Then he kicked down the door.
The side door to the computer room fell in with a crash and Craig and his robots stormed in. Gilligan was at the main door watching the fight in the corridor and Wiz and Jerry were at the console waiting for the download to finish. All of them jerked up at the sight of the three armored apparitions bearing down on them.
"Kill!" Craig screamed. The robot to his left took one step forward, caught one foot behind the other and tripped headlong with a metallic crash. The second robot raised both its arms to sweep its built-in lasers across the group.
"Drop," Gilligan yelled and all of them pressed themselves to the floor as the beams of ruby incandescence swept toward them.
Wiz felt something gently warm across his back, unsquinched his eyes and looked up. The robot’s head swiveled back and forth as it looked from one gently glowing arm to another. It nodded twice, executed an about-face and marched headlong into the wall.
"Oh shit!" Craig screamed. Then he went for Wiz.
He could have used his blasters. He could have used his machine guns. He could have let go of the thermonuclear grenade. Instead he lumbered forward with one taloned hand outstretched. He didn’t just want to kill Zumwalt, he wanted to tear him apart, to trample him beneath the battle armor’s steel feet until there was nothing left but a thin red smear on the computer room floor.
Wiz dodged the first swipe of the hand by ducking under the massive arm. He got a desk between himself and Craig, but Craig picked the desk up one handed and threw it across the room. There was a terrific crash as the flying desk hit the window wall and the sheets of glass collapsed.
Mick Gilligan dropped to one knee and emptied his pistol at Craig. He ejected the empty magazine, slammed another home and kept on firing. Bullets bounced off Craig’s armor and ricocheted wildly around the laboratory, knocking up puffs of rock dust when they hit the wall and leaving neat holes in what was left of the big window.
Craig swiveled and pointed the arm holding the grenade at the pilot. A beam of roiling green fire lanced out. Mick dove for cover, but the very edge of the blaster bolt caught his left arm and side. He went down moaning.
Then Craig turned back to Wiz. Inexorably he closed in with one arm outstretched and his claws gaping. Wiz backed away, trying to dodge behind furniture. Craig kicked one piece after another out of his path as he herded Wiz back into a corner.
"Die, Wizard!"
In a single motion Glandurg kicked the grille free and sprang from the vent, screaming his war cry and brandishing Blind Fury. The enchanted sword hummed through the air in a mighty blow aimed straight at Wiz’s neck. At the last minute the blade twisted and struck Craig’s battle armor, slicing through the armor plate just above the knee joint.
Craig stopped and looked down in wonder at the oil and fluids gushing out of the cut. Slowly and almost gently the leg collapsed under him and he sank to one knee. Wiz just stared open-mouthed.
Undaunted, Glandurg drew back and struck at Wiz two-handed. Again the sword twisted, this time upward to catch Craig in his massively armored chest. Again the sword bit deep, cleaving through magically enhanced armor and what lay beneath it.
The suit’s speakers amplified Craig’s scream to a deafening level. Sparks and fluids poured out of the gaping wound in his chest. He rose on his good leg and tried to stagger back. The suit’s gyros moaned as they worked to hold him upright, then screeched as the bearings failed for lack of lubricant. Craig rocked backward, caught himself, overcorrected and fell forward just as Glandurg brought Blind Fury down in a mighty overhead chop to cleave Wiz in half.
Instead the enchanted sword connected with the back of the battle armor’s domed head. Blind Fury went deep and came out with the tip stained with a wash of crimson. The battle armor jerked convulsively and then lay still.
Glandurg looked down at the fallen metal giant, over at Wiz and up at his bloodstained blade.
"Shit," he said.
Then he looked down at his feet. A gray, egg-shaped object had rolled clear of the armor’s lax hand. Now it lay on the floor between the dwarf and his quarry hissing quietly.
The dwarves didn’t know what the thing was, but their magic told them it was dangerous. Very dangerous.
"Run away!" Glandurg yelled to his men. It was wasted breath. The dwarves had turned as one and jumped for the air vent. There was a mad scramble as dwarves bounced off each other in mid-air, pushed one another out of the way and tried to squeeze three dwarves through an opening that wasn’t big enough for two. Glandurg wasn’t the first through the vent, but he wasn’t the last either.
Wiz and the others pressed themselves flat behind the console as the grenade hissed evilly. Then the hissing stopped. Wiz jammed his fingers in his ears and squinched his eyes tightly shut waiting for the explosion.
At last he opened his eyes, took his fingers out of his ears and cautiously peered around the corner of the console.
The deadly gray egg still lay in the middle of the room, rocking gently. As Wiz watched, the fuse protruding from one end slowly unscrewed itself and fell to the floor. A tiny head poked out of the fuse hole and peered about, enormous ears flapping.
The gremlin pulled itself out of the grenade and grinned widely at Wiz.
"Wheee," it squeaked.
Forty-six: MIKEY
Wiz leaned against the wall, one hand on his chest, and enjoyed the luxury of breathing deeply.
Jerry came over and knelt by the battle armor.
"Is he… ?" Wiz asked.
Jerry stood up. "Yeah," he said flatly. "He is."
He turned to Mick Gilligan. "Are you all right?"
"Just burns," Gilligan panted. "Not too bad, but it hurts." He looked down at his flight suit. "Good old Nomex."
"We’ll get a healer to you as fast as we can," Wiz said. "Meanwhile, we’ve got one other thing to do."
Jerry raised an eyebrow.
"Mikey," Wiz said grimly.
"Someone call me?"
Mikey strolled through the broken door as casually as if it was still his castle. He was cradling a dark, misshapen thing in both hands. Wiz recognized it and sucked in his breath.
Mikey smiled and shook his head. "You poor dumb shits. You never did figure it out, did you?"
He stepped around the fallen robots and moved to the shattered window wall, shards of glass crunching under his feet.
"Now it’s too late." He looked down at Craig’s corpse. "While that little shit kept you running around in circles, I finished this."
Mikey held his prize high. A trick of reflection from the broken window made it appear that there were two of him, one floating in air and both holding the key.
Gilligan growled and scrabbled for his gun. Mikey looked over at him and he froze. Wiz wanted to scream, he wanted to run, he wanted to go for Mikey’s throat. But he couldn’t do any of it. Like Mick and Jerry he was rooted where he stood.
Mikey looked up and Wiz saw his eyes were red and glowing like an animal caught in the headlights.
"Always one step ahead. That’s the difference between a real master hacker and people like you, Zumwalt. We’re always one step ahead.
"Anyway, I just wanted you to know before…"