Birch sent someone to the roof, while Harriet crouched behind the outer barricade and steadied her weapon. There was a bang on the front doors, and she risked a quick look over the dusty old file boxes. Harriet frowned as she saw a small fabric bag nestled against the glass, and then she saw pulses of light from within. Instead of throwing one grenade, the enemy had thrown a whole bag of the things. "Dave, get down!" she shouted, and she crouched, covering her head with her arms.
There was a tremendous explosion, this one too much for the reinforced doors. Broken glass showered the office, and the force of the explosion filled the air with smoking fragments of files and paperwork. The blast almost toppled the barricade, and the explosion left Harriet stunned and disoriented. There was no time to recover though, because multi-coloured blaster shots lanced through the smoke. Harriet fired back, aiming just above the source of the shots, calmly shooting at one attacker after another. Birch opened fire from the other end of the barricade, and their cross-fire was enough to hold the enemy back. For now.
The smoke from the explosion cleared, and Harriet saw the attackers caught in the open. She dropped two of them, and the rest were on the point of running when a van skidded to a halt in the street, soaking up Harriet's fire. The enemy took advantage of the cover, and soon their shots were getting uncomfortably close despite the darkness. Every time Harriet fired, a dozen shots blasted her position, the enemy firing at the flashes from her gun.
"We have to fall back!" shouted Birch, firing his weapon repeatedly. His shots splashed on the van harmlessly, and he cursed as he fired again and again.
"We can't let them in," said Harriet grimly. She saw someone aiming at Birch through the van's shattered windows, and she loosed off a couple of shots which quickly changed the attacker's mind. He rose again, aiming directly at her, and then she saw him vanish as her shot went home. For the first time in her life, Harriet appreciated the long hours of practice Bernie put her through at the shooting range.
The weapon grew hot in her grip, and she risked a look at the charge indicator. It was in the red, and she felt a chill at the sight. Before long she'd be out, and then the enemy would overrun them. She glanced round and saw Timms in the doorway behind her. "What's happening with that robot?" shouted Harriet.
"They're not ready. I think they're—"
"He's got to be ready, or we're sunk."
"Very well, dear. I'll tell them to hurry up."
Harriet fired again, then ducked a volley of shots. The enemy had the numbers, and she released it was hopeless. Even Scrap couldn't save them now, and their only hope was Alice … and Bernie.
— ♦ —
"Dismolle five minutes ahead," said Arnie. "Hold on, I'm adjusting course to avoid the spaceport's exclusion zone."
The ship banked gently, and Alice saw the city laid out ahead of them. It was too far to make out the buildings, but she knew the Peace Force station was somewhere in the middle of the grey mass. "Have you ever been to Dismolle?" she asked Ben.
He shook his head. "I've never left Chirless."
"Well, the city's a bit bigger, but the station's identical." Alice pointed through the canopy. "Spaceport's over there. We have to stay clear, else they'll shoot us down."
"Really?"
"That's what they say, but I'm not testing it out. I mean, you can land there with permission of course. You just can't take a joyride through the place." The ship altered course again, heading directly for the centre of the city. Through the side of the canopy Alice could see broad fields laid out below, with big automated machines harvesting the crops that fed the people of Dismolle. It was an impressive sight, but she'd seen better. Ben, on the other hand, had his face pressed to the canopy as he soaked up every moment of the flight. Alice smiled at that - she'd grown up on her uncle's freighter, travelling from planet to planet, docking at space stations and more. Broad vistas weren't exactly novel to her.
A few moments later they lost altitude, banked sharply, and then set down on roof of the Dismolle Peace Force station. "Right, let's get Bernie," said Alice.
"Do you want me to wait here?" asked Ben. He sounded nervous, and Alice hid a smile. He certainly wasn't impatient to meet the big Peace Force robot.
"All right, wait up here. I'll fetch her."
Alice left the ship and took the elevator to the ground floor. "Hey Bernie. I'm back!"
There was no reply, and she took the stairs to the basement and walked along the firing range to the storage area at the far end. When she got there, she looked into the big yellow recharging cradle, but it was empty. Frowning, Alice made her way back to the ground floor. "BERNIE!"
No answer.
She checked the canteen, even though the robot never used it. The locker room and staff room were both empty too. "Where the hell is she?" muttered Alice. Then she smiled. The garage! Bernie sometimes tinkered with Steve, the patrol car, and it was the only likely place left. She pulled open the door to the garage … and stopped. Not only was Bernie missing, the patrol car was absent as well.
"Great. Just great," muttered Alice. The robot must be on a call, and the timing couldn't have been worse. Then she frowned. Were Darting's people messing them around, calling the Dismolle branch and reporting fake crimes to get Bernie out the way?
Alice reached for her commset and tried Bernie, hanging up as soon as she heard the beginning of a recorded message. Next she checked the computers for
