CHAPTER THREE
Puffie
was short of breath, staring at whatever he ran into. He expected at least some movement from the
dark figure that hid in the shadows of dark, and he thought if he could try
fighting it. But that thing could have a
gun, and with his blaster needing a battery pack, and to move to reload the gun
could get him shot. Instead, he heard
Peter scurry toward him, and his light revealed a wide-eyed Puffie staring at
the dark and inactive eyes of an old mining robot, its rock claws and
insect-like legs folded neatly on the sides. Peter chuckled at Puffie’s plight.
"That's
a mining robot, Puffie. Probably left when the mine shut
down." Said Peter "Looks like it was forgotten when the robots
were collected for redistribution"
Puffie
could not believe it. He expected a
turret, a rebel, or even a tank. But it turned out to be a MIN-12 Borer Class
Mine-Bot. Puffie looked at the non-
moving robot for another few seconds, and then looked for his blaster. After retrieving his weapon, He finished
reloading it, and shone his light around the room. From the looks of the surroundings, and by
all the gutted stands, this once was a control room used for robots. This room must have been one of the main
control rooms for the robots processing ore, as it was rather large for a
control room for mineral extraction.
Puffie shone the light up at the roof, and saw a dim outline of the
roof, about twenty-five feet high. Then
he unfolded the map.
"Peter,
the map shows we are near the main mining area.
There are some airlocks just after this room, and the main elevator
should be just after the pit known by miners as "The Chasm"."
Peter
frowned. "We encountered no traps
as of yet; something’s not right. We
should have had to deal with trip wires, or explosives, or cave-ins, or-"
Peter
was interrupted by a loud click and whirring sound. Puffie controlled his horror and asked
"Peter? Is that sound what I think it is?"
Peter
nodded nervously, as he stared into a pair of red glowing eyes.
"That
mining bot's active."
As
if in unison, Puffie and Peter shone their lights at the 'bot. It was unfolding its arms, and was starting
to stand up on its 6 legs. Its rock
claws, sharp enough to claw though solid rock gleamed in the light.
Puffie
thought quickly. There must be someone
controlling this thing! But in a mine
like this, how would they find him? There where over 20 robot control rooms in
a similar mine, and it would not help finding something like that with a
hostile mining 'bot on your tail.
So,
Puffie thought what can destroy a 'bot like this? Puffie fired a shot at the robot. The beam bounced off the metal shell that
made the main frame for the robot. The
robot ignored the shot and advanced toward the pair. "Oh, darn." Puffie said "A hostile robot that is
invincible to blasters. Now what?" Peter and Puffie look at each other and run
past the robot, just as they did, the robot tries to swipe at them.
Puffie
grabs the radio “Scouts to terminators! Scouts to
Terminators!” He shouted “We got a hostile robot in the mining
corridor! We need backup fast!"
The
robot rips its way through a gutted monitor stand, and scuttles toward Puffie.
A
reply finally comes through the radio. “Acknowledged, scouts.
We ran into what's left of that Rebel party you shot up. We will not be able to reinforce you
immediately."
"Damn
it!" Cursed Puffie. "Roger, Terminators. We will try to buy us some time. Over and Out!" Puffie Heard Peter, who was trying to
distract the robot with his blaster, shout a warning to him, and Puffie leaped
aside as a rock claw slammed down on the wall he was standing behind. "Damn, it moves fast for a mining robot”
Puffie thought. "This robot must
have reflective shielding to prevent the lasers used to soften the rocks from
frying it. How will I get into this
guy?" His backpack jiggled and
sagged its way into Puffie's mind. A
thought of realization came to Puffie, and a quick smile came to his face. "Let's hope this works" Puffie thought
as he turned to run towards peter.
The
robot scuttled sideways and paused for a second at it searched for a
target. Puffie lifted his rifle and
fired a shot, aiming for the cameras that made its eyes. The shot reflected
off, but if caused the robot to further delay.
Puffie then ran past Peter, yelling “KEEP THAT TIN CAN
DISTRACTED!" as
he went by. Peter shouted an
Acknowledgment, and sidestepped away from Puffie to keep the Mine-bot away from
Puffie.
Puffie
planted his back against the frame of a monitor stand. He gently pulled the explosives from his
pack, along with the trip-mine unit.
Glancing at Peter, who was running from the bot as it gave chase. Puffie
then slipped the explosives into the mine, then grabbed his pack up and ran to
a wide spot.
Puffie
gently set the trip-mine so the laser faced the ceiling, and grabbed a battery
pack and clicked it in place in the bomb body, sweating nervously as he hoped
that the surge of power would not cause the bomb to explode.
The
bomb whined as the capacitors in the bomb charged up. Puffie picked his pack up, Oriented himself
with the room, and shouted to Peter, Shining the light at the bomb as a red
laser projected from the trip-bomb turned mine.
Peter
heard his name and glanced at Puffie. He
saw an outline of Puffie, but noticed his light was shined at something
resembling a box. He dashed beside the
robot, forcing the robot to turn to face after him to pursue.
Peter
then ran to the box, hearing the whirring, and the clicking of gears, the electronic
noises the robot made as it screamed at Peter.
He figured the robot, and the fate of being torn to ribbons, was about
ten feet from him, and ever-so-slightly gaining.
Peter
saw what Puffie was shining his light at, and smiled at what Puffie planned. He gave the mine a short berth, and Puffie
joined Peter in running. Puffie and Peter were in the mine tunnel, and still
running when they heard a loud explosion, followed by fierce tremors and the
sound of falling rock.
Peter
and Puffie cautiously backtracked, and breathed a sigh of relief when their
light shone upon the ripped off side and arm of the mine-bot.
Puffie
lifted the radio, which was transmitting.
"Terminators to Scouts, Terminators to Scouts, Come in Scouts. You okay?"
"Yes,
we are okay." Puffie replied to the
radio "I had a little surprise for the 'bot." Puffie entered the room, and examined
aftermath "The room with engagement partially caved in, but is still
transversal. Wait for you to catch up?"
"Negative. We are right behind you." said a
voice. Puffie turned around and found
the group marching up to them. The Team
leader shone his light up and examined the room, which had a pile of rocks
covering half of the room. Amidst the
rubble, lied the battered and folded chunk of metal that was once a mine-bot.
The
Leader, who wore a helmet with a transparent green visor that displayed data
from a small computer to the user, shook his head and gave a sigh. "Well
boys, you took quite a gamble using such powerful explosives to kill that
robot. If that room fully caved in, it
would mean this mission would have failed." He lifted an eyebrow
"Where did you get those explosives, anyway?"
"A
rebel planted a laser trip-mine on the wall when we fought that group of them, Sir"
Peter replied.
“That’s the equivalent of a
stick of dynamite!” exclaimed
a rabbit in the group. “More than a stick, considering the
damage to the room.” Countered the team leader. “Next time, see if you can’t get some
support. Some of the others here have a
few EMP grenades.” And adds with a shrug “But then, who knows how long you
would have lasted?"