Approaching Omega by Eric Brown Read Free Book Online Page A

Carrie, and what he'd seen in hangar One, and despaired.
    Emecheta shrugged. "We get in via the emergency hatch and hope to Christ the AIs haven't got there before us."
    "Maybe they haven't," Latimer said, with appalling optimism. "Maybe they haven't been able to get in through the mangled access tubes..."
    Emecheta nodded. "If it is all clear, we wake the sleepers and arm them. Then we stand a fighting chance of defeating the... the cyborgs." He shook his head. "Hell, we might even make a success of the mission yet."
    Latimer nodded. "I'll go alone. There's no need anyone else risking themselves."
    Emecheta said: "Don't you think you ought to take some time out?"
    "With Carrie in there?" Latimer snapped.
    Emecheta raised both hands, as if to defend himself.
    Li said: "I'll come with you. It's my turn. I haven't been out there yet."
    "I said I'll go alone, okay?"
    Li shrugged, looked away.
    "Don't take any risks," Renfrew said. "If the AI's have got in there, no heroics, okay? Just get back here and we'll assess the situation."
    He ate a tasteless meal from stores, high energy concentrates to rebuild his strength. Talk was desultory at the table. No one made any further mention of the worst case scenario: that the AIs had already infiltrated hangar Five. No one looked ahead and planned what they should do in that eventuality.
    If that's what I find, Latimer thought as he broke out a new EVA suit, then I don't really care what happens.

Six
    He left the air-lock and propelled himself  through the vacuum, out across the girdered surface of hangar One, trying to shut his mind from the horrors taking place down there.
    He was aware of the sound of his heavy breathing. He could see along the length of the ship, the shattered ruins of the superstructure, hangar Five in the distance and Two floating eerily high above.
    He hit the deck and paused. Hangar Five stood ten metres to his right, the tube that should have given access to the main body of the ship a flattened mess of metal and circuitry.
    Perhaps the AIs haven't got in there yet, he tried to reassure himself again. Perhaps the sleepers are still alive. I'll wake Carrie and explain the situation, then rouse the others. We'll arm ourselves, suit up and repel the cyborgs.
    He wished he had radio contact with the others, voices to keep him company. But Emecheta, wisely, had vetoed the idea: the AIs might be monitoring radio communications, he'd warned, better not take the risk.
    Latimer felt very lonely, very vulnerable, as he bounced across the deck towards the hangar.
    He approached the bull's eye markings of the emergency exit and tapped in the code. The hatch slid open and he stepped inside. He cycled himself through, raising his pistol in readiness as the inner door slid open.
    He was met by darkness, silence.
    He took a step forward, cautiously, and peered along the length of the gallery. There was no sign of any AIs. All was in shadow. Ahead, over the main well of the hangar, the dim glow of the pod's running lights was the only illumination.
    Hardly daring to hope, he hurried from the emergency exit towards the rail and peered over into the dimness.
    All was still, quiet.
    He scanned the pods. The covers were lowered, denoting that their occupants were still inside, sleeping soundly. Then, before he allowed elation to grip him, he saw other pods in the rows beyond, whose covers had been opened, and his stomach turned sickeningly.
    He scanned the deck, but there was no sign of the wholesale carnage that had taken place in hangar One.
    Okay, he thought: Perhaps the AIs haven't got here yet. Perhaps the covers are up for other reasons. There might have been fatalities along the way — the possibility had not been ruled out by the Omega medics. Or perhaps the slave drones here had detected malfunctions in certain tanks, and roused the occupants while their pods were repaired.
    Even as he considered these scenarios, he knew he was deluding himself.
    He hurried along the