All right! I'm all fired up! I have so much raw energy right now, I'm gonna type a whole chapter! That's how hyper I am!
Ian
Six of the robots went after me. I stayed just out of effective laser range, but tried to stay close enough to keep them on my tail, drawing them away from Lyra. That didn't prove too hard.
When they saw I meant business, the robots underwent some sort of transformation: their slim, round midsections extended, then their upper bodies dropped until they were almost parallel to the ground. Their smooth black heads, already somewhat sleeker than those of their hulking body-guard counterparts, extended on long telescoping necks. From a distance, I couldn't make out all the details, but it was obvious they were doing... something. I stood behind a large artificial boulder and watched, awe-struck. The secondary arms retreated into their compartment, then re-emerged with a variety of tools attached. In a quick flurry of movement, they re-arranged the parts in the tread configuration, and attached several small black objects. Finally, the three fingers on the large forearms extended and bent at the middle, and the blunt tips were replaced by sharp claws.
Now the robots looked like mechanical raptors, sleeker than ever and designed to hunt and kill. Their treads spun in the wet grass, and they took off at three times their usual speed.
"Jeez!"
I ran for the opposite side of the enclosure, still not sure exactly how I was going to deal with the robots.
Better decide fast, I thought. They were already within laser range. A blast whooshed past a few yards away, diffusing harmlessly and warming the grass slightly. Apparently, they were less accurate in hunting mode. This didn't comfort me much: I would have much preferred the searing lasers to a physical confrontation with one of the sleek hunters.
Wait a minute, why am I wearing this suit in the first place? I'll just take it off!
I stopped behind a small shrub and removed the heavy high-density suit. At least now I didn't have to worry about the lasers. Suddenly the robots stopped and straightened slightly, as if they were receiving a signal. Ms. Fletcher's voice came booming over the intercom.
"Aha, I see you're trying to cheat by removing your suit, Ian. Well, if you won't play by the rules, I'll just have to change them a little."
One of the robots levelled a laser at me. There was a flash, and suddenly my arm felt as if it were on fire. I dropped to my knees, clutching my left arm. It was burnt and red, and pain shot through my body when I touched it.
"You see how lucky you are to have a damage synthesis suit? The only alternative is doing you actual harm with actual lasers, and that gets a little unpleasant, doesn't it?"
I gasped in pain. The skin on my forearm was seared and cauterized.
"All right, I'll use the suit," I said in a voice strained with pain.
"Oh, it's too late for that," she said. "Since you insist on not abiding by the rules, you'll have to be punished."
"You can't be serious."
"I don't make jokes," she said in an icy tone. "Now run!"
I leapt to my feet and ran for the stream that bisected the huge enclosure. I looked over my shoulder, and saw that two extra lasers had extended from the forearms of the deadly machines. Beams blazed past me, no longer harmless, burning the air as they went, and finally leaving small blackened craters in the grass. A small rocket booster folded out of a compartment on each of the robots, and they took off at superspeed, with long blue-white flames trailing after them.
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Lyra
I stopped and listened to Ms. Fletcher's side of the conversation that I knew was taking place between her and Ian. Obviously, I could only hear what she said, but I could tell it was bad. I started heading in the direction Ian had gone off in, but I didn't get two steps before the two robots still pursuing me came tearing over the hills on either side of me, blasting me relentlessly with the low-power lasers. I took several hits, biting my tongue as my jaw involuntarily clenched. My muscles spasmed, and I fell flat on my face. I rolled to the side, barely avoiding a barrage of laser blasts, then sprang up and fired as one of the robots sped by. A bullet hit the back of it's tread array, and there was a small explosion of bolts and bits of metal. The robot tilted crazily onto one tread, then crashed hard into the dirt, leaving a trench several feet long. Leaving it for dead, I turned my attention to the other one. Before I could get a shot in, it launched one of it's fists, hitting me square in the chest. I was flung backwards, landing hard on my back. I used the momentum to roll backwards into a crouching position, and blasted away at the thin metal cable connecting the three-fingered fist to the forearm. The cable snapped, and the fist rolled away into a foxhole. I was about to finish the robot off, when a pair of powerful metal arms grabbed me from behind. Calling up a hand-to-hand combat course from the large database of fighting techniques in my mind, I flipped myself backwards and onto the back of the robot. I aimed my assault rifle straight down at it's head, but one of it's secondary arms knocked me off before I could squeeze the trigger. I scrambled back a yard or so on my hands and feet, and saw that the robot had detached it's damaged tread array, revealing a long, sinuous tail-like thing that telescoped out of it's midsection. It now looked like a mad engineer's version of a chimera. I tugged a grenade from my belt and lobbed it at the robot. The nanoprocessor attached to it told it that this was an enemy, and it clung to the robot with a small claw. I dove into a nearby foxhole and covered my ears. A satisfyingly loud blast shook the ground, and I peeked over the edge of the foxhole. One robot had been totally blown apart, reduced to several square yards of burning scrap. The other lay a few feet away, it's arms twisted and it's body scorched and battered by shrapnel. I fired once into the faceplate, and it clicked off. I oriented myself again, and set off at a run towards the center of the enclosure.
