A metal door in a wooden doorframe?
Whose idea was that? I wondered.
It stuck and I pressed my shoulder against it, pressing my weight onto it.
My intention wasn’t to shove it open but ease it one inch so I could peer inside and get a good look at what lay on the other side.
I pressed my weight against the door and the wooden frame splintered and cracked.
The dented corner scratched the frame and tore a deep gouge in it.
It occurred to me few people must come this way otherwise there would be a ton of gouge marks in the wood already.
Or else the dent was newly formed and there was no mark because no one had opened it.
The wooden frame gave and the wood splintered into a thick explosion of spikes.
Too far, I thought. I only wanted an inch and it gave me a yard.
My hand was still perched around the handle as I planted a foot to prevent the door from opening any further.
Instead of pulling the door shut and pretending it hadn’t happened, I left the door open.
It wasn’t going to be a surprise what’d happened and we needed it open anyway if we wanted to pass through.
I expected to see Draw’s guards standing with weapons drawn and aimed at our heads.
I expected to see them clearing up the remains of their friends, either or both of whom could already be dead.
What I did not expect to see were the armed guards speaking to three prison officers, and a pair of drones floating above their heads.
The drones snapped to attention faster than the guards, but they weren’t much slower.
The shuttlecraft sat to one side and there was no doubt in my mind we weren’t going to reach it if we attempted to bolt across now.
I slammed the door shut as the drones whirred, charging up the bolts of plasma that would fire from their underside.
The door could withstand the blast from their weapons but I took Agatha’s hand and led her away from it anyway.
I slipped the lock into place and backed away.
The attack on the door didn’t come.
“What are they doing here?” Agatha said.
“Their drones must have found something,” I said. “Or they’re only here asking questions.”
Well, they certainly got their answer when they saw us standing there.
“Come on,” I said.
I took her by the hand and led her back up the stairs.
Two flights and we were on the second floor.
The drones buzzed below like angry hornets.
They would first check the empty doorway opposite that led to the other side of the building.
It wouldn’t be long before they realized we’d headed back upstairs instead.
We ran to the window that looked out on the main clearing.
I eased it open.
Peering down, the fall wasn’t a long one but it might be enough for us to slip past the guards of both stripes.
I pulled the security device from my pocket and stabbed at the buttons before thinking better of it.
“Computer,” I said into the device. “Deactivate all security protocols on the shuttlecraft in the hangar.”
“There are multiple shuttlecraft in the hangar,” Computer said. “Please specify the model.”
I did, and Computer paused for a moment.
“All security systems are disengaged,” it said.
“Activate the engines and bring the shuttlecraft up to us,” I said.
“Negative. The shuttlecraft is not plugged into my system. It cannot be activated remotely.”
Damn.
“We’re going to have to get down there ourselves,” I said.
The buzz of approaching drones issued up from the stairwell.
They were coming up, and they weren’t alone.
Heavy thudding footsteps climbed one step at a time, their booming clumping boots echoing up the sparse stairwell.
I peered out the window and noticed none of the guards down there.
Or any of the drones.
They would have called for reinforcements the moment they spotted us.
They would be on their way here now.
As fast as they were, it would take them some time to reach us.
That was our window of opportunity.
I kept an eye on the doorway and took aim with my rifle.
“Agatha, I need you to climb out this window and get down there.”
“What about you?”
“I’m going to hold these guys off. When you get to the shuttlecraft, tell Computer to pick me up. If there are too many guards, tell Computer to take you to New Haven. It’s a planet. You’ll be safe there.”
“No. I’m not leaving you.”
I brushed her skin with my thumb.
“You’re not leaving me. I’ll find you.”
I planted a kiss on her lips and felt the heat pulse through my body.
The footsteps grew louder and soon the buzzing drones would be even more cacophonous as they eased up and locked onto me.
“You must go,” I said. “Now.”
She looked torn but she did as I asked.
She turned and climbed out the window.
She shimmied down using the broad angles of the corrugated side to slow her descent.
Zzzzzzzzzzzz.
The first drone rose into sight and I focused my attention on it.
I squeezed the trigger of my rifle in rapid succession.
The first few bolts flew before the drone was fully in view.
One clipped its wing and twisted it off balance, knocking its own retaliatory fire into an adjacent wall.
I fired again, this time taking it through the heart.
Agatha squealed as she fell the final few feet, breaking her fall with her hands.
She turned, peered up at the window, and then bolted inside the hangar.
The second drone took the place of the first and I opened fire again, shooting wildly this time, knowing the drone will have automatically learned from the mistakes of its fallen comrade.
That was what made defeating them so difficult.
The drone bucked and weaved.
I fired another volley and the drone unleashed its own sporadic gunfire.
My eyes bulged and I threw myself to the floor.
I took aim as the drone passed into view, its underside glowing bright and glaring.
I fired and didn’t notice if my bolt struck it or not.
I couldn’t take the risk its shot might hit me.
I was rewarded with the broken buzz of the drone as it fell to the stairs.
The guards hustled up to the doorframe and took
