Orion Colony Complete Series Boxed Set J.N. Chaney (books for new readers .txt) 📖

looked up in time to see the robot I injured limping out of the door on the opposite side of the room. Another training robot of the same make and model passed its counterpart on the way to me.

Just like the turnkey rose from the ground in the room, another cylinder sprouted from the floor. This one had a pair of thick gloves on the top.

“Hurry,” Jezra encouraged me. “Get them on, hurry.”

I stumbled over to the gloves. They were unlike anything I had ever worn. It shouldn’t have been that surprising since I was on an alien planet speaking to gecko people.

The gloves were matte black with openings for my fingers. On the knuckles of the pads, steel iron was worked into the fabric. It looked like I had brass knuckles underneath.

“I guess I really do have steel hands now,” I said out loud as I put the gloves on my hands and shook my head. “Dean Steel Hands Slade fighting on alien planets.”

I muttered this all under my breath while I worked the wraps on. There wasn’t a whole lot of time to game plan. The robot in front of me was advancing, and he meant business.

He reached me just as I strapped on the second glove. The robot was quicker than I expected, swiping at me with a closed fist. I ducked the blow, remembering its speed and accuracy as I danced around it on tired feet.

Exhaustion was something I would just have to deal with. I’d lost a ton of water sweating during the first test, and I felt the numbness in my foot spread up my leg. All of this I filed away and never took my eyes off my opponent.

It swiped at me again, leaving its metal torso open. I took my chance, sending a left-right combination that would have felled any human in the gladiator pit.

The robot looked down at me. He didn’t even move. The area where I struck his torso barely showed a dent.

I was in for one heck of a fight.

23

I knew better than to let my guard down. I blamed half on being so exhausted I could barely stand and the other half on sheer shock that I failed to move the robot with those blows. Either way, the robot sent out a blow I barely dodged. His metal hands racked the left side of my head from my ear into my hairline, leaving a long gash and spilling warm blood.

And so the fight began.

I was barely fast enough to avoid the blows sent by the robot. Slamming my fists into his head and torso was completely ineffective. The only upside was that the gloves absorbed the blows. The steel in my gloves hit the steel of the robot’s exterior, creating tiny divots and dents.

Burning fatigue descended on my arms as I bounced around searching for any kind of opening to exploit. The whole foot stomp trick wasn’t going to work on an opponent that was trying to take my head off. I’d had it easier before. The robot on the turnkey hadn’t tried to harm me; its single function was to push forward. This robot’s single function was to kill me.

For every shot the robot got in on me, I got twenty, but it didn’t matter. In minutes, his body was riddled with the feeble attempts I’d made at finding any kind of weak point. From his arms to his torso, head, and even legs, he was armor. The joints I targeted would give eventually if I could send a good fifty shots at it, but there was no chance of that.

Every time I got in close, I absorbed at least one blow while landing precious few of my own. A strike to my stomach doubled me over. Another blow to my jaw split the inside of my mouth. I couldn’t take much more, and my strength was flagging.

I rethought my strategy, bouncing away from the robot and letting my aching arms rest by my sides. The metallic tang of blood filled my mouth. I was going to lose unless I did something drastic. Maybe, maybe at full power and rested, I could take the robot, but I was far from either of those at the moment.

The robot stalked toward me and I jogged away. I needed to buy more time to think.

This is just like the first test, I told myself. You can’t win straight up. They know that. You know that. So how do you win?

I scanned the room for anything I might have missed. Anything that I could use as a weapon, anything that would give me the edge I needed.

My eyes fell on the turnkey.

“Don’t give up!” Jezra cheered from her monitor. “You can do it! Don’t give up! I believe!”

I blocked everything out as a second plan formed. The turnkey was still up with its two metal bars extended and wound tight, so I ran over to it and took a closer look.

I had wound the cylinder tight like a coiled spring at its base. It was locked in place now, but if I could hit it hard enough, maybe the mechanism locking it in place would give, sending the metal bars spinning back into their normal position.

I struck one of the metal bars. The turnkey shook.

You can do this, I told myself. This is going to work. Time it. You just have to time it.

I squared up on one side of the turnkey, keeping one eye on the advancing robot. Blood dripped into my eyes, but I blinked it away. I had bled before. It wasn’t anything I wasn’t used to.

The robot descended on me, those empty yellow eyes stalking me. It reached for me across the turnkey with an open hand like it was going to grab my face and rip it from my skull.

I saw all of this then ignored it. A single purpose entered my thoughts. I focused on the target in front of me—the