Chapter Ten
Just Keep Swimming
The familiar quiet hum whispered through the small cabin as the ship lifted off and the landing gear retracted. Martin's hands were steady as he guided the fighter through an opening Mike hadn't seen until Alexei pointed it out, cleverly screened by overgrown scrub, a few scraggly trees, and a curtain of tattered camouflage fabric.
"Mike mentioned night vision?" Martin said to Alexei as they soared into a night sky silvered by the light of a full moon, turning everything to quicksilver.
Alexei reached over and flipped open a small compartment and flipped the switch hidden inside. The world was instantly lit in a wash of green, bringing shadowed detail into sharp relief.
"Nice," Martin said appreciatively.
"It's handy for night missions," Mike said. "They're almost all night missions now. She can't be seen and she can't be caught."
"Good girl," Martin crooned at the controls.
"And now he's talking to it," Bethany sighed.
"You're the one who named your jeep Priscilla. I'm not sure you're fit to judge."
"I don't . . ."
Red lights flashed on the controls. "Uh, oh," Mike whispered. "Here we go is right."
Alexei bent over a small screen in front of him. "Five," he said. "Three behind and two in front."
"Ambush," Martin said. "They've been waiting. The flyovers were a distraction."
"Here they come!" Mike said, spinning the gunner's chair.
"The targeting computer is still calibrated for two cannons on either side, not one in the center," Alexei warned.
"So let's not let them get close enough for it to matter." Martin jammed the controls as far forward as they could go and tilted the ship up. Blue bolts lit the sky under them for a moment, then they were soaring high above the pursuing fighters.
There was a crackle, then a voice filled the ship. "Message from Philip," a woman's tense voice said. "It's an ambush . . ."
"You're a little late," Alexei yelled, flipping on the communicator. "How many?"
"Twenty five. Spread out all around you. He just found out what Diana's real orders were."
"Get out of there while we have them busy, Theresa," Alexei said. "Don't contact us again. If someone has the wrong frequency open, they might figure out where you are." He cut the connection without another word. "Uncle Martin?"
"She used to be about twenty five percent faster than a standard fighter. From what I can tell so far, you increased it to almost forty percent. Not bad odds."
"Against twenty five fighters?"
"Four more coming in!" Mike yelled, firing the rear cannon.
Nothing happened.
He tried again; still nothing. The targeting computer was up, the indicators all showed full power and function, but there was no hint of the familiar whine of lasers, no jerk under his hand, no blue bolt taking out any of the fighters behind them. "Martin! Rear cannon's down!"
Martin glanced back, his lips thinning. "Okay, odds just got a little worse. Hang on."
"Three more!" Alexei yelled. "Starboard!"
Their shuttle dived, followed by a rain of laser bolts. Eyes narrowed, Martin aimed for a pair of half-fallen skyscrapers.
"I'd like to live through this, Martin!" Mike yelped.
"I said hang on!" Twisting the controls, he laid the fighter almost on its side, diving between the buildings with what seemed to be millimeters to spare. Two shuttles intent on following didn't have the same maneuverability, or the room that the stripped-down fighter did. Twin explosions rocked them, setting the shuttle into a minor spin before Martin pulled back hard, straightened her out, then dipped her in a steep dive under two more fighters swooping in from either side.
"Five more port side!" Bethany yelled. "Pull up!"
"Two starboard!" Mike added.
"All this for one fighter? What have you been doing?" Martin yelled, pulling the ship into a dizzying climb. She started to spin; Alexei and Mike yelped but Martin let her go, his hands light on the controls as he watched Alexei's screen. Another explosion below them marked a shuttle getting a little too far ahead of its squadron and being hit by crossfire. "Where the hell did you put the cannon controls, Alexei?"
