The Planet 4.3

4.3 Trapped

Within the confines of the consoles, it was not easy to fight let alone defend. During the first shots, Duggan shot the earlier Grade III droid in the head piece before he trailed his fire on the other droids. I had started firing too at the Grade V droids. It was an unprecedented move by the droids. They reacted like us humans; they ducked into cover behind the consoles or any covers.

“Shucks!” I rushed back to re-join the others. “How did they do that?”

I ducked while firing before sliding in besides Duggan who had pulled the lifeless Machete there for cover.

“Stop your firing.” Duggan ordered me. I did so and noticed the stillness that still prevailed. Only two Grade V droids were still in sight and they were not moving at all. The other four Grade V droids have taken covers behind the consoles. I sighted my aim on the level above looking for the above remaining droids. They were not to be seen and so was the other two below.

“We need to call in the others.” I told the Commander but Duggan shook his head.

“We handled droids before.” Duggan hit back. “They are not attacking so let us find our own attacks. Find us a way out.”

I placed my hand on the flooring. I review the data fields. The flooring below us was two inches of metal ceramic plate. Below it was the sub surface cavern where the drills were coring the depths. There was a hollow space with the height of ten feet. It was enough. I aimed my rifle to the flooring and fired in a circular motion. I was creating an outlet for us to escape. The flooring gave way and when I kicked it, the section of the floor dropped. I did not hesitate in jumping in.

I landed on a sub surface terrain. My goggles were useless there. It must had been damaged when I landed there. I pull it off and adjusted my sight on the surrounding. It was sandy and there were boulders around with lots of dust there. It was created by the initial coring machines to create a cavern area in the sub-surface when the coring drills on its exit will dislodged the dirt and stones stuck to its side. It was dark in there but with my mechanical left eye, I was able to get an infra-red look of the cavern. There was no droids there and it looked safe. Duggan jumped in next with the warning of ‘fire in the hole’. He was one guy who cares not for the risks of collapsing the flooring. Well at least, he pushed Machete down first. The explosive went off but it was a plasma grenade. Its explosive properties were a fiery burnt on contact. Each grenade could cover over twenty feet in radius. Not the best of choice for the heat of the explosion hit us below.

“Arch…”Duggan screamed out when the plasma effect also burned his back. He had fallen on Machete; I thought he did that intentionally. The bastard loved that but he paid for his selfish intentions. He then rolled over to smooth the pain but it was not helping. I rushed over and grabbed the medic pack. Inside was the solution which could ease the pain and heal the burns. I grabbed the mini canister and sprayed it on the Commander’s back.

“I knew I should have jumped first.” Duggan smiled to himself. I pulled him up into a crouched position. “But I loved the man. Most times. Anyway thanks.”

“You got some burns on your back.” I told the Commander. “You will live. How is he?”

Honestly, I could not care less on Machete but I wanted to sound human I guess. Or fully human whom I knew was not possible in my case.

“The heck with him. I want to know….” Duggan was confused then. He also pulled his goggles off and it was then the ceiling gave way in three separate areas. From it, the droids dropped down. They must have slammed down hard on the flooring with their powerful limbs before dropping in. It was not a good move but it was a bold one. After all I did show them the way.

The three droids dropped down and landed on their tracks. We were trapped.