Max was frozen with shock.
"That, that is a name I have not heard for over 15 years. And one I had never wanted to hear again. Now what do you want?"
"We can't explain here," the man said. The taller man had not stopped watching for threats the entire conversation. His eyes suddenly widened and he leaned over to whisper to the other man.
After they finished conversing, the shorter man said "We're going. Now."
"What! I'm not going any-"
A gunshot rang out across the street, and the taller man fell with a red stain spreading across his chest.
"Now, Max!" He pulled Max to his feet and they ran through the streets, cutting left and right to avoid the gunshots. As they ran, something occurred to him. Although for years before the move to the new planet, physical guns had been commonplace, none had been seen since the development of laser weaponry. He never really understood how suddenly lasers as weapons had become viable after years of failed projects. One of his friends who had been in science tried to explain it to him, something about a classified new energy source that was used in the power packs. He never could understand it. All he knew was that production of this new element had, essentially, been an accident. His friend was one to go on and on, and he cut himself off just in time. They dove behind a market stall just as a gunshot grazed the man's shoulder.
"Gah-! Damn that hurts!"
The wound didn't look deep, he was lucky it didn't go lower or he may have lost use of his right arm. "We need to keep going! Just a little farther and we'll be at the buggy!"
We were a few dozen feet from the city gates when the whine of ion drives could be heard getting closer, fast. As the whine grew to an almost unbearable screech, it seemed that some government craft had seen fit to deafen the city, until he saw the black dots in the sky growing rapidly larger.
The man yelled, "Those are bombs! We need to get out of the city now!"
"Who the hell would drop bombs on a populated city for you two?"
"They didn't."
"Then can you explain exactly what is happening right now?" Max's voice was laden with sarcasm.
He looked over at Max. "They aren't trying to kill us! They're trying to kill you!"
"What! Me? Why am I a targ-" the rest of Max's response couldn't be heard as the deafening rumble from the bombs sent the city gate tumbling down behind them.