Blair suggested they eat something before tackling more robots. She pulled out some food from Tomfoolery’s. Others did the same, but Bixby insisted they move out right away to try and catch the remaining bots before they reached the surface.

Once some meat pies and fish and chips were distributed, they took off running, heading up the giant staircase to the darkness of Level Two and the mushroom farm.

“We need to beware of ambushes,” Sharp said, puffing while keeping up the pace.

“We will check it out!” Hilda said.

She and Liza blurred ahead into the darkness.

Liza ran back and informed everyone they found no one up above on Level Two. The others grunted and kept running up the steps.

When they reached the top of the giant staircase, everyone paused for a moment. Even enhanced, this was a major workout. Sharp and Bixby seemed the most winded, with hands on their knees as they caught their breath.

Rip looked around with his [Night Vision] and could see no one in the surrounding gloom. He supposed the girls were correct about the mushroom farm being deserted, at least in these parts.

Hilda took this opportunity to reappear, speeding around from the other staircase. She stopped in front of Sharp to report.

“The robots are in the atrium on the top level, but they have run into some difficulty.”

“And what is that, my dear?”

“I’m not quite sure, Colonel. I did not stay to look, I came back to tell you where they are.”

“Very good. Let us resume our pace.”

They rounded the bend in the dark garden, the girls and Rip scanning in all directions. When they reached the other side, they mounted the stairs for Level One and began the long ascent.

Hilda and Liza blurred ahead again. Rip thought about joining them, but decided that while he had gained several points in [Vampiric Speed], he was nowhere near their level. He stayed with the group.

At last they came to the floor above, and with the atrium’s brighter light filtering down from the ceiling windows, they found a dozen robots lined up in a row. The last one had its back to the stairs. All remained motionless.

Chance and Twig immediately pulled out their ladders and propped them up on the chests of the last two machines. They quickly mounted, intent on snatching the silver circles.

Rip wanted to see what held up the line. He ran ahead. The others followed but he easily outpaced the older men and Blair.

At the front, Kipouros gave an earthy roar while standing off against the robot leader. Pound for pound, the massive bulk of the mud golem seemed to match the metal man. Standing in its path, Kipouros prevented the line from moving forward.

The lead bot stared silently at the golem, who spat out an angry, dirty diatribe. He waved his arms, coating the machine with muddy droplets and little bits of vegetation.

Rip noted Kipouros’s eye that he shot out was partially reformed, the fragments arranged in a circle. It glowed a slightly brighter red hue than its companion. Right now, the mud golem looked extremely angry, and the unbalanced eyes did nothing to diminish that.

“I don’t think the gardener likes these metal guys intruding in his domain,” Rip said.

“Bully for us,” Sharp said. “So long as he holds them still, we can disable the line and prevent them from leaving.”

Rip looked back over his shoulder. Already, Chance and Twig were setting up ladders against the next two.

He drew his Walther and squinted, shooting off the silver on the one closest to them, the second in line.

The Verez sisters blurred to the last robots and misted, taking on both at the same time.

A distant clank sounded from one of the nearby garden plots, drawing everyone’s attention. Even Kipouros, upset as he was, turned to look in the direction of the sound. A large brass bulkhead hidden behind a thick swath of grass swung up and open. Dar Caul’s head poked out.

He shouted, “No!”

Caul scrambled up a ladder and raced for the front of the line. Sewer troopers swarmed out of the hatch behind him.

“What is it with you people and secret passages?” Rip said.

He adjusted his aim and started shooting at sewer troopers.

Caul ran for the front of the line

“Kipouros! Stand down! Friend! These are friends, Kipouros!”

The mud golem roared, spitting out snails and earthworms. He took a swipe at the robot in front of him, rocking it back with the force of a muddy blow.

“Kipouros, no! Don’t make me use this!”

Dar Caul pulled out a long black box with a metal antenna sticking out. The box had one big red button on its face.

“Don’t let him press that button!” Rip said, intuiting the results.

He aimed his gun and fired, knocking the transmitter out of Caul’s hand. It clattered on the metal floor, sliding up against a square plot.

But even at this distance, Rip could see the button had been pushed. The eyes on every robot not yet disabled started to glow.

This seemed to anger the golem even more. He threw himself onto the lead bot, trying to smother it in muddy flotsam.

Rip found himself thinking if the machine was not enhanced, the golem might actually have a shot at disabling it.

But the now hostile bot simply wiped away the mud and took a step forward, his metal foot squishing through Kiporous and breaking him apart.

The sewer troopers pulled out submachine guns and opened fire, sending a hailstorm of bullets flying between the bots and garden plots.

Bixby and Sharp ducked out of the way while retrieving their Tommy guns. Blair put the second bot and its legs between herself and the troopers. She started firing back.

Chance and Twig were on the third and fourth bot, respectively, when the machines turned hostile and swatted aside their ladders. They tumbled down to the floor and rolled out of the way, but not before ripping off the silver medallions.

Liza and Hilda quickly misted and disabled these two, bringing the numbers down to eight.

“Get the second one!” Rip said, pointing to the silver circle he had shot off.

“We must rest, Ripley!”

A bullet plunked into Rip’s shoulder as he watched the line of eight bots advance.

He felt helpless.