AN: Nobody should put too much effort into trying to figure out the timelines. They make sense, but they're... flexible. For purposes of the story, it's fine, but don't try to count the days or anything.
A quick train ride later, and the Planeteers were at the entrance to the Storage Sheds, where Gi's cargo had been left when she and Kwame arrived in America. At this time of night, the place was closed.
A quick conference agreed that they shouldn't waste time getting away.
Getting past the fence was no problem, and Gi had been issued the key to her storage space. The five of them crept through the empty yard to the large shed. Every shed was more or less the same. A roller door, with a large garage space behind it, lights and workbenches inside. Some of the larger sheds were a good thirty meters across. One of the largest storage spaces held Gi's cargo. She unlocked the Roller door, and raised it enough for them to slip under.
Gi switched on the light as the roller door came down. Wheeler keyed in the code and stopped the alarm.
And there it was.
At first, it looked something like a minivan, with a long stretched rear. It was painted yellow, the top of it was clear glass or plastic, and some of the visible space was covered in solar panels. Along the sides were two open spaces where they could see the inner workings, but they were open seals, not damage. It stood on four stocky supports, which tapered from the body down into two long skis.
And strapped to the wall were two long wings, painted in the same colors, each of them easily thirty feet long.
Gi watched the reactions carefully, wondering what they all thought. She saw the exact moment of revelation on all their faces.
"It's a plane!" Linka blurted. "Without wings."
"Not a plane. A glider." Gi corrected, going into 'sale' mode. "I present to you, The Wave Rider. The worlds first long range emissions free aircraft. Formerly a regular glider, now an amphibious ocean and air craft. It's already seaworthy and flight capable, ready for its maiden voyage. The first glider with navigation up-links via GPS satellite phone and laptop. The wings have been modified to give the flaps more room, making it the most responsive glider ever made. The top half of the dome, as you can see, has been replaced with Plexiglas, which is equally strong but transparent, for the viewing convenience of the passengers."
"A glider seats only two people max, Gi." Wheeler argued. "That thing has what? Eight seats in it?"
"Six. And it'll be five once we get the seats attached properly. Room for supplies."
"The seats aren't welded in?"
"It's fiberglass. You don't weld it. We bolt them down." Gi answered, still off on her own point. "It started out as the standard glider, but then I started tinkering with the fuselage. It was easy enough to widen it, and make it open enough inside to seat five people. Gliders have been used in a variety of situations. You know during the Second World War they used gliders to sneak paratroopers in? Nobody heard the plane coming at night. And they sat dozens. The only thing they couldn't do was take off on their own. And that was the only problem I had with it too. It would fly, it would turn, it would carry five people plus bags. I simply couldn't get it off the ground. Putting in a motor would screw up the weight ratio, and then it wouldn't be a glider any more. But with wind and waves under the pilot's control... it's now mission capable."
"It doesn't have any wings." Ma-Ti said plainly.
"They're here. The original wings are now the landing skids, and it took me forever to find replacements. They were the single most expensive thing I've ever bought. And this is coming from Queen Geek of The Planeteers. When I came on board, I bit the bullet and paid up." Gi insisted. "You can't ship something this size fully assembled. The wingspan is huge! The wings were detachable for shipping, they're slung underneath."
"Both of them?" Wheeler asked dumbly.
Gi just looked at him.
"Well, I'm sorry Gi, but I wouldn't feel comfortable in a home made plane if the Wright Brothers themselves built it!"
Ma-Ti had bent down to look. "It doesn't have any landing gear."
"GI!"
"It has landing struts. I meant this thing to be a sea-going craft too y'know. It never had wheels, it has skids." Gi insisted cheerfully. "I'll need some help getting it into the Hudson River!"
"What do we need to do to get it finished?" Kwame asked.
"Just final assembly. The controls are all prepped, the interior is solid. Just have to put the pieces together, and get it somewhere I can take off."
Kwame glanced at Wheeler.
"I know what you're thinking, and you're right." Wheeler said bluntly. "Unidentified aircraft appearing in the sky suddenly isn't real popular in New York. That sort of thing is tightly regulated. There are permits, inspections... to say nothing of radar."
"New York is a Coastal City." Kwame pointed out. "It wouldn't be difficult to stay under the radar until we get out over the water."
"We'll have to leave the wings for last." Linka said.
"Unless we attach them first. We could get a good clip of speed up on the back of a truck. Enough to give us a headwind." Wheeler pointed out.
"Wheeler, there are five of us. We need everyone. Who would drive the truck?"
"I can rig something..."
"And then the empty truck crashes into an orphanage full of crippled children after we go flying?"
"An orphanage full of crippled children?" Wheeler repeated. "Seriously?"
"There's more to it than just getting us out to the middle of the Ocean." Kwame said. "If this is going to be a career, we want to make sure we have transport that works. We have to know if we can get ourselves off the ground."
"Off the waves." Gi corrected. "And, I would like you all to note that I'm talking about an oceanic craft and I'm taking steps to avoid the magic word." She gestured at her ring, popped the hatch and climbed into the Wave Rider. Everyone smirked.
"Once we get a truck moving with this thing on top of it, it's only a matter of time before someone notices." Kwame said. "We had better hurry once we start."
"What's the rush?"
'The rush is, the Mobile Rig left ANWR a while ago. I don't know how fast a glider can move, but I'd bet good money that once the Rig leaves its latest spot in the Pacific we lose it forever."
"This is still a glider Kwame, It's too light to carry armor, and too slow to carry combat gear. It's not exactly the kind of thing you use for a high-speed pursuit, even it is airborne. What will a few hours matter?"
"It matters because Stumm just explained how easy it was to track us down and figure us out." Kwame explained. "And if it was easy for him to do so..."
"I agree with Kwame." Linka piped up. "He's hardly the only person who can access the information. Stumm may have something to gain by letting us go, but others don't. We are against a deadline, even if we don't know what it is. But I would feel better if we were out of New York."
"And frankly... with all due respect to Gi, if we get all the way out there, and find nothing, it's a long way back to land."
"He's right about that!' Gi called. "I'm looking at my laptop, and the GPS says there's not so much as a shallow reef within five hundred miles of the target."
"Must be one hell of a Mobile Rig if it can drill that deep..." Linka said to Gi. "How long will it take to get this thing ready to fly?"
"Mostly it's just the interior and the wings." Gi called from inside. "I can get most of that fixed up en route."
