The Infinity Bridge

Part 23

There were three more bodies on the way to the control room crumpled in the corridor.  They looked like oversized dolls, eyes glassy and staring. Nick tried to ignore them as they moved past; Rob was helping him along and he could hear his uncle mutter a prayer.

The control room for the radio-telescope was a large room, accessed by a single glass door from the corridor. Through the frosted glass Nick could see three rows of computer terminals with seats, now all upturned. Another dead technician was flopped over his desk; the wide hole in his back was still sizzling. Nick felt sick at the waste of life.

The three carefully slid the door open and entered. The far end of the room had a magnificent view of the radio-telescope. Its gigantic dish, normally aimed at the skies, was rotating slowly downward. The low winter sun reflected off the criss-cross girders of the huge struts that supported the dish.

Nick saw Beta. He had his back to them and was sitting at a terminal by the broad window. The desk was cluttered with papers and folders, weighed down by a large stone paperweight. Beta’s pistol was next to the keyboard.

Out of the corner of his eye Nick saw a monitor. On the screen the Merlin icon was enlarged horribly. Its face contorted in agony and tears of blood rolled down its cheeks. Nick gasped in disgust.

Beta whirled, hand darting for the pistol.

‘Don’t move an inch or I’ll take your head off,’ Andrew yelled.

The android froze. He stared at the pistol aimed at him. His cold eyes met Andrew’s and he nodded slowly.

‘You realise that firing the gun will kill you, and you accept this,’ Beta said.

‘Very well processed. Now step away from the terminal.’

‘You must also realise that you are far too late? Your digital ally is experiencing the most exquisite agony and there is none among you who can help him.’

‘Move to the side or it will no longer be your concern,’ Andrew said. Beta cautiously stepped away from the terminal and his gun.

‘Nick, get to it,’ Andrew said. Rob moved forward with Nick as he stepped towards the terminal. Pain burned up his leg and he stumbled.

The flicker of Andrew’s eyes was all it took. Beta moved in a blur. He reached behind for the stone paperweight and hurled it across the control room. It struck Andrew’s face with a crack, shattering his nose and he flailed back. The bio-energy pistol spun across the floor.

Beta grabbed his own pistol from the desk and fired. An emerald bolt of energy hissed across the room and exploded into a terminal. A shower of sparks rained on Nick as he scrambled for cover.

Rob ran in a crouching position behind the row of terminals as Beta fired again and again. Explosions sent fragments of glass, plastic and circuitry cascading around the room. Flames and acrid fumes belched forth, making Nick’s eyes stream.