The cul-de-sac was in an upper-middle class subdivision, one of those well-to-do neighborhoods where the most popular hobby was trying to keep your bass hydrafoil up to block standards, while living from paycheck to paycheck. The kind of people who made good money, but not real money, but desperately wanted the world to think they did. Many probably worked in the shipyards above. They liked their lawns manicured and their hovercars tucked neatly away in their hangars. They didn’t like disorder or confusion.
Boy, were they in for a surprise!
Hitting the braking rockets, in an attempt to slow the runaway beast down, he came in too low, taking some shingles off a few roofs as he did. He’d wanted to set down right in the middle of the surface byway, but the steering system began to fail and his stick became sluggish. He almost cleared the Jupiter luxury coupe parked out on the curb, but the belly of the truck skidded across the roof with the sickening screeching of metal peeling metal. He sat the truck down harder than he’d intended, and the last gasp of the dying engine scorched someone’s immaculate flowerbed and hedges.
Careening off houses and hovercars had actually served to dissipate some of the force of impact. Still it was a bone-jarring, painful, bouncing ride as the Gus plowed up the pavement before finally coming to a stop.
As the smoke and dust cleared, outside lights flashed on now on the houses around them. The sound of people yelling in confusion filled the neighborhood.
***
“Sir, I’m getting a lot of 911 chatter!” Cee Tee stuck his head out the main hatch of the command craft. “Citizens in a subdivision near the Tennessee line calling to report an aerocraft crash in their neighborhood.”
“Outstanding!” Frost seemed to be in a much better mood now. “You have the coordinates?”
“Yessir!”
“Very well!” He turned to scowl at the last remaining ZiPs doing mop-up duty. “As soon as we get a chance to ease outta here without making a scene, I wanna be airborne!”
“Yessir!”
“Smartly, though! I don’t want it to look like we’re leaving with our asses on fire!” he cautioned. “I do not wanna do anything to make the ZiPs suspicious.”
“Understood, Boss!”
“In fact, let’s not take any chances. Have everybody else here sit tight. We’ll just meet Number Three’s team onsite,” Frost continued to instruct Cee Tee. “We have Thomas grounded now and on foot. He’ll be looking for some new rockets as quick as he can find them. This is our best chance to reel them in and goddamnit, I don’t want him slipping away this time!”
***
Tiger groaned in pain, as he unstrapped himself. Turning around, he looked to Amber. “You ok back there?” She nodded, giving him a thumbs-up signal, even though she was gingerly rubbing her shoulder where her harness had held her firm. He figured they’d both be feeling it in the morning.
He now turned to his longtime friend. “How you doin’, pardner?” he asked softly, as porch lights came on all around, and people began spilling out their front doors.
Jock opened his eyes and gave Tiger a weak drug-induced smile. “How do ya think I feel? I’ve had my guts shot out and then you drop me out of the sky like a dead bird.”
“I’m gonna get you some help. I’m gonna see you get to a hospital. I swear it.” At that, he climbed out of the smoking wreckage and began yelling at the throng of startled residents closing in on them. “Somebody call 911! My friend’s badly hurt! He needs an ambulance!”
He was relieved to see several in the crowd reach for their PDC’s. He knew that with the commotion he’d already caused with the raucous landing, this would probably be the second wave of calls for help. He had no doubt that the police were already en route.
Whatever happened would just have to happen. He wasn’t going to abandon his friend now.
A thin, middle-aged man with a receding hairline and the look of an accountant was staring at the crumpled Jupiter with a dour expression. “Dude,” he said, not taking his eyes off it. “You trashed my car!”
“Yeah, and I’m really sorry about that!” Tiger replied. “It really hit us quite a lick. I wasn’t expecting a car to be parked out on the road like that in a fancy subdivision like this! I know how these places have covenants and all.” He couldn’t resist a final dig. “I think that’s what hurt my friend so bad. He probably won’t sue … Maybe.”
The insensitive prick seemed to lose some of his indignance at the thought of possible legal reparations. At the same time, his neighbors began to cast wilting glances his way. Tiger was waiting for this very distraction.
“Ok, Amber!” he nodded to her. “Time for you to go!” She looked at him, puzzlement in her eyes. “I have to stay here with Jock. He’s my friend. You understand?”
She nodded slowly, reluctantly, apprehension on her face now.
“Tiger, what’re are you doing?” Jocko called out, eyes closed, as he grimaced in pain.
Tiger turned and looked up into the cab to him. “She has to go. She can’t be here when the cops get here!”
“You know she’ll never make it out there alone … not without you.”
“She’s got no choice, Jock. You saw it yourself! Those were ARA’s. If she gets taken in, the ZiPs will have no choice but to turn her over to those fuckers. She stands a better chance out here. Still running.”
“She’s got no chance at all without you … you know that,” Jock replied, then a moan issued forth from his blood-crusted lips.