"You'll need a hand for some of the larger stuff if we're moving. I can get the seats on for you." Linka volunteered.
"You can?"
"I know how to turn a wrench Yankee."
"Anything else?" Kwame asked the group, looking for more loopholes in the plan.
"Are we sure we want to do this in the Hudson?" Wheeler asked. "I mean… it's pretty close to New York if you're worried about getting caught."
"A small war broke out in the middle of a national park not two days ago. Did anybody see anything on the news about it while we were waiting in The Plaza?" Linka pointed out. "Three hundred channels, and not one mention of helicopters exploding. We still have the advantage of Stumm hiding things for us. That won't last for long, but I doubt aircraft sightings are unusual for New York."
"And even in a city that never sleeps, three am is pretty private."
"Which means we have to do this now." Kwame agreed.
Silence.
"How the hell do we get this thing to The Hudson River at this time of night?" Wheeler asked.
"We'll need a crane. And a truck."
"It'll take a pretty big one." Wheeler agreed. "Well… I've worked enough construction sites to drive a cargo crane. But what do I lift it onto?"
"We'll find some transport. You get the crane."
Wheeler nodded.
Like a lot of storage centers near a major dock, there was a crane within the fence line, and it's reach across the top of the sheds was far enough that it could get most anywhere. Gi's 'cargo' was an easy reach, once it got running.
Ma-Ti had slipped away as soon as the plan was agreed upon, and reappeared again, somewhat wraith-like out of the dark, with a set of keys to give Wheeler. The Fire Planeteer didn't know where the boy had got them, and didn't want to ask.
After sneaking around in the dark so long, the sudden noise of the huge engine seemed unthinkably loud. Wheeler grit his teeth and forced himself to stick with it.
Linka had the glider on the hand crane, hauling it out of the shed with difficulty, Gi pushing from behind. The second it cleared the roller doors, Gi was at work, strapping down the wings. Wheeler swung the crane around and lifted it off the storage tray.
A second large engine was becoming slowly audible, and when it rounded the corner, Wheeler felt his jaw drop. It was a big rig, with a huge tray on the back, easily thirty feet long.
"I applaud your initiative Kwame, but somebody is gonna notice this thing is missing!" Wheeler called down from the cab of the crane.
"Hopefully, we'll have it back by dawn."
"Can you handle that thing on roads?"
"I've driven big rigs before. Mining trucks have a lot of power in them after all."
"Yeah, but in America we drive on the right."
"In northern Africa they drive on the right. South Africa the left." Kwame called back. "I've transported heavy loads in big trucks across both. Believe me, of all the ways this could go badly, this one I can handle."
"Both sides in different halves of the country? How exactly do you change lanes when you commute?"
"With great difficulty."
Wheeler rolled his eyes and swung the crane around, depositing the cargo down gently on the truck's tray. Gi scrambled up and started tying it down.
The second his burden was released, Wheeler put the Crane back where he found it and shut it down carefully. He even wiped it for prints before sprinting back to join them. "The night watchman?"
"Snoozing." Ma-Ti reported. "He woke up when the crane started, but I convinced him there was nothing happening."
Gi was climbing over the fuselage of the thing gracefully. "Hurry!"
Kwame leaned out a bit from the cab to talk to Wheeler. "We don't have a drop cloth big enough to cover something this size. What are the odds it's going to be noticed?"
"It'll be noticed sure, but its 3 AM in Manhattan, we'll hardly be the weirdest thing on the road."
"I hope that's enough."
Getting the front gate open was a good deal easier from the inside, and the Big Rig merged with the omnipresent traffic of New York, as the five of them made their way to the Hudson River.
They rode two across in the truck's cab, with Gi, Wheeler and Linka in the Waver Rider itself, making last minute adjustments to the controls. The fact that Gi was the one who built it meant that she had to do the majority of the technical work. A fact that led to Wheeler in the pilot's seat with Gi under his chair with her tools.
"Starboard Yaw." Gi directed from below the seat.
Wheeler froze. "Which is Yaw?"
"Right pedal." Gi translated.
Wheeler moved the relevant control smoothly.
"Nope. Still too loose. Hang on a second."
"Hel-lo!" Wheeler yelped. "Watch where you're sticking those pliers."
"Would you get your knee outta my face?" Gi responded. "Again please!"
Wheeler worked the controls. Gi nodded, out of his sight. "Good. Now the pitch."
Kwame had been driving legally, but his eyes never settled. He was watching for police cars, for regular cars, for people walking outside… The constant watching in every direction was starting to fray his nerves. "I feel like we're doing something illegal." Kwame muttered.
"We are." Ma-Ti pointed out. "The storage lot doesn't open till nine. This is a stolen truck."
Kwame took a breath. "Man this thing is heavy to drive." He worked harder than he was used to, to turn the wheel… and noticed a police car coming the other way. "Ma-Ti."
"Guys, duck." Ma-Ti said without raising his voice…
…and the other three somehow heard him, lowering their heads below the lines of the Wave Rider until the police passed them.
"Why do we always have to do that when someone's coming?" Linka asked.
"It's illegal to ride in the back of a rig like this without restraints." Wheller commented. "People will notice us before they take a second look at what we're riding in."
"Makes it feel like we're doing something wrong." Gi complained.
"Not wrong, just… secret." Wheeler advised her.
"You see, how I'm not making a James Bond comment?" Linka asked lightly. "That's restraint on my part."
"I appreciate that." Wheeler said solemnly.
"How are the passenger seats coming?"
"Secure. Where exactly did these chairs come from?" Linka asked.
"Um… best not to ask." Gi advised.
Wheeler and Linka traded a nonplussed look. "And she's the one worried we're doing something wrong?"
"Okay, okay. I bought them from a junkyard back home."
"A junk yard?"
"They used to be first class seats on a passenger jet."
"I can't believe they didn't salvage this stuff out before they junked the plane."
"They did, but they put them up for auction."
"So what's the problem?"
Gi flushed. "My dad thinks he's going to turn my room into a study or something, and had the chairs reserved for it."
Wheeler and Linka laughed delightedly at that.
The drive continued for a good while, with Linka testing out how stable all the chairs were, bolting them down, and Gi and Wheeler working all the controls, checking for responsiveness, at least as much as they could with the wings detached.
Eventually, the truck slowed, as they made it to the Hudson river.
