Part Four
What can I say? I've had a busy summer.
I don't think this is as good as the others, it's a little bit action-y. But it'll do.
Lost and Delirious - Part Four
"Stop there, Hanks. She's gone."
The huge hovercar screeched to a sudden halt, the occupants inside noticing nothing as the anti-G generators kicked in. A man, clad head to toe in a grimy, pinstriped suit stepped out, glancing at the streak of black smoke the manta's ancient fusion cell had left, streaking across the vibrant blue sky. With the faint lights of New Canterbury twinkling in the distance, and the roar of the the hyperway above dulled to a low thrum in the background, Agent Jones felt that he could almost imagine he was back in his hometown in Alabama - the quiet streets of Old Ashford, the grass still green unlike the grey, colourless variety that had taken over much of the country, the residents still mowing their own lawns and cutting their own hair rather than getting those goddamn droids to do everything.
Then Hanks gunned the engine of the hovercraft and the illusion was lost. Jones lit a cigarette, blew a fine trail of smoke out of his nose, and scuffed a little dirt around with his poorly polished shoes.
A thin, weedy man - probably from the East Coast, they're all wimps over there - ran over to him, and started saying something about the manta's direction.
"If we can just calculate how muc-"
"Sssh." Jones cut him short. This girl, she was trouble. They had to stop her fast. The only trouble was, she wasn't exactly a big hit with the guys up top yet. That's why he'd been assigned - he hadn't been brought up in Virtual Reality fight training simulations, he didn't know every martial art known to man, and he couldn't assemble a small spaceship with his hands tied behind his back. What he could do was think. And when you've got a girl on the run who's got no experience with space dogfights, no fighting experience and no idea what she's even being chased for, that was probably all you needed. She'd evaded them time and time again, but this time... he leant over to the weedy guy.
"Did you get the tracking beacon?"
"Yeah, but-"
"Good. There's a squadron coming just around the lower north quadrant of the moon. They should be able to deal with her." And that pilot. Shame about him. He'd looked good on paper, but you just couldn't tell with some people.
"That's what this game's all about, isn't it. Making decisions. Making choices."
"What, sir?"
Jones realised he'd been talking out loud. Gotta stop doing that, one of these days he'd be chucked out of the force. Bam, just like that. No warning, can't give warnings in this business... he stopped the train of thought there, and inhaled deeply on his cig, Work to do.
Two men - these guys weren't from the East, they were huge - dragged a young, undernourished black girl out from slick sedan, and threw her onto the ground in front of Jones. Dust spiralled outwards, like tiny little dust devils, as she picked herself up and stared him straight in the eye. Jones wasn't a smart guy - he left all that sciency stuff to the boffins - but he wasn't dumb. She could fight all the smart little battles she wanted, make herself feel morally superior, give herself a little power rush... but it didn't matter. He held her gaze - saw the terror that was in them, realised what a strong little girl she was in order to hold herself together, not to shake in the face of what she knew was going to happen to her - and commanded the two beefs from the sedan to put her into the hovercar. He didn't look away until she got thrown into the car, with the tinted windows obscuring his view, reflecting only the endless wasteland with the shadows in the distance that were the huge skyscrapers of New Canterbury. He took a final drag on the cigarette, and dropped it to the ground. He didn't bother to crush it - let it burn, it's not like there's anything around here that'll catch fire anyway - and joined her in the back.
Everything was quiet as Hope piloted the ship away from the dark, tumbling atmosphere that surrounded Earth. Earth, the planet that he had grown up on, the planet that he had joined the Rebels on to stop it from becoming just another mass-produced Federation paradise, and now the planet that he was fleeing from with his tail between his legs. He stared intently ahead, at the dusky red ball that was Mars. Should he try and land there? No, probably not, there's bound to be a welcoming party waiting to escort me to a little room, one with no windows and bright fluorescent lighting that didn't let shadows develop anywhere.
