Chapter Five
The Bridge
It was a tight fit, even for her. Taz pulled herself along
the metal vent on her stomach, carefully keeping Up’s
pistol upright in her hand. It wasn’t long before she had
reached the grate on the far side. Pressing her face against
it, she peered through the slats.
Rrrr, rrrr, rrrr.
Her breath caught as a robot’s legs passed directly in
front of her. “Mierda,” she muttered. This wasn’t going to
be as easy as they’d thought.
She pulled out the screwdriver the ensign had given her,
and set to work, listening all the while. Her heartbeat
threatened to drown out everything else.
“Bridge secure,” intoned a robot from somewhere
nearby. “Access codes acquired?”
“Negative,” replied another. “Insufficient time to
process.”
“Go ahead,” came a different, more human voice. The
Commander. “Process all you like. My Rangers will be here
before you toasters have had sufficient time to do anything
but polish those tin cans you call heads.”
“Silence, hu-mahn!”
There was a blast and a flash of red light, and the
Commander cried out. Taz turned the screwdriver faster,
catching each screw carefully in her hand as they fell.
When she reached the last one, she peered through the grate
again. She could see a metal barrier just before her – that