Wheeler stuck his head out the hatch. "Kwame!" He yelled over the motor. "You gotta keep going till we find somewhere without a wall along the road. We don't have a crane any more!"
Kwame weaved back and started hunting for some part of New York that had a place to let down a boat. Eventually, they found one, alongside a pier. It was risky putting themselves so close to an area with cameras, but it couldn't be helped.
"Okay everyone." Kwame took the lead. "As of now, we are racing the clock. It's only a matter of time before somebody starts to wonder about us. In fact, I wouldn't put it past Stumm to keep an eye on us with his own people. So let's do this thing quickly. Where are we?"
"The seats are ready." Linka reported. "All of them bolted down strong. Seat-belts are built in, though they aren't exactly crash webbing."
"It'll have to do." Kwame promised. "Anything else?"
"Well, the controls are ready, the fuselage is fairly solid… and oh yeah, we haven't attached the wings yet." Gi reported.
"Details, details…"
Everyone chuckled as Gi started to detach the wings from the base. "I would much rather we get this thing ready to fly before we get it off the truck." Gi explained. "It's fiberglass, not metal, so we don't have to weld anything,. All we have to do it attach them, just like with a big hang glider. It's assembly, not construction."
"Gi, the wings are pretty big…"
'But they're light." Gi promised him. "Remember, this started out as a glider."
"It's a lot bigger now Gi!"
"It'll work!" Gi insisted stubbornly. "We've just got to put the three parts together, and it'll be ready."
The five of them stepped forward to drag the disconnected wings out. They backed up from the truck to pull it out whole, spreading out to balance it evenly. They had to back up a long way before the end of it dropped off the truck, but eventually, they were carrying the surprisingly light load themselves.
She looked at Kwame. "We have to lift it up enough for me to attach it.
Kwame nodded. "Earth."
There was rumble as the ground rose enough to be level with the back of the truck. Between the five of them, they managed to walk up the sudden natural ramp, with the Glider wing balanced across the five of them.
"Hold it steady! Hold it steady!" Gi called, getting psyched up at the activity. She darted forward with her tools and got quickly to work. The other four could feel the wing shifting as the end of it attached securely to something.
Gi came running back. "Okay! Other one now!"
Wheeler stared at the attached wing for the first time. "There's no way. There is no way this thing will stay on. Look at it flex! It's so long it's practically dragging."
"It has to flex that way." Gi promised him. "It'll be flexing the other way once we're in the air."
"Wheeler! Hurry up! Piers have security cameras you know!" Linka had kept her face turned away from the cameras. "I don't like relying on Stumm's goodwill in hiding the evidence. What if he keeps a copy of the information he had on us?"
"He almost certainly will." Wheeler agreed, coming back to the truck and grabbing the other wing. "But it can't be helped."
"I cannot shake the feeling that this guy is going to turn around and bite us."
"He will." Ma-Ti said with grim calm. "He lives in a practical pragmatic life. But we're going to change the face of the world. We are not players in his game. We are The Game Changers."
Everyone not currently busy stared at him. "Ma-Ti…" Wheeler said finally. "Do you know what's going to happen?"
"No. There are too many things to choose from."
"Than how do you know he's going to cross us?"
"Some things have better odds than others."
Wheeler couldn't help but grin at that. "So what do we do?"
"We do what we came to do. We change the face of the world."
Another half an hour as Gi ran around the whole thing dementedly, looking for any flaws. It was the first time they had all seen it put together, and the initial thoughts were not encouraging. It looked home made. The paint didn't match in huge sections, the breaks and repairs in the constructed sections were easily visible. The name 'Wave Rider' was visible, though apparently written on in Permanent marker. It looked like a home made plane. A notion that did not inspire confidence.
Gi, on the other hand, was full of explosive energy at the thought of her pet project being finished and successful at last. Kwame backed the truck up till it tilted down to the water, ready to launch.
"You think if we drown trying to take off Stumm will send our bodies home?"
"We'll be noticeable, a wreck this size bobbing in the water."
"In this river? We won't be the biggest load of junk floating around." Wheeler said. "Hell, it's the Hudson; we probably won't be the only bodies floating around!"
Nervous laughter.
"Seriously though, what are the odds we can catch another flight?" Wheeler mumbled.
"And tell them what? To drop us off halfway to India? We cant catch a regular flight to go out to the middle of the ocean where there is no land, and no runways."
"Swipe a plane then?"
"Steal a plane in New York? We'd have to land it too. I doubt an oil rig has a runway. At least this has water skis on the landing gear."
"A helicopter then?"
"You think Gi can fly a helicopter?"
"Can Gi fly a Glider is the more important question."
"She built it, didn't she?"
"There's a guy in my building who spent years rebuilding a 60's mustang. He finished it at last, took it for it's first drive, and totaled it. He never had a license. Didn't think he needed one."
Gi shouted. "Here we go!" And she pulled on the cargo straps. The inclined cargo was released from it's bonds and slid backwards, metal on fiberglass, till the Wave Rider slid backwards on it's skids and tipped. Wheeler and Kwame were under its tail instantly, trying to hold it up. It started out as an ultra-lightweight aircraft, and had been redrawn and redesigned a hundred times over, until it was suddenly a regular light plane's worth. Linka and Gi scrambled to help, until finally, they managed to wrest the thing under enough control to slide it into the water.
The tail slid under the surface till the skids hit the water, and it wasn't enough to make it float again. It bobbed into the river, and didn't come back up again.
Gi pulled back just a bit. "WATER!"
Her ring flashed, and the surface of the water suddenly tilted, flinging itself away from the tail of the aircraft, the still water suddenly laying itself down diagonally, giving the Waver Rider enough room to slide off the rig and onto its skids before it went under.
Eventually, the waters returned to normal, and the aircraft bobbed gently on it.
Gi gave a war whoop that would have woken half the city and she scrambled out into the water, getting hip deep before she could haul herself up to the hatch. "Come on guys! Time's a'wasting!"
Trading a vaguely terrified look, the Planeteers swam out to their new ship.
By the time they all swam to the craft and hauled themselves in, Gi was strapping herself into the pilots seat. "I gotta tell you guys, I'm excited." She babbled. "I've always wanted to try this thing out! I can't wait to see how she handles!"
This, as it happened, was absolutely the worst thing she could have said to her passengers.
"In the quite likely event of disaster, put your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye." Wheeler intoned in a PA announcer voice.
"This is where a cartoon character would say 'gulp'." Linka gulped in agreement.