"Got it!" Reaching under his seat, Alexei unfolded another, smaller set of controls. Mike watched, largely helpless. The kid was scared, but he stayed steady, thumbs jamming down on the triggers. The fighter dipped back to a straight trajectory, then into a dive. A Visitor fighter, white hull silhouetted perfectly against the night sky, exploded in their path. The shuttle lurched as Martin jerked the controls to avoid the fireball and debris.
"Uh . . . Martin?"
Bethany's voice was barely a whisper. Swiveling his chair, Mike's eyes swept the screen in front of Alexei, now swarming with red, to the view port Bethany's wide eyes stared at. "Shit. More company, Martin! A lot more!"
Twisting to look, Martin cursed. At least eight fighters in formation swept towards them from the port side. Spinning the shuttle in a near 180, he snarled, eyes flicking for the green-bathed viewscreen to Alexei's sensor readout to the port view. A similar formation was coming at them from the opposite direction. "We're going to be testing her a little sooner than you wanted, Alexei."
"But Uncle Martin . . ."
Pulling the shuttle into a nearly 90 degree climb, he pushed it to top speed and kept it there, the engines wailing in protest. "Would you rather risk an untested ship, or would you rather take that on?" he said, jerking a thumb behind them.
Bethany gasped, Alexei winced, and Mike cursed at the sight of a dozen shuttles directly behind them, more swarming from the sides. None could match the angle or speed of their climb, but the sky was full of them. "Okay, we test her," Mike said. "If you can get us over water."
"Strap in, it's going to be bumpy."
Leveling the shuttle out, he swung it in a sharp turn that put it on edge again. Indicators were blinking on the controls now. "She's getting hot, Uncle Martin. Air's too thin up here."
"We're almost into the Mesosphere. She's not meant for this height. We aren't either, for that matter."
Mike's chest was starting to hurt. "We can't stay up here much longer, Martin."
"We won't have to . . . okay, we must be well over the Pacific by now."
"We can't have gone that far," Bethany protested, breath coming hard.
"You've never seen a shuttle at top speed, and this one's even faster."
"We'd be crushed!"
"Anti-grav drive. It controls the inner gravity and protects us from damaging g-forces. Try this in a regular jet and you'll be hamburger. Now shut up and let me concentrate."
Mike was lightheaded and they were all gasping for breath. "How fast can she be going when we hit the water?" Martin asked Alexei.
"About half speed."
"Tricky." Aiming the shuttle down at a forty five degree angle, he pushed the shuttle into a dive a little slower than the climb. Mike could see the glint of water . . . and white spots between it and them, growing larger. The Visitor shuttles had spread out instead of wasting time chasing their impossible altitude, waiting for them to come back down.
"Spread themselves too thin," Martin said tersely. "All we need is . . . hold on!"
Steepening their dive, he adjusted their heading to hit the middle of a particularly large clear patch of sky. Several shuttle pilots saw what he was doing and tried to converge, cannons firing. Twisting the controls at the last moment, he took them into the center of a group of eight shuttles, too thickly packed for any of them to dare firing. Diving through the mass, he leveled the ship out when it was almost skimming the waves and pushed her to top speed, putting distance between them and the shuttles. "Come on, all we need is one bastard to think he's lucky . . ." Blue bolts blasted towards them. "Now!" Pulling back on the controls, he cut the shuttle's speed, aiming her in a shallow dive. "Now, Alexei!"
His eyes frightened, Alexei leaned over and opened another compartment, flipping one hidden switch up and the other down. They plunged under the water, all four of them instinctively pulling in a last lungful of oxygen.
….
They weren't dead. That in itself was unbelievable. Martin pulled in a steadying breath, more than half of him expecting to pull in water instead of air. But the ship held, momentum taking her deeper, well past the effective depth of a laser cannon and out of normal sensor range. A whoosh of air followed Alexei twisting a dial, increasing their inside pressure to match the water pressure outside. Gradually slowing, the ship hung in the water, the green wash of night vision reflecting back oddly from the view screen.
"Can we do that again?" Bethany asked, her voice shaking.
