Chapter 3: Chapter Fifteen: Attack Of The Drones

Chapter Fifteen

Attack Of The Drones

 

THEY HEARD THE commotion before Scotty verified it in the monitor.

            The security drones opened fire. All three attacked the front doors with burst lasers, and the explosion sent glass and metal careening across the lobby, knocking over chairs, forcing lavatory doors to swing open, and shredding the bulletin board. Both Jasmine and Madison cringed. Scotty scrambled to his feet, startled but calm, and walked to where Diego and Joseph were standing. They exchanged expressions of anger and surprise, as they’d never experienced anything like that. Well-armed drones were attacking a facility that they had decided to take refuge in, and they weren’t sure what to do next.

            Then all three drones were inside. They glided across the tiled floor and then split up, seemingly searching for someone or something. One soared to the second floor, and it scanned the stairs and telescope as it went. The other two took turns blasting the miniature Centaurus Boomerang spacecraft and exoplanet rovers that were dangling from the ceiling. A few fell as swaths of orange flames, but most merely disintegrated. The planetary maps and star maps were among the debris scattered throughout the lobby. A couple of heaps were flaming up but would only burn down to ashes during the siege.

            Within minutes all three were upstairs and attacking more of the interior. The display case containing the rock samples was blown to pieces and scattered up and down the hall. Then a drone attacked the kitchen. Shrapnel was sent ripping into the refrigerator; the doors were forced open, and two bundles of not-of-this-world space-ice popsicles fell onto the floor.

            Scotty and Diego pushed a couch over, and everyone crawled underneath it to hide and to escape the lashing the drones were dishing out to the observatory. Nobody wanted to get hit by one of the burst lasers; it would have definitely left a mark.

            “Don’t anyone move,” Amherst growled.

            Nobody moved a muscle, as all three drones were inside the kitchen and clearing the area. One entered the lavatory and blasted a stall door and immediately attacked the toilet – which resulted in the cascading of a lot of water that flowed into the kitchen and then Amherst’s office – rendering the lavatory useless.

            “Gross,” Madison said. “Toilet bowl water is everywhere.”

            “I think that’s the least of our problems,” Diego said.

            “Ha, I know what the boys’ restroom looks like,” Madison said, and immediately regretted the remark.

            Diego curled his hands into fists but was close to laughing. “You! You’re the one who’s been putting glitter stickers on our mirrors.” 

            Everyone turned their attention to Madison. She was still wishing she’d kept her mouth shut. Wanting to know more, Scotty asked, “Well, Maddy, are you the Butterfly Bandit, the Fossil Crater Warhol, or the Interior Design Swine?”

            She cut her eyes to the couch cushions and kept quiet.

            Then Amherst anted up, “Well, Researcher Reynolds, we’re waiting.”

            “Okay, it was me. The boys’ restrooms are very boring, so I thought I’d brighten things up a little.”

            Everyone laughed at the revelation and Madison eventually joined in and had a loud, much needed laugh.

            Moments later, all three drones were attacking the west wall, spilling the largest window onto the floor in a bouquet of glassy petals. They glided out into the night and hovered within feet of the telescope. All three explored the grounds with the red lasers, blasting a boulder from time to time, but they eventually ascended to the top of the domes where they loitered for a while. 

            “Is the coast clear?” Joseph asked, struggling with his own fear, and trying not to sound too frightened.

            Nothing at first, then Scotty said, “I’m not sure, so don’t move.”

            “Those quads really messed up the observatory,” Diego growled. “Why are they attacking The Zoo?”

            Scotty had his own ideas of why a squadron of security drones would attack a facility it was programmed to protect.

            “We’ll worry about that later. We have to stay focused.”

            It would be incredibly hard to keep their eyes on the big picture while Fossil Crater was getting attacked. While they were desperately trying to stay safe, and there were the extraterrestrial animals to think about; they were in danger too.

            “We have to contact the staff,” Diego said.

            “I know,” Scotty said. “Doctor Stryker will know what to do.”

            Then Amherst scrambled to his feet. He energized his Helix and walked to the door. “Shelter in place. “I’ll be back in twenty to thirty minutes.”

*

Scotty believed the assault was over, but it had actually just begun. When he peered through the area where the window had once been, he spied several fires and understood that there was more destruction. The lobby area smelled horrible. It harbored a terrifying bouquet of smoldering ceiling tiles, charred Sheetrock, and melting electrical insulation.