"This should be interesting." Kwame agreed.
"Define 'interesting'."
"Oh god, oh god, we're all gonna die?" Wheeler deadpanned.
"Loved that movie! Everyone keep your tray tables and seat backs in the full upright and locked positions, keep your hands and feet in the Wave Rider at all times!" Gi enthused. "Okay Linka, let's see if we can get this thing off the ground. Well, off the water. Well, up in the air!"
Her ring glimmered and the waves started to grow.
Linka crossed herself quietly. "Right with you."
"Water!" Gi said deliberately.
The Wave Rider jerked, started to roll a little as the waves picked up. They felt themselves push back into their seats as the waves came from behind the skids, propelling them forward.
"Just like surfing. Just like surfing. Just like surfing." Gi chanted to herself; her ring pulsed again and again.
The waves came one after the other, not high, but lasting longer than any natural wave should, lasting long enough to push them forward. Again. And again.
Linka took a deep breath as everyone gripped their seats tightly. "Wind!"
The waves were giving them speed, some momentum, but the lift came from a sudden narrow gust of unnaturally strong wind that met them head on, and moved under their wings.
It was like getting a kick from underneath, and nobody could help a short yell of shock as their stomachs jumped into their throats. They were airborne. And they didn't seem to be staying that way.
Linka clasped her hands together, trying like crazy to focus. "Wind! Steady now!"
The Wave Rider pitched, nearly flipped over forwards, then rolled, nearly flipped over sideways…
Gi worked the controls madly. "Behind us Linka! We need tailwind! Not headwind!"
Linka grit her teeth. "Working on it!"
The glider heaved, bucked like a wild animal; they could hear things creaking like they were fit to break any second…
And then miraculously, the pitching settled, and they were flying.
For a long moment, everyone was frozen.
"Are we dead?" Wheeler asked, a little uncertain.
Gi let out another whoop. "Geeks Rule!"
Wheeler smiled casually. "I wasn't worried. Were you?"
Kwame tried to laugh it off, but was gripping his seat arms tightly. "Just tell me when the in-flight movie starts."
Linka smirked. "Don't be scared Fearless Leader. We won't get tossed by the wind."
Gi suddenly waved her arms around. "Look! No hands!"
"GI!"
The young Asian woman laughed and gripped the controls again. "Next stop, The Mid Pacific."
"It's a long way to go." Kwame pointed out.
"We'll have the wind at our backs."
"And a song in our hearts." Gi quipped. "Now… How do you think we'll land this thing when the time comes?"
Most of the flight was spent experimenting. There had never been any manner of transport that actually had the weather working consciously to help it along.
Once they were content that they were not going to drop out of the sky, the wings weren't going to fall off, and the floor was not going to fall out beneath them, they relaxed and enjoyed the flight.
The Plexiglas dome over the seats gave them a full view of the sky they flew in.
"I can't get over how quiet it is." Wheeler whispered, as though fearing to speak loudly and break the silent spell.
"Well... it is a glider." Gi reminded him. "They don't really make a lot of noise without engines."
"Well... I knew that, but you'd think there'd be wind or something..."
Linka smiled. "There is no wind if you travel with the wind." Her ring glimmered again and they sped up a little.
"How are you holding up Linka?" Kwame asked.
"I'm okay. It's actually getting easier." She told him, a little fatigue showing in her voice. "We found a natural wind moving the right way a few hours ago, so it gave me a break… sort of…"
"How fast are we traveling?" Ma-Ti asked, curious.
"Faster than most any glider I've heard of." Gi admitted. "We're making about as much time as a regular aircraft. A regular small aircraft anyway."
The Pacific was a long way away, and New York was on the wrong side of the North American Continent to simply fly out. At some point, they would have to cross land again to get there, and Gi spent some time with her laptop, calculating the fastest way to get there.
"It's a trade off." Gi said. "Flying over Africa will make us noticed by a lot more people, but Mexico will give us a lot less time over land, but the area is watched more closely by coast guard, the navy…"
The thought went back and forth, argued around the group.
"Going over Mexico would cut our overall travel time." Wheeler pointed out. "We don't exactly have a lot of facilities on the Wave Rider."
Gi nodded. "And the autopilot is physics and a bungee cord wrapped around the control stick." She gestured at the controls. "Whatever we have to do when we get there…"
"Okay." Kwame agreed with quiet authority. "Then we go west, over Mexico."
The Planeteers knew they couldn't make it across Mexico and back to the Ocean by dawn, so they flew south and decided to stop in the Gulf of Mexico. Gi and Linka took turns with the laptop, searching for the most secluded spot they could find.
They swooped into land, and skidded across the water, which was suddenly flat as a runway. The water softened as they lost speed, and the waves gently brought them in to the beach.
Kwame pried his fingers off the armrests. "Great landing."
Gi was grinning madly. "Well, what did you expect?"
"Can we cross landfall before dawn?"
"And gain plenty of distance. We're a glider, so we won't be heard, and we're a small craft so we can fly below radar. All it will take is darkness and we'll be completely untraceable."
"I thought we were in a hurry."
"A hurry to get away before anyone noticed us. We're far from people here, and that has been accomplished. Now it's a smarter move to wait for the cover of night again. At least until we get out over the water."
Everyone nodded and climbed out of the glider, eager to stretch their legs. "Ohh. Ow. Ow." Wheeler grunted as he stretched out. He let himself down into the water.
"Hey Wheeler!" Gi called, and handed down her backpack. "Don't get that wet. It's got our food and my phone in it."
Wheeler carried the pack above his head with both hands, military style, and made his way to shore. The others followed. Gi shut down the Wave Rider, jumped up to balance on the edge of the hatch opening, and swan-dove flawlessly into the clear water.
Wheeler was up on beach first, Linka and Kwame right behind him. Linka dragged herself out of the water and collapsed, half asleep in seconds.
Wheeler was pulling her back up again quickly. "Uh-uh. No you don't. No shade here. All that gorgeous creamy skin of yours will burn. Can't fall asleep there, babe."
"Don't call me that." Linka mumbled, still asleep, but she got her feet under her with Wheeler's help and headed up the beach to the trees.
"Want me to rub some suntan lotion all over you?" Wheeler quipped playfully.
"Okay." Linka yawned.
Wheeler nearly dropped her. "Really? Uh…. Okay."
"We don't have any lotion." Gi told him, making her way up the beach.
