She took the lift to the roof and hurried across to the ship. On the way she saw Ben looking down at her from the cockpit, and she acknowledged him with a wave. He was looking towards the elevator, and she guessed he was expecting to see the infamous Peace Force robot striding out. Well, he'd meet Bernie soon enough.
They took off moments later, and Alice got Arnie to scan the city for the Peace Force cruiser.
"Your search returned no matches," said Arnie immediately.
"Are you sure?"
"Hitting refresh won't change the result," said Arnie.
Alice hit refresh anyway, and there was a buzz. "What was that?"
"Your search returned no matches," said Arnie.
"But it made a noise this time!"
"Indeed. I added a sound effect to emphasise the failure. You didn't believe me last time."
Alice called Harriet. "Hey, sis. We've got a problem."
There was a burst of gunfire, loud over the speaker. "You've got a problem," said Harriet, and Alice heard the sound of return fire.
"Yeah, Bernie's missing. And Steve, too."
"They'd better not be at the beach," growled Harriet.
Alice couldn't think of anything less likely. "We've scanned the city and there's no sign of Steve. It's like they vanished."
There was a loud blast, and Harriet swore. "Listen, you've got to find her. Got it? We're getting hammered here."
"Sure, just let me dig out my magic wand." The commset went dead, and Alice shoved it in her pocket. "Talk about needles and haystacks," she muttered.
"Are they all right?" asked Ben.
"Dunno. It sounded bad." Alice eyed the city laid out below them. "Arnie, what if we fly a bit higher? Will you be able to see further?"
"Confirmed."
Alice pulled the stick back and opened the throttles, and they shot into the sky with a thunderous roar. She levelled off thousands of metres up, and got Arnie to scan the landscape again.
"No results."
"Are you checking all the way to the horizon?"
"Yes."
"How far is that?"
"Given our altitude and the diameter of the planet, three hundred and eighty kilometres."
Alice frowned. "Bernie can't have gone that far. There's no people out there, let alone crime scenes."
"She's certainly not any closer."
"Okay, let's go higher then." They shot further into the sky, and as they headed away from the planet there was a double beep.
"Target acquired," said Arnie. "Distance eight hundred kilometres, travelling fast towards … Chirless."
"She's driving there?" exclaimed Ben.
"At that speed, she sure as hell isn't walking it," remarked Alice. "Arnie, show me guidance."
Green cross-hairs appeared on the canopy, and Alice chased them with the nose of the fighter, until they were roaring across the landscape at full speed. They caught up with the Peace Force cruiser in no time, passing close overhead, and Alice peered down to see the car racing along the highway between the trees. She set the autopilot and took out her commset. "Bernie, do you read?"
There was no reply.
Alice frowned, and then her face cleared. Of course, Bernie was probably on standby to preserve her battery. The robot could barely last half an hour at the best of times, and she'd need every ounce of power once she reached Chirless. That still left the problem of contacting the car, and getting Steve to pull over. Alice glanced towards the horizon, following the course of the arrow-straight road. "Arnie, are there any layovers ahead?"
"There's a rest stop in eighty kilometres."
"Set us down there, will you?"
The ship accelerated, and moments later they landed in a car park. It was deserted, and once she climbed down from the ship Alice heard birds and insects in the trees. Her feet scrunched on the tarmac as she walked towards the road, and when she reached the highway she looked back down the way they'd come. According to Arnie, the Peace Force cruiser was travelling at full speed, which meant it would arrive in less than sixty seconds. There would be no time to do anything but wave her arms, and she hoped Steve recognised her and stopped.
She tilted her head. Far away in the distance she could hear a whistling noise, getting louder by the second. She squinted down the road, trying to pick out the vehicle, but the late afternoon sun had warmed the tarmac, and she couldn't see anything in the shimmering haze.
The whistling grew louder still, and a hush fell over the area as the birds stopped singing. Then Alice saw it: a silvery shape, rapidly getting bigger.
The whistle grew to a roar, and without hesitation Alice stepped into the road and waved both arms over her head.
Chapter 20
"I'm nearly out," called Birch, as he fired on the enemy. "How's yours?"
"I'm done." Harriet managed one last shot, and then her weapon beeped and shut down. She grabbed a fallen table leg, which had been knocked clear in the first explosion, and prepared to fight for her life. Even if Alice arrived now, it was too late. With so many attackers outside, the chance of a stray shot damaging the fighter was too high.
Then Harriet saw Caldavir coming through the inner door, closely followed by Duke and the others. Caldavir was carrying a plastic tub, and he knelt behind the barricade and emptied it onto the floor with a clatter. Harriet could only stare. Lying on the floor was a jumble of bent metal, all mixed up with lengths of rubber tubing and squares of plastic. It was only when Caldavir separated one of the items from the tangled pile that Harriet realised what she was looking at. In Caldavir's hands was a powerful slingshot, complete with a metal wrist brace and about two feet of thick elastic tubing. There was a plastic cup in
