Draven rolled onto his side in a sort of ‘on his belly’ kinda way, though clearly not what Max had been asking for. But it was enough. With his lower back exposed, Max saw what Draven had been reaching for, and it wasn’t a gun. Max reach down and plucked the object from Draven’s waist band and quickly back out of thrashing range. It was a flat plastic card, on a key chain of a miniature airship like that on which they’d traveled to and from NaChar.
“Don’t shoot me,” Draven said, “You can’t fly without me.”
“So, you’re volunteering?” Snow said.
The door to the stairwell opened and a pair of pistols fired at them from within.
“Get wrecked!” Draven said, as Max and Snow ran up the ramp into the AT-5. “I don’t know what I ever saw in you, you whitewashed, glare-blinding, freak of nature!”
Snow activated the ramp’s controls and it began to lift into the closed position. No more shots were fired by the guards.
“So how are we going to get out of here?” Max said.
“We’re going to fly, you tall, stinky glass of water, you,” Snow said.
Max gave himself a sniff. It was true. He was a stinky glass of water.
Snow grabbed him by the front of his filthy shirt and pulled him towards her, planting her soft wet lips on his cracked and dusty ones.
“Mmmm, earthy,” Snow said with a smile, minutes, or moments later when they parted.
“Fly?” Max said, his stunned lips little more than mumbling.
“Fly,” Snow said.
She pulled him in to lock lips once more, but pushed him away sooner than he’d hoped, when the sound of voices outside the ship drew their focus.
“Come on out!” said a deep booming voice, “You’re not going anywhere without a pilot.”
With a swipe of her hand, Snow stripped the keychain from Max’s palm and waved it in front of him.
“I don’t think they’ve realized we have this,” Snow said.
She turned on her heel and headed to the front of the craft, pulling Max along with her. When they reached the front row of seats, she pushed him into the chair in which the probably now dead killer had sat on their way here.
“Strap yourself in. I have some delicate maneuvers to make and I don’t need you distracting me with all this…” Snow said, gesturing vaguely at the length and breadth of Max’s body.
Max finished strapping in just in time, as the ship’s engines roared to life and the ship lurched up from the rooftop.
A loud clang followed by an unpleasant screeching, scraping noise soon followed, and Max looked to see the rooftop’s spindly tower scraping against the side of the AT-5.
“Whoa!” Max said.
“Keep your panties on,” Snow said. “That was intentional… sort of.”
Then the ship was free of the roof and thrusting through the air faster even than when Draven was at the controls. The ship’s velocity leveled out and Max unfastened himself to take a look at starboard wing. A quick peek out the window informed him that the wing was still attached, and was, seemingly, still in one piece.
“How’s it look?” Snow said in his ear.
“Looks okay—” Max spun to find Snow, not at the ship’s controls, but close enough to kiss him.
Snow kissed him. Max reluctantly broke his lips free of Snow’s.
“The ship?” he said.
“Auto pilot,” Snow said as though auto pilot was a real thing.
When the ship didn’t crash into the ground, or even list noticeably, Max decided that it must be a real thing after all and returned to making out with Snow. She pushed him back into a seat and awkwardly attempted to straddle his lap. Sensing the futility of her attempt, Max stood up bringing Snow with him and pressed her against the bulkhead. Snow pressed back, grasping at his neck and back with one hand, and trying with limited success to thrust the other down the back of his pants.
A beeping sound came from the cockpit. Interrupting their heavy petting, Snow dropped her feet to the floor and rushed to the cockpit. Max followed. They were flying over a vast expanse of swampy water, covered here, and dotted there with craggy trees and swamp brush. Directly ahead of the ship, was a particularly tall copse of trees which lacked the twisted branches typical of the swamp. But the trees most notable feature was how quickly they were approaching the ship. Which was very quickly.
Snow jumped into the pilot seat and pulled on the control stick. The ship lurched into the sky above the trees, and Max lurched down hard onto the floor.