"Ohhh…. Maaan! Five bags and you didn't bring…? Wait. You must have. I'll go check!" Wheeler whined, and as he sprinted back to the Wave Rider, Linka traded a sly triumphant look with Gi.
The Planeteers were waiting for sundown, still several hours away. Gi had gone to her laptop again and figured out a quick route far from towns and traveled roads, so they could leave a little earlier. The thought that they might miss their target was never far from anyone's mind. The danger of being caught or stopped before they cold get there was the only thing holding them back.
In the meantime, they had found a perfect tropical cove, with a small beach, though plenty big enough for five, stretching halfway around the inlet, and a thick grove of big leafy trees just back from the sand.
The sound of the waves, a cool breeze off the ocean, shade and warm air... It was hard not to think of it as a vacation. Linka had fallen asleep immediately, exhausted from the constant use of her power. Gi had handed out some travel food, their supplies already running low; Ma-Ti had collected the empty drink bottles and vanished into the foliage without a word, and Wheeler and Kwame were relaxing under the trees, enjoying the view, and the wait.
"We've gotta remember this place." Kwame said finally. "Once the mission is over, I'd love to come back."
Wheeler nodded, taking long deep breaths of the air. "I don't understand how we're the only people here." He said quietly, mindful of the dozing Linka curled up under the tree he sat against. "I mean look at it! It's got to be the most perfect beach for a thousand miles."
"That thousand miles includes Acapulco, Cozumel… This is a small cove, Wheeler. There are probably a million of them in the world. Far from people, far from roads. The only way to get to them is with your own yacht, or your own glider." Gi quipped. "I wish I brought my wetsuit. The surf's no good, but the water is gorgeous."
Danger! Danger Will Robinson!
Everyone reacted, and Gi paled. "Oh no."
"What is it?" Kwame asked.
Gi pulled out her cell phone. "It's my parents!"
Danger! Danger Will Robinson!
"How does that even work out here?"
"It's a sat-phone. I get reception everywhere." She spun around and gave the phone to Wheeler. "Lie to my family! Please! I told them I joined The Gaia Institute in America! I gave them this number and had all calls forwarded to my phone with this ring-tone!"
Wheeler burst out laughing. "Do your parents even speak English?"
Danger! Danger Will Robinson!
"Yes! Wheeler! You're the only American accent around! Please!"
Wheeler look the phone and answered it with a high nasally voice. "You have reached The Gaia Institute, proudly serving the global community since 1990, how may I direct your call?"
Everyone smirked.
"Gi Takashi?" Wheeler hummed. "Do you know what division she is in? I'm afraid I need a division, or an extension line."
"Give me the phone!" Gi hissed.
"Wait a moment, did you say Gi Takashi? One moment, and let me check our employee roster." Wheeler covered the phone.
"Put. The phone. On hold. And give it to me." Gi said to him slowly, like she was explaining a simple command to a slow witted puppy.
Wheeler grinned. "You're awfully short tempered with your co-conspirators." He uncovered the phone. "Ma'am? I found the name, please hold." He put the cell on hold and handed it to Gi.
Gi took it, and waited a discreet interval while she took a deep breath. "Mama?" She noticed the others watching her avidly, and took off down the beach. "Yeah! I love working here!"
The others let her go. Ma-Ti crossed paths with her, carrying their drained water bottles. "Fresh water back that way." He told them, handing out the refills. Everyone took them, thanking him gratefully.
Wheeler watched Ma-Ti. He had that unhealthy sheen on his skin again. "When did you last drink something?"
"I… I don't remember…"
"Come on." Wheeler said kindly, like he was telling him it was time to go to school.
Ma-Ti nodded, and closed his eyes. He seemed to shudder a moment, and when his eyes opened, they were focusing on things again properly. Within seconds he was gulping down the water in the bottles left in his hands.
Kwame smiled at Wheeler. Wheeler met his eyes. They didn't need Ma-Ti's telepathy to know what the other was thinking. You take good care of him Wheeler.
I look after my little brother. It's what I do.
Privately, Wheeler knew he'd cut the ring off Ma-Ti's hand himself, if he thought the kid was addicted to something the way his mom was.
It was a thought he couldn't shake. "Hey guys?" he asked finally. "What does it feel like?"
"What?"
"Using your powers." Wheeler clarified. "Ma-Ti always seems to be 'on', but the rest of us have to think about it. I'm saying… what does it feel like?"
Kwame took a moment, giving the question consideration. "It feels… I summon the power, try to think about what I want to happen. And then I feel… everything. Everything of the earth anyway. I can feel the ground like I'm a thousand times more aware of it…and then I feel the energy moving. It feels like there's something powerful in the ground, and I can feel it moving, like when you're flying a kite, and you feel it jar through the string. The energy moves up through me, and I feel it pour through the ring… and then the energy flies out, and the ground starts moving."
Wheeler nodded. "That's what it feels like for me too. Only for me it doesn't come through the ground, it comes from… I don't know. From burnable stuff I guess. Rock and concrete I can feel a lot less than wood or paper. It's like I'm looking through things for a moment. Even the air."
"Because air can burn." Gi said, suddenly back with the group. "When the air heats up, it's molecules move faster. That's why you see heat waves in the air over something hot. You speed that movement up enough, and air molecules can ignite. It doesn't last without something to burn, but fire needs air as much as fuel."
"That's why I can make fire appear in thin air. It wouldn't work in the water, it wouldn't work in a vacuum." Wheeler said with realization. "There's still so much we don't know."
Silence. Kwame turned to Gi. "What did you tell your family?"
"That… I was getting on with my co-workers, that it was hectic, that my focus was on solutions to ecological problems. I told them that my first attempts at getting green transport like the Wave Rider working was a success, but I didn't know how far it would go; and I told them that I was working hard, and that I missed them both." Gi sighed and rubbed her face. "It was all true. Except it was all a lie."
"You know they're going to find out eventually." Kwame said. "About the lie, if nothing else."
"I know." Gi said in a very small voice. "How do I tell them?"
Kwame shrugged. "I can't help you. I had nobody to tell."
Linka shrugged. "I can't help you. I told my grandmother nothing except that I was leaving. She accepted that. It's not the first time she's had to accept things she didn't understand from people she loved."
Wheeler shrugged. "I can't help you either. I told my family I was leaving and nothing else, then I fled the city before they could kill me."
