“ANY OTHER QUESTIONS?” Jeff asked. There were none. “Everyone ready?” Everyone nodded.
“One,” White said. He put his hand on his Beaming Bling and disappeared.
“Glad that’s working again,” Jeff said. “Next.”
“Two.” Siler went next. Then Maurer, Butler, Rahmi, Rhee, and Gower.
Lorraine kissed Joe. “Eight.”
“Nine,” Claudia said after she kissed Randy.
Jerry took off his helmet, got up, grabbed Abigail, and planted a kiss worthy of a sailor returning from WWII on her. “Kick ass and come home safely,” he said when he ended their kiss.
“You know it, Studly.” She winked at me. “Don’t tell my brother that’s his nickname. I think Paul still thinks I’m a virgin. Ten.”
“You’re up,” I said to Jeff. “Shoot fast, move faster.”
He kissed me. “Always do.” He grinned at me, giving me a great shot of his Jungle Cat About To Eat Me Look. “Other than in bed. Eleven.” Then he was gone.
Turned to Chuckie. “Someone needs to reach Wruck and let him know what we’re doing. That’s probably going to be you via Alfred.”
He nodded. “I’m really proud of you, Kitty.”
“Thanks. Always proud of you, too.”
“Want to know where Hoffa’s buried?”
Considered this. “Wait until I’m back.”
“Why?”
Grinned at him. “Incentive.” Looked at my next ship. “Twelve.”
Once again, I was in the middle of a bunch of Aicirtap, and this time, Algar gave me a different fight song favorite—Tina Turner’s “Steel Claw.”
This ship was much like the first. Did my circular zapping technique first, then branched out. Got the first Zapped Aicirtap to take me through the ship. Zapped all available options. Gave some instructions, went back to Chuckie.
Everyone was on their second ship by the time I was back. Not a problem. It was a race, but the faster we went, the faster we all won.
My third ship was like my first two, and by now what I was doing felt routine. Didn’t mean I was any less alert—the Unzapped Aicirtap remained a terrifying reality—but it did mean I felt more comfortable doing it.
Returned to the helicarrier. “The androids are on their sixth ship each,” Chuckie said. “We’ve managed to get through to Wruck. The Ancients are still coming, just in case.”
“Wise.” Noted that a good portion of the Aicirtap fleet were heading down to Mars, the lead ship, or what I was pretty sure was the lead ship, included. “Are we sure that all those ships are cleansed?”
Chuckie did a fast count. “Yes, they tally correctly.”
“Super.” Chose my next ship, and went to it. My music changed to Iron Maiden’s “Be Quick Or Be Dead.”
Which, shocker, was prophetic. The people in here were aware that something was wrong, since the other ships were breaking ranks. So when I appeared, they weren’t so much surprised as given a convenient target.
Zapped plenty of them, but I wasn’t able to get the full radius around me hit. Which meant I had no breathing room.
Also meant I had to scramble and run, because there were a lot of the Unzapped and I was having trouble clearing the area.
Bent low and ran fast, zapping as I could. Fortunately, all these ships were alike and I’d just gone through three of them from top to bottom. Headed for the cargo hold, running as fast as I could, which was necessary. I had a lot of the Unzapped Masses after me.
Found what I was looking for—a small, high ledge that was difficult to access if you were a gigantic bug. I was going so fast I was able to run up the side of the wall and leap onto this ledge. Shoved in as far back, as hard, and as firmly braced as possible. Then started firing.
The good news was that I was in a sniper’s position and the easiest things to hit were the Aicirtap’s heads. The bad news was it looked like the entire crew was shoving into the cargo hold. And some of them in the back were standing on another’s shoulders.
Which meant I had to fire at those in the back now, instead of those nearer to the middle. “Steel Claw” came back on, and it definitely was getting a double in both keeping me revved and reminding me of what I was going to face if I didn’t hit every one of these people as fast as possible.
The ones in the back and middle started shoving forward, and I got a good shot of what ravenous hordes really looked like. And, as the Aicirtap in the front devolved, those who were now in full bloodlust ripped them apart.
I was seeing exactly what the Aicirtap could do in this “evolved” state, and it was beyond horrifying. And, oh joy, if they were in bloodlust, they needed more hits to devolve. Either that or my gun wasn’t working anymore. Or both. Gave it even odds for both.
Was about to give up and change my setting from Devolve to Dust when I heard a sound. It was loud and sounded like a combination of roaring and growling, somehow deep and high-pitched at the same time.
It had an effect on the Unzapped Aicirtap. They turned away from me and toward the sound. The effect on the Zapped was quite different. They were crying in terror and trying to get as far to the back of the cargo hold as possible.
Took the opportunity and zapped the backs of the Unzapped. Got almost all of them. There were only three left—all the others were either doing the confused devolve headshake or scrambling toward me in terror—and no matter what I did, these three were all moving just before I pulled the trigger, meaning I was missing them. But the walls around the cargo hold were sure going to be stupid later. If we all got a later.
Something came into the cargo hold. It was a creature of nightmare, but not a Cleophese, in part because it was too small and in other part because it was less Cthulhu and a lot more Cujo crossed with Freddy Kruger, as siphoned through all the ravens in the universe. And it was twice as large as the Unzapped Aicirtap.
Whatever it was, it grabbed an Unzapped Aicirtap in either, well, chose to charitably call them hands. Maybe claws. Maybe beaks. It was hard to tell.
It slammed the two Aicirtap together and knocked their heads hard enough that they looked unconscious. Then it threw them in the air, toward me.
Shot both of them in the head with the laser, gun still set on Devolve. They landed just shy of me, on top of a bunch of the still-living Zapped, who promptly scattered out from under, though none of them were making a move toward the door, where the Creature was.