"Even with this route plotted, there is a significant possibility that military assets will be dispatched to investigate your radar track, Jake. Those units have their own independent radar as well. While I don't expect that their weapons can penetrate your armor, it is possible. I would suggest you avoid detection, if for no other reason than to prevent them from following you back to the northern outpost."
"Got it, Brick. I'll do what I can to stay invisible."
The desert flashed by a mere two or three hundred feet below. Metra hadn't built in an altimeter so I couldn't really tell. I was just trying to keep as low as I was comfortable with. The thought of screwing up and plowing into the side of a hill in the desert at just under Mach one wasn't pleasant. I wasn't sure if I could survive that, even in the armor. It's not like it was built for those kinds of shenanigans.
Flying was as exhilarating as I'd remembered, and now that I was on Earth it felt even better. It only took a few minutes to leave the empty desert surrounding the unnamed military base we had just raided. Off in the distance I could see the twinkle of headlights on a distant highway, and the bright white lights illuminating the compound around someone's desert home. I pulled up as hills rose underneath me. The blue mark shifted, pointing me toward mountains in the distance. Well, mountains or really big hills. I wasn't a geologist.
"Why am I going toward the mountains, Brick?" I asked. "Won't I show up more when I fly over them?"
"You would. That's not the plan, though. You'll be flying through a pass. Try not to hit anything."
I chuckled. "Was that a joke, Brick?"
"I am not programmed for jokes, Jake," Brick said, his tone deadpan.
I laughed again. At least if our AI was going to go rogue and kill us all, he'd have a bit of sense of humor about the whole thing.
The mountains were there much quicker than I thought they could be. Towering walls of greying brown stone rose up from the desert hills, and I slowed without even thinking about it. The consequences of clipping a mountain at this speed were just too much to contemplate. The promised pass was easy to find, a notch seemingly cut through the mountains, winding its way in a jagged pattern. Trees started appearing as I entered the pass, the brown of the desert giving way to lush green. I could see the sparkle of water below, some kind of river. What I didn't see was any hint of a road, or humans. Whatever this pass was, it was too rough and high up for humans to use. I caught a glimpse of what I thought might be goats, or some other big plant-eating four-legged animal. I was too busy concentrating on not hitting anything to take much of a look.
"Jake, a patrol has been redirected to your general area. You were briefly visible on radar before you entered the pass. With the situation at the base, the military is on high alert. I suspect that normally they would have dismissed your radar contact as some kind of glitch as you are flying very low, and are quite small. The return was weak but they are investigating it."
"Shit. What should I do?" I asked.
"Continue on the route. Stay low. With luck, their search pattern will not cross your path, as long as you are fast enough."
I groaned. I'd been right down in the pass, but it seemed I had no time to do this the safe way.
I moved to the center, speeding up as much as I could. The pass wasn't long, five or six miles at most, but it seemed to take forever to get through it even as fast as I was going.
It got very narrow at one point, the rock walls closing in around me. I almost lost my confidence and pulled up rather than threading the needle. I couldn't imagine how base jumpers and those crazy squirrel suit people did this. I was in powered, flying armor and it was scary.
I shot out the other side of the pass, hugging the ground as the land opened up in front of me again. The massive lights of a city were to my northeast. My route would take me directly over it, at least if I were going to take the straight route to the blue dot that Brick had put down.
"Brick, do I really want to fly over the city?" I asked.
"Yes, the tall buildings will help conceal you from radar."
"People will see me flying over. Kind of defeats the point, doesn't it?" I asked.
Despite my arguing with him, I did have faith in him. I wanted to hear his reasoning, but I didn't slow down or waver from my course. I was still flying low and fast, straight toward the blue dot. The city was coming up quickly, and I could see his point. The center was full of skyscrapers, and even the outskirts had large apartment buildings. I just had to make sure I wouldn't get caught in any power lines, or face plant through someone's window. It also felt weird that I had no idea what city this was. I needed to get a GPS in this thing.
"Yes, you will most certainly be spotted, and perhaps captured on video. However, the US military is not in the habit of monitoring YouTube. At least, not in real time. This will not interfere with our plan to return you to the outpost safely."
"Fine," I said, and weaved hard to the left to avoid an upcoming ten-story apartment block.
The streets below me were mostly deserted this early in the morning, but it wasn't like everyone had gone to bed. There were still cars moving around, and even people on the streets. Most people never looked up, but I knew that some would. They might
