“Sir?” Igrain called again. “Shields are weakening and our crystalic power is dwindling dangerously. Like Lot said, we’re not made for this kind of maneuvering. Sir!”
The ship twitched again and breaking metal screamed, followed by a loud hissing sound. Uther stood petrified.
“Morgause, jump us around the planet,” Galois yelled from the front near the large view screen. “Lot, make sure that Vortigern doesn’t fire any form of photon or astral rocket. Igrain, chart us a descent based on the planet’s weather. Find us some clouds and a lot of water.”
Immediately, everyone buzzed to work. Uther felt his stomach loosen and his heart sink. He hadn’t known what to do. Constans would have known. He would never let things get this bad. Their father would be disappointed in Uther. He could almost feel his chiding eyes staring down at him.
“Detaching now,” Lot confirmed. A jolt rocked them and all sectors on the ship’s map showed up in green. Everyone had evacuated, ready to leave 90% of their home behind. It turned into a devastating maneuver. The chances of retrieving what they lost dropped rapidly.
“Merlin, what do I do?” Uther whispered. The D.R.U.I.D stood next to him, but did not speak for a moment.
“There are others like me on the planet. Find them and they will defend us against Vortigern,” he said.
Uther looked up, confused and a little concerned. “We’re to eradicate the D.R.U.I.Ds once we arrive,” he said. “It is my father’s instructions. I was hesitant at first, but now I know you’re an android…”
“We are not!” Merlin said, uncrossing his arms. “There is more to us than that. Though the working droids on Camelot are not the same as me, they are my kin by blood. I cannot let you destroy them all.” He relaxed a little. “You will be ruler of this new planet. Can you not find ways of having humans and this alien race live in peace? We are flesh and blood like you. We have insides like you save for what was made by human hands.”
Now Uther grew even more confused. “I thought you were all machine.”
Merlin shook his head and fixed his ghostly blue eyes on the view screen. “We are part machine, part being.”
“Ready to enter atmosphere!” Morgause yelled to her father.
“Jump!” Galois ordered. “Everyone, hold on!”
With a sudden burst, the ship thrust forward at near light speed. Those who were not sitting were flattened to the floor with screams and muffled crunches. The pressure made everyone’s ears pop and stomachs flop. The feeling vanished in an instant. Suddenly half a dozen little space pirate ships identified by their solar sails sped before them. They headed to the moon Lothian. Behind them, visible like snowflakes, were the remnants of their life. Just like that, everything they knew was gone.
“Most likely trying to escape us,” Igrain said sympathetically as the ship sped toward the new planet. “And the battle we’ve brought them already.”
“Shall I dispatch them?” Lot said with a smile.
“No,” Galois said. “Let them be. We cannot even prosecute them until we set up our settlement. Until then, it is not our moon.”
“We’ve lost Vortigern,” Lot informed them, his finger still poised over the trigger.
The shields were just enough to make it through the atmosphere safely. But like Galois had said, they were still traveling too fast despite the shortness of the jump. The earth zoomed closer, faster than they could react.
“Engage the rocket brakes!” Uther screamed. He suddenly felt braver now they were out of the great, black vacuum of space.
“Bank to the right,” Merlin added.
“We don’t have enough power,” Morgause answered in fear as the ground rose up to meet them. Any minute, a great impact would shatter the ship.
“Do as he says!” Uther barked.
The great ship flipped to the right and a huge, blue lake suddenly appeared in their line of sight.
“Prepare life rafts!” Galois yelled as he pulled his wife away from the front of the ship and the rest of the crew fled to the back of the bridge and ducked down, holding on for life. “Civilians check!”
“Secured,” Igrain screamed as she clung to her husband.
With another, more striking jolt, the view screen flickered, erupted into static, then went totally black along with all the lights and alarms that had been screaming seconds before. Below, four thousand souls screamed in unison.
But the impact and rushing water never came. The metal screamed, bending and breaking as the ship slowed down and then ultimately floated over the silent lake. The ships halted as if a soft, invisible force caught them lightly, holding them safe. The view screen blipped back to life and all the crew gaped at what they saw.
The ship must have been pointing down at the lake as though it were going to dive right in, but now hovered perfectly suspended in mid fall. The force holding the ship came from a giant, humanoid mecha robot before them, its arms outstretched to catch the ship should it fall. The mecha must have been fifteen meters tall and looked to weigh about twenty tons with the armor and weaponry equipped to it. It had a face and where the eyes would have been were mirror glass where no doubt a pilot sat in control.
Everyone breathed hard and stared at the beautiful blue and white robot that had saved them.
“Sir, a transmission from the mecha,” Igrain said from her station, her voice still shaky.
Uther waved it through and a lovely, deep, female voice spoke.
“Constantine IV, I presume,” it said. “I am Vivian, the D.R.U.I.D who oversaw the building of your new and great city. I have been resting these past years in my laboratory but as you can see, we have been flooded out.”
“Scan the lake,” Uther commanded Galois who immediately obeyed.
“There is a huge reactor and facility underwater,” he answered. “Looks like it got flooded out decades ago. She’s
