“Right. On it." Lantz cracked his knuckles before diving back in, the feed in Nyree’s cell closing as he continued his work.

  “I’m going to get some air,” I announced to no one in particular before slipping into the hallway, down the stairs and out into the night. Cool wind carried the familiar scents of machine oil and ozone. Overhead, the nearby nebula's glow fought a losing battle against the shipyard's glare. I couldn't quite believe I was stuck on an alien planet, waiting for a vengeful engineer to download killer robot firmware so we could stage a daring rescue of a woman we barely knew, and whose motives were as clear as a black hole.

  Yet here we were.

  Footfalls announced Matt's approach to stand silently beside me. Neither of us spoke for several minutes, our attention on the strange sky, our thoughts turned inward. Matt broke the heavy silence first.

  "So far so good, right?”

  I nodded mutely. Infiltrating Zariv’s compound using stolen security credentials did beat attempting to fight through the defenses with guns blazing. But doubts still gnawed at me.

  Matt correctly read my mood. “Having second thoughts?"

  I blew out a breath, struggling to voice my concerns. “It just seems too easy. What if Lantz only gained access to a fake system intended to catch intruders? Or what if Zariv arranged for us to get in? This whole situation screams trap.”

  Matt turned, expression thoughtful. “I know. Right now, every situation screams trap.”

  “Every situation has been a trap,” I replied.

  Matt crossed both arms with a snort of disgusted mirth. “Yeah, can't argue with you there. At least we have plenty of experience if things do turn out that way.”

  I allowed myself a small smirk and a chuckle, looking back toward the door when Tyler appeared. “Hey, dudes,” he said. “Good ‘ole Lantzy cracked the bot maintenance servers. He’s downloading the firmware now!”

  We exchanged startled looks before bolting back into the cramped room. I nearly tripped over cables snaking across the threshold. Lantz stared intently at a simple progress bar racing across the console at the bottom of his screen, body rigid with tension. Raw fear thickened the air. We all knew the metaphorical tightrope the engineer was walking right now. Discovery would mean imminent, violent company.

  "Talk to me, Lantz,” Matt demanded. “What's our status?"

  "So far so good. Encryption is brutal but I found an active log file with recent firmware updates. Should only take a few more minutes to finish copying it locally."

  We all stared at the progress bar, barely breathing. I had no idea if two minutes or two hours had passed when the download finally completed. Lantz quickly tapped out a series of commands, his screen going blank before he finally relaxed, rocking back in his seat.

  "And we're done!” He announced. “Clean exit, no alarms tripped. You've got intact firmware to study.” He ejected a tiny storage unit with a flourish, holding it up triumphantly. “The pressure’s on you now, big guy.”

  Tarvik pushed off the wall to take the drive, slotting it into his tablet. "Excellent! I'll get to work dissecting this. We should have your malicious update ready by morning."

  “Sorry for ever doubting you,” I told Lantz.

  The engineer grinned. “Always room for healthy skepticism in my line of work.”

  Sagging against the nearest wall, I blew a deep breath I hadn't realized I was holding. Another bullet dodged, at least for now.

  Matt smiled tightly. "Nice work, gentlemen. Things are finally starting to come together." His eyes danced from Ally to Tyler to me. “We should try to get a few hours rest while Tarvik analyzes that firmware. We'll need to be sharp tomorrow for the next phase."

  “That sounds like a great plan,” Tyler replied with a yawn. “I’m beat.”

  “All of this is definitely exhausting,” Hzzt agreed, though he appeared much more relaxed following the successful hack.

  "Just make sure Zariv can’t track us to this location,” Matt warned. “We'll be back in the morning to finalize plans."

  “I could leave Archie here to make sure everyone stays honest,” I suggested. “No offense, but I’m sure Zariv would pay a pretty high price to shut us down before we can really get started.”

  Hzzt’s large eyes narrowed. “Our lives depend on secrecy as much as yours does now. One does not cross Zariv and live to tell the tale.”

  “Well past the point of no return,” Tarvik grumbled without looking up from his tablet.

  “Besides, we owe him an ass kicking for taking our jobs away,” Lantz added. “You don’t need to worry about us.”

