Outward Borne by R. J. Weinkam Page A

pass by, it would be easy enough
to surround any invader, but it did not happen.
    The Cathians moved far into the
compound before they met the robots, a mass of them standing ready
in a high open space. It was the largest opening that they had seen
so far. Four corridors converged in the circular atrium and two
ramps led to an overhanging second level. It was only about ten,
maybe twelve paces across, not so large. The bots stood as barriers
before three hallways, the Cathians were in the fourth. Pok took a
few steps into open space directly across from the largest mass of
bots. They moved closer together as she did so. A large service
bot, several lightly armed maintenance bots and the lightweight but
quick spider bots were grouped before each of the openings. Some
were holding pointed objects, but they were not armed with anything
that could be dangerous, unless they got too close, that was the
problem. No flybots were around, but Pok motioned toward the upper
level indicating that the site could give the flybots room to
descend upon them. There were fewer bots than the Cathians had
feared. Still, if the machines were able to combine their numbers
and surround them, there would be trouble. Even the small bots had
a tight mechanical grip and you could not shake them off once they
had hold of a piece of flesh. Pok discounted retreat into the maze
of hallways. They might be able to find a way around the courtyard,
but if the bots got behind them, they could easily become trapped
in some dead end corridor. The Da would not even need to fight
them, just wait for their air to run out.
    The bots appeared to be
disorganized, however, maneuvering around to sort out positions,
some standing still as if shut down, while others bumped into one
another following some command. Perhaps the Da was having trouble
controlling all of these machines at the same time. Pok thought
they might have gained some small advantage by getting to the bots
faster than expected, so she moved quickly to keep whatever edge
they had. She led the three well-armored Cathians and their cart at
a fast walking pace toward the nearest exit. The bots made no move.
She turned to the middle hallway; this caused a reaction, a few
bots from both sides moved toward the center. It was what Pok hoped
to see. The ObLaDa did not want them to enter the middle way, so
that is where they would go.
    On her signal, the three Cathians
charged into the bots. If they moved fast enough, they could drive
straight into and hopefully through the group. They might be able
to enter the narrow corridor beyond before any flybots came out of
hiding, but there were no flybots on that deck, never had been.
Within seconds, the Cathians hit the front line of large bots,
pushing these unarmed masses aside to reach the more dangerous
spider bots. They hoped to ruin each bot with a single well-placed
metal-piercing blow and keep a row of newly dead bots between
themselves and the sharp knives of anything still active. The bots
crowded together each trying to follow their program to slash or
grapple with the aliens and as they did so, they became too tightly
packed. The Cathians were able to slide the lightweight bots
against one another where they became tangled and immobilized,
losing both their ability to maneuver and use of their weapons.
Still a low boxy thing had a grip on Zep’s foreleg and twisted
enough to open a cut. It took several blows before the thing
dropped off, each hit painful as the wound worsened. The Cathians
overmatched the muddled bots once again and could have destroyed
most of them, but with only three fighters, no further casualties
could be risked.
    With a last swing at a spider bot,
Pok broke free of the mass, and with a brief look to confirm that
Zep and Til were still with her, she ran into the hallway beyond
the cluttered plaza. The Cathians held a desperate hope that the
ObLaDa would be hiding in the back of the complex, having run as
far away as it could get. So now,