Page 95 of On a Rogue Planet
The top half of the robot tilted and its tracks whirred. Then Xander slammed out with his mechanical arm, grabbed the bent joint, and yanked.
The top of the robot fell to the ground, its many arms flailing. The tracks spun in a circle, completely disconnected from the main body of the robot.
Xander ripped off the armor plate at the top of the robot. It exposed the blinking lights of the control center. Then he slammed his foot down.
All movement stopped.
Thank the stars. Mal rose.
Xander stepped over the twisted metal and headed her way. She smiled at him, the expression fading when she heard a skittering noise.
Behind him. The remains of the robot weremoving.
What the—?As she watched, pieces of the robot began to break apart. In horror, she saw the robot had been made of smaller machines that pieced together to make the whole. They looked like little six-legged, silver metallic insects with quivering bodies.
And mouths filled with sharp metal teeth.
The crowd of tiny robots, each about the size of Xander’s hands, moved together in some eerie formation.
“Xander! Watch out?—”
He was already turning, but the pack of robots leaped into the air and covered him.
He went down under the onslaught. She knew he was fighting, but all she could see was an undulating cloud of silver.
Jesus. Mal searched around her, saw a long pipe sticking out from the wall. She pried it off and ran.
She smacked at the robots closest to her that were not on top of Xander. She heard a satisfying crunch and kept swinging.
Some flew through the air and hit the walls. Others she crushed.
“Xander!”
Suddenly, he pushed upright. She saw a bright glow, felt a pulse of energy in the air, and the crowd of robots flew off him. Like they’d been blasted outward.
His clothes were tattered and all over, she saw small patches of blood. Especially on his face. On one side of his cheek, the robots had bitten through and underneath the torn skin she saw…metal.
“We need to go.” He grabbed her arm and yanked her forward. “The energy pulse will have dazed them but not for long.”
They’d taken three steps when the skittering sound filled the air again. One glance over her shoulder and she saw the little robots righting themselves, preparing to launch again.
“Run!” he growled.
They both sprinted, Xander falling in behind her. This pathway was long with no junctions. The walls were getting closer together, the path getting narrower and narrower.
Please don’t be a dead end. Soon, Mal had to turn sideways to squeeze through. Xander grunted as he shoved his larger body through the small gap.
Then the path widened again and they were at another crossroads.
“Which way?” she shouted.
He was studying the paths, his jaw tight. “I don’t know.
Then she noticed something. Stylized flame shapes carved into a sheet of metal that was part of the wall.
Flames. Flames are your friends.
“This way.” She waved Xander on and took the path marked by the flames.