  I nodded in response, following Matt and the others out the door. Since they had turned his and Tee’s room into our spy base, they would rest in Hzzt’s room. For a fee, of course.

  “You two get some rest,” Matt said as I opened the door to my room. “I’ll get you up bright and early to prep.”

  “I don’t know how you can sleep,” Ally replied. “I don’t think I can.”

  “You might surprise yourself. It’s been a long day.”

  “Can’t argue that,” Tyler said.

  Matt clapped me on the shoulder. “You did great today, Noah.”

  “Thanks, Matt,” I replied. “Have a good night.”

  “Back atcha,” he said.

  Ally and I ducked into our room. I closed the door behind us. "You hanging in there?” I asked.

  “Somehow,” she replied. “I think I’m already surprising myself.”

  “Yeah, me too. I’m getting used to energy blasts, plasma bolts, and general mayhem. I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”

  “At least no one can say it’s boring. How’s Archie?”

  The Aleal stretched tendrils out of my pocket upon hearing its name. It waved to Ally in a gesture suggestive of a thumbs-up.

  “Glad to hear it,” she replied before yawning. “Maybe Matt’s right. I’m suddenly exhausted.”

  “I’m right there with you,” I agreed, her yawn triggering my own. “Good night, Red.”

  “Night Katzuo.”

  She retreated to her bed, slipping under the covers. I went to the bathroom to relieve myself, examining myself in the grimy mirror while I washed my hands. A light growth of black stubble framed my squarish jaw, and my eyelids drooped tiredly. It had been a long day. I was grateful we had all survived it.

  I could only hope we would end tomorrow the same way.

  CHAPTER 23

  Morning came excruciatingly early, announced by repeated sharp raps splitting my skull. With a muffled groan, I shoved a pillow over my head, trying to block out the offensive noise so I could slip back into blessed unconsciousness. No such luck. The pounding repeated until I registered Ally’s sleepy grumbling.

  “It’s too early,” she complained. “What time is it?"

  The door creaked open, knocking replaced by Matt’s clipped tone. “Oh-two-hundred,” he answered. “Rise and shine, lady and gentleman! We've got a prison to break into.”

  I forced gummy eyelids open and lifted my head to glare at him before pushing myself upright and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

  "Come on Red, up and at 'em!” Matt urged brightly. “Can't keep our crew waiting."

  Neither of us bothered responding beyond disgruntled looks. I stumbled to the bathroom to pee and splash some cold water on my face before rejoining Ally, who was trying to smooth a colossal case of bedhead into some semblance of order

  Matt walked back into the room carrying a large pot in his right hand, with four empty mugs dangling from the fingers of his other hand. “At least I came bearing gifts,” he said, placing the mugs on the nearest flat surface. Steam curled up from the pot as he poured a cup full of delicious-smelling ambrosia.

  “Is that really coffee?” I asked, drawing in the smell.

  “It’s called grish here,” Matt said, holding the steaming mug out to me. It looked more like motor oil than coffee.

  Tyler chose that moment to rush into the room. His bleary gaze fixated on the mug, he ignored me completely as he snatched it out of Matt’s hand.“Awww, man…” He brought the mug to his nose and breathed the aroma in deeply. Sighing, he took a sip and closed his eyes, his face melting into a look of absolute rapture. “Just what I needed.” He opened his eyes and took a huge gulp.

  Grinning, Matt shook his head and filled the other three mugs with the grish. “It’s stronger, nuttier and smokier than coffee,” he said, “but it tastes pretty darn close, and Hzzt says it’s loaded with caffeine.” He handed me one mug and Ally another.

  “That explains a lot about Hzzt’s weird ticks. He probably has to drink a ton of this stuff to slay his hangover every morning,” Ally commented, taking a sip of the grish and immediately making a disgusted face. “Eww, it tastes like mud.”

  “But in a good way,” Tyler agreed, emptying his mug and going for a refill.

  I took a sip of my own. Matt wasn’t kidding about strong and smokey. “It tastes like a forest fire,” I said.

  “But in a good way,” Tee repeated.

