Alice opened the door and knelt on the rear seat. Bernie was sitting bolt upright, her eyeplate blank, a charge cable running from the inside of the car to her hip. "Bernie? Wake up!"
There was no reply.
Alice reached for the robot's shoulder, intending to shake her. Then she decided against it. First, she doubted she could move the huge robot by hand. And second, Bernie might wake with a start, decide Alice was a threat, and tear her arm off. "Steve, can you communicate with her? Tell her to wake up?"
"No chance. She's completely out of it."
Alice frowned. There was no way of getting Bernie out of the cruiser, and she couldn't transport the whole car to Chirless. "How long until her alarm goes off?"
"About fifteen hours."
"Harriet might be dead by then." Alice saw Ben nearby, looking sullen. "I'm sorry, all right? Now stop sulking and give me a hand."
Ben looked like he was going to argue, but in the end he relented. "What do you want me to do?"
"We've got to get her out of the car, move her to the ship and tie her to the ladder."
"Sure, no problem. She can't weigh more than a ton."
"Nearly three tons, actually," said Steve helpfully.
"I don't care if it's ten tons," said Alice. "We've got to try." She glanced at the ship, gauging the distance. "Steve, can you sort of drive up fast, skid sideways, and tip her out?"
"I'm not even going to reply to that," said the car.
"My sister is going to die!" shouted Alice. "Stop fussing about stupid things, and help!" She grabbed the charge cable and pulled the plug from the socket, then took hold of Bernie's shoulders and tried to haul the robot bodily from the car. She'd barely moved the robot an inch when Bernie's eyeplate lit up, and the familiar red lines appeared.
"Trainee Alice, what are you doing?"
"Oh, thank goodness," breathed Alice. She backed out of the car and stood up. "We need you in Chirless, Bernie. Like, now. We've got to fly you there."
Bernie turned her head and inspected the fighter parked in the layby. "I cannot board such a small vessel."
"Yeah, but you can hold onto the ladder."
"Who came up with that idea?"
"Harriet."
"Hmm." Bernie got out of the car, and together they crossed to the fighter.
"I'll just wait here," Steve called out to them.
Bernie ignored him. Instead, she gripped the ladder with her giant hands, and the metal groaned as she tested its strength. Then she put her foot on the lowest rung and pressed down, and Alice winced as the metal creaked. "It may be strong enough," said the robot at last. "Let us proceed to Chirless."
Alice motioned Ben aboard, then followed him into the ship.
"I'm fine," said Steve. "It's a nice layby. I can chill."
Alice waited until Bernie was holding onto the ladder, and once the robot was satisfied she took her seat. "All set?" she shouted.
"You may proceed," called Bernie, her voice echoing up the access ladder. "But you must employ a steady hand on the controls, or the ladder will be torn out of the ship."
"Got it," shouted Alice, and she fired up the engines. The ship rose slowly into the evening sky, and then she eased the throttles forward, clenching her teeth as the speed increased. She could almost picture the ladder bending backwards, Bernie clinging to the rungs, and she just hoped they'd make it to Chirless in one piece.
Moments later they were rocketing along at full speed. There was a deafening whistle as the headwind tore across the open hatch, and only a robot could have clung to the ladder under such conditions. Alice was tempted to put the ship on autopilot and check Bernie was still there, but before she could undo her harness the robot's voice came through the console speakers, patched in by Arnie.
"The ship will pass low over the Peace Force building," said Bernie. "Don't try and land, you're just going to skim the rooftop at fifty knots."
"Why, what are you going to do?"
"I will let go, of course. And the moment I do, Arnie will pull up and fly evasive manoeuvres, thus avoiding enemy fire."
"Are you sure? It sounds a bit dangerous."
"I will time my release to enable the best possible landing. And I have already programmed the entire procedure, so you may as well release the controls."
Alice had heard about Bernie's programming before, from Harriet, and she decided to keep one hand on the stick just in case. It would be just typical if the robot's map of the city wasn't up to date, and they knocked down a comms tower or something.
"Chirless ahead," said Ben.
Alice glanced at him. "Sorry about before. I got a bit tense."
"No problem. I felt the same when they attacked Pops."
"Hey, when Bernie gets amongst them, it's going to be awesome. They'll run like rats."
"Do you really think we can kick them out of Chirless?"
"Of course!"
They saw the city ahead, and the fighter began to lose altitude. Soon they were skimming the rooftops, and as the blocky Peace Force building appeared ahead of them, the ship slowed. Alice brought up a display from the nose camera, and they kept an eye out for the enemy. She expected to come under fire any second, and she just hoped the enemy hadn't got their hands on anything more powerful than handguns.
The building loomed large, nestled between several apartment blocks, and then everything happened at once. As they approached the building, Alice saw men and vehicles in the streets below. Some of them pointed, and then the sky lit up with blaster fire as they opened up.
The ship flew lower and lower, until it seemed they would crash into the station. Then, at the last second, the nose came up and the thrusters fired, slowing their speed to a crawl, just a metre or two above the roof.
A burst of fire hit the ship, but it splashed harmlessly on the armour. More