            “Scott!” Joseph shouted, walking to the wall to look at what his brother had discovered and cringing at the noises his boots were creating atop the broken glass. “What do we do now?”

            Scotty said nothing.

            “I’m serious, Scott. What do we do now? We’re under attack.”

            “Shut up, Joe,” Scotty said.

            “Don’t tell me to shut up. Just tell us what to do.”

            Then, Diego, Madison, and Jasmine joined Joseph to form a semicircle and stare quietly at Scotty while he struggled with his own fear and confusion.

            He shook his head to say that he had no idea of what to do. His first instinct was to take shelter in the basement and wait for help, but he instead energized his Helix and messaged Stryker. A reply was sent back immediately. It read: We’re under attack too. Stay in the observatory. Don’t leave. I’m on my way there.

            “We have to get out. Reuven might be on his way here.”

            “Why are the drones attacking everything?” Jasmine growled. “They better not injure the extraterrestrials.”

            “Probably because Reuven and Zoran told them to,” Diego said.

            Scotty saw the anguish in Jasmine’s face and attempted to provide a little hope. Quite a selfless child during the siege, little Jasmine, she was more concerned with the extraterrestrial animals than her own safety. “Don’t worry, it should be over with.”

            “Probably not,” Madison said. “There after us, not the extraterrestrials.”

            “Zoran wants the Star Nexus,” Diego said. “There’s no reason to destroy The Zoo. Unless he knows something we don’t. Unless he, unless…”

            Scotty walked to Diego. “He knows we can stop him. He knows we can follow him wherever he goes. He has probably reprogramed a few of the quadcopters to help him blast the place, but he hasn’t reprogramed them all. There’s no way he’s done that.”

            “So, we still have access to the drones?” Jasmine asked.

            “Yes, but not all of them,” Scotty said, and the lack of conviction in his voice was thick.

            But the security drones were all subject to reprogramming and could be turned into weapons. A clone drive engine could be used to reprogram the Centaurus Boomerang spacecraft as well as the androids. It seemed as if nothing was safe. However, Scotty and Madison did have the necessary countermeasures.

            “I thought you said if the quadcopters got close enough, you could shut em down,” Joseph said, to urge Scotty to make a decision.  

            The noise they were making found its way to the security drones. All three floated back down to the second-floor mezzanine and slipped back into the observatory. They found Scotty in less than a minute and quickly scanned him with their red lasers. Their weapons immediately deployed.

            Diego and Joseph joined Scotty at the broken wall, putting themselves in danger and understanding that there wasn’t much they could do. Scotty scrolled through the countermeasure file to locate something to broadcast to the drones. The clock was ticking too. They all realized this when they saw the drones’ lighting dim, and then sink a foot or two toward the metal lattice. They all realized something bad was about to happen when they heard the drones’ weapons charging.

            Scotty found a countermeasure he liked. It was the Quasar software, and it could be used to shut the drones down permanently.

            “Stand by,” he said, and touched the icon in the display. A status bar spawned, progressed to one hundred percent in less than three seconds, and then floated to the bottom of the display. 

            Still, the drones hovered and charged their weapons. All three floated a little closer, adjusted the burst lasers, retracted the scanners, and positioned themselves for a knockout punch.

            “Yeah, it didn’t work.” Joseph said. “We need to run!”

            Diego took a few steps away from the drones. “Yup, and now.”

            But Scotty extended his arms in a stopping gesture. “No, it’s working. The build is installing itself into their central processing units and slowly taking over the processors, shutting their programs down one at a time, making them as useless as rocks in the desert. It’s amazing.”

            “I don’t see anything.”  

            “Scott, they’re preparing to attack,” Diego growled. 

            Scotty smiled at his take on the situation. “No, they’re not.”

            Then, all three were showing visible signs of a malware attack. First their lighting dimmed and went dark. Then their weapons fell limp on their gimbals. Finally, their motors fell silent, and they descended to the mezzanine where they landed hard, bounced once, and never moved again.

            Both Madison and Jasmine ran to Scotty to help celebrate the results of his first malware attack. They both hugged him while keeping their eyes on the massive drones.

            “Where is Stryker?” Diego asked.

            Scotty shrugged his shoulders to say he didn’t know.

            “I thought he messaged you,” Joseph said.

            “That wasn’t Stryker. But whoever it was, knows where we are.”