  I stepped back as Tarvik and Lantz entered the room, each carrying an empty mug. “I heard you have grish in here,” Tarvik grumbled, his bloodshot eyes a testament to a sleepless night spent staring at a computer screen.

  “Yeah, but you’d better get a cup before Tee drinks it all,” Matt said, lifting the last of our four filled mugs to his mouth.

  "Please tell me your fancy firmware revealed secret administrator backdoors so we can just shut these bots down nice and easy," Tyler pleaded around another gulp of stimulant. I tried another sip, recoiling less this time than the first. Glancing at Ally, I noticed a similar reaction from her.

  Tarvik snorted. "That would have been convenient, but no.”

  “But you did build the control package we requested?” Matt questioned sternly.

  Tarvik looked offended. “Of course.” He held out his cup. “Fill ‘er up, and come take a look.”

  Matt filled both men’s mugs as Hzzt stepped through the door and peered hopefully at Matt. “Is that grish I smell?” he asked, looking like he needed a jolt of caffeine worse than his next breath.

  Matt turned the carafe upside down. “Sorry. We just ran out.”

  “You’re welcome to make yourself useful and get us some more, though,” Tarvik said, sending the big-eyed alien a smirk over the rim of his mug.

  Hzzt chittered in annoyance but still held out his three-fingered hand to take the pot. He turned and left the room without another word.

  Matt turned to Tarvik. “About that control package, lead the way.”

  By the time we crossed the hallway and Tarvik retrieved his tablet, Ally had chugged the last of her grish. I caught her glancing back at the doorway, eager for Hzzt’s return.

  Tarvik activated the tablet, bringing up lines of dense code. “I identified the core functions to alter and isolate them from the rest of the firmware image. Then I added an injection protocol to override the existing code without triggering corruption warnings that would fail inspection, reboot the bot to a backup, and make our friend Zariv very, very suspicious. Rather than create a universal trigger that will immediately put the big-Z on the defensive, I introduced a shutdown command hardcoded to recognize a specific voice pattern. The infected bots will otherwise behave normally until they hear the trigger phrase,” Tarvik continued. “Then immediate shutdown."

  “Hey Alexa, bite me,” Tyler said.

  Tarvik glanced at him with a raised eyebrow, questioning the comment.

  “It’s not really funny when you have to explain,” Tyler added.

  “I just need you to decide whose voice you want to use,” Tarvik continued, turning to Matt, who ricocheted his attention over to me.

  “What do you say, Katzuo?” he asked.

  My eyebrows climbed in surprise. "Um, are you sure you want me to do it?”

  He nodded. “No question.”

  I blinked, surprised but also vaguely pleased at being chosen to carry the key to deactivating Zariv’s robot army. "Okay then. I'll try not to lose my voice at a critical moment."

  “You’ve got this, man,” Tyler said, voice flush with confidence.

  I managed a weak smile in return, wishing I shared it. So much rode on my shoulders if Tarvik’s clever code worked as intended “What’s the phrase?” I asked.

  “Whatever you want it to be,” Tarvik replied. “Even Hey Alexa, bite me.” The stiffness of his repetition drew laughs Tyler hadn’t received. “Just be sure you can say it the same way each time.” He tapped on his tablet a few times. “Just tell me when you’re ready.”

  I considered a few phrases that popped into my head. “Okay, I’m ready.”

  He tapped the tablet again and held it toward my face.

  “Goodnight and good luck,” I said. My parents had always loved the film about Edward R. Murrow. It seemed a relatively fitting homage to them.

  Tarvik tapped on the tablet, playing it back. “Repeat it, just to be sure you’re in sync with the key.” He nodded in satisfaction after I repeated the phrase. “Very good. We’re all set. I’ll build the firmware and pass it back to Lantz for upload and deployment. Should take another hour or so.”

  We took up positions in the room while Tarvik and Lantz continued their preparations. Hzzt returned a few minutes in, carrying a full pot of grish. Ally was first in line for a refill, followed by the two engineers. I had barely drunk half of mine and already had caffeine jitters. I couldn’t guess how she could drink it so fast and not bounce off the walls.

