第61页
No shields this time.
The drone hesitated, and one boom looked like it twitched. Ash noticed that the three booms were not connected to the center sphere. They all just floated there. What was this thing?
It closed on Holly. She fired at it, but its shields snapped into place once again, deflecting the rounds. She looked over the cliff's edge and took a deep breath.
She was going to jump.
"No way," Ash whispered.
He grabbed a fist-sized chunk of onyx and hurled it with all his strength.
It connected—dead center with the drone's spherical red eye. "Yes!" he cried.
The drone rotated to face Ash.
His elation instantly evaporated as the thing glided toward him, picking up speed.
Ash turned and ran; he jinked right and then left.
The ground exploded. Heat washed over him, and he flew head over heels. He landed flat on his back, slapping at the last moment to break the fall.
Ash rolled, and with only a slight limp, he kept running.
He hoped the other squads were having better luck. Olivia had picked up Katana squad's signal. They'd reported they were
being forced into Zone 67. They'd lost their signal shortly thereafter. They'd never gotten word from Gladius squad. Either they were dark or dead.
He looked back: the drone was almost on top of him. Its single eye heated to a cherry-red cinder, preparing another blast of energy.
Ahead there was a crevice in the rock, a sinuous two-meter channel that could have been a deep river a million years ago before this place dried up.
He sprinted for it and dove.
The channel was much deeper than he had imagined. He bounced off the walls and landed ten meters farther at the bottom.
The shadow of the drone flashed overhead and vanished.
Ash slowly got to his feet, and held his breath. Had he lost it? Maybe they had a chance after all to—
The drone reappeared overhead.
He could run down the channel, but with all its twists and turns, he'd be slow. Besides, it didn't even have to hit him with its energy beam. One shot at the walls and he'd be buried alive. Ash was trapped.
So he stood absolutely still… hoping it could only detect motion.
The drone dropped into the channel and stopped halfway down—staring directly at him. The eye glowed dull red, heating to molten golden. If Ash didn't know better he'd say the machine looked angry.
He needed to let the rest of Saber know where he was, at least know what he had discovered. Radio silence was no help now. He clicked on his COM, and turned up the gain to maximum.
"They only track high-velocity objects," he said over the COM.
The drone hesitated and its booms moved in and out almost
as if it were… what? Attenuating his signal? Trying to hear him?
Ash yelled over his COM, "STOP!"
The three booms locked in place and the drone drifted back a half meter.
It had heard him.
"What do you want?" Ash said.
The drone crept closer.
His own voice blasted though his helmet's speaker: "Fhejelet 'Pnught Juber."
Ash shook his head clear "I don't understand." He held up his hands spread wide and shrugged—the universal I-don't-know gesture.