“Hmmm… I guess it’s more like cruise control… it’s probably best if I stay here for now,” Snow said.
“Probably,” Max said, wishing it were not true.
They flew in silence for a while as Max tried, mostly in vain, to get his mind off Snow. Snow’s lips. Snow’s legs. Snow’s other parts.
“So, we’re going to Icarus Core?” he said, at a loss for anything else to say.
“Yes,” she said, apparently suffering her own loss of words.
The question suddenly came to him. Why the core? With the AT-5 at their disposal, couldn’t they go anywhere they wanted?
“Couldn’t we… go anywhere?” Max said.
“Sort of,” Snow said. “We might go anywhere, but only as far as a tank of gas, or whatever this thing runs on. Plus, the Tawnee have other, faster, deadlier ships. We might not make it anywhere if they can track us.”
“I suppose it might be difficult to keep the ship a secret…” Max said.
“It might be. Besides. I have a cunning plan. And now that I have the final component, it can begin when arrive back at Icarus,” Snow said.
“Final component?” Max said.
“You dummy,” Snow said.
Several minutes later the ship began to slow. There was little in sight beyond the ubiquitous swamp trees, swamp brush, and swamp water. However, there was the notable exception in a small steep hill, covered in solid, healthy-looking trees. The ship approached the top of the hill and came to an abrupt landing in a small clearing. From the position of the landed aircraft Max could finally see hanger doors, as well as other passages and portals that had been concealed from above. In addition, there was an array of antennas and dishes like those of the tower, painted and positioned to blend with the trees. The dishes pointed North, towards the city. Max was uncertain of their exact purpose, but it was clear they were human made and not the bumpy tree branches they were meant to resemble.
The aircraft loading ramp opened, and Max peered out from the opening, looking for armed men or other defenses. Finding none, he walked down the ramp to look around, rifle at the ready. Snow activated something on the tiny airship key chain. There was a ‘bee-boop’ from the ship and the ramp began to close.
“We knocked the antenna pretty well out of alignment back at Tawkileest Tower. I didn’t want them blabbing to the Core,” Snow said, “but if they act quickly, they could have it back in operation pretty quickly.”
“What do we do? Ram it again?” Max said.
Snow smiled. “We could… but maybe just give me a boost,” she said, walking up the base of the array.
Max lifted her up to his shoulders, where, supporting herself against the array she climbing to a standing position. From there she clambered up the easy to climb struts of the upper array. When she reached the first dish she tilted it just slightly away from its original northern facing, before climbing further and doing the same to the second dish. Having finished, she clambered back down and leapt bodily onto Max, Max caught her, then dropped her as his shoulder gave out. They both fell in a pile on the ground.
Snow managed to come out on top, and she pinned him playfully to the ground.
“What’s the matter? Did you get shot or something?” Snow said.
“Yep,” Max said.
Snow’s mouth dropped open. “Really? When?” She started probing him for gunshot wounds, quickly finding his shoulder injury when her probing elicited a wincing response.
“Sev
eral days ago,” Max said, in answer. “I’m fine.”
“Hello,” Max said, and motioned to Snow with his eyes that they were no longer alone.
A woman wearing a long white lab coat stood nearby, looking at the sky. She turned, to Max and Snow.
“Where’s Draven? He didn’t fill out the forms,” she said, as though Max and Snow were not lying on the ground in some sort of compromising position.
She looked lost, her eyes moved from the clipboard, to the ship, to the sky, then back to the forms.
“He… won’t be coming out of the ship… anytime soon,” Snow said, “Sorry, Rav.”
Snow stood up and approached the woman, Rav. Max arose and joined her.
“Ravaea, this is Max,” Snow said, “Max, this is Ravaea.”
Ravaea spared a glimpse at Max, away from the forms in her hands.
“Hi,” Max said.
That the woman was concerned with her paperwork rather than with arresting the both of them, Max took as a good sign.