Ma-Ti shrugged. "I just made my parents change their minds about me leaving. They were very happy."
Pause. Everyone stared at Ma-Ti.
"There's something really creepy about you sometimes." Gi said to Ma-Ti finally.
Ma-Ti nodded ruefully. "I know. It's bothering me a little bit too."
Silence.
"I wish I brought my fishing rod." Kwame said.
Smiling wanly, Ma-Ti gestured at the waves, and suddenly three or four fish jumped up out of the water and vanished again.
"Oh sure, but can you make them jump into a fry-pan?" Wheeler quipped.
Kwame seemed almost troubled. "Ma-Ti… can you actually talk to animals?"
"Yeah."
"That doesn't bother you?" Kwame pressed. "Insects have a lifespan of a week or so, fish cows and pigs get eaten by the millions…"
Ma-Ti gestured out over the water. "I can talk to them, but they don't have much to say. Fish aren't smart. Their memory is so short term they'd forget the start of my name before I told them the end of it. They don't' even know how long they've lived." He gestured back at the tees. "Birds are smarter. They fly, they feed. They don't dwell on things, or think deep thoughts. Their minds are all instinct, no planning, no memory. Just what to do right now." He gestured at the ground. "Ants and insects and bees have very active minds, but they don't think. They have only one thought, and they all think it in unison. The chorus changes as the Queens direct, but they all have no thought but their work. Cows and pigs and sheep are dull. They eat to grow, don't care about anything beyond that. It's not laziness on their part, or prejudice on mine. They simply don't have brains that can think, in any way we would understand thought. Very few creatures can tell one day from the next like we do, or plan out how to do something like we do. But they all accept that they exist on a food chain. Something eats them. They all eat something. They don't hold a grudge about it. They aren't angry about it. Man is the only animal that feels guilty. Or needs to."
The little speech amazed everyone, forced to think along lines that nobody had considered before.
"Like I said." Wheeler piped up finally. "Still so much we don't know."
The cell-phone buzzed.
Bligh woke up, reached down and grabbed it silently from her discarded clothes in a heartbeat. She pulled the phone under her pillow and looked subtly over her shoulder. Devorux was still asleep, facing away from her. She slid out of the bed and crept across his plush carpet, letting herself into the en suite bathroom. Though she was naked, and the dawn barely breaking outside, she didn't let the cold bother her. "Bligh here."
"Bligh." It was Stumm. "Situation report?"
Bligh turned on the shower to cover the conversation. "The Rig is working fine,and the crew is all following orders. Nothing we can point the authorities to. Nothing provable anyway."
"Well, I think I may have a solution to that. How about Devorux?"
Bligh dared to peek out of the bathroom at his sleeping form. "I have the captain under control."
"Good. I've managed to locate Bleek."
"How?"
"He killed an Internet blog for Appius, about your activities in ANWR. Somebody noticed it was missing, and recorded the IP address Bleek used. I was able to track it."
Bligh pursed her lips. "If someone noticed we were at ANWR, we may lose control of how the information comes out."
"Only a few people know about the blog. One was the Ranger who posted it. I've already taken care of him. The others are under control in the short term; we'll take care of them when we have nothing more to gain. I wanted to give you warning, that now we've found Bleek, we're approaching the final phase."
Bligh sighed. "I'm glad. I'll be happy to get off this ship."
"You understand that there can be no connections between any of my people and anything involving that ship. Once we're ready, Devorux will have to be removed also. If you could see to it that there's no body; that would be an advantage."
Movement outside. Devorux was waking up.
Bligh moved fast. "Really looking forward to that part." She told Stumm savagely. "I have to go."
She turned off the phone, stuck it under the sink and jumped in the shower, not even checking to see if the water was warm.
A few moments later, the bathroom door opened, and Devorux leered in at her. "Hey. You're up early."
Bligh wanted so badly to kill him and be done with this whole assignment. "Early to bed, early to rise." She smiled invitingly at him. "Care to join me?"
The sun sank stunningly over the horizon, sending the clear blue sky into a fiery blaze. There was no time to stop and enjoy it.
Having some experience in the art of take-off, this flight began much more gracefully, and they doused every light as they slid silently over the narrowest most isolated point of Mexico they could find, hugging the ground till they left the scopes and domain of humans behind with the shore line, and soared over the dark waters of the Pacific Ocean.
The Planeteers kept mostly silent wile they flew. Gi seemed plugged into some energy source that nobody else knew about, because she hadn't stopped buzzing since they had taken off. Thrilled that her Wave Rider was working, Gi was loving every minute of the trip.
Wheeler was looking out the window. "I haven't seen a boat since we left."
"We're off all the usual routes. There aren't any islands out this way, so there's no reason for the private yachts to come by..." Gi shrugged. "What can I say? It's a big ocean."
"Um... Not to sound unappreciative Gi..." Kwame said quietly. "But how long until we get down from here?"
Everyone chuckled. Kwame's fear of heights had settled somewhat once the flight stabilized, but everyone noticed that he hadn't once looked down.
"Hate to tell you Kwame, but it's going to be hours at least."
"Let's try something." Linka piped up. "What Wheeler and I were talking about, about how two rings make the effects stronger? What if we tried that? If we could enhance my power, we could get a speed boost."
"It would be good to know if there's another level to our abilities. And it would answer the question of whether or not the wrong combination will cancel each other out."
"Well... we know what happens when we mix wind and fire." Kwame pointed out. "Linka, after you."
"Wind." Linka commanded and the Glider sped up.
"Earth!" Kwame added, and the wind intensified, clouds of dirt and dust suddenly swirling into being around the Wave Rider.
"Woah! Speed boost!" Gi laughed. "Water!"
The Waver Rider's speed intensified again, and suddenly the Glider started to creak. Rainfall slapped at the transparent dome of the glider, the noise picking up to sudden explosive levels.
Keeee-CRACK!
Sudden bursts of flashbulb light erupted from what was moments ago a clear day, and lightning forked across the sky they flew through!
"WOAH!" Gi yelped and yanked on the controls, sending them into a dive. "Call it off! Call it off!"
Ksheeee-CRASH!
The others forced their minds clear, forced their powers back. The energy had spiked with each new element added, till it was flying from their fingertips, the power of the elements coming alive in each of them, gathering and pouring out across the air and waves.
But unfed, unwanted, the power bled out, the energy that empowered them each, eager for action and hungry to be released, allowed itself to fade...
