“When was this?” I asked, hoping to understand the timeline. Liberty had a decent-sized force, but it was clear they hadn’t been able to ambush everyone at once. That was the only advantage we had.
“Five days ago,” he said.
They’d tried to take over our robots two weeks ago, around the time they hit the Belt. Then they appeared to fly inward, toward Earth. Knowing Luna Corp was hit, but that many of them survived, we could bypass the Moon and head straight home.
“Are my parents okay?” Jade asked him.
“They’re fine. We lost a lot of our soldiers, but most of our population is intact.” Erik Trevors rubbed his eyes and stared at us. “We have some ships. Below the surface. Tell me what you want to do with them.”
“Defenders?” Barnes asked.
“Two left. And my own personal guard,” Erik told him.
Barnes clapped his hands together and pointed at Luther. “Do you mind if I take your crewmate Mr. Payne along with me?”
I glanced at Luther, and he nodded eagerly. “Good luck. We’ll need all the help we can get.” I turned my attention to Erik. “Where are the Primary CEOs?”
“Primary City. It has Earth’s largest self-contained bunker. It’s our failsafe,” Erik told me. I’d never heard that before, but it made sense. Octavia smiled at Erik, and when the call ended, she grabbed my arm.
“You assume my sister is there, don’t you?” Her eyes were wild.
“Yes. You had the controls for the emergency access into the Corps robots, right?” I checked.
“What does that have to do with… No. Elise took them over?”
“That’s what we think,” Jade told her. “We’re expecting quite the fortress.”
“Damn her.”
“Arlo, is that where you want us?” Luther asked from the exit.
“Get to Primary City. We’ll get there first. Scope it out in the Racers. When we find Eclipse, we’ll deal with her,” I told him. “You swoop in and finish the job.”
“Roger that, Captain.” Luther was off, Barnes trailing after him down the rungs.
“Varn, we’re heading to Primary City.” I held the comm button down.
“Gotcha. Finally, time for some fun,” Varn said. I loved his enthusiasm. We didn’t always see eye to eye, but when it came to it, he was always ready to get his hands dirty.
“Jade, I need you to penetrate the shields,” I told her.
“No one will be able to break through the shields at Primary City,” Octavia informed us.
“We witnessed Liberty do it a few months ago. Jade mentioned it was possible, and she can make anything feasible.” She grinned at my praise and started typing on her keypad.
“Are you staying here, Octavia?” I asked our Board leader.
“No. The well-being of our world is my responsibility. Plus, I need to deal with my sister once and for all.” She frowned and stared out the viewscreen.
“Okay. Let’s fly.” I strapped in, and lifted from the surface as ash fell from a nearby volcanic eruption.
Killer paralleled my actions, and I silently wished Luther and Major Barnes luck as they brought whatever remained of a fleet to Earth.
TWENTY
Earth. For a brief moment, it felt like I was returning home from a hauling gig. A few months before, I would have lowered to Oasis, getting a paycheck for my work. Now I was bringing the Board’s Lead Chair to Primary City to fend off her twisted sibling’s attempt at a hostile takeover.
Holland checked the feeds, and there were a few Primary news channels airing footage. “You need to see this,” he said, shooting the video to my viewscreen.
An older woman held a microphone. Her face had smudges on it, her thick black hair knotted. “My name is Rosmand, from Sage Industries territory. The executives have vanished, and the news station was abandoned. We have no idea what’s happening, but we have yet to observe any Squids in the skies. We’d originally assumed we were being invaded by the Velibar we’ve all heard so much about since the finish of Space Race. We were wrong.”
The camera angle changed, and it showed an army of robots surrounding the city block. The high-rises in view were the very same my parents used to live in. “The robots will not respond to our queries, and they’ve proven hostile.”
We stared in horror as a group of Sage workers rushed the robot line, only to be killed by the machines. “We do not know who is controlling them, but if you’re watching this, stay indoors. Do not confront the guards. Be safe, Sage. Someone will help us. I know it.”
The feed replayed from the beginning, and I turned it off. “Jade, where are we on the shields?”
“Close. Another ten minutes,” she informed me. That was great. Her timing was spot-on.
Holland managed to locate more of the same sort of video feeds from around the world. Every one of the Corporations’ robots was under the power of Liberty, and they guarded the people, containing them. I wondered what Elise’s end game was with the population. I didn’t think the woman wanted to inflict harm. I assumed that from her viewpoint, she was doing them a favor. But what did the world look like after this revolt, in her eyes? Would she be their leader? Who would supply food, care for their needs, guide and protect them?
Our Racers remained in the sky while I flew toward Primary City. The ocean glimmered in the bright sunlight, and for a second, everything was peaceful. The fact that our people were mostly unharmed carried a thread of hope with it. If we could just stop Liberty, we might be able to salvage things.
There was still the looming threat of the Velibar, and the Darlor and Hidan, but those were more distant concerns. Preston Lewis had a plan for the Velibar, and together maybe we could make an arrangement with Zonrial and Trid’s people.
“My dad isn’t responding, and I can’t access feeds at SeaTech,” Holland said, breaching the silence.
“He’ll be all right,” I assured him. “Your dad is more
