“This is where Eli Opel has made his connection, and this is where we must go.”
“Goddamnit,” I said, frustration rising. Outside, a wave of heat washed over me, indicating there was a nearby explosion. I had only minutes, maybe less. “So we gotta get in there and reinstall the connection? What about the honeybees?”
“That is correct. The problem is, multiple defensive turrets have formed between here and there along with a group of autonomous defensive bots that will soon storm this bridge to take it back. From this position, I can’t connect with the Sonoran honeybee system, as he has cut this bridge off from the communications array. I was lucky I was able to fully install before he took control. We are also fortunate that Lorraine has disabled all of the ship’s ground-facing armament. The incoming Moderators, however, are still a threat to both this ship and those on the ground.”
“What do you need me to do?” I coughed. Everything was swimming.
“I need you to assist me in making a physical connection with Trixie 2, and then I will once again be able to control the planet-side honeybee system. I will be able to wrest control of this ship back as well. Come closer to the control panel on the wall, flatten your grasping arm, and place it against the input.”
I skittered across the floor. I heard a massive crash. Was that here, or was it down there? But it came again, and I realized something was slamming against the outside of the bridge door. They were breaking in.
I pressed the controller against the panel. A page-long notification appeared. It was just numbers. A pair of messages followed:
Warning: You may not control the scout while it is in link mode.
Warning: Link mode will permanently damage the systems of this scout.
“I will defend the bridge. Our last remaining scout, Lorraine, is in the process of helping me take back the ship, and she will remain hidden for now. In the meantime, I will give you control of Betty Sue, and you can help defend your sister. I may have to recall you at any moment.”
“Betty Sue? The chicken?” I asked, but I blinked and I was somewhere else.
Chapter 52
It took me a second to realize where I was, what I was. I’d gone from a scout to a regular honeybee drone. Betty Sue thedrone, not Betty Sue the chicken. My view had gone from the fish-eye view to a wide forward one, and I was low to the ground in a field of smoke. I had a movement controller on my left, and on my right, I had a pulse rifle attached to my back. I also had the harvester arms installed, and I could control both.
I quickly hopped in a circle, assessing the situation.
A mech was on the ground in the distance, burning. I missed what had happened. The field was still full of smoke, but it was starting to wane. Mechs were everywhere. I was just north of the remains of the Belly-Rubbed Pug, which meant the ditch was to the right. The chickens we’d brought with us to the gig seemed to have mostly—and miraculously—survived the attack on the club, and they filled the smoke-filled field, clucking about angrily, all ignored by everything else that was going on. They didn’t like being up in the night. I also caught sight of Cindy the pig, who was just walking through the field as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
I clicked “Local Band.”
“Lulu, where are you?” I asked.
“She doesn’t have her bracelet on or earpiece in,” came Sam’s voice. “She tried to do something to the back of Skeet, but she couldn’t get a control panel open. But they’re ignoring her! She went to a smaller mech, got on its back, and managed to get into that one. She cut a wire, and it started leaking fluid all over itself and then caught on fire and blew up. She’s running around from mech to mech, wrecking their shit! What’s going on up there?”
“I’m down here in the body of Betty Sue,” I said as I stalked low across the field, moving toward where Lulu had run.
“The chicken?”
The pink Julie Experience mech was lurching across the field. All four of the chain saw arms were broken off it. I bolted forward, and I pressed the jump button as I attached to the back of the pink mech.
Holy shit, that worked.
“Hey! What the hell!” Julie cried as I tried to figure out what I was supposed to grab. She started to flail about as I ripped things off the back of her. Wires sparked.
“Oliver, it is the small rectangle in the center of the back. You must first pry it open,” came Roger’s voice.
I grasped at the panel as the weaponless mech continued to thrash. I smashed my way into the panel, but I was flung off just as I got it open. I grasped the controller for my pulse rifle, and I started pouring fire into the back of the mech.
“Fuck you!” Julie shouted as she whipped around. But then she tumbled to the ground, her mech dead. I’d managed to score a hit.
All around me, honeybees started to appear, moving through the fields on their way to the mechs. The cavalry had arrived.
“Yeah, baby!” I cried. “If anyone has eyes on Lulu, tell me where she is.”
“It’s really freaking me out that you’re just lying there, crying random things out,” Sam said in my ear.
Across the way, a flamethrower from a mech sparked to life, followed by the insane cackling of a little girl. Two honeybees jumped ather, but they were quickly taken out by a pair of gun drones circling the machine. I recognized the girl’s voice: Serial Killer Sadie, the crazy kid I’d just met earlier in line to deploy my mech. She drove a modified Heavy with a flamethrower attachment. She was perilously close to the ditch where everyone—including myself—was hiding.
