It took two shuttles to transfer our whole party to the gaping chasm where one of the ship’s main turrets had once been. Akio had a whole platoon of inugami marines, Yamashida brought a squad of his own troops, and between them the two forces had several hundred bots. There was even a couple of mini-tanks, compact heavy gunbots designed to work their way through confined spaces like the inside of a ship. It almost felt like we were getting ready to invade someone, instead of just making a long trip through a deserted wreck.
Me, I’d decided to look pretty instead of tough. I wore a blue skinsuit that hugged the curves I was starting to develop, but was still modest enough not to raise any eyebrows. The kind of thing rich girls wear for sports or adventure vacations, with a bunch of buildin climate control features to keep me cool and comfortable no matter what I was doing. Of course, most rich girls don’t add zero-g maneuvering options to their outfits, let alone concealed armor and power cells. The stylish pistol at my hip wouldn’t have been out of place on most colonies, but it was the heavy anti-bot gun that really defined my look. The model I’d chosen attached to my suit, enclosing my right arm from elbow to wrist, with a barrel that extended just past my knuckles.
“You look like a space pirate’s daughter,” Emla had said as I posed in front of the mirror.
“Nah.” I called Ash over to sit on my shoulder. Perfect. “Now I look like a space pirate.”
She giggled. “I think I’m jealous.”
“Why? You’ve got real powered armor, and the same guns with a missile pack and smoke dispensers too.”
“Not of you, of Ash. He gets to sit on your shoulder.”
I blushed. “Oh, you.”
Ash preened. Useful!
“Yeah, yeah, you’re a fierce protector. But you’re staying home this time. None of your weapons would do anything to a warbot.
He hung his head. Useless.
Who thought it was a good idea to program a security bot to pout? Ugh. I had to spend a few minutes petting him and reassuring him that I still needed him before he’d perk up again. Then it was time to go.
I let Emla hold my hand on the shuttle ride. Sometimes it was a little much, the way she always wanted to be touching me, but I had to admit I was starting to like it. I wasn’t looking forward to the descent, and I didn’t mind sneaking a little reassurance.
Unlike a mass driver, the turrets for the ship’s graser cannons hadn’t held the whole weapon. They were just a huge mass of armor protecting the beam director, a giant momentum exchange device that managed the tricky feat of bending a beam of light passing through it. The beam was actually produced by an immense complex of machinery buried deep inside the ship, and reached the turret through a long tunnel lined with more momentum exchange lenses that helped focus it.
The beam aperture was two and a half meters across, and dropped a thousand meters straight down into the guts of the battleship. As our advance scouts started their descent I stepped to the edge of the hole, and looked down nervously.
“How much firepower do you think these guns had?” I wondered.
I’d meant the comment for Emla, but I found Akio at my side.
“Something like a gigaton per second,” he said. “Nervous?”
“A little. I know it’s silly. The ship’s dead, the guns are bound to be wrecked, and even if they weren’t there’s no way they could power up without us having plenty of warning. But my danger sense isn’t happy about climbing down what’s basically a giant gun barrel. I’ve got this image in my head of exactly what would happen to me if it fired.”
There’d be nothing left of me but a spray of elementary particles. At least I’d be dead really fast.
He put his arm around my shoulders. “It will be fine, Alice. As you said, this weapon will never fire again.”
I sighed, and leaned into him. “Yeah. I’ll be okay. Um, isn’t this kind of improper?”
“Who’s going to complain about it? My marines? As long as I don’t scandalize Uncle Noburu too much we’re fine. Or was that a hint?”
I took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “No, I’m not that subtle when it comes to hints.”
I looked up at his face, and wondered what it would be like to kiss him.
Not now, of course. His space suit had a helmet, and anyway there were way too many people watching.
“You’re an unusual girl, Alice,” he said. “Standing on the hull of a ship without a helmet on doesn’t bother you, but something that abstract does?”
I’d wanted to braid my hair today, and a helmet would have covered it up. So instead I’d brought along a set of little bots that maintained a weak deflector bubble full of air around me. It was a little chilly, but my fancy clothes took care of that.
“Blame my designers,” I said. “I think they ripped out all the stuff people are normally afraid of when they put in my threat assessment mod. As long as I’ve got power I don’t need to breathe, so why would I care if my environment bubble is a little leaky? Anyway, I don’t want to hold us up. See you at the bottom.”
I stepped off the edge, and pushed off with a touch of my field. Emla spread her wings and dove to follow me. I grinned at Akio’s surprised look, and waved at him as I fell out of sight.
Well, it was really more like soaring than falling. The wreck’s microgravity was trying to push me out into space, so my sense of balance tried to insist that the bottom of the shaft was really the top. But that would be too confusing, so I ignored it and just pushed myself along with my field.
Emla came up next to me, pulling her wings in and wrapping her arms around me so we could fly side by side through the confined space while our bots trailed along behind.
“Bet he makes a move on you soon,” she said, sounding amused. “Are there going to be Akio smoochies in your future?”
“Maybe,” I admitted.
“Sweet! Be sure and string him along some more first, though. We don’t want him thinking you’re a sure thing.”
“I’m not,” I insisted.
“Uh huh. I can see that blush fighting to come out, Alice. He’s got you all hot and bothered.”
“What makes you think it’s his fault?” I asked. “You’re the one who’s all snuggled up to me.”
She gave me an astonished look. I giggled, and kissed her. Her lips were soft and sweet against mine.
“Oops, end of the line.”
She had to let me go so we could land, and then we were surrounded by marines. I grinned at her, and moved out of the way so people could come down behind us.
Mistress? She commed. Are you.. I mean, I thought you didn’t… um…
I can’t let some sinister yakuza guy get further with me than my own companion, can I? I replied.
She beamed. Guess not. Thank you, Alice. I was starting to worry we’d gotten out of sync somehow.
Sorry, Emla. No, I’ve just had a lot on my mind. But we need to get serious now. There’s no telling what kind of danger could be lurking down here, and we can’t just assume the inugami will find everything. We’ll talk more when we get home, okay?
Okay, she replied breathlessly.