"We're here for weapons, not a bunch of paperwork," said Alice.
"Those are the plans," said Moira. "Worthy's been collecting the rest of the gear." She looked Alice up and down. "I hope you've got a van or something. There's quite a lot."
"I'm sure we'll manage."
They headed into the back garden, then round the side to the carport, where Moira turned the lights on, illuminating a big pile of equipment set against a nearby wall. There were several power tools Alice didn't recognise, along with drills and grinders, and there were bundles of metal rod and strapping, lengths of timber and coils of wire rope. To one side there were a couple of wooden crates, and when she looked inside she saw a couple of crossbows and a bundle of feathered bolts with very sharp points.
Her heart sank as she saw it all, and she realised it was going to take a lot longer than an hour to get it all back to Chirless. "Can you thin this out a bit? We're in a real hurry."
"I could, but we'd probably have to come back again," said Moira.
"Wait a minute, what do you mean 'we'? I'm only taking your robot."
"The hell you are," said Moira firmly. "You need my expertise."
"But we're in the middle of a war!"
"All the more reason. Who else is going to turn this lot into weapons?"
"Fine, suit yourself," said Alice with a shrug. "Now, do you have a trolley or something? We've got to get this out front."
"Can you bring your transport through the garage?"
Alice eyed the back garden. "Not through, exactly, but I can certainly get it a bit closer."
— ♦ —
It took well over an hour to load the equipment, complicated by the fact they had to saw most of the planks up to get them into the ship. Worthy helped, losing his snooty butler manner as he used a hand saw to slice through the hardwood like butter, his hand moving so fast it was a blur. Ben held the timber down for the robot, bracing it with one foot to hold it steady.
As time dragged on, Alice grew more and more restless. She wanted to call Harriet, to check on everyone, but there was still a risk the enemy was listening in. She just hoped there hadn't been any more attacks while she was away.
Finally they were ready, and Alice closed the hatch and led the others to the flight deck. She put Moira and Worthy into the passenger seats, ensured their harnesses were secure, then sat next to Ben up front.
"Where's the pilot?" asked Worthy.
Alice gave him a smile. "That'd be me."
"You're not old enough," protested the robot. "It takes at least five years to obtain a license, and you can't be more than sixteen."
"Yeah, but I don't have a license." Alice started the engines, drowning out Worthy's frantic reply, and before the robot could unbuckle himself and leap from the ship, they were airborne. The house vanished behind them as they shot towards the city, and before long the leafy suburbs had disappeared, replaced with warehouses and buildings. There were fewer streetlights, but Arnie had every millimetre of the city plotted out, and there was no chance of hitting a stray building.
They flew directly towards the Peace Force station, and as they approached, the ship jinked sideways. Alice grabbed at her seat to steady herself, and she blinked as a blazing burst of gunfire went by. As they neared the rooftop landing pad she saw the apartment blocks surrounding it, many of the windows lit from within. The fire was coming from several of the darkened windows, and she realised the enemy had finally taken the high ground. "Hang on, people," called Alice. "This could get rough."
More shots whizzed by, and Arnie did his best to put the gunners off, sliding through the air sideways, rising and dropping unexpectedly, and all the time getting closer to their landing spot. "Can they hurt us?" asked Alice quietly.
"I won't know until they hit us," said Arnie.
"It's just handguns, right?"
"Do you want me to land, or scan the enemy?"
"There's no point landing if they can shoot us all when we get out."
The nose came up, and the ship blasted into the sky. Several shots went past, and then the shooters gave up as they realised the range was too great. Once the ship was high enough, Arnie turned the camera on the buildings, using a low-light filter to scan every window. "From the points of origin, I have targets in these locations," he said, painting the windows with red squares.
"So what can we do about them?" asked Alice.
"If I were still a military jet, I'd launch missiles and take them all out from here." Arnie almost sighed. "Alas, I am unarmed."
"You might be, but we're not." Alice got out of her chair, and went to find Moira. "Are any of those crossbows working?"
"I need to string them, but they should be."
"What's the range?"
"They're accurate to fifty or sixty metres. It falls off after that, but you'll still make a decent hole."
"Okay, get one ready. We've got four shooters in the buildings around the station, and we can't unload the gear until they're dealt with."
Moira stared at her. "By dealt with, you mean—"
"What do you think we need your weapons for? Target practice?" Alice gestured impatiently. "Get the thing ready and show me how to use it. They've shot at me half a dozen times today, and I'm not taking any more."
"I have a suggestion," said Arnie. "Actually, two suggestions, but the first is somewhat impractical."
"Go on."
"I could land on each apartment building in turn, and you could search each floor until you locate the shooter, then neutralise them with your weapon."
"That better be the impractical idea," said Alice.
"It was. The other idea is as follows. If we land near the stairwell, on top of the Peace Force station, my