An interesting metaphor for the Feds, Hope mused. They took away what was natural, what people took comfort in and needed, and replaced it with an artificial substitute that made everything look generally okay... but it would never look good. When there was no place to hide, all the crap came out into the open.
Adjusting his course on the basic computer the manta was fitted with, Hope sat back in his seat and looked at the tiny curled up ball that sat next to him. Piper had fallen asleep almost as soon as they'd hopped under the radar shadow of a bulk freighter, and narrowly avoided being spotted by a squadron of Fed Gunboats that appeared from round the moon.
She was weird, this girl. He didn't know what attracted him to her. Maybe it was the curious way that she blended a childish innocence with a mature outlook that sometimes even made him feel like she thought he had a lot to learn. He loved the childish giggle that slipped out of her when she found something funny, and the look of wonderment she'd had when they first pulled out of the atmosphere into the depths of space - almost like she was in space for the first time. Hope spent more time off of planets than he did on them, so it wasn't new for him. He couldn't help wondering if he was taking it for granted, this huge, dark freedom that was thrust upon him every time he took off.
A loud burst of static errupted from the radio - he knew that sounds, it was the noise that came before a Space Traffic Control Announcement. He waited... his Rebel Training meant that he knew the standard operating procedures. If they asked for an intended landing spot then it meant that he was initially being treated as harmless, and they didn't suspect anything. If they asked him to declare himself, and whether he had any weapons on board, then it would mean they were treating him as hostile.
And why would they treat a single rusted manta as a security threat unless they knew something already? Hope knew the reality of the situation. If he was seen as a threat, the Martian Defense would already have been launched, and he wouldn't be able to jump out of this system to get away. He'd either have to stay and fight; a prospect he didn't relish, considering the lack of a weapon of any kind on the manta, or he'd have to outmaneuver the Martians well enough to let him land without them catching him. This was the game he was playing, and this time it wasn't just his life that hung in the balance, but Piper's as well. The girl was shifting, having been woken up from the last static emission. Well, she'd have to wake up anyway, whatever happened.
The static burst again. Hope crossed his fingers.
Manta Registration D338XC. Please declare yourself, and any armaments your ship may be carrying.
Sh*t.
Hope flicked onto manual control, and pulled the joystick round in a tight circle. Piper's manta stormed round in an arc that made even Hope's space-weary stomach turn, and dipped into the smog that circled Mars. It wouldn't last forever, but hopefully the cover it gave would give them enough time to get away in time to maybe make it to Europa before they were caught. It was gonna be a tense moment.
" What are you DOING?! "
Ah. Piper.
"Uhm. We've been spotted. I'm trying to make it to Europa to land."
" EUROPA?! "
"Yeah. I've got some friends there, they can pu-"
" EUROPA?! "
"Look, we can make it, it's not that f-"
" It's on the FAR SIDE OF JUPITER!! "
"I know it seems a long way away but we can make it."
Piper sat back down in her seat. Whatever bond they'd felt earlier, Hope felt that it would have to wait for a bit. This thought was backed up when he saw faint, small blips on the very edge of the radar scanner. They were red. This wasn't good, he'd been hoping to make it to at least Saturn before he got within scanning range. As it was, he hadn't even managed to lift out of Mars's artificial ozone layer, and from the look on Piper's face, she knew that Europa definitely wasn't going to happen.
"Relax," Hope said in what he hoped was a soothing voice, "we can make it."
"Don't bloody tell me to relax. You're the one who tried to land on bloody Mars."
"Yeah. Sorry. But you're gonna have to hold on. Pretty soon we'll be on about the right part to head to Saturn. If we can make it to the rings then we should be able to hide out."