Gi worked the controls again, and the Glider sluggishly moved back onto an even keel. Kwame was gripping his armrests almost painfully, and he wasn't the only one.
"W-" Wheeler swallowed and tried again. "Where did the lightning come from?"
"Dust in the air, blown by the wind." Gi croaked. "Static build up from the friction of dust brushing against itself."
"And..." Kwame coughed a little. "Where did the dirt come from? We're over the ocean."
"There's always dust particles in the air, no matter where you are. I think that your power summoned it to us."
"And of course, there were three powers working, so the earth just... Magnified."
"It worked though." Linka offered. "We sped up. The wind got a lot stronger."
"Little too strong." Gi pointed out. "The wings were starting to creak a little. I think we may have screwed up the math. You know how earthquakes and Cyclones are measured? Well, it's measured in factors. A 4.0 quake on the Richter scale is not one times worse than 3.0, but ten times worse. Same with Cyclones. I think our rings are the same way. Each ring multiplies the power."
"If we'd kept that storm going, it would have been a wind thirty times stronger than the regular kind." Linka did the math. Her ring glimmered and they sped up a little again, back at cruising speed. "We probably would have blown the wings clean off."
Wheeler looked down at the ocean. "Kwame..." He mumbled. "Um, I get that you're scared of heights, and I'm sympathetic, but I'm also scared of falling out of the sky into the ocean, so..."
"Agreed. Slow and steady." Kwame was smooth about it. He never let it show on his face. "Did anyone remember to bring a deck of cards?"
Silence.
"I spy, with my little eye-"
"Shut up Wheeler!" Four voices chorused.
"Ahh, now it's a road trip."
As the sun rose high into the sky, Devorux came onto the bridge, master of all he surveyed. "Report."
Sykes studied his workstation. "Coolant running at 70% capacity, pumps are at 112% to counter the depth of the ocean here, automatic ballast tanks are at optimum response times, attitude control is holding at zero bubble all day. We are making our full quotas."
"Good." Devorux commented, looking about. The ship wasn't even rocking. It never did. The ballast tanks were all computer controlled, and designed by Devorux personally to ensure that it had a much faster response time and a much smoother transfer rate. Even this far from land, with the ocean so deep below them, he could target the thinnest spots to drill for oil with perfect accuracy.
Solomon, at the radar station piped up suddenly. "Captain, I've got a bogey coming in at bearing 159." He worked his control board. "Altitude says it's an aircraft, radar profile minimal. No transponder frequency. It's headed directly for us."
Devorux hit the PA. "Security chief Bligh, report to the bridge immediately."
She was at the bridge within seconds. "What?"
"We have an aircraft headed directly toward us."
"Why weren't we notified?" Devorux demanded of Bligh.
"It wasn't on any of the manifests." Bligh protested. "I checked the flight and ship schedules of pretty much every airline and shipping company there is in the Pacific. Nothing's supposed to be out here but us."
"Then who the hell are they?" Devorux demanded. "There's no transponder frequency."
"Sounds like they don't want to be identified." Bligh pointed out. "Pirates? Smugglers?
"Cops?" Devorux put in darkly.
Bligh took that in. Secrecy was her job. "What's the range?"
"A half mile and closing." Solomon reported.
Bligh went to the Bridge windows and picked up the hunting binoculars. Searching the sky, she was silent as she scanned. "There."
"What is it?"
"No markings. Looks like a... a glider?"
"This far out? That's impossible."
"I don't see any engines. Of any kind. A few solar panels, but no sign of any propulsion."
"Well, that makes no sense. I don't like things happening that make no sense Bligh."
"I'll handle it." She said coldly and left the bridge, hitting her radio. "Mal, bring my Sniper rifle up on deck."
"Yes ma'am."
"Well. There it is." Wheeler said, nonplussed.
"It's huge!" Gi blurted.
"That's what she said." Wheeler quipped, and Linka smacked him upside the head.
"So. What do we think?" Kwame asked.
"We're here to stop them right?" Linka said. "So what are we waiting for?"
"Well... a ship that size is going to be hard to stop."
"A ship that size would have hundreds of people on it. Thousands! Look at it! It's the size of an aircraft carrier! Do we just drown them all?"
"No." Ma-Ti countered. "Not that many. A few hundred at most. This is supposed to be a secret after all."
Gi nodded. "That makes sense. Seriously though, I don't know if I can sink something that big. It's built to be very stable on the waves. I could probably toss it around a bit, but that thing is way too big to simply capsize. It's too heavy to turn over. It just won't flip fast enough before it rights itself!"
"So... what do we do?"
CRACK!
"Wha-" Gi was confused for a moment. "I... I just lost left pitch control!"
"Gi!" Ma-Ti yelled. "Look!"
Gi did so, and yelped. There was a large hole blown through the wing. "Oh no!"
"Sniper!" Wheeler and Linka yelled as one.
Grinning cruelly, Bligh fired again. The wing of the glider seemed to bend, and then shatter along the high caliber bullet-holes.
"WE LOST A WING! WE'RE GOING DOWN!" Wheeler was screaming. Even in free-fall, the glider made no noise, bar everyone yelling.
"I CAN'T HOLD IT!" Gi screamed back, working the controls uselessly.
"WHEELER!" Kwame's roar cut through all their voices. "Take out the Hatch!"
Wheeler lifted his ring. "Fire!"
The hatch glowed from light red to fierce white in a matter of seconds, and the hatch suddenly blew off the Wave Rider, hinges and all.
With one wing missing, the glider went into a flat spin, spiraling down toward the ocean.
Bligh turned to Mal. "Take a landing boat out to the wreckage, make sure there are no beacons or transmitters working. If there are survivors, bring one for questioning, kill the rest."
"Yes Ma'am."
Down on the bridge, Devorux grinned. "Whatever else you can say about that woman, she's a good shot."
"Yes sir." Sykes agreed instantly.
And then something impossible happened.
The glider, now in a doomed flat spin, was dropping like a stone, when what looked exactly like a small tornado formed directly beneath it, the vortex seeming to catch it whole, and bring the spin under control. And then from below the mini-tornado, something exploded upward from the water. It took Devorux a moment to realize that it was a rock. A pillar of rock, at least thirty meters across, simply exploded straight up from the water, fifty meters high. The top of the pillar was smooth and flat, the whole thing raising up like an instant mountain beneath the wrecked glider, catching it neatly as the vortex faded.
