“Is there something wrong?” asked the original voice politely.
“I can’t see,” she complained.
“Tell me what you want to see and I’ll show it to you,” said the voice.
“I want to see in all directions at once!”
Banks of monitor screens glowed into life. Jan turned to them. It took a few moments for her to comprehend what she was seeing, then she realized she was getting views being transmitted from different parts of the Sky Angel’s hull. She saw that the Lord Pangloth was indeed very close. Higher than the Sky Angel, it was descending to a position right alongside her. The Perfumed Breeze was still some distance away.
“Where is your software input?” Jan asked urgently, looking around the control room. A nearby console made a chiming sound and began to flash a green light. Jan went to it, taking the tube from her pocket. She inserted it into the console and waited. “Carl? Ashley?” she asked tentatively. There was no answer.
“Who do you wish to talk to?” asked the original ship’s voice.
“The programs on that software I just put into your system.”
“That software is inert,” the voice informed her calmly.
“What do you mean?” cried Jan.
“There are no active programs on it. It is inert.”
Jan groaned in despair. She had damaged it after all. The impact had destroyed Carl and Ashley. She glanced at the screens. What she saw plunged her into deeper despair. Gliders, spilling from the decks of the Lord Pangloth and into the air like fungus spores on a windy day in the blight lands.
“Sky Angel!” she cried. “You must leave at once. Disengage from the tower and fly from here at top speed.”
“I’m sorry,” said the voice, “but I cannot obey your orders without the proper command codes.”
Jan wanted to scream with frustration. “You must obey me!” she cried. “We will be invaded at any moment. Look! Look at your own screens if you don’t believe me …!” She pointed at the nearest screen. On it she saw some of the gliders heading for the top of the Sky Tower. They intended to gain entrance to the summit room in the same manner as the other three had done. And from there they could get into the Sky Angel through the connecting tunnel.
“Can you at least close the doors in your bow?” begged Jan.
“Oh, yes, I can do that,” said the voice.
“MILO HAZE!”
The voice boomed over the city, echoing from the walls of the towers.
“MILO HAZE! ANSWER ME!”
It was coming from the Lord Pangloth. It was the warlord.
“MILO HAZE! YOU HAVE LOST!”
Jan scanned the banks of screens. She saw gliders landing on the upper hull. She turned to the metal spider. “Are you armed?” she asked it. In response it extended a mechanical arm from its spherical body. “I have others if you need them,” it assured Jan.
“I meant weapons,” said Jan. “Do you have any?”
“Oh no,” it replied. “No weapons.”
She tried to keep calm but it was difficult. Memories of the warlord’s description of what it would be like to be flayed alive kept flickering through her mind.
“SURRENDER, MILO HAZE! I WILL BE MERCIFUL!”
“Are there many of you on board?” Jan asked the spider.
“Yes,” it said. “There are five hundred maintenance and service mechanicals on active duty with another five hundred in storage.”
“Listen to me,” Jan said desperately. “People are invading the airship. You and the other things like you must stop them—attack them, kill them!”
“That’s impossible,” said the spider. “We cannot deliberately harm any human being.”
“Mother God, give me strength …” groaned Jan. She tried again. “You don’t have to harm them, just overpower the invaders, take away their weapons. …”
“Such actions might result in injury and therefore can’t be considered. I’m sorry.”
“You sound it,” said Jan and kicked the spider. It scuttled away from her but did nothing else.
“MILO HAZE! DON’T ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE! IT IS TOO LATE!”
That was true, thought Jan bitterly as she stared at the screens. The upper hull was crawling with samurai. Lucky Milo, to have missed this. …
“Hi! What’s happening?”
Jan wondered if she was having a hallucination. “Ashley?”
“Yep, it’s me! Large as life!”
Jan couldn’t believe it. “You’re okay? Carl too?”
“Right as rain.”
“I thought I’d destroyed you both! Where were you? The computer here said your software was blank.”
“That was Carl’s doing. He discovered there were all sorts of safeguards built into the system to prevent unauthorized programs being introduced into the Sky Angel. He had to figure out ways of getting around them. Took a while. Did you miss me?”
“Very much,” said Jan with feeling. Quickly, she told Ashley what was going on.
Ashley said, “No problem. Carl and I are in total control of the system now. Carl says we should disengage from the Sky Tower for a start.”
“Yes, yes!” cried Jan. “Tell him to do whatever he thinks best.”
“What we think best,” said Ashley.
“Okay, what you and Carl think best.”
The Sky Angel was already moving. She looked up and saw the top of the tower start to recede.
“HAZE! IT’S TOO LATE! YOU CAN’T ESCAPE! SURRENDER NOW AND I WILL BE MERCIFUL! OTHERWISE YOUR DEATH WILL BE ONE LONG SCREAM!”
The warlord’s voice thundered over the city.
“Carl says that the Japanese are entering the Sky Angel,” said Ashley.
“I know that. Has he, or do you, have any ideas of how to get rid of them?”
“Yeah. The robots. Those spider things.”
“I already tried that,” Jan told her. “The spider here refused in case people got hurt.”
“Carl and I are in charge now,” said Ashley proudly. “They’ll do whatever we say—we’ve taken over the central program.”
“Then give the word,” said Jan urgently. “Fast!”
“It’s already been given.”
Jan had to duck out of the way as the spider suddenly came to life and charged towards the elevator. It disappeared inside and the door closed. “We’re taking the other five hundred out of storage in case we need any back-up.”
“MILO HAZE! STOP NOW! MY WARRIORS ARE ALREADY ON BOARD YOUR SHIP. FURTHER RESISTANCE IS USELESS!”
The Sky Angel was now rising above the Lord Pangloth. Jan saw the other airship’s thrusters swivel their vents downwards in order to ascend as well.
“Let’s blow the bastard out of the sky!” said Ashley.
“Nothing I’d like better,” said Jan. “But how?”
“Oh, didn’t I tell you? No, I didn’t. Carl infiltrated the system that controls the lasers. We now have full control of them. So what do you say? Do we start shooting?”
It took a few moments for the information to sink in, then Jan realized that the lasers could be made to fire at anything. She said quickly, “No, don’t fire yet. Is there a way I can speak to the warlord?”
After a pause Ashley said, “Yeah, there’s a voice amplification unit here. To be used to communicate with disaster refugees on the ground, says Carl, which is what that warlord is soon going to be himself. Carl is activating it now. Start talking.”
“Warlord Horado …” she began experimentally, and was instantly shocked to hear her words booming in the same thunderous tones as the warlord’s. “Warlord Horado, listen to me. I am Jan Dorvin. I am on my own. Milo is dead. He was killed by a cyberoid weeks ago.”