| From: | Stefan Hahn <HAHN@***.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | The best laid plans of wyrms and men... |
| Date: | Fri, 24 Sep 1993 12:19:53 -0700 |
Early A.M. The stink of fear heavy in the air, not to mention six people
who've been cooped up in a small chamber without a shower all day, and
over that, the hideous aroma of synth coffee--
>>REG, KEEP THE EDITORIALS TO YOURSELF.
Oh. Sorry.
"He should'a caught up to us by now. It's what? One in the morning?"
"close enough"
A glint of armored scales in the moonlight, an aerodynamic impossibility
circling high above, rage still tightly coiled behind eyes beginning to weary.
Aflitter at the edge of consciousness.
not another cloud shadow, not another flight of birds, but a sinister spearhead
against the highland boulders, slowly...
The great eyes narrow, and in an enormous midair pause...
AOOOOOGAH! AOOO--
"Contact! Evasive pattern three!"
The flatfish stops, floats, spins dizzingly backward, then yaws violently and
shoots upward sideways, and a dark meteor flashes past on its way down, a prime
candidate for craterhood. But it widens, curves upward, and skims the length
of the loch, wingtips vorpaling trees on either side.
A low, inhuman chuckle
"Dammittall! He almost had us!"
"Hey, yer in good hands wit' Cap'm Kaneda."
"Excuse me, mon, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable if WE were the ones with
the meter-long talons, hey?"
"Have possible solution, short-term!"
"Let's hear it."
"Reroute power to forward floodlights, utilize 100% of life capacity."
"Th' flashbulb effect! I like it!"
"Get it NOW! Wylly's coming around for another pass!"
The sight you just don't want to see: a highland lake below you, boulders and
scrubby trees to either side, a beautiful moonlit night with the kind of stars
you just can't find in the 'plex, only a few high clouds to spoil the view, and
a steel-plated behemoth with the impact of the average transcontinental freight
train headed straight at you, at extremely high speed, and Smiling. wisps of
steam trailing from those nostrils not enough to hide the glow of hatred in
those eyes...
"steady, steady..."
"Spin! Up, over and...NOW!"
A crackle of electricity an--WHOOMP
all goes dark for an instant.
Then the world comes back on, spinning crazily, and that loch looks a lot
closer than you'd like it. Then the stabilizers activate and it levels off,
although you still appear to be gliding backwards along the lake.
"I think we got him! He looks dazed!"
"'e wasn't flying like tha' a second ago."
"Query: how much time does that purchase us?"
"Not enou--"
"I KNOW! I KNOW! I'M TRYIN' TA' THINK OF SOMETHIN! Wish we'd had those AVM's."
"Wouldn't scratch 'im."
>>BETTER THINK FASTER. ]<<<<<
