Cbox

"Just give up, Walter," he said, smiling. Walter scowled at him.

"My name's not Robert anymore." One of the men in the group shot Walter in the shoulder. He gasped for air, dropping his gun and falling to his knees. Robert grasped him by the collar.

"I'm the Bobinator now," he growled, "and don't you forget it!" He flung Walter to the ground and kicked him in the stomach. "Take him to Cell Block A," he said, still staring at Walter. "He's going to need a lot of attention." He kicked Walter once more. Walter coughed up what looked and tasted like blood. The Bobinator kicked him a third time, and he passed out.

~

Eraf stared down the barrel of the weapon, frozen in shock. "Why?" he demanded.

"You are a thrice-damned fool, Eraf," she hissed back. The android struck the weapon from her hand, but she'd come prepared. She took the arc torch-blade from behind her back and plunged it into Eraf's torso. He coughed, oil-blood pouring from his mouth. She laughed and pushed him over, letting him stumble back against the railing of the catwalk. "Goodbye, Mr. Zahir. Happy Trails!" She kicked him in the chest, and he plummeted to the deck, crashing into the cockpit of his own ship. The dazed machine could only watch his would-be lover snap the lever, and the airlock doors fling open in response. The canopy descended over him as the ship was jettisoned out into the vacuum. She grinned, swinging the gattling turret in his direction. With a few bursts of the weapon, she turned the cockpit to scrap. It was over.

Or was it?

The surrounding space warped, energy coalesced, preparing to swallow up the ship. He was still alive! Obeying the electronic howls ofher masters, she leapt into a nearby shuttle, racing towards the swirl of energy. The fool would destroy the entire system! The portal swallowed him, then her, then itself, disappearing into the blackness from whence it came.