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Ian
I reached the creek just as the robots caught up with me. I dropped behind a boulder, and they sped over me, their rockets boiling the water as they landed in the creek. They switched off the rockets and began advancing slowly. I fired continuously at them, but they easily dodged most of the bullets. Remembering that I had several grenades, I hurled one at them. One caught it lightly between two fingers. It tried to throw it back at me, but some device on the grenade had glued it firmly the robot's metal hand. It simply stared at it helplessly for a moment, then it detonated, neatly blasting the robot's upper body off, leaving a smoking pair of treads. The others continued their advance. They were to close for grenades now: if I used one, I would blow myself up as well.
This is it, I thought.
I'm dead.
The robots coolly levelled their lasers at me. Just as they were about to fire, a stream of bullets from somewhere just above me tore through the armor of the robot farthest to the right. In seconds, it's metal carapace had been completely shredded. One of it's laser tubes exploded, and it tipped over backwards into the stream, short-circuiting in a flash of electricity. I looked up, and there was Lyra, standing triumphantly atop the boulder. She offered a hand, and pulled me up.
"What happened to your arm?" she asked.
The robots redirected their lasers towards her. I tackled her off the boulder just in time: when I looked back, the top of it had been melted and blasted away.
"Son of a-- I thought they were just using low-power lasers!" she said.
"Well, the rules have changed," I said. "C'mon, we've gotta move!"
The robots rounded either side of the boulder, lasers blasting. I lobbed another grenade, but I instantly saw it would not do any damage: the robots were already moving out of the way. Lyra suddenly whipped out a pistol and took careful aim, tracking the tiny target. Just as it reached the top of it's arc, she fired, detonating it directly above the robots. They were knocked to the ground by the blast.
"Nice shot," I said.
"It's not over yet," she said.
The robots were already righting themselves.
"Any ideas?" she asked as the laser fire resumed.
"Here's one: run!"
We ran past the boulder and followed the stream. One robot, having gotten up more quickly than the other three, was right on our heels. I dodged to the right just as it made a grab at me, and it continued on, directly into a trap. A trio of blades sprang up from the ground, slicing it into several pieces. Once the robot was destroyed, I sent a few bullets into the robotic arms holding the blades to ensure that we would not have to deal with them again. Then I pried several large sheets of metal away from the robot's wiring.
"I've got an idea," I said.
Holding one sheet to my side like a shield, I ran parallel to the stream with the other sheet held loosely near my feet in my left hand. When I had gained enough speed, I leapt into the small brook, bringing the metal sheet under my feet just as I hit the water. Carried by momentum, the stream, and the incline of the area, I skidded along faster than I could have run, the metal gliding smoothly along the round rocks of the stream bed. Lyra followed my example, and we were soon gliding swiftly towards our destination.
"What's the plan?" Lyra asked.
"The stream empties out into a pool, right next to the pine grove. It's a good defensive position, so we'll hold there and hopefully destroy the last seven robots."
"That's last three," Lyra said. "I did a little guerilla fighting, and I managed to take four out."
"Then our job is that much easier," I said. I pushed off a small boulder sticking up out of the water and gained some extra speed. I just hoped Ms. Fletcher didn't have any more sadistic tricks up her sleeve.
Sheesh, glad that's over. I've had to leave my computer on for three days to finish this chapter. I think it'll actually be okay. I hope. Maybe. I really hope it's okay! I just can't take the rejection!!!
Just kidding.