Rocketship Patrol Read Free

PERSONALITY-MEMORY MATRIX COMPLETE. ROBOTIC DEVICE MEMORY EMPTY.
    Two seconds after that, another explosion aft—larger and more intense than any before—rattled the rent-a-speedship.
    “Well, that was never five minutes,” Cortez said.
    “I have taken another beam to the primary reactor,” the ship announced calmly. “The casing has been completely breached. The cooling system is now offline. Backup systems have been initialized but nuclear meltdown can now no longer be prevented, only delayed. Evacuation is highly recommended.”
    “Working on it.” Cortez tapped through another menu tree.
    SHIP CONTROL RELAY: DOWNLOAD BOOTY ONE DATA PACKAGE TO ROBOTIC DEVICE MEMORY: [Y]ES / [N]O?
    Cortez tapped Y , then slapped the button to open the life boat hatch. The hatch cantilevered open with a hiss of out-rushing stale air, revealing the life boat’s cramped cabin – just big enough for a two-person couch, a limited navigation and communication console, and a ceiling-mounted locker of survival gear. 
    Cortez’s forearm beeped. SHIP CONTROL RELAY: DOWNLOAD OF BOOTY ONE DATA PACKAGE TO ROBOTIC DEVICE MEMORY COMPLETE. DATA PACKAGE INTEGRITY: 100%
    Cortez pulled the fiboptic jack out of Igon’s former body, letting the cord automatically retract back into her wrist. She closed the robot’s skull and gave the top of the head a sharp slap. The robot shell’s six limbs shot out, straight and rigid, then just as quickly retracted away into the central cylinder. A carrying strap popped out of the shell’s spine. Cortez picked up the cylinder and tossed it onto the life boat’s couch.
    “You think you’re gonna get away that easily?” the rent-a-speedship’s Brain asked, its voice no longer calm.
    “Love the new voice, Igon,” Cortez said, ducking through the hatchway into the life boat. She plopped down on the couch next to Igon’s former body and strapped herself in. “Took you long enough to find your way into main memory, though.”
    “Real stupid move, human, transferring me. I’m in control of the ship, now.”
    “Well, the intercom, anyway.” Cortez leaned to pull the hatch shut, yanking down the lever to seal it closed. “Just in time to enjoy the meltdown.”
    “The what now?” Igon asked.
    Instead of answering, Cortez just hit the large launch button in the middle of the life boat’s control console.
    An imminent launch siren wailed and the life boat shot out, rear-end first, from between the rent-a-speedship’s dorsal arch, throwing Cortez against the restraints that crisscrossed her chest.
    “Hey,” Igon called over the radio in the rent-a-speedship’s voice, “you wouldn’t happen to know how to stop a meltdown, would you?”
    “There is one way,” Cortez said, typing commands into her forearm, “but you’re probably not going to like it.”
    SHIP CONTROL RELAY: NEW COURSE SETTING CONFIRMED AND ENTERED.
    “I promise,” Igon said, “I’ll like it.”
    SHIP CONTROL RELAY: ENGAGE THRUSTERS [Y]ES / [N]O?
    “Okay,” Cortez jabbed her finger down on the Y . “If you insist.”
    She looked up. The FURCAP gunship was coming about to aim its weapon-bristling nose cone at the life boat. It managed to swivel a whole five degrees towards the boat before the rent-a-speedship’s overpowered thrusters lit to a searing green-white full strength.
    “Hey, who turned the thrusters on?” Igon asked over the radio. “Aww... crap.”
    After a few seconds, dead-weight inertia was overcome and the rent-a-speedship lurched forward, plowing into the unsuspecting FURCAP ship. The two ships slowly accordioned together, hull plates rippling and sliding over each other as their bulkheads twisted and crumpled. Atmosphere escaped in spurting jets. Explosions bloomed at the merge point, those explosions triggering larger and larger explosions that rapidly spread to consume both ships in a final fireball.
    Cortez instinctively shut her eyes as the expanding shockwave of super-heated plasma and debris swept