The Iron Skeleton

Chapter 37

Inside the iron skeleton, Aaron stepped away from his task of arming automatic turrets and hurried over to Sila. 

The robot glanced up from executing the same task elsewhere. "What?" 

"Fire up the Sand Dollar." Aaron ordered, "We've got tanks to deal with." 

Sila pointed at the overarching dome. "Enclosed." 

"Yeah, well, I kinda figured something like this would happen." he replied with a smirk. "Over near the west side, I made sure to make a panel wide enough that removing it will allow it to just barely squeeze through." 

"Genius." 

"Why thank you. Now, get that fired up. I'll be in shortly." 

Sila's head pivoted from side to side. "No." 

"No what?" 

The robot pointed at the nearest unarmed turret. "Busy." 

Aaron frowned. "And who else is gonna fly with you?" 

"Hannah." 

"You're sure? I'm not sure if she's—" 

"Capable." 

Aaron scratched his chin. "You'd better be 100% sure about this. It ain't just a joyride or—" 

"Certain." 

"Alright, go ahead then. Don't scratch the paint." 

"Unintended." 

Aaron nodded and watched the black robot dash off. Then he hurried over to Baird, who motioned him over with a wave of his hand. 

"You said to connect blue to blue?" Baird asked, holding up two wires sticking from a panel in one of the turrets. 

Aaron face-palmed. "No, no, no! That just makes a feedback loop! Perfect if you were making a bomb, but we're not." 

Baird sighed. "Sorry. So what is it?" 

"Blue to red, red to yellow, yellow to blue." 

Baird muttered Aaron's instructions to himself three times with closed eyes. "Alright, I've got it, thanks." 

"Yep." Aaron said, stepping over to a turret a few feet down the line. "You were hoping to be outta here by now, huh?" 

"To be honest, yes. But you won't catch me complaining. As long as I'm with you guys, I'm gonna give it my all." 

"That's good to he—" 

Both men jumped when a loud boom resounded off near the northeast section of the dome. Their widened eyes spotted a panel bowing inward and remained transfixed on it. A tiny push, it appeared, and the plate would give way. 

Aaron snatched his communicator. "Sila, hurry! They're already breaking in!" 

"Hurrying." the robot's voice replied through the device's speaker. 

"Well, not enough. Go faster!" 

"Impossible." 

Aaron grunted. "Don't tell me what's possible. I made you, for goodness' sake! You found Hannah yet?" 

"Easily." 

"Alright, well, don't waste any time." 

With that, he pocketed the device. Aaron and Baird abandoned their current turrets to ready the ones closer to the place of impact. 

******************** 

Minutes later, the Sand Dollar squeezed through the opening in the dome on the west side. The ship sped out into the open air and banked hard right. After flying around the dome, the vessel hovered over the approaching tanks, and the Insurgence soldiers occupying the four underbelly turrets let loose a barrage of bullets and occasional laser beams.