"No," Martin said, hearing Mike's voice chorusing behind him. Alexei only groaned. "How long before the jet propulsion has power?"
"A few minutes." Shaking himself, Alexei glanced at several readouts. "Well, the good news is, with our current rate of consumption, we'll actually have enough air to stay functional for almost four hours."
"They should stop searching by then," Mike said. "Clever, my friend. They think they brought us down. They won't be looking for anything but debris."
Martin glanced back at him. "The question is what they'll do when they don't find any."
"Don't be so grim. You got us out of there. Damn, I almost forgot what you were like with wings."
"That was some mean flying, Uncle Martin," Alexei agreed.
Martin almost smiled. "Unfortunately, at the moment we need luck more than skill."
They waited. For a time it seemed quiet. They watched the sensors, the readings fading in and out as the shuttle drifted with the current at the edge of their capabilities. They continued to show the squadron of fighters crisscrossing the water in search of any evidence of their destruction or survival. Nobody paid excessive attention to the view screen or the port views; no shuttle could reach them here.
Martin made the mistake of starting to relax. He should have known fickle Lady Luck wouldn't stay with them.
Suddenly Bethany struggled out of her seat belt and leapt from her seat, squealing. She stumbled back until she hit Martin's chair and tried to keep going, ending up in his lap, still trying to press herself backwards, her heart seeming to want to escape her ribcage, beating so hard and fast it pounded against his chest. "What . . ."
The question died when he looked out the port view into the cold eyes of murder.
Mike looked up from the gunner controls he was examining. "Well isn't that a cozy . . holy shit!"
Martin kept his gaze on the massive grey shape slowly circling the shuttle, and the flat black eyes that seemed to stare into his. Longer than the ship, it cut the water in utter silence, edging closer with every pass, appearing and disappearing in the gloom like a ghost—but this ghost was a ton or more of solid. His arms convulsed around Bethany, as if he, an unintentional intruder in an element he didn't belong in, could somehow protect her.
"That's a great white," Bethany whispered. "I didn't think they got that big in these waters."
"I think that thing can do whatever it wants," Mike breathed.
Struggling out of Martin's grip, Bethany evaded his grab and knelt on the passenger bench to peer outside.
"Bethany, what are you doing? Get away from there. It can see you!" Martin hissed..
"If she can see me, she can see you too. She's probably attracted to all the delicious electrical signals coming from the shuttle. You have to admit she's a beauty."
"No, I don't. What do you mean, she?"
"No claspers."
"Wha . . . no, I don't want to know. Alexei, can your sensors get any readings?"
Alexei tore his round eyes from the port. "It'll take another two minutes for power to build in the jet propulsion drive. We're right on the edge of sensor function, but it looks like a few fighters are still in the area. They're searching in a grid pattern."
"Standard procedure. Can their sensors pick up anything?"
"No. Marcus and I doubled their sensitivity in Susie. If we can barely see, they're completely blind. We could be setting off explosions down here and they wouldn't know until the bubbles hit the surface."
"When . . ." Martin was cut off when the shuttle shuddered. He winced and risked a look to see the shark bump them, her side scraping just above the shuttle's short wings, her huge, sleek shape obscuring the port view.
"She'll probably try to taste it next," Bethany warned, craning to watch the creature move a few yards away and turn back, still swimming at a slow, casual speed.
Her prediction proved true in a moment when the razor-lined maw gaped and tried to bite the shuttle.
"Look at the size of her," Bethany murmured, admiring.
"You were terrified of two little rats," Martin reminded her. "That thing's a monster and you're in love."
"We're invading her space. Right now she's just curious."
"How do you judge the emotional state of a giant man-eating fish?" Mike asked unsteadily.
"Posture. Dad studied Megalodon. I went out with him a few times to help tag great whites, which are the closest living analog we know of. Picture her, only at least twice as long and four times her weight. I still have the teeth he collected. One's longer than my hand."
"Thanks so much for that image," Mike snorted.
