Re-Coil - J.T. Nicholas Page 0,108

Bliss-infected had faded only slightly. The security operatives had to have dropped dozens, scores, maybe hundreds in those first few minutes of fire.

But Bliss had hundreds more where those came from, and, this time, it seemed the AI had decided to throw them all at us in one concerted wave.

“Fall back.” The order came over the radio waves, Korben calm and collected as always. “By the numbers. Front rank, keep firing.”

Shay threw me a startled glance and even through her faceplate I could see the whites all around her eyes. “Just move back,” I said over our private channel. “Nice and easy. You’ll know when it’s time to run.”

I put my words into action, gliding back, trying to keep my eyes toward the enemy and simultaneously watch the corridor beyond. I slipped past Shay, letting her follow in my wake, aware that, despite everything, I had somehow become point man again. At least this time, the enemy was at our backs.

As far as we knew, anyway.

Korben kept up a steady stream of orders as we retreated and I was forced to reassess him yet again. He wasn’t simply the cold, professional killer. He had to have commanded men before at some point in one of the however many lifetimes he’d lived. Hell, maybe he was even some sort of military genius. If he was, it wasn’t going to help us one bit in this situation. I could feel the pressure of the shooters as the pace of their withdrawal increased. Slowly, inexorably, but each step seemed to follow its predecessor with just a little more alacrity as the cyber-zombies clambered closer.

“Where am I heading, Korben?” I asked after having Sarah open a private channel to him. I’d been heading back toward the bridge, but that wouldn’t get us anywhere. It was a dead end, and if we couldn’t hold the door, that description would prove literal.

“Anywhere you can, Mr. Langston.” There was an edge in his voice that I hadn’t heard before. A strain. I risked a glance over my shoulder and saw that the Bliss-infected had closed the space down to a few scant meters. “Anywhere defensible. But we have to make it to Environmental.” His voice was grim, the determination evident.

Sarah, plot another route to Life Support. One that takes us through minimal resistance based on the existing sensor data.

A glowing trail blossomed in my vision. “I’ve got a least resistance route based on current info,” I said to Korben. “I’m going to move ahead and try to find a spot to buy us some breathing room.”

“Fine,” came the terse reply.

“Route info headed your way.” I switched channels. “Shay, we’re going to pick up the pace. We need to find a spot where we can weather this storm.”

“Okay,” came her breathless reply.

“Stay close.” I didn’t wait for a response, moving from the quick walk I’d been maintaining to a trot and then something between a jog and a sprint. If I rounded a corner and ran headlong into more infected, I was finished, but we needed the separation if we were going to have any chance of coming up with a plan for the team to break contact.

“What are we looking for?” Shay panted over the comm.

“Anything we can use to slow down the bad guys,” I responded. “But not until after the good guys—such as they are—get past us. A door we can secure. A barricade. Anything.”

She didn’t reply, but I had no doubt she was working the problem, putting her better knowledge of the myriad computer systems that ran a ship into play. I concentrated on the purely mechanical. Doors were the obvious solution, but it took quite a bit of time to disable one. While they could be locked electronically, Bliss was in charge of the network, not us. Disabling them mechanically—well, I doubted we’d have enough time between when the last soldier passed and the first of the infected arrived for any meaningful solution. I still had some adhesive left, but that would buy us only a few moments. We needed something better.

“This way,” Shay cut in, a new pathway blossoming to view in my vision. I didn’t argue—she no doubt had better data on the ship, and God knew, I didn’t have a plan to get us out of this. I simply took her path, porting it over to Korben as I went, so he and the Genetechnic team would know where to follow. I dropped into the tactical channel briefly, just long