“I wasn’t told you were arriving,” she said, “Well, I knew that you were trying to get here but I had no idea you’d made it through. That is very exciting,” Ravaea said.
Despite her words, she did not seem overly interested one way or the other. The issue with the forms had still not been resolved and she seemed to be having difficulty moving on.
“Rav?” Snow said.
Ravaea was looking at the clipboard again responded only with a ‘Hmmm.’
Snow gently took the clipboard from Ravaea, whose eyes followed the paperwork.
“I’m just going to place this over here,” Snow said. She walked over to the foot of the AT-5’s closed ramp and placed it on the ground. “I’m sure he’ll find it… eventually.”
“Yes. Yes of course,” she said.
Ravaea looked once more at the clipboard, now lying on the ground, and then turned to Snow. As if waking from a trance she opened her arms wide for a hug, which Snow obliged.
“We got so much done while you were gone…” Rav said, excitement in her eyes.
They entered the complex and descended through several passageways, turning and twisting. Ravaea had seemed quiet at first, but now that she was talking the words were coming fast and furiously. She quickly related a punctuation free description of all that had been accomplished while Snow was away. The stream of technobabble made little sense to Max except that it involved a lot of refit and repair. Snow however seemed engrossed in the details, leaving Max to wonder about the various passages and doorways they passed on the way to wherever they were going. Suddenly they came to a halt, not in a hallway but a tall round room with a strange central column. Spine like. Max sniffed the air, sensing some familiar quality to it.
“I’ll see you downstairs,” Ravaea said, wafting her hand in front of her nose, crinkled as though the smell were an unpleasant one.
As soon as Ravaea left, Snow grabbed Max by the hand and pulled him further into the room. Max braced himself to catch Snow’s dense frame.
“This is my workstation terminal,” Snow said, failing utterly to throw herself into his arms.
Max felt a mixture of disappointment and relief. A beat late, he glanced at the computer station. It was nearly identical to the university hub terminal he’d used in New York. A click-clack sound drew his focus away from the terminal and sent a shock of adrenaline through his system. It was the sound of an approaching attack crab. Ravaea had alerted the guards that they’d arrived. He spun to face the attacker and was nearly bowled over as a small blurry shape launched itself from the floor, to a nearby shelf, and onto Max’s chest grasping him tight and mashing his carapace into Max’s face, all without bothering to cease the rhythmic flicker of his fur.
“Doozer!” Max said. He weathered the painful flaying of his flesh by Doozer’s bristly fur flickering on his face. “I thought you were a goner little bean.”
Max hugged the little crab tight, but Doozer could not be contained and he wriggled free to continue waging a reckless assault of affection upon Max.
“Okay you two,” Snow said, grabbing Max once more by the hand, “Time to go.”
Snow led them back out the door and deeper into the maze of tunnels and doorways. Only after passing through several hallways and at least two ninety degree turns, did Doozer’s carapace-to-head bonking ease up enough for Max to follow their path, and to notice the crab-carrier Snow was carrying.
“So, what is the plan anyway?” asked Max.
“Weren’t you listening to Ravaea?” Snow said.
“I was not,” Max said.
“Well, there’s no time to explain!” Snow said.
Max opened his mouth to object just in time to have it filled with crab fur as Doozer gave him another affectionate, full-body carapace-bonk.
There did seem to be plenty of time to explain on their way, but instead Snow gave him the guided tour speech. She explained everything she knew about the structure. How it was found hundreds of years ago, buried in the muck and slime of the swamp. How much of it had been replaced over time, to re-purpose the precious materials into various equipment, theaters, aircraft, cars and what not. What she didn’t know she made up. A fair number of the Core’s mysteries were accounted for by unicorns and leprechauns in her telling. Snow stopped at the top of a spiral stairway that wound down around the central spine of the complex, and waved to a woman, Paraheet, through a doorway and into a room filled with mechanisms, hoses, and equipment. Paraheet wiped her sweaty forehead and waved back to Snow. She gave Max a once over, then nodded in… approval? Snow gave her a thumbs up and Paraheet returned the thumbs up.
