“Don’t think so. It doesn’t seem to be affecting us.”
The fog coalesced in the center of the room into a whirling mass. As it moved faster and faster, Relda frowned. “What’s it doing?”
It started taking on a vaguely humanoid shape.
Hunt swore.
“You know what it is?” She looked between the fog and him.
“I think it’s a nano-droid.”
A droid made up of tiny, microscopic droids. They could form into just about anything. “I thought only the Galactic Security Services had nano-droids?”
“You can acquire anything if you have enough e-creds. Whoever wants the Moon has some serious money.”
The fog merged together to form an all-gray droid. It looked like someone wearing light body armor—except the face was smooth with no features. The effect was downright eerie.
“Stay back.” Hunt’s gaze never left the nano-droid. “When you get the chance, get out.”
Right.Like she’d just leave him to fight that thing. She grabbed the baton clipped to his belt. She gave it a shake, and the baton extended to a lethal length.
Hunt shot her a dark look before taking a step forward. “I’m Marshal Calder, you’ve illegally entered?—”
The nano-droid moved so fast Relda only saw a blur. It was suddenly in front of Hunt, swinging at him.
He held up an arm to block the droid’s hit. She saw him grimace, but then he was punching at it with his other arm.
His hand passed straight through the droid. Its body separated and once his hand pulled back, the droid re-coalesced.
Relda darted forward and swung the baton at the droid’s head. Again, it passed right through, the droid’s head dissolving into mist. She almost lost her balance, but Hunt grabbed her and dragged her back.
“I said to stay behind me.” His tone was hard and biting.
She ignored him. “What do we do? It can hit us, but it’s impossible for us to hit it.”
Hunt lifted his weapon. She saw the silver-blue glow in the barrel of the laser pistol.
Holding the weapon with both hands, he was all cool composure as he shot at the droid. The whine of the laser was loud in the confines of the room.
The laser hit the droid, and she saw it glow silver-blue with each impact.
Then it moved toward them again. Unaffected.
It aimed at Hunt, a fast chop and two kicks. He blocked the first blow, shuddered under the impact of the second, and the third sent him flying back, hitting the wall hard.
“Hunt!” She raced to him. By the time she reached him, he was on his feet.
“You need to get out of here, Relda.”
“Weneed to get out of here.”
A muscle in his jaw ticked but he nodded. Together, they inched toward the door.
The droid moved, blocking their way.
Hunt ran at the droid, tackling it to the ground. It broke apart into maybe twenty smaller droids with armored, lizard-like forms. They had large, curved claws and slashed at Hunt, over and over.
Her chest locked.No.
