was the fact that the ring’s green gemstone was lit from within and seemed to fl?icker as the sensitive moved it from left to right. Norr noticed the phenomenon as well. “Look!” she exclaimed. “It’s brightest when I point it at the second passageway from the left.”
“At least that gives us something to go on,” Rebo acknowledged. “Let’s see where that tunnel leads.”
The twosome entered the passageway designated as DR2N. It began to turn as streaks of refl?ected light washed back over tiled walls, and they heard unintelligible shouts off in the distance. Then, just as Rebo and Norr rounded a curve, there was a disturbance up ahead. Half a dozen blue lights appeared as Pyra’s lum bugs soared out of a ventilation duct, sought the white lights below, and opened fi?re. Each robot was armed with a nose- mounted laser. Their energy weapons made sizzling sounds as they targeted the tomb raiders below. Shouts of pain were heard as some of the energy bolts struck home, quickly followed by the stutter of a submachine gun, and the deliberate bang, bang, bang of a semiautomatic carbine. “Uh-oh,” Rebo said grimly, as the squeeze light was returned to its holster. “It looks like we have company. . . . Keep your light handy—but let it go dark.”
Norr complied, but if the runner hoped to escape notice, the plan didn’t work. Even as one of the airborne lum bugs exploded, another broke away from the battle with the tomb raiders and hurried to intercept two additional heat signatures before they could do damage to the city beyond. Rebo had drawn both handguns by that time, but rather than pepper the quickly advancing machine with 9mm slugs, opened up with the Sokov instead. The six-shot dart gun bucked in Rebo’s hand as the fi?rst self-propelled round left the barrel, deployed its stabilizing fi?ns, and accelerated away. The dart hit the lum bug head-on, smashed through the robot’s outer “skin,” and detonated within. There was a red-orange explosion as the machine came apart, followed by a wild clatter, as bits of metal sprayed the immediate area. Then came a satisfying crash as what remained of the construct hit the pavement and skidded for ten feet before fi?nally coming to a stop. But there was no reason to celebrate because two additional units were on the way. Bursts of ruby red energy stitched black scorch marks onto the duracrete where the humans had been standing moments before as the wily intruders ducked into an alcove marked fi?re fi?ghting station 89. Rebo stood ready to attack the machines the moment they appeared, but Norr had doubts about the runner’s ability to destroy the fi?rst robot before the second machine could fi?re, and took matters into her own hands by dashing out into the center of the passageway. Rebo swore, fi?red the Sokov for the second time, and was rewarded with another explosion. Then, even as the runner swung the handgun around to acquire the second target, Norr charged straight for it. The sword, which was held high, came down with all the strength the sensitive could muster. And because the edge of the blade had been made from a single “stretched” molecule—it cut through the lum bug’s fi? ber-composite body like a hot knife through butter. There was a loud bang, followed by a brilliant discharge of electricity, and a clatter as both halves of the robot landed on the pavement.
A beam of light came into existence as Rebo shifted the Sokov into his right hand and began to pump the squeeze light with his left. A blob of illumination wobbled over the machine’s burned-out remains before turning toward Norr.
“That was a stupid thing to do,” the runner observed darkly.
“What am I supposed to do if you go and get yourself killed?”
“You could fi?nd yourself another sensitive,” Norr replied lightly. “One who’s a lot less demanding. Come on— Sogol is somewhere up ahead.”
There were no sounds other than the steady click-whir of their squeeze lights, and the soft scuffl?e of their footsteps as the twosome advanced down the passageway and past the point where the earlier battle had been fought. The fl?oor was slick with blood, and two of the three dead men were still present, standing over their badly charred bodies. They weren’t sure what to do, and the sensitive was tempted to stop and help them, but knew she should focus on fi?nding the all-important AI. The green gemstone glowed brightly as the passageway terminated in front of a raised loading dock. Stairs led up to a fl?at surface where bodies had been stacked during the early days of the plague before eventually disintegrating to a heap of bones.
The runner followed a badly faded yellow line back to an open door and the narrow corridor beyond. “The ring is getting warmer!” Norr proclaimed as she gripped the object in her hand. “I think we’re almost there.”
“Good,” Rebo responded soberly. “The sooner we can get out of this place, the better.” Then, as if to underline the truth of the runner’s statement, one of the tomb raiders screamed.
Intelligent though she was, Sogol failed to recognize the trap for what it was until she was inside it. Though unable to prevent the AI from opening a section of the city to the tomb raiders, Pyra had been able to carry out projections based on past behaviors and positioned her robots accordingly. So, as One-Two slithered into the sector served by Ramp-47, the computer discovered that her forces were being systematically slaughtered. Once cornered, the lightly armored utility bots were easy prey for the fl?ying lum bugs, which seemed determined to eradicate the multilegged creatures as they scuttled for cover. Lasers stuttered as the killers pursued their unarmed prey down darkened aisles, around corners, and between dusty storage modules. At least fi?fteen of Sogol’s machines had been taken off-line by the time the AI entered Storage Facility-972, and more were being destroyed with each passing minute. And, because each robot was analogous to a nerve ending, One-Two processed something akin to pain as her functionaries died. But the real target, from Pyra’s perspective at any rate, was Sogol herself. Who, though extremely small, could be
“seen” electronically as she sent signals to her robotic minions. And it was then, having established the AI’s exact coordinates, that Pyra ordered her lum bugs to attack the high-priority target. Energy beams sizzled as they crisscrossed the duracrete fl?oor, and the air grew thick with the stench of ozone as the golden serpent propelled herself toward a shelving unit and the inviting darkness that lay below it. But Sogol knew she wouldn’t be able to make it, and had already prepared herself for an ignominious death, when the fi?rst of the tomb raiders charged into the warehouse. Having already survived one lum bug attack, the humans were in no mood to leave themselves open to a second assault, and immediately opened fi?re on the fl?ying robots. But the lum bugs answered, and there was a piercing scream as an energy beam took a tomb raider’s arm off at the shoulder and cauterized the wound as part of the process. One of the fl?ying machines staggered as a hail of bullets struck it, drifted off course, and made violent contact with a second machine. Both robots exploded, light strobed the grimy walls, and avaricious humans fl?ooded down the aisles. Some continued to do battle with the lum bugs, even as others scooped artifacts off the surrounding shelves and hurried to stuff the loot into large duffel bags. And that was when Rebo and Norr entered the bloody fray. Tracers drew lines through the murk. A lum bug vanished in a bright bang, and razor-sharp shrapnel fl?ew every which way. “The ring is starting to cool,” Norr warned, as the off-worlders worked their way along a laser-scorched wall. “Let’s turn back!”
Sogol had been dimly aware of the ring’s presence for some time. But now that the artifact was in the same room with her, it seemed to glow like the external sun. Having taken refuge beneath one of the artifact-laden shelving units, the AI hurried to close with the ring and the people who possessed it.
In the meantime the airborne machines were well on their way to winning the battle with the tomb raiders when Rebo opened fi?re with the Sokov. One lum bug exploded, and was quickly followed by a second, and a third. And it was then, just as the last electromechanical carcass hit the debris-littered fl?oor, that Norr felt something cold wrap itself around her left ankle. The sensation was so disconcerting that the sensitive bent over to grab it, felt whatever the thing was slither up her arm, and had just wrapped her fi?ngers around a slim body when she found herself looking into the eyes of a snake. The serpent’s voice was all out of proportion to her small size. “Are you the ones Emperor Hios sent to get me?”