“Paraheet is the best,” Snow said, “but… she’s afraid of heights.”
They traveled a bit further, then when they reached a wide, closed, double set of doors, Snow stopped.
Gesturing all around she said, “All of this is the Core, but this…” she popped open the doors and flung them wide spreading her arms wide in a flourish, “This is Icarus.”
There was a small hallway that lead to another arch.
“Wrong door,” she said with a sheepish grin and jogged forward, stopping at the second arch. Stopping by the second arch she repeated the flourish.
Max followed her and looked upon Icarus. It was a tall tube, like a rocket from a black and white science fiction movie. Except that the nose had a ‘U’ shaped object mounted in the place he would expect a nose cone. Snow danced forward through an oval shaped hatch and into Icarus. Max followed, though he walked, like a normal person, rather than dancing.
Snow closed the hatch behind him and, energetic as ever, made another flourish with her hands.
“Ta’dah!” she said.
She placed the box on the floor and snapped her fingers.
“You know the drill Dooze. Into the little box,” Snow said.
Doozer pop-clicked a sad tune, but surprised Max by doing as he was told, jumping down and climbing in the box. Snow closed the box’s shell grate and fastened it tight.
“The cables and hoses smell like Doozer food,” Snow said in explanation.
She paused then, looking at Max, tapping her finger on an inner bulkhead of the strange craft.
“Should I be feeling bad right now?” she said. “I mean a bunch of people just died in front of us.”
“I’m still too mad at them for trying to kill us to feel bad about them being dead. Maybe later,” Max said.
“Thank the gods and their many seaborne companions,” Snow said. “I was worried I might be some sort of psychopath. Because what I mostly feel right now is happy. I’ve got my Max back. And you know? It feels real good when a plan comes together.”
“What is the plan anyway? Max said.
“No time to explain!” Snow said and immediately began climbing the ladder at the central hub of the tower.
Looking up at Snow as she climbed, Max was peripherally aware that he should be more focused on their current circumstances. He was inside Icarus, a fact which should b
e overwhelming. And their long-term life expectancy was shorter than ever. But instead of those joys or worries, he wondered if perhaps at the top of the ladder, there might be more kissing.
Max put his hand through Doozer’s cage door and tapped the little crab on the back. Doozer bunted back vigorously, clicking, chittering, purring, and squishing Max’s hand against the top of the box. Max retrieved his hand, promised to return soon, and climbed the ladder. He climbed about two stories before stepping off at the top.
Snow grabbed him and dragged him to a position against the central wall. Kissing?
“That’s your spot,” she said. “This is mine beside you.” She pointed to the seat beside him.
She leaned towards him, her lips a fraction of an inch from his. A ‘Bee-Boop’ noise sounded and a light flashed from the console behind Snow.
A voice came from the same console. “A message has arrived from the city… are you at your terminal? In the Core?” It was the voice of Freenan, coming through the command console.
Part Three
The best escape plan ever
Chapter 58
Snow spun away from Max, taking her lips with her, and pressed a button on the console. “Correct as usual, Freenan,” she said, still smiling.
“Ah, good,” Freenan said, “I’m sending some… ah, someone to meet you there.”
Snow stopped smiling. “It’s time to go,” she said to Max.
But she did not get up to leave. Max had no idea how they were going to get out of this, but Snow seemed to have not just an idea, but a plan. He hoped it was better thought out than the let’s-see-what’s-around-that-corner plan, of her first night solo sailing. Back when the how-many-times-had-they-kissed counter was way lower, at zero.
Snow lifted a plastic cover and held her palm over the big red button that was under it. Using the whole of her body she depressed the button.
A number of things happened then. There was the rushing sound of air blowing out of one place and into another, though neither place was with them inside the possibly-a-rocket. A klaxon sounded and Max watched through a clear canopy above him as a door opened in the roof.
Starship Relic (Lost Colony Uprising Book 1) Page 26
