Learning to Dance

never. Taz took a deep breath, and ran.
“Enemy detected! Enemy detected!”
Taz kept her eyes fixed on the door and the sensor pad
beside it as the robots turned. She felt the warmth of a laser
beam behind her, and ran faster. She was almost- there-
“Look out!” yelled a human voice.
She threw herself to the ground and watched another
laser beam crash into the wall where she’d been a moment
before. The heat of it scalded her bare arm, but she ignored
the pain as she turned to see four robots advancing on her,
weapons at the ready.
She was so close.
Letting out a fierce yell, she threw Up’s pistol as hard as
she could. It hit the first robot hard between the optical
sensors, and it staggered backwards. She didn’t wait to see
what the others would do, but vaulted herself the last few
feet to the door, smashing the sensor pad with her left hand.
A whirring sound, and the door opened.
Up was the first person to come through, and he was
already shooting. The robots fell like paper dolls as more
Rangers pushed through the door and ran to meet the
enemy. Gunfire, lasers and human screams pulsed through
the air. Taz, unarmed and feeling rather vulnerable,
scrambled backward out of the Rangers’ way, holding her
injured arm carefully aloft.
Up was still leading the charge, shouting commands over
his shoulder as he knelt, firing at everything metallic that
moved. It was not the first time she’d seen him like this, a
deadly look in his eyes, a fearsome accuracy in his aim. A
thrill went through her, and suddenly she wished she still
had a gun so she could join him in the fight.
Taken unaware as the robots had been, it did not take
long for the Rangers to get control of the situation. The
prisoners were untied and most of the robots reduced to