We pushed up the center of the ramp. A gap in the camouflage appeared again as Marty opened the ramp and the hatch completely. We pelted up the ramp, Regar pulling while I pushed the cart. It slid up the Redemption's boarding ramp and then screeched and ground to a halt as the metal hit the ship’s structure on both sides of the open hatch. The mass of metal blocked the entryway completely.
"What the hell, Jake? Didn't you measure it?" Marty asked.
I had measured it. I'd measured it perfectly. What I hadn't accounted for was the fact that we were going to be overloading it so much. Bits of metal were sticking out of the sides, and there was so much of it that it stopped the cart dead.
"Yes," I replied shortly, not wanting to get into it right that moment. "Regar, can you get in there and start throwing things into the back? If we can get stuff on the sides off, it should fit through."
"I'll do what I can," Regar replied, from inside the Redemption. Things started to shift as Regar pulled metal free. I heard clanks as he tossed it behind him into the small cargo hold.
"Ospreys are two minutes out. We don't have time for this, Jake," Marty said.
I didn't know much about Ospreys, but if they were flying in they definitely wouldn't miss us here. They would see the giant hanger doors open, and me attempting to push this cart full of metal into a poorly camouflaged Redemption. It would make them suspicious, to say the least.
"Okay, Regar. It's brute force time."
I gripped the two rear rods of the cart with each hand. I could see how it was binding, and I could see that there was a way to push it through. But it wouldn't be pretty.
I wrenched hard, pushing with my left hand and pulling with my right as I put all my strength into it. The suit assisted me, and I needed the assist. This thing was massive. It tilted to the right, and small, looser pieces shifted and fell. Most of the pieces were so jammed in that they stayed.
"Regar, pull!" I grunted as I lifted and pushed.
The cart slowly shifted and became nearly vertical. I shoved, and the metal scraped and squealed against the sides of the open hatch as I forced the heavily loaded cart through.
The rod in my hand began to bend. I had not designed it for this abuse.
"Put your back into it, Jake!" Regar yelled, invisible to me inside the ship.
I braced my feet and pushed hard. The cart scraped and inched forward, then with a lurch, it pushed into the interior of the spaceship. It stopped just inside the doorway, leaving me still on the outside.
"Stop. That's as far as it's getting. It's jammed up against one of the seats, and it doesn't look like it will fit in any farther."
The cart and its cargo were filling the hatch nearly entirely, and from what I could see, while the hatch could probably close, there was no way I was getting in. With some time, Regar and Marty could unload the cart into the cargo bay behind the cockpit, but we didn't have that time.
I hopped down to make sure I wasn't in the way.
"Marty, can you close the hatch?" I asked.
"It looks like it. We've got to go, Jake," Marty replied.
"So go. I can make my way back. The armor can fly, remember?"
"You're not stealthy though. They'll pick you up on radar, or hell, people will just see you."
"I'll be fine. Go," I ordered, and slapped the side of the ship twice. I don't know where I'd learned that, perhaps from my father. It was the universal signal that the vehicle was good to go.
The hatch slid shut as Marty followed my order. The Redemption wavered in the air in front of me. Up close the camouflage effect wasn't perfect and I could see the slight distortion in the air as it shot upwards, leaving me behind.
"Brick, can you cover me? Keep me off radar?" I asked.
"No, Jake. Not perfectly. There are many redundant radar systems, and the secure military ones are network isolated. I will try to steer you through a route where I have more control of the radar systems, but I can't guarantee invisibility to their systems."
"Shit. Okay, I have to go. Guide me," I said.
In the distance, I could see that the guards of the base had large groups of True Believers rounded up and kneeling on the ground with their hands behind their heads. The fences had been breached by a pair of large RVs, covered in paintings of grey aliens and flying saucers.
I hadn't heard any gunfire except the ones that had been pointed at us a little bit earlier, so I was hopeful that none of them had died, but I felt bad. Getting arrested breaking into a government base probably wasn't the lightest charge. I knew my conscience would bug me on that one, so I made a note to help how I could.
"Route plotted, follow the marks, Jake," Brick instructed.
A blue dot appeared in my vision off to the right, leading to the Northeast.
With some instinctual visualization, I shot off the ground like the superhero I was, leaving a crater in the sand below me. I knew the base below wouldn't have caught anything on camera, since Brick still owned their entire surveillance system, but someone would have seen it. The Krigar Assault Armor was far from invisible, even if it wasn't painted bright red like Regar's.
I flew toward the marker as fast as I could, staying low. As fast as the armor was, I knew I couldn't outrun fighter jets in it. At least, I didn't think I could. My only hope was to stay low. Low enough that radar couldn't see me—at least not any of the