"Don't be so dramatic. This isn't 20,000 Leagues, and she can't swallow us."
"She can if she damages the shuttle enough."
"Nah. All we'd have to do is slit Martin's wrist. Sharks don't like the smell of Visitor blood."
Martin sputtered. "All you . . . what?"
"Researchers say it's the best shark repellent ever discovered."
"Is that true?" Mike asked, eyeing her doubtfully.
"Not a word." She grinned impishly. "I . . . hang on!"
The shuttle rocked as the horrendous shriek of teeth on metal filled it. The shark had hold of the wing and was shaking them like a set of dice. Alexei screamed something in Russian, shaking his fist at the thrashing beast, but Martin could barely hear it. A buzzing filled his head as the shuttle was dragged deeper. The shark finally let go, circling until she was dead in front of them. Her ancient eyes seemed to fill the viewscreen.
….
The ship stopped spinning, but Mike's stomach took longer. He was gasping, his hands clutching the useless controls of the laser cannon. Bethany picked herself off the floor, rubbing her head. Martin was staring out the main viewscreen, his shoulders stiff and breathing hard. The shark seemed to be staring right back at him.
"Martin?" Bethany whispered, for the first time sounding scared.
Mike became conscious of a low growl trickling from Martin's throat, a sound that wasn't in the least human, or even sentient. He'd heard it from Visitors twice before, neither a situation he wanted to repeat. Watching his cousin with wide eyes, Alexei slid as far away from him as his shoulder harness allowed.
Apparently Bethany recognized the sound too. "Martin." She spoke carefully, keeping her voice level. Easing up behind him, she put her hands on his shoulders, moving with exaggerated care. "Martin," she repeated. "Martin, if you do that in here, we're all in trouble, including you and Alexei. Calm down."
"Take it easy, buddy," Mike added, keeping his voice low.
The growl grew a little louder, accompanied by a low-pitched hiss, making the hair stand up on the back of Mike's neck.
"Martin." Bethany leaned down, closer than was probably intelligent. "Martin, you're going to get us out of here. Just like before." Glancing at Mike, she bent closer still, whispering something in Martin's ear, her hands squeezing his shoulders.
Martin blinked, snapping out of the half-hypnotized stare down with a start. "What?"
"Venom. Enclosed space. No ventilation," Bethany said, keeping her hands on his shoulders. "Very bad idea."
Martin took a slow, deep breath, his gaze moving to her face and he nodded tense but in better control.
"I'm glad she knows how to talk you down. That was too damn close," Mike said.
Martin looked sheepish. "It was that obvious?"
"Oh, yeah."
"Shit."
"No, shark," Bethany said, startling Alexei into laughter.
"You are so very much not funny." But Martin made no move to escape her soft grip.
They all looked to the viewscreen. The shark was gone. "Alexei, I need that power," Martin grated. "I don't care if they're still up there. I'd prefer to be get blasted out of the sky. It's quick and involves a lot fewer teeth."
"Full agreement here," Mike added.
"They're gone, I think. But the power's slow . . ."
Martin gripped Bethany's hand for a moment and Mike couldn't help noting how careful he was to keep the short but sharp claws away from her skin. "Strap in. When we move, it'll be fast. I hope."
She installed herself back on the bench, buckling herself in and clutching the aluminum suitcase in her lap.
"No arguing. What do you know. All it takes is an attack by a giant monster," he grunted.
"You can't see it, but I'm making a very specific gesture behind your back," she said calmly.
Martin still looked shaken but he grinned. "How did you put it the other day . . . oh, yes. Right back at ya." He eyed a distant shadow edging in and out of visibility on the viewscreen. "Alexei?"
"There must be a loose . . . there! Go!"
Martin eased the controls forward. The shuttle moaned for an instant, then the familiar smooth hum of her engines filled the space, accompanied by an unfamiliar vibration through the floor, and it straightened out.
