Read Online Interphase by Kira Wilson, Jonathan Wilson - Free Book Online

corridors far ahead. "Defense bot," Clyde whispered. He altered a setting on his rocket launcher. "Can your weapon disrupt LO encryption shielding?"
    David nodded and tapped options on his holo-screen. "LO, BKP, even AP if the target is stationary."
    "All right, all right, you came prepared. Now shut up and wait for it to show."
    The hum grew louder, light streaming down the corridor as the bot appeared. It was an orb-shaped machine about a foot wide, floating several feet above the ground. A pair of scanning ports rotated around its surface. Clyde stood up, aiming the launcher. The bot spotted them, and its scanners changed to red. A warning siren abruptly blared.
    A single rocket annihilated all traces of the bot, but the sirens did not go quiet. A whirring sound echoed down the corridor, and a swarm of bots charged into view. "Time to earn your keep, Harris," Clyde shouted.
    David raised his pistol and fired. His first shot scored, and a bot disintegrated into faint code snippets. The second and third shots struck true as well. Retreating, the wall of bots took cover and launched beams and bolts of their own.
    "You're not bad with that thing," said Clyde, still fiddling with his weapon.
    "Too many shooter modules as a kid," David answered, ducking into a small alcove as a blue beam fired past. "Maybe you could, I don't know, earn your keep as well?"
    Clyde shrugged. "No loss to me if this doesn't work out." He eyed David with a grin. "Oh, and try to avoid getting shot. Those are ident-tracer pulses. They'll knock you out of the network, log your location, and alert VERA's nearest assault-bots to come pick you up."
    David looked at him in wide-eyed amazement.
    "Told you this would be fun."
    Well, it was necessary to find out more about what had happened to him, and it would be worth it to see Analara as well. Diving from cover, David fired several rounds as the defenders approached. He ducked a pair of shots before taking a hit to his shoulder. The force of the discharge threw him to the ground. Scrambling, he reached the safety of the alcove.
    "I thought you said they were firing ident-tracers," David shouted over the blasts.
    Clyde poked his head out for a look before responding. "Nah, the square ones are firing nerve disruptors. Not much of a problem for you now, but… well, you'll be feeling it in the morning." He smirked evilly at David.
    Standing up, Clyde leisurely aimed his launcher at the oncoming throng. Blasts ricocheted off the walls near his head. David reached out and tried to pull him down, but a glare from Clyde convinced him not to. David stared in horror when several bolts struck Clyde directly—
    And bounced off.
    Bracing the launcher, Clyde fired a burst toward the other end of the corridor. There was no explosion of light or sound, but all firing ceased. David peeked out from his corner and stared at the empty hallway.
    "Shall we go?" Clyde asked.
    "You could have destroyed those whenever you wanted to!" David rubbed his shoulder, a feeling of numbness spreading down his arm.
    "Well, duh. I wanted to see if you could hold your own if we ran into trouble. Normally a class 5 isn't much to write home about."
    "Gee, thanks. I trust you're satisfied now?"
    Clyde gave him a half-grin and offered him a hand up. "I can't help it if you forgot to bring your own personal code deflector."
    The last corridor opened into a wide room. A barrier of rippling energy stood at the center. There were no drones here, but the shield was imposing enough that they weren't necessary. No access panel was visible. David glanced at Clyde, who just nodded at the wall of light. "All right, Harris. Let's see about this gate."
    David activated his holo-screen and gave the barrier's coding a cursory examination. It was as complex as he would expect from a gate protecting V-Net's information core. He attempted to launch a pair of code probes, but they were quickly rebuffed. Frowning, he tried again, stretching his search farther this