The thin man was beside himself with anger. “Where are my guns?” he yelled into the comm.
“Coming, Captain,” said the chief. But then a new plan came into his head.
“Send the marines out to knock that bug off my ship!” he yelled again. But there were no marines on a Fed recon ship, just officers with access to a few rarely used energy weapons. So he sent the chief.
……
Jolo stood atop the Fed recon ship Valhalla in the darkness and wondered if he was out of time. Probably a minute until the cruisers get here and then his options got very slim. He thought of Barthelme, wondered if he was alive. He thought of Jaylen. He could see her as clear as day in his mind: her hair tied up in a pony tail, her thin arms and the curve of her chin. If he made it through this he was coming for her.
He knew they’d send someone for him. He hoped it would be the skinny man in the suit. He’d never tried to actually kill anyone with his gun. At least, this version of him hadn’t. He figured his former self had killed many men. But the current version of himself planned to kill the black freak.
Jolo almost didn’t see the man in full battle gear, tethered to a thin safety cable, sneak up behind him. He’d gone out the lower escape hatch and the gun was on Jolo faster than he thought, faster than he could jump with the magna boots. Jolo caught a glimpse of the shiny, metallic green suit, and the burst from the energy weapon came all at once. He darted to the side and was thrown down, the boots were the only thing that kept him from falling off into the ravine several hundred meters down. His knees bent and his body hit the hull of the Valhalla, but he was still conscious, the magna boots holding tight. He could hear the Fed coming, but then he felt a shock and the boots gave way and he was falling. Someone had sent a charge through the entire ship, and Jolo’s boots had released. Not Fed protocol, thought Jolo, the Fed in the green battle suit got shocked, too.
The fall was sickening. The energy blast through the hull knocked the boots backward and had him in a spin and he couldn’t stop. His hands kept reaching out for a hold, but there was nothing but air rushing up under him.
Computer, Jolo thought. What was our last altitude?
238.7 meters.
How high a fall can a human survive?
20-40, depending on weight and impact surface.
Half way down Jolo came out of the spin and was dropping feet first, the heavy magna boots leading the way down, down to his death.
But then he had another thought. I’m only half human. And he calmed just a bit, and braced for impact. The tiny blue line that marked the stream from above was now a narrow river and he shot right down into the cold water and hit bottom feet first.
And he didn’t die.
In fact, it was like he’d jumped down from a tall ladder. His knees bent and absorbed the impact--his hands went down and felt the silty bottom. He rose up and was standing in waist deep water. He looked up and could see both ships above him. He unlatched the magna boots and waded to the shore and hid under some over hanging bushes. He reached under his arm and felt for the gun--it was still there.
Sure enough, a few seconds later Jolo heard the distinctive hum of the hover bike. He pulled out his gun and stayed in the darkness, hoping the old Colt would still work even though it had been briefly submerged in the river.
He watched the tiny hover bike grow larger as it came down. Please be that thin-tied bastard, he thought. The small craft made it down to the surface of the water and Jolo knew instantly it was him: black suit, his jacket flapping in the wind. The tie. He was staring into the water darting from one side of the stream to the other. He had an energy weapon slung over his shoulder.
Jolo waited for him to get closer. He could tell by the man's movements, at first quick and twitchy like he was expecting an attack, but now slower and more relaxed, that he thought Jolo was dead. He sat down on the seat and relaxed a bit. And as the bike edged closer, his face still aimed down into the water, Jolo stepped out from the bushes onto the shore and pulled out his gun.
"Looking for me?" said Jolo.
But the man did not have time to answer. His head turned to face Jolo, the light of the moon reflecting his shiny forehead. And that's exactly where Jolo's bullet went.
The man's arms went limp and his body arched backwards, as he slowly, almost gracefully, fell into the water. The hover bike remained a foot over the surface. But the man in black, caught up in the gentle current, floated away.
Jolo looked up and now there were four ships: two big cruisers on either side of the ravine and the Valhalla and Jessica in the middle. He worried about George. He pulled the hover bike into the cover of the bushes and was about to take off when he saw another person falling down from behind the Jessica.
He landed in the water, much like Jolo had just done, and started heading to the other side of the river. Jolo called out and George turned in the waist deep water and headed towards him. Jolo looked up just as both Cruisers and the Valhalla had backed off the Jessica. Suddenly the dark sky erupted in bright red as both cruisers unleashed their cannons at Jolo’s ship. “Run!” he yelled