  The hour passed faster than the rebuilding tension would suggest, culminating when Lantz announced he was re-entering Zariv’s systems to upload the firmware package. We waited with bated breath while he used stolen credentials to easily vector back into the bot’s command and control servers to swap the good firmware with the bad.

  “Binary is uploaded,” he announced. “I’m triggering the deployment signal. As long as we don’t trip any wires here, my part of the deal is signed, sealed, and delivered.”

  I held my breath from the time he entered the command to send the signal until his hands shot over his head in victory. “We have deployment and uptake. Zariv’s entire bot network will be compromised within the hour.”

  We all cheered and clapped him on the back in congratulations, tension shifting to palpable excitement as the seed of belief that we might actually pull this off took root. Finally, fortune seemed to be smiling upon our desperate scheme.

  “So far, so good,” Matt said. “But we’re only at halftime. We still need to infiltrate Zariv’s compound without being killed.”

  “Man, you really know how to kill the mood,” Tyler groused.

  “I’m happy with how things are going,” Matt replied, “but we need to stay focused.” He lifted the RFD from his pocket and activated the comms so the rest of the crew could participate in planning our next steps. "Ben, what's your status in there? You've been pretty quiet."

  A long pause left me worried. Then finally the reply, voice thin and tired. "Still here. Just trying to conserve strength.”

  Fresh concern squeezed my chest. There was no way Warexia wasn’t having a negative effect on his illness. Hearing him sound so weakened bumped up my determination to make this work so we could get closer to escaping this galaxy.

  "How's everyone else holding up?" Matt asked gently.

  "Could be worse,” Leo answered. “Though I do miss being regular size.”

  “I hear you,” Matt said. "Okay people, here's the play..." He quickly outlined the strategy he had planned out while the rest of us slept, which left me feeling guilty for the deep rejuvenating sleep I’d enjoyed while he’d had next to none. No one could question his motivation or desire.

  With Lantz’s help, Matt discovered that Nyree was in a guest cottage rather than a prison in a secured annex attached to Zariv's sprawling campus on the outskirts of Portus. Also, thanks to Lantz, we now had the access codes required to slip through pretty much any door we needed to take to get from outside the compound to the cottage. Once the firmware went out to all the bots, I’d also have the power to shut down anything mechanical that tried to stop us.

  “As soon as someone notices bots are going offline, we won’t have long to get her out before the special guard is onto us,” Matt warned, referring to Zariv’s contingent of living guards. “Once we have Nyree, we need to hustle her back out to the waiting getaway carriage without being seen and then make a beeline for the shipyard.”

  “The shipyard?” Ally asked. “Why not here?”

  “Because we can’t scale Head Case back up in here,” Ben explained.

  “Ben, are you sure you’re ready for that?” I asked.

  “That’s why I’ve been conserving my strength,” he answered. “I’ll be ready.”

  “With Zariv on our tails, we can’t afford to stick around Cacitrum,” Matt said.

  “What about you two?” Ally said, glancing at Tarvik and Lantz. “What will you do?”

  “Oh, we’re coming with you,” Lantz replied. “Zariv might not know we handled the engineering side of this, but that will just mean he’ll take care of every living coder in Portus.”

  “We don’t want to be here when that happens,” Tarvik agreed.

  “What about you, Hzzt?” I asked.

  “I’m just a lowly starship inspector,” he answered. “So long as you escape, Zariv will never suspect me.”

  “After all your whining about being doomed, you aren’t worried anymore?”

  “I will worry if you don’t escape. So, please escape.”

  “You know,” Tyler said. “It’s too bad we can’t just disguise ourselves as bots.” He stiffened, moving his arms and legs like a robot. “Beep-boop-beep.”

  Lantz straightened abruptly from his slouch. "Actually, that's not a terrible idea."

  “Huh?” Tee said. “It was a joke.”

  Matt cocked one eyebrow. "You suggesting we ambush a couple bots and wear them as costumes like kids on Halloween?"

  Lantz shook his head, warming to his sudden brainstorm. “The command and control systems record feeds from all of the deployed bots. “If I can reverse the process, I can send the few minutes before your arrival back into their optical sensors!”