Chapter 17
Brook hid underneath a table in the crew’s mess, watching as the FIDOs headed toward the bridge. It seemed the robots were less help than she had expected.
The automatons had been programmed by NASA as a means of defending against possible life forms hostile to humans. NASA had supposedly set a strict protocol that would not allow a FIDO to fire on a human; however, something had gone haywire.
Brook didn’t know if it was a malfunction or something more sinister that had caused the robots to turn on her. She had been headed toward the cargo bay and the source of the mysterious sound. The robots had been following behind her, their weapons at the ready.
At the entrance to the cargo bay, Brook had molded herself to the corridor wall, leaning over to peek into the bay with her laser pistol at the ready. In the distance she saw a shadow, a figure with some sort of weapon in its hands. It was banging the weapon against the oversized hatch, which was the only escape pod on the ship.
She couldn’t be sure if the figure was trying to break into the hatch to get access to the pod, or whether it was trying to damage the door so that no one else could get to the pod. Either way, she had to do something.
“Follow me, and stay sharp,” she told the FIDOs. The robots nodded to affirm that they’d processed her voice command. The team of five swept into the cargo bay and headed straight for the figure.
Distracted by its mission, the figure didn’t seem to realize that they were approaching until Brook was close enough to make out exactly who was pounding away at the hatch.
Confusion rose sharply inside of her and she stood dead in her tracks. “Talia, what are you doing?”
Her ship’s engineer spun around, the weapon raised high. She had managed to dent the hatch, and Brook wasn’t sure if it was still functional. Talia stood there, not saying anything. She had an ax tightly in her grasp, which was a bit shocking.
“Why are you hitting the hatch?” Brook’s eyes narrowed, the possibility that this was not Talia looming large in her mind.
A whir of motion resounded from behind her and she swiveled her head to see what the hell was happening. The display screens of all four FIDOs blinked from blue to red.
“Intruder alert,” they said in unison, their lasers beginning to charge.
“Fucking robots,” her engineer muttered. Then without warning, the smaller woman sprang forward, slamming the ax into the FIDO closest to her.
Brook skittered backward, her jaw dropping in amazement. The ax bounced off the FIDO’s sturdy frame causing sparks to fly as metal met metal. Talia rolled out of the way as she narrowly avoided a laser blast from the defense robot.
Suddenly the woman was on her, tackling her to the ground and knocking the laser pistol out of her grasp to skitter across the cargo bay floor and out of reach. Brook groaned and closed her eyes as her head banged against the floor. When she opened her eyes, she was staring up at an exact duplicate of herself.
Brook’s eyes widened in realization. It wasn’t Talia at all, but a Hareema agent. Her self-defense skills kicked in and Brook grabbed her doppelganger’s shoulders, yanking sideways as she rolled herself out from under the creature.
The agent wasn’t quick to let go, and the pair rolled across the floor, struggling for domination. They hit a large storage container and wrestled one another for a moment, each attempting to get the other in a submission hold of some kind.
Brook spared a glance for the FIDOs and realized that the four of them had frozen, their lasers at the ready, but not firing. Apparently they could recognize the distinction between the captain and her identical twin.
Her opponent took advantage of her lapse in attention and shoved her head back against the floor, the impact making her ears ring. Then suddenly, the Hareema did something so strange, Brook was unable to respond.
The creature, mimicking her so perfectly, leaned in and pressed her lips against Brook’s own. It wasted no time shoving its tongue into the captain’s mouth in a sloppy kiss that made Brook want to retch.
Using all her might, the captain shoved hard against the Hareema. The agent’s head flew back, and its face crashed into the storage container, coming away with a cut along its cheek.
It smiled at her, and Brook wanted to vomit. It was a strange sensation, watching the creature wear her skin as if it belonged in it.
“Intruder alert.” Brook’s eyes flew to the FIDOs. Four lasers charged in tandem.
The Hareema released her and fled backward, seeking shelter behind a support beam. Two of the FIDOs branched off to pursue her, but the other two still held their lasers pointed directly at her.
“Shit.” Brook rolled to the side, then scrambled to her feet, speeding out of the cargo bay and narrowly avoiding the beams of red light that blasted in her direction. She slid down the hallway and into the mess hall, ducking underneath a table and trying to catch her breath.
What the hell is happening?The FIDOs had seemed to know the difference between their human companion and the Hareema, until suddenly they didn’t. What had changed? Had there been a malfunction? Or did it have something to do with her one-on-one struggle with the creature?
Brook held her breath as she heard the FIDOs coming her way. They marched through the mess hall, scanning the area, then headed towards the bridge. She stayed put, trying to formulate a plan.
Knowing there was a dangerous shapeshifter loose on her ship was terrifying enough. Now she had lost her defense weapons. Even worse, those very weapons were being turned against her. What was she to do?
Brook considered her options. If she could get to the bridge, she could turn the FIDOs off, dealing with one of the problems. But if she deactivated the FIDOs, she might not be able to use them against the agent in the future.