A few moments passed, and there was movement. Five people got out, in full view of everyone. The five of them glaring across the waves at the rig, from their own small speck of impossible dry land.
"That's impossible." Sykes hissed.
"That's impossible." Mal blurted.
"That... is really not possible." Bligh agreed in shock.
Her radio buzzed. "Bligh? Are you seeing this?"
She answered it. "I see it. Am I imagining this?"
"If you are, so's the entire bridge crew."
Bligh sighed and thought for a moment. "Mal, same plan. But no prisoners."
"Belay that Mal!" Devorux shouted through the radio. "I want them alive!"
"What?" Bligh yelled.
"You heard me! That's an order!"
"We have no room here!" Linka snarled. "We have our backs to the sea, literally."
"Boats!" Ma-Ti warned.
Everyone looked at Gi.
Gi gulped. "Okay." She sucked in a deep breath. "WATER!"
The waves suddenly rose and crashed in one movement, and the motorboats were suddenly upside down, their motors still roaring.
Gi was gulping air, on a high. "I... I did it!"
Bligh was watching the whole thing through her telescopic lens, and growled. "How are they doing that?"
"I don't know. When we find a way to capture them, we'll ask." Devorux's voice came from the radio.
Bligh snarled. "My people are in the crossfire out there!"
"They're Corporation Private Security. That's what we pay them for."
Bligh sneered and switched her radio off. "Like hell." She raised the rifle and lined up on Kwame's head.
Ma-Ti sensed it the second the wave of malice came rolling through them. Without pausing for thought he threw himself at Kwame, brought him down in a tackle. The bullet whistled past them all.
Kwame looked up at Ma-Ti in shock, feeling the side of his head. There was a neat slice carved through his hair.
The sheer shock at the near death experience left everyone breathing hard for a moment.
"...earth..." Kwame barely managed to hiss out, and the rock around the edge of their tall narrow island rose another few feet, giving them cover.
Linka came over, started feeling Kwame's head. "You're okay. It's barely a graze. You're okay."
Kwame nodded, blinking rapidly.
Thoom. Thoom.
They heard the noises and froze. They weren't guns. They were launchers.
A pair of narrow thin canisters came over the barricade walls and landed in the middle of them.
"GRENA-" Wheeler started to yell, when the canisters burst.
They erupted with thick gray smoke, cloying and viscous, spreading out to surround them all, and the Planeteers suddenly couldn't breathe. Their eyes were watering violently, they were all coughing. Grappling hooks came up over the edge of the pillar, hard to focus on or to release with their lungs and eyes burning so badly...
It took Linka four tries to get enough breath into her lungs to say the magic word. "..w...w#koff# ...wind!"
The wind picked up, sweeping through them, around them, gusting the tear gas away, sweeping it out over the edge of the pillar. But the damage had been done.
Linka fought to her feet and bent over the stone wall to retch. Ma-Ti pulled her back down again, and another bullet whistled in, chunking the stone Linka was bent over a few seconds before.
Linka coughed up the contents of her stomach behind the wall as tears streamed down all their faces, the lot of them fighting to clear their eyes, get their breath back...
Wheeler saw blurry movement through watering eyes and lifted his ring. "Fire."
The rifle in the guards' hands suddenly burst into flames, and the man threw it away frantically as the gunpowder in the magazine caught fire and exploded in a mini fireworks display. Everyone hugged the ground, trying madly not to get caught by shrapnel.
The guard drew his hunting knife and Wheeler pointed his Ring from the ground. "Don't!" He warned the man. His ring glowed dangerously. "I'll fry you, I promise!" He broke down coughing, but his ring didn't waver.
Ma-Ti had been desperately trying to get a breath in and failing, till finally his voice rolled across them. BEHIND YOU!
Men in flak jackets were boiling up over the edge of the barricades on all sides, guns drawn. Gunfire rang out and Wheeler felt hammer blows slam up and down his spine as he was shot in the back at point blank range.
"WHEELER!" Linka screeched as Wheeler dropped. He didn't get up again.
Linka roared and swung her ring around, conjuring a malevolent wind-storm from nothing. Half a dozen guards were gusted off the barricade, knocking them over the edge and the air was filled with screams as they spiraled down to the ocean below.
With the wave of guards knocked down, Linka threw herself at Wheeler's motionless body. "Wheeler! Wheeler! You have to answer me!" She looked up, stricken. "Oh God! He won't wake up!"
"There are more boats coming!" Ma-Ti called.
Gi took a breath and forced her eyes away from Wheeler's body. "I've got them!" She clambered up.
Ma-Ti tackled her and more bullets whistled past.
"There's nothing we can do while that sniper is on the ship!" Ma-Ti said, still unnaturally calm.
"Well I can't even see her!" Kwame snapped. "Anyone who raises a head will get it blown off."
"So what are we going to do?" Gi yelled.
"He's not bleeding!" Linka yelled at the three of them, still at Wheeler's side. "He's not bleeding!"
Thoom!
Everyone looked up in horror as the sound of a launcher returned.
Another canister came down, and Linka got ready to act much faster this time.
But this was not a Tear Gas Grenade. The Flash-Bang erupted the second it landed. Flash-Bangs were non-lethal anti-personnel weapons, used by military, SWAT Teams, Special Forces... and all of them outfitted, armed and trained by The Corporation, who kept these toys for themselves too.
The Flash-Bang exploded with a flash many times brighter than staring into the sun, the concussion was deafening, disorienting...
Blinded, deafened, muted, one of them already down, The Planeteers were completely out of commission.
The next wave of opponents clambered up over the barricades and gunned down the Planeteers at point blank range, one after the other.
Kwame couldn't see, couldn't hear, could barely breathe... he felt the spike go into his chest, a short sharp pinprick, and a strangely lucid thought came to him. Tear Gas and Flash-Bangs. They wanted us alive...
...and all Kwame knew was darkness.
AN: Ahh, I do love a good dramatic ending. I want to stress once again, that I know only what the magic television and Wikipedia teach me about the notion of flight via glider. For those who say you can't make such a flight in a glider, you are correct. I sought to fix this by making it a heavily modified glider, the point of which was to carry people over a distance, and of course the fact that Linka and Gi make it a powered craft.
Transition is hard to write. Having to make it realistic means the Geo-Cruiser has to make sense. Gaia happens to have this wonderfully fantastic, futuristic solar powered international aircraft on her island after sleeping for centuries?