Battleship Raider by Paul Tomlinson (book recommendations website .txt) 📗

and then another, finding myself in a long straight section of corridor that I didn’t recognise. I must have taken a wrong turn. For all I knew, I was now heading in the wrong direction – away from the hangar. Whether I was lost or not, I needed to put more distance between me and the robot. I stamped on the ‘go’ pedal and kept it pressed to the floor. The whine of the motor rose in pitch. Wheeeee!

The gap between me and the robot widened. Should I stop and open fire on it? The big machine gun fixed to the ATV behind me fired armour-piercing rounds, but I didn’t know how much damage they would do to the robot. If they weren’t enough to stop it, I wanted to be somewhere where I had a Plan B. I had to get back to the hangar.

Another cannon shot. It passed by on my right and I felt the heat and movement of air from its passing. A near-miss. The missile exploded just ahead of me, tearing up the floor. I braked and swerved, managing to skirt the edge of the hole that had opened up, but I had overdone it. The left side wheels lifted off the ground and I felt those on the right begin the slide. The ATV rolled onto its side and I threw myself clear so I didn’t get trapped under it.

Through the smoke, I could see the robot stomping towards me. I struggled with the ATV, trying to set it back on its wheels. Without it, I didn’t think I could stay ahead of the robot for long enough to reach the hangar – assuming I ever found it again. The ATV bounced back onto its wheels and I jumped back into the seat. The wheels spun on the loose debris littering the corridor floor but eventually got enough grip to get me moving again. The robot was so close I could hear the whine of its cannon charging up to fire again.

The junction in the corridor ahead looked familiar. At least, I thought it did. I felt certain that if I took a right, I’d be heading back towards the hangar. Well, fairly certain. A left would only have me heading back to where I had been twenty minutes earlier, so I took the right turn.

Yes! There were the open doors to the hangar. I looked back. The robot was running again. Running towards its doom. Or so I hoped.

I passed through the doorway into the hangar with that sense of relief you get when you finally arrive home after a long journey. I sped across the hangar towards the open maintenance pit. Everything looked exactly as I’d left it. I looked back over my shoulder.

The robot entered the hangar and stood just inside the doorway. This was the second most dangerous part of the plan. I had to keep moving, weaving from side to side so as not to provide an easy target for the robot’s cannon. At the same time, I needed to draw Louis Lugnuts further into the hangar – and closer to the trap.

The robot fired a shot. Anticipating it, I swerved around the big armoured truck, putting it between me and the robot. The missile skimmed along the surface of the deck and out through the double doors. It exploded out in the jungle somewhere, upsetting the monkeys who protested loudly.

Lowering the cannon, the robot moved forward. Who knew how many shots it had left. Maybe three, maybe none. I wasn’t going to risk everything on a guess.

I kept going across the hangar, turning the ATV in tight curves and an occasional figure eight, the tyres squealing on the deck.

I waited until the robot was in line with the open pit – and was as close as I thought it was likely to get. I turned the ATV sharply, fighting to keep it from overturning. I was facing the robot now. It had its back to the open pit. This was high noon on main street. The big metal beastie slowly raised its cannon. This was the most dangerous part of the plan.

I stamped down on the pedal and the ATV shot forwards. Straight towards Big Red. The back end wiggled a bit but I kept it on a straight course. The ATV was fast but so was the robot. The cannon was pointing directly at my head.

My worst nightmare was that the ATV would strike the robot and just bounce off, leaving Big Red standing there, an immovable object. Maybe the recoil from the cannon helped. ATV meet robot. Its missile flew up into the ceiling, exploding above us. Almost in slow motion, the robot tilted backwards and fell into the pit.

I jammed on the brakes at the moment before impact. I didn’t want to go flying into the pit with the robot. The last thing I wanted was to be engaged in close combat with the metal monster. The ATV’s front wheels came to a stop right on the edge of the pit. I looked down and could see the robot on its back, struggling, partially tangled in the metal net.

I attached the loop on the end of the cable to the tow bar on the back of the ATV. As I drove forward, the cable pulled the net tight around the robot, trapping it – at least for now. I kept going, needing to pull the net up out of the pit. Individual wheels spun and locked as they tried to gain a grip on the deck. Gradually I moved forward, pulling the net up and over the edge. The going was easier as I dragged the fully-loaded net across the deck towards the open hangar doors. There was more friction on the launch deck outside but it didn’t slow the ATV’s progress too much. I headed for the trailer with the engine on it which was still perched on the edge of the launch deck.

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