No, wait. This one was shot at point blank range, right in the head. In fact..." she looked over at the other guard. "... I'd say he shot the other guard, and then shot himself. See, his blaster's almost empty. He must have set it on max."

Zozo looked at the blaster, which was itself half melted. "What does it mean?"

Daisy stood up. There were several doors across the back wall of this room, as if it were a guard post. As Daisy opened the first of them, she realized that she was in the right place.

"It's the room we saw on the video screen!" Zozo said, peering around Daisy. One of the prison pods had been shattered, and bits of glass lay on the ground around it. Daisy walked over, and picked one of them up.

"Looks like Ranger Hartford didn't need our help after all!" Daisy said with a grin. She glanced around the room, then walked back over to Zozo. "Come on, furry-face. The guards haven't noticed he's gone, so we don' want 'em to catch us in here."

Daisy closed the door behind her as she and Zozo slipped out of the room, and down the dark passage. "Doc's been lucky so far, but when these two don' report in, the Queen'll know he's escaped. We have ta find him before they do."

"Where do you think he'll go?"

"The transmitter, probably. If he knows about what the Queen plans fer his friends, I kinda doubt he'd try an' escape. So I guess we need to join back up with Shane an' Buzzwang."

Near the northern surface of the asteroid, Gooseman and Buzzwang approached the communications room. Two guards had been posted to watch the area, but Goose took them out with a couple of well-placed shots. These guards turned out to be humanoid, but they had reached their goal. There was no need for disguises now.

As they entered the large chamber, however, there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Just several rows of consoles, some computer banks, and an open doorway into a machinery room behind. "So?" Goose commented. "Any idea which of these gizmos is the transmitter?"

Buzzwang looked around the room, clearly concerned. "I do not know... a device capable of generating the kind of power needed to flood this area with your implants' self-destruct signal should be fairly obvious. Yet I see nothing of that kind in here."

"You mean, we're in the wrong place?"

"I... I am not sure. It seems so." He walked over to one of the consoles, began to work the switches and buttons. Goose just stared about the room, fingering his blaster. Maybe he could fix a hovercar, or jury-rig a circuit to overload a force field, but he was way out of his league now.

"Yes," Buzzwang said, after a moment. "It seems that your initial impression was correct. The transmitter is located in Engineering, in the center of the asteroid. Apparently, it needed a direct connection to the power supply."

"Can you shut it down from here?"

"I am afraid not." Buzzwang typed a command into a console, and watched the results that scrolled past. "The device is controlled from Engineering. However, it is programmed to respond to an incoming message from the sensors scattered around the Graveyard, to detect the Hyperspace signature of Ranger One. That signal should come through here."

"So it may be possible to shut it down."

"Yes, but it would take time."

Gooseman looked over Buzz's shoulder at the console. "You didn't sound any alarms when you logged onto that thing, did you?"

"Of course not." Buzz managed to look insulted, even considering the limited motility of his metallic face. "I used a cryptographic cypher to break into their system and override the security on this console."

"Ah." Gooseman said. "Of course."

"Shall I attempt to shut down the incoming signal?" Buzzwang asked.

"Yeah." Goose nodded, and Buzzwang began busily typing commands into the keyboard.

"Shane an' tha' bucket o' bolts android should a' reached the transmitter by now." Daisy commented.

"Unless they got held up."

Daisy and Zozo continued down the passageway, the lady outlaw holding her blaster at the ready. "Well, once we track down Ranger Hartford, we kin get outta here."

"If I know Doc, he's headed for the transmitter, too."

Daisy shook her head. "No. He's goin' the other way -- toward the center of the asteroid. Maybe lookin' fer a good place to hide."

"That doesn't sound like the Doc I know," Zozo commented.

"Yeah, but, remember, as far as he knows, he's all alone on this rock. He doesn't know we followed him. An' he may not know abou' the booby-trapped badges. He may just be tryin' ta keep outta th' Psychocrypt until Zack an' Niko can rescue him..."

Zozo shrugged. "Maybe."

They fell silent for a moment, as Daisy stuck her head around a corner. She drew back, quickly. "We've been spotted! Half a dozen Troopers' 'r comin' this way!"

Daisy ran back in the other direction, the little Kiwi right behind her. They both drew up short, however, as another group of Crown Agents cut off their escape.

"This way!" Daisy yelled, pointing out a side passage. The two fugitives disappeared down it, the Queen's guards right on their heels. One of the Troopers stopped to speak into his wrist communicator.

"We've found the prowlers, Magesty. A woman and a Kiwi."

"Ranger Niko!" The Queen's voice sounded astonished. "Impossible! She is on Ranger One with Foxx!"

"No, it's not the Galaxy Ranger. She isn't wearing a Ranger uniform."

"Someone else, then. Hm. But the Kiwi must be Zozo. Take them both alive."

"Yes, Magesty," The commander shut off his wristcom and headed after his men.

"What is this?" Buzzwang paused, looking at his display for a moment, then began typing in more commands. He studied the readouts intently, then redoubled his efforts, his manner almost frantic as he typed away at the control console.

"What's going on?" Gooseman walked over from the door, where he had been keeping an eye on the door. Eve was watching over Buzzwang's shoulder.

"There is some sort of a blip in the system. I thought at first that I was being tracked, but then it turned and headed away from communications. It seems to be searching for power sources."

"Doc?"

"It could be. I am attempting to isolate the blip now, but it is evading me."

Gooseman nodded. "It's got to be Doc. He must be trying to shut down the transmitter from somewhere else... maybe Engineering. You keep trying to catch that thing, and I'll go see if I can find him."

Buzzwang looked up. "I will have to stop work on shutting down the incoming signal."

"If we're lucky, that's what Doc's blip is doing. Do what you can to catch it, and if you can't, get back to work on jamming the signal."

"Right away, Ranger Gooseman," Buzz agreed. He continued his work at the console, while Gooseman slipped out the door into the hall, and disappeared down the passage.

Moments later, however, he charged back into the room. Activating the control to slide the door shut, he then pulled out his blaster, and shot the control panel. The Ranger then grabbed Eve and Buzzwang, and shoved them both through the doorway into the machinery room.

"Hide in there!" Gooseman hissed. "Don't come out for ANYTHING!"

His warning was punctuated as the sound of laser fire was heard on the other side of the door. A shower of sparks burst from the door as it was melted open. Goose leaped behind a console, and began to fire at the Troopers charging into the room.

He was able to take out two or three of them, but the rest swarmed around their fallen comrades, overwhelming him. He was forced to duck a hail of return fire, and then one of the men leaped over the console to face him. For a moment, Goose involuntarily reached for his badge. Then, thinking better of it, he slugged the Trooper instead.

As five or six of the Crown Agents began to join their ally, however, Gooseman was quickly subdued. Two of the armored soldiers held the Ranger, pulling him out into the middle of the room. Near the door, the other Troopers moved aside, as a tall woman in scarlet swept into the room.

"Galaxy Ranger Gooseman," The Queen said, smiling. "I'll have to make sure that Macross and Kilbane pay for their betrayal. But it is no matter. I was, of course, aware of their plot all along... and I knew that you would try and save your friends."

"Bring him to my Psychocrypt!" She ordered. "And fetch Ranger Hartford, as well. I want them both together when their allies arrive, and the self-destruct signal goes off."

As the Queen turned and headed out of the room, sweeping her cloak about her in a dramatic arc, Gooseman glanced back at the inner room. Buzzwang, back in the shadows, watched as his friend was taken away.

Time Bomb - Chapter 12

From Betamountain.org

Time Bomb

Chapter 12

by Richard Ryley