            “Those aren’t the only drones that are attacking,” Madison said. “We need to do something besides stand around and give high fives. We need to access the security server and shut them all down or lure them in here and shut them down one at a time. We have to do this before they attack the biodome. I don’t want to have to explain the consequences behind that. You should know by now.”

             “We have to leave,” Scotty said, and walked back to the couch. “Stryker didn’t send the message.”

            “Well, where are we going?”

            “I’m not sure, Maddy. The lab or the petting zoo.”

            Scotty took a miniature exoplanet rover in his hands and walked to the front entrance.

*

An hour later they were all with Doctor Stryker inside his office, discussing everything that had occurred and debating on what to do next. Scotty understood that they couldn’t sit around and wait for this storm to blow over. They had to act in order to save Fossil Crater from Zoran and his henchmen. They had taken over most of the security drones and were systematically clearing the facilities.  

What was their next move?

            The Exoplanet Laboratory never lost power, but the doctors decided to go dark to try and avoid a second attack.

            Stryker used his Helix to illuminate the office, and he was compiling a battle damage assessment with a little help from the security suite. “The mission control building has minor damage. I believe when we get the power back on, we will be able to conduct normal operations. The observatory has major damage, but I am not too concerned with that facility. The drones attempted to gain access to the laboratory, but fortunately this building is mostly underground, so it was a complete failure. However, the biodome was attacked, and it suffered major damage. Both animal and insect are loose on the spaceport, so we will have to watch our step, everywhere we go.”

            That got the researchers to talking.

            Scotty approached Stryker’s desk. He had so many questions, and he started with the most obvious one. “How did Zoran become who he is nowadays?”

            Without looking his way, Stryker said, “I can rescue extraterrestrial life from the wrath of nature, but I cannot save man from his own foolishness.”

            “Doctor Stryker,” Jasmine said, “were any of the extraterrestrials harmed?”

            “Not sure. All I know as of now is the biodome was hit hard by the hijacked security drones, and everything that can fly, crawl, and run escaped onto the grounds.”

            “Where is Ms. Slade at?” Diego asked. 

            “She is with André at the biodome,” Stryker said.

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            Stratton energized his Helix and scrolled through the Geneware servers. The green light was eerie against his skin. He located several files and opened them to view the vital signs of the Pollux monkeys. Everything seemed normal, so he messaged Slade to send a status report. She did, but it took nearly ten minutes.

            “Okay, listen up, everyone,” he said. “They have the biodome locked down again, and they’re in the process of corralling critters and placing them inside containment areas.”

            “So, what do we do now?” Scotty asked.

            “We need to get the extraterrestrials to safety,” Stryker said.

            “I agree,” Stratton said, and got to his feet. “We can relocate to Research Facility Seven. The safety of the animals is priority. We’ll repair the spaceport when we’re able to.”

            “There won’t be a spaceport if we don’t shut down the self-destruct technology in Zoran’s data terminal.”

            Stryker and Stratton exchanged expressions of gloom and uncertainty.

            “It is simply too dangerous, Scott,” Stryker said, even though he didn’t want to. “You must always weigh the risks and rewards.”

            “And as for shutting down Zoran’s data terminal,” Stratton said, “The risks outweigh the rewards.”

            A ripple of aggravation fanned out from the researchers, and Scotty continued pleading his case.

            “I don’t understand. We have everything we need to shut down the data terminal and the quadcopters, and we can take the spaceport back. I shut down three at the observatory.”

            “He will not allow you to do it a second time.”

            “It’s not as easy as it seems, Scott,” Stratton said. “Did you see what the security drones are capable of doing? You get hit by one of those, you’ll truly regret it.”

            “Exozoologist Slade and Doctor Amherst are putting it all on the line to recover as many extraterrestrials as possible. I will not ask them to go into the Astraeus Laboratory on some hasty mission to stop Zoran from detonating a weapon. It is simply too dangerous.”

            Madison’s enthusiasms for Fossil Crater were returning. She stood and placed her hands on her hips. “Well, what about the spaceport? If we don’t do something, Zoran is gonna level every inch of it.”

            “He does not desire to destroy the spaceport, only to secure the Star Nexus.”

            “Everything he’s done tonight is designed to make us run away so he’ll have the place to himself and not be in any danger of having his plans ruined,” Stratton said.

            “We will have to go back out there eventually,” Stryker announced, and the tone he used was upbeat and confident. “But we will use a top-secret program to help us accomplish any and all missions.”

