“Light touch?” said Jolo.
“Watch and marvel.” Katy said, a few minutes later back at the tower. Then she reached into the hover craft’s storage box and pulled out a standard issue Fed energy rifle and six zirkanite charges. Jolo leaned on the Scout and watched Katy do her thing. He decided he could enjoy watching her doing just about anything. She moved gracefully, long legs and nice curves, pony tail catching the soft breeze.
She looked back at him. “You zonin’ or what?” she said, holding a zirka charge in one hand.
“Get to it already,” said Jolo.
“Six charges the rock miners use, available anywhere on Duval, and an energy weapon. We want a way that don’t require any high-tech. Stuff that most boats would have on hand. And who ain’t got zirka and a gun?”
Katy stepped lightly around to the back of the tower and planted the biggest charge a few meters away from the back door. Then she put the five other charges at the base of the tower. When the charges were set she grabbed the rifle.
“This is the tricky part,” she said. Jolo just smiled and waved. When she turned to face the tower he stood and pulled out the Colt, took a few steps toward her. He knew what was coming out next.
Katy fired once at the front door and sure enough, the little warning bot popped out and she knocked it out with one shot, nothing left but a burn mark. And that was the easy part. A few seconds later though, right on cue, both laser bots emerged from either side, both tracking a crazy, high-speed pattern in the air above her, homing in for the kill. Katy opened fire immediately. She got the first one on the fourth shot but the second one proved a little more difficult. It gained altitude, got lost in the clouds, then came in from another angle. On the third pass, it cut a path on the ground near Katy’s foot and Jolo had seen enough. He waited for it to come back and he killed it with one shot.
“What’d you do that for!” Katy yelled, sweaty and breathing hard.
“Because I really didn’t come here to watch you get cut in half by a tiny little BG bot. You think I got issues now. That woulda pushed me over the edge,” said Jolo. She looked back at him, and her face, at first screwed up tight in frustration, slowly melted into a grin. Jolo couldn’t help but smile. He had an urge to run to her. But what would I do then? he thought.
The little round bot had rolled on the ground and bounced off the base of the tower. Katy blew it up with one shot, little bits of burning alacyte on the sand.
The rear charge took out the big bot. The explosion lifted the giant ball off the ground and it crashed down, shaking the ground under their feet.
“Let’s go,” said Jolo.
“What about the tower?” said Katy.
“You’re plan is good, but needs a little tweaking.” Jolo took them to another tower and had Katy lay the charges again just like the last one. But before she fired the wake up shot at the door, Jolo unveiled his modified plan.
“The problem is that you’re trying to hit a high-speed moving target. Those little bots’ll cut down half of Duval’s population before any towers fall, so here’s a slight modification.” He jumped out of the Scout, reached into the box and pulled out a magna-hook and some cable. “So now the tower busting parts list reads: six zirka charges, an energy weapon, one manga-hook and some cable. All readily available. Oh, and a big stick.” Jolo found long metal rod and drove it into the ground near the front door, then put the magna-hook on top and walked back to the hover craft. “Now knock on the door,” he said.
Katy fired once at the door, then shot the warning bot. The two laser droids jumped out flew around in a wild pattern and then instantly targeted the hook. One got close and Jolo flipped the switch and THONK, the magna-hook jerked it off its trajectory and the little round ball stuck to the hook. The second one came to investigate and it, too, got plastered to the surface of the big electro-magnet. Both lasers were shooting out in odd directions. But it was easy for Katy to destroy them both with the rifle.
Then the back door started rumbling and the large ball rolled out, but before the legs extended fully it hit the zirca charge and blew up.
“Why don’t the bots target us?”
“We’re too far away and I juiced up the hook before I put it on top so the bots would have a heat sig. They know it ain’t human, but will want to check it out.”
“That’s good. Now for part two,” said Katy.
She told Jolo to stand back and then she set off the base charges. The ground shoot under their feet and the whole tower creaked and leaned forward slightly, but still stood tall, everything covered in dust. Then she and Jolo jumped back into the Scout.
Hover craft are designed to stay half a meter off the surface, but can gain about thirty meters of altitude if you push it. Katy grabbed the magna-hook they used for the bots, then gained as much height as she could and threw the hook at the tower.
“This is gonna be fun,” she said, gently bringing the little boat down to the surface then heading away from the tower, alacyte cable feeding out. “Gotta have about 80 meters or so of cable so the
