Chapter 21
"Scrap," whispered Flint. There was a clang as he dropped his slingshot, and before anyone could stop him he darted around the barricade and ran towards the street. Harriet was closest, and she caught up with him in the doorway, dragging him back inside just as the enemy spotted him and opened fire. Their shots went wide, and Harriet saw Birch aiming into the street. She heard the vicious hum of a ball bearing as it tore past, and there was a cry of pain behind her. The rest of the Peace Force veterans opened fire too, and Harriet took the chance to manhandle Flint back to safety.
"I have to go to him," protested the old man.
"You will," Harriet promised him. "But not until the street's clear."
She handed Flint over to McCluskey, then took up her slingshot. She only had three ball bearings left, and when she checked with the others she discovered everyone was short of ammo. Her gun was long since dead, and the next attack could very well be the last.
Harriet ducked as a ship roared over the station, so low she hadn't even heard its approach. At first she thought the enemy had brought their freighter back, packed with more men and equipment, and her heart sank as she realised the situation had gone from desperate to hopeless. Then she saw the men in the street firing into the sky, and her spirits rose. Alice!
"Drive them away from the building!" shouted Harriet. "Alice can't land if they're shooting at her. Fire! Fire with everything you have!"
She drew back, took aim at a gun flash, and fired. The figure in the street was just a shadow, but she saw them go down, bent double in pain, and she aimed at another shooter and hit them too. Then she fired her last ball and tossed the slingshot aside. "Grab whatever you can from the barricade. We're going to charge them!"
Birch stood up, tore the leg from a broken table, and brandished it at the doorway, roaring at the top of his voice. Others followed suit, and they were about to rush outside to face the enemy when Harriet turned towards the inner door. "Wait! Quiet, everyone!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"What's that?" asked Timms, her voice loud in the sudden quiet.
The steady thumping noise got louder, and Harriet felt the floor shaking underfoot with every impact. It seemed to be coming from behind them, inside the station, and Harriet felt a huge rush of relief as she recognised the sound. "Oh, you beauty!" she whispered.
Thud, thud, THUD!
Bernie came striding through the door, her head barely clearing the lintel. She nodded briefly at Harriet, but her eyes were busy scanning the environment. The room, the makeshift barricade, the shattered doors … and the enemy outside. Bernie evaluated them all, then strode straight through the middle of the barricade and walked out through the front doors, leaving a trail of broken furniture in her wake.
"What the hell was that?" demanded Caldavir, as he stared after the robot.
"Darting's worse nightmare," muttered Harriet.
The enemy saw - and heard - Bernie coming, and they started firing, but their shots bounced of the robot harmlessly. Some backed away, uncertain, then turned tail and ran.
Bernie reached Scrap, who was still lying in the middle of the road, and Harriet saw the big robot looking down at their fallen ally. Then Bernie bent down, picked up a loose piece of concrete from Alice's earlier attack, and hurled it at one of the vans.
The side of the vehicle imploded, the force of the blow almost tipping the van over. Bernie reached for another chunk of concrete and the enemy scattered. Vans drove off, trailing tyre smoke, and in the bedlam Bernie managed to hit another couple of vehicles.
One of the drivers, braver than the rest, decided to take the robot on. His van turned sharply, veered towards the middle of the road, and aimed straight at Bernie and accelerated wildly. The big robot turned to face it, and Harriet could see the men inside urging the vehicle onwards, could see the anticipation on their faces as they prepared to run the robot down.
Bernie had no time to get out of the way. The van was travelling too fast for that. Instead, she leaned forward and braced for the impact. Harriet watched in horror, a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She'd already seen one robot crushed under the wheels of a van, and now it seemed she was about to witness another.
At the last second, just before the van stuck, Bernie drew back her right arm, clenched her fingers into a massive fist, and punched the front of the vehicle with the force of a pile driver. There was a sickening crunch as the entire front of the van crumpled, the men inside hurled against their restraints by the sudden stop. The van actually bounced off Bernie's armour plated shell, scattering broken glass, and as it came to rest Bernie leapt forward with a savage roar. Stretching her arms wide, she gripped the pillars either side of the shattered windscreen and picked the van up, hurling it across the road with a howl of rage.
Sparks flew as the ruined van skidded along the tarmac, and there was a crunch as it smashed into the apartment building. Bernie ran after it, her footsteps shaking the ground, arriving just as the occupants clambered out of the broken windows and fled.
Bernie tore off the nearest wheel and sent it flying down the road, bowling the men over like ninepins. They got up, saw Bernie tear off another wheel,