            The researchers were quiet for a while, contemplating and digesting everything that had occurred and everything they had just heard.

            “A top-secret program?” Scotty asked.

            Both doctors kept quiet and continued to monitor their Helix, but Scotty didn’t give up that easy.

            “Doctors, is the top-secret program the Cybernetics program?”

            Stratton never flinched, but Stryker allowed his face to scrunch into a mischievous grimace.

            “You will soon see. I am shoring up a few marvelous builds as we speak.”

            “A few builds?” Scotty asked, sounding both confused and excited.

            “Yes, a few builds.”

            Diego and Joseph got to their feet, but Scotty asked, “Who wrote them?”

            “I did,” Stratton said.

            “Now, Roger,” Stryker said, “we both wrote these builds.”

            “I wrote most of it.”

            “What will we do with them?” Scotty asked. “Is it another countermeasure.”

            “Not in the slightest, and this build is something special.”

            Scotty approached Stryker’s desk. “Okay, so is it for our Helix?”

            “It is something that will help protect you from the critters that have flown the coop.”

            “What about Zoran,” Madison and Jasmine said together.

            “Him too,” Stratton said.

            Then Jasmine asked, “What could we possibly do to Zoran?”

            “A long list of things,” Madison said. “To include destroying his ship.”

            “That’ll be the day,” Scotty said. “Zoran surrendering to us.”

            “Do not sell yourself short.”

            “This must be something big,” Diego said. “The Geneware wasn’t goofed after all, and it will help the extraterrestrials and rid the Milky Way of Zoran.”

            Then Madison did a front aerial before the boys. “You mean to say, it didn’t go askew.”

            Diego rolled his eyes at her remark but held his tongue.

            “Don’t start acting cuckoo.”

            “We’ll do the best we can,” Scotty said. “And maybe it will help us round up the extraterrestrial animals that are running loose.”

            “Probably not,” Stryker said. “But that will be a completely different mission.”

            “Well, we’ll soon be racing to the rescue,” Jasmine said. “To save the critters at the petting zoo.”

            “It won’t be difficult as long as they stay on Fossil Crater,” Madison chimed in, sounding a little concerned.

             “And Zoran doesn’t have a clue,” Scotty said, and walked to where he could get a better view of Stryker’s Helix and the build he was shoring up. After a few moments, he said, “And we need to move quickly.”

            “Indeed, but nevertheless, we have a lot of planning to do.”

*

Scotty herded the other four to a shadowy corner of the office to discuss their situation and decide on a logical next step. He didn’t want to scare them anymore than they had been during the past several hours, but he wanted to be sure they understood that no matter what they do outside the laboratory, they would be in danger.

“We’re gonna save everything we can,” Scotty said. “Animals, insects, and plant life. If we can get it on a NextGen, we’re evacuating it.”

Jasmine looked very excited, and she had something to say about the getaway plan. “We have to take the extraterrestrials that cannot gather food on their own. They’ll starve if we leave them here.”

“Oh,” Madison said. “Let’s not forget the critters that are on the list to have a Geneware build created. There’s something going on with those animals and insects, and they should be evacuated.”

Diego leaned against the wall and ran his hands through his hair. His initial fear was morphing into aggravation, and he believed the facilities needed to be spared.

“We have to shut down the self-destruct tech, Scott,” he said as calmly as he knew how to. “Try sending a countermeasure to Zoran’s data terminal. Even if it doesn’t work it’s worth a try. We can’t let the countdown clock keep ticking away.”

“We’ll never get past the quads.”

“We can’t just sit on our hands and wait for Zoran to destroy the world,” Diego said.

“Why can’t we send the malware from here?” Madison asked.

Scotty shook his head in aggravation. “The version we have requires us to be within fifty feet of the target, so we’ll have to be inside the Galactic Map room.”

“So, what are we gonna do now?” Jasmine asked.

Silence for nearly a minute. Then Stryker spoke to Stratton, providing a step by step regarding the Geneware servers. He’d instructed him to review the lines of code within a build, one he had been working on for several weeks. It took less than ten minutes to review it all, and Stratton wasn’t convinced of their need to take such a giant leap forward.

“I’d really think about this, Chris. What if something goes wrong?”

“Ha, we are farther along in testing than you know about,” Stryker said. “We are ready for this.”

With that, he touched an icon floating in the display of his Helix and broadcasted a build to Scotty, Joseph, Jasmine, Diego, and Madison.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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