Piper pursed her lips, then was lost for a moment as Hope yanked back on the joystick and Lost and Delirious shot out towards a magnificent golden planet, with multi-coloured rings circling it, spinning faster than the eye could see. The unimaginable size and speed of that thing, the sheer beauty of something that existed only because of physics and a few dust clouds that hung around millions of years ago; add to that the view of the asteroid belt that connected Mars and Saturn, with the sun reflecting off the larger, ice-capped 'roids giving them a golden path... it made her mind boggle.
"Uhm, Piper?"
"Yeah?"
"You might want to buckle in. I don't think we're going to make it."
Piper stared at Scott, his face grey and devoid of hope. She stared at the radar screen, and the multitude of red dots that were closing rapidly. Her hand found it's way into his, his pale skin all but swallowing her tanned, nimble digits. She looked at his face again, desperately looking for any small sign of hope in his eyes - something, anything , that might help them get out alive. But she saw nothing.
"Can you radio them?" she asked? Anything was probably better than being blown to pieces, she figured.
"I can, but they won't listen. We're a security threat. They'll blow us out of the system before they let us get in a position where we can talk."
"Ah..."
Piper and Hope avoided looking at each other. Piper couldn't help but pull a wry smile at the irony of it all. They'd known each other for a few hours, yet they were probably about to partake in the most intimate of acts a couple could do together; the one act that they would be totally joined in. They were going to die together. Bummer.
"Unless..." Piper suddenly looked at the 'roid belt. "Ever seen Star Wars? "
"Yeah. Not really my type of film. I can't get into the 2D stuff. Plus, the acting's s###, story's completely-"
"You know that bit where Harrison Ford is flying his ship away from the tie-fighters an-"
"You realise I have no idea who Harrison Ford is?"
"Oh," Piper looked for another way to explain it. "Well he's like..."
A huge explosion right behind the manta sent it spinning through space. Piper had no idea what was going on - Hope bellowed as he struggled with the controls - she didn't know if he was aware that he was doing it. He pulled frantically on the joystick, with eery, liquid reflexes, so fast that he almost seemed to be able to predict exactly when and where the next shot was coming from. But Piper could see he was fighting a losing battle. He was good at tactics, what to do and when to do it, but he'd never be able to do what she was about to do.
Flicking a small switch in the main console, she grabbed the passenger joystick. With a bit of luck Hope would be too busy attempting to dodge the firing squad before he noticed that he didn't actually have control of the ship.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
No such luck.
Piper didn't feel she had time to explain. Pushing down on the joystick, she sent the nose down and the small ship headed nose first into the 'roid belt.
Goddamn! He shouldn't have underestimated Scott Hope's capacity for escaping. He thought the kid would be dragged down by that girl he was protecting. That she would get caught, and he'd run back to save her. He especially didn't think that the girl would be able to drive away like that.
Well, it was time to go and face the music. As soon as he got the call from Agent Jones, the call that simultaneously feeled him with a sense of relief and dread, he knew he had a long day ahead of him. The pair seemed to be just narrowly escaping everything that was thrown at them, and he guessed that it was gonna take a bit more than just one batch of fighters to bring them back in. He hated to kill the boy, and the girl - well, killing harmless girls was just wrong - but it seemed that these days his sense of morality was buried under the paperwork, the lunches, the authorising signatures... the politics. Goddamn politics.
And with that final thought in mind, and a grim line on his mouth that was the total opposite of the turmoil he felt inside. Admiral Richard Jameson stepped into the Federation Enforcement Building, his fashionable new suit on, his smart leather briefcase in hand (real leather was hard to come by, it was probably one of his most cherished possessions) and was ushered through security by a young Federation Agent. It was time to go sign the death warrant of one of his most trusted friends.
While Piper relentlessly dodged 'roid after 'roid, pulling wide wheeling turns, whipping round 90 degree corners instantly, spinning the flat shape of the manta round and round in order to get through gaps the less manouverable gunboats couldn't follow through, Hope shut his eyes. He was quick, but this girl - she was insane. This flying could teach the best pilots in the Rebel Academy a lesson, and also make him feel extremely sick. When he felt the jerk of a landing - God knows where the crazy girl had chosen to land in this place - the first thing he did was hunt around desperately for a sick bag. But this was a tiny ship, and he just had to swallow it back. When he looked around, he noticed that they seemed to be in a huge cavern - the belly of an asteroid. He swallowed back vomit again.
