Short Story: Whisper…

Short Story: Whisper…

The panel of the air lock slid across, and the blue light of its interior beckoned Sima to enter its curving form. The door panel rotated briskly behind him, and he set the laser rifle down at his feet as he entered. Blood continued to trickle along his arm, and on to the floor. He pressed the com-pack, and turned his head down to the mike that still clung to his torn vest.

"…Moments," he said softly, "there are only moments now, Jeri," and he pushed his weary body into the corner of the air lock, and slipped slowly to the floor.

" …I’ve tried everything, but nothing can stop it, it seems to have lost its mind, and there’s no reasoning or logic that will stop it – it means to kill us all…"

A mighty thud crashed onto the outside of the air lock, and then another.

"He’s on me already, Jeri! You have to get to the shuttle-bay! Go now, it’s your only chance – I’ll try and hold him off as long as I can, but hurry! …I can’t last much longer – go now while he’s occupied – quickly!"

The wall panels within the air lock shook, and plastic sealant trim fell to the floor in a fine shower under the onslaught. The temperature of the thinning air was rising rapidly as the life-support systems within the complex began to break down. Another mighty blow thudded into the chamber, and Sima fell onto his back. Through the tangle of his black hair he saw that the door seal was being prised open slowly, and the shining metal of a robot’s claw began to chew mercilessly into the steel of the door with the cutting edge of its proboscis. With unflinching power, the robot began to force a small opening between the doors, and proceeded to cut deeply into the twisting metal and plastic of the air lock.

"Sim, I’m in the corridor outside, and I’ve a clear shot at him, get back from the door, I’m going to try this thing on full power."

"…No! …Don’t fire that in here, you’ll blow the side of the Dome out; that’s a mining bore-gun, you’ll be killed in the back-blast - don’t do it Jeri! Just get away, while you can. …Get to the Shuttle, and start the launch sequence."

"I can’t leave you here, with that thing! I have to try…"

Karbooom!!

The whole building shook and Sima was thrown against a bulkhead, as a violent explosion tore through the corridor in a haze of yellow flame. The release of energy from the mining-gun tore through the Dome, and down into the bedrock of the Moon onto which it was bolted.

The large mass of the robot turned its ‘head’ in one movement to face the blast, whilst continuing to cut its way into the air-lock. Its ‘head’ consisted of a wide silver pyramid with two long black stripes, that ran vertically from the apex to the broad bell of its lower edge, and the stripes twinkled and flashed with sensors and probes.

The whole of the outer corridor was ripped to pieces in the blast, and as the dust and air began to clear, control cables and conduits hung down in a tangle of twisted wreckage and debris. Air pressure began rushing through a breech in the outer walls and a cascade of sparks flew through gaping holes.

The robot had already fired a harpoon-anchor into the fabric of the adjacent steel wall, and remained unmoved by the blast, and simply rotated its head to its original position. It continued working its long cutting arm into the flesh of the yielding air lock. Sima picked up the laser rifle and fired fully through the small opening at the robot, and continued firing until the power cartridge was empty, and eventually let the rifle slip from his fingers.

"Jeri! …Jeri!"

"…It’s alright Sim – I’m alright, I’m in the armoury, but I don’t think there is anything left in here that we haven’t already tried."

The sentinel robot retracted the anchor at lightning speed, and pushed its mass against the buckling wall of the air lock. It continued to barge into the opening doors and forced a second telescopic arm through the aperture. The end of the second arm produced a high spinning cutting wheel that tore through the opening, flinging shards of metal in all directions. The rotating cutting blade increased speed and noise to reach a high fever pitch of air-searing agony.

Sima pushed his hands to his ears, which felt at bursting point, and he wriggled himself across the floor. He moved away from the approaching cutting blade that seemed intent upon slicing through his retreating flesh. He was well aware of the lethal threat of the approaching cutting disk, as it had already impaled the Commander and the Co-pilot. Their lives had been lost in the last attempt to subdue the lone sentinel guard of the Dome, and they had been quickly and efficiently dispatched from life in a bloodied heap.

Jeri pushed her way through the fallen debris and tangle of cables that hung down in long loops from the roof void, and neared the silver robot. She pulled a heavy chunk of metal from the wall and raised it up to her full height, and hurled it at the great silver back of the robot. The heavy piece of metal thudded into the shining back of the robot, but it bounced harmlessly to the floor. The robot continued unimpeded upon its purpose, and maintained the advance of the spinning blade.

"Oh! …Sim!"

Sima pushed his torso away from the cutting and shrieking blade that now began to flick into the fabric of his tunic. He braced himself for the final tearing and awaited the searing agony.

"Sim…"

Spurts of blood flowed down Sima’s chest, and he winced at the flicking cutting blade that chewed up his vest.

A blur crossed the floor at low level, and the squeak of a rat was barely audible, as it fled the burning stench of the smouldering structure, to disappear into a hole in the shattered wall. At once the deadly cutting blade stopped rotating, and the telescopic nature of the robot’s arm began to recoil.

A metallic voice spoke, "Command accepted – reset initiated."

Sima opened his eyes, slid his battered body across the floor, and slowly raised himself to his knees and glared at the unmoving face of the robot. Jeri ran to his side and supported his bodyweight, and in moments the couple were locked in an unending embrace.

"What happened?" quizzed Sima at length, "he just stopped – four hours of battling that damned thing, and then it just stopped."

"I don’t know, maybe its programme has run down, or something. Come on, let’s get out of here while we are still in one piece – it might wake up again."

The couple staggered down through the damaged and battle-scarred Dome, and picked their way carefully through the ruined building to the Shuttle bay. Sima pressed the large initiator button, and the Shuttle sprang into life. He turned to the young woman at his side and smiled. "You know, sentinel robots are left alone for years, as guard dogs in these installations. …I don’t know why this one went berserk, but it would sure drive me crazy, if I had no-one to talk to out here…"