"Speed it up, she's back!" Mike yelled.
Martin didn't bother to answer. The shuttle moved with heart freezing slowness, shaking as it was hit so hard it spun completely around. Mike flinched, expecting sparks, a crumpled hull, water spewing through a cracked viewscreen, anything, but the ship held.
The jet propulsion engines finally roared to full power. Jamming the controls into a dive, Martin rolled to one side, avoiding the ton-plus shark dead in front of them. Straightening again, he angled the shuttle on a barely perceptible climb. "She's almost at top speed. Ready, Alexei?"
"Beam me up!"
"Mike, I take back everything I said about watching out for him. You are obviously a corrupting influence."
"I didn't teach him that! Blame Marcus!"
Breaking the surface, the shuttle leapt like a dolphin. Throwing the switches into their original configuration, Alexei held his breath—they all did. All power went out for an instant, then the engines caught again and they soared towards the stars.
"Well . . . that was fun," Mike commented, melting limp into his seat.
Martin turned to stare at him. "That's . . . one description."
"Is life with the Resistance always this exciting?" Bethany asked.
She was answered by a three-way chorus. "No!"
….
The sky was clear of fighters. "How long were we down there?" Martin asked.
"Just over an hour," Bethany answered with a glance at her watch. "Funny, it felt a lot longer."
"They should still be searching. We'd have been searching for at least five hours, and would have switched crews at least once," Martin said. "I don't like it. Something's wrong."
"Gift horse. Mouth," Bethany advised. "Don't look."
"I don't know. Something tells me this gift horse is dead and about to start eating brains," Martin answered.
"Zombie metaphor. I'm impressed."
Martin gave her an unreadable look, which usually meant he wasn't sure how to respond. "Alexei? Anything?"
"Nothing within a mile and a half radius."
"Damn. We'll take the long way around."
"I thought we already did," Mike muttered.
"Mike, you know them . . . us . . . as well as I do by now. This isn't right."
"He's right. This isn't like Diana and her cronies at all. Unless Philip called them back?"
"It's possible. He technically does sort of outrank everybody," Alexei said.
"Just be careful, Martin. Alexei, keep your eye on those sensors. Bethany, watch out the ports in case the sensors were damaged."
Keeping low, Martin took them on a winding path back to headquarters. They didn't see a sign of another fighter in the air. Even Bethany was frowning, looking towards the mother ship, hanging in the air like a distant ornament. After an hour of what started to feel like aimless flight, Martin followed Mike's directions and landed them four blocks away from the entrance to Resistance headquarters.
"Do you need a copilot?" Mike asked Alexei. "I know the way to your new shop."
"No thanks, Mr. Donovan. It's only a few minutes by air. I'm good."
"I don't like the thought of you alone," Martin protested.
"It's quiet, Uncle Martin."
"Yeah, how do they say, quiet as the grave."
"I won't have a problem. Lucy is well hidden; once I tuck Susie to bed with her, Marcus and I can start working on the rear cannon."
Around the side of the shuttle, Bethany let out a low whistle. "Hey, check this out."
The three men joined her. Alexei and Martin both winced. Martin ran his palm across the worst gouges. "It didn't seem to affect her flight, but we weren't going at speed."
Alexei copied his gesture. "This won't be hard to repair, at least, and it doesn't look like any of the sensors were hit."
Bethany held out her hand, something white in her palm. A tooth, Mike realized, two inches long and saw-edged as a steak knife. He shivered at the sight of the thing. "Guess Diana isn't the only slimy, bloodthirsty bitch around."
Martin laughed, but it sounded shaky. "I think I'm done with the great outdoors for a while."
"Yeah, me too," Mike agreed.
Bethany tsked, tucking the tooth into her pocket. "I hope you have some kind of back entrance, because I don't like the thought of walking all that way under a full moon lugging a couple shiny metal boxes."
"Yeah, there's one not far from here. C'mon, Martin, let's grab your stuff and move."