"Quickly!" Piper squeaked. "We've got to get out of the ship."
"Uhm, there's not gonna be any atmosphere here."
"I know that!" She looked at him agonisingly. "Get the emergency oxygen mask out from under the seat. Hopefully it'll last long enough."
"What are we doing?! We'll never be able to beat them in a fight!" Hope had spent years commanding a huge cruiser, and the result of that was that his hand-to-hand combat - Barry excluded - was a little rusty. He doubted, however, that anyone's hand-to-hand was good enough to take on a selection of Fed Gunboats, and whatever the large red dot was on the screen (he really hoped that it was a cruiser, at least then it wouldn't be able to follow them down into this death trap Piper had put them in.
"Doesn't matter. Get out, get out, GET OUT!"
Hope got out.
Feeling oddly weightless due to the size of the asteroid meaning it had - what was that, about a quarter of the Earth's gravity? - did nothing for his constitution. Hope held his breath, pulled the mask off, and threw up. When Piper climbed out of the ship, he was standing in front of the suspiciously orange pile of half-digested food, and she barely noticed.
"Quick," she ordered. "We need to be over the other side of the cavern."
As lights began to emerge from the cavern entrance, miles above, Hope followed the surprisingly nimble footed girl through the rubble and ice towards the vast wall that lead up to the hole where... Yep, that's a frigate alright. Just my luck was descending through the wreck. And being behind her, he was in a perfect position to leap on her and flattern her to the ground as a lancing beam of light shot from the turret mounted on the top, and the manta's sadly depleted fuel cell exploded, sending rubble flying throughout the cavern and creating a din that Hope knew would make him slightly deaf for months.
"Awww, sht!" yelled Piper. "They were supposed to come down here and shoot us with their soldiers. I was gonna beg for our lives in person."
" That was your master plan? That plan sucks! We'd have been dead as soon as they'd seen us!"
"Big words, mister I-ate-too-many-carrots-last-night. You come up with a better one then!"
"What, with this fcking fine set up you've left me?!" Hope was flushed at Piper's dig at his dodgy stomach, but was fuming too much to care. "No ship, about 10 minutes of air, one pistol and a girl who's plan was to get on her knees and beg! It's f*cking impossible!"
Piper raged, her violet eyes flashing. "Well I'm sorry for even trying to save your sorry little life! AT LEAST I BLOODY TRIED! " she yelled, kicking the nearest rock as hard as she could. " ALL YOU DID WAS THROW UP!
Hope looked up at the sky, despairing. It was this glance, searching for a God that he didn't believe in to show this crazy girl what she'd done, that alerted him to the landing frigate.
He glanced at Piper, who was staring at his face, murder in her eyes.
"Actually, I think we might have a way out. You can apologise to me later.
" WHA- "
Hope put his hand over her mouth, and whispered in her ear. Piper stopped struggling, and nodded gently.
When the frigate took off again after its clean-up team had thoroughly searched the wreckage of the Lost and Delirious the captain was confident in the knowledge that the two passengers had been incinerated in the initial shot. No-one noticed that two of the clean-up team, heavily covered in their thick white sterile suits, seemed to walk with slightly less of a trained march, and one held his machine gun like he was holding a decomposing rat, with utter disgust. And no-one noticed when these two crew members, rather than eating a hearty meal in the cafeteria after the usual radioactive spray down they received to prevent any interstellar diseases wiping out a crew, went straight to their bunks and locked the door.
Comments, ideas, flaming, anyone?
This post has been edited by Jamin : 19 October 2004 - 01:25 PM
