NightRacer

Chapter 13

"Ta-da!" EnforcerOne said, pulling the curtain that separated the Infantry Personnel Rocket form the other equipment in one of the lateral caves. The coffin was exactly what the name implied-a long and narrow claustrophobic space inside a rocket. All it had inside was a harness, a Spartan control board, and a tiny screen.

"That's an ugly way to die," Racer said.

"A naked mole-rat ugly, from the southern continent, sir," Enforcer said. "You ever fly in one of these?"

"I did, unfortunately," Racer said.

"On Earth?"

"On one of the planets, during the factions' wars. We lost that world, but not to factions."

"Did you land well?"

"Almost. Let's just say there's a rusting antiaircraft system somewhere with a flying coffin in its guts."

"Not fun. Did you eject?" Enforcer asked.

"I ejected just in time."

"Were there a lot of big rocks on that planet?"

"More than we could ever hit."

"In Providence all you have to fear is trash and old chairs. This is going to be great."

"Thanks for cheering me up FireBreather, but I can't land in Providence. They could see me and shoot down the coffin. I'll have to crash in some field and then gallop a couple of miles to the ruins."

"Are you sure you're strong enough to run? Why can't those guys just hide? Why do you have to go there?"

"They're bringing a personnel carrier. No matter how well they hide, without a military grade bunker they'll be hunted down and killed."

"They can jump in the maw and hide in the stomach. That's a tunnel at least a mile long."

"Will that stomach protect them from pyro charges?"

"No," Enforcer said, sighing. "It's just a bunch of roots and bones."

"Well, I may know a hidden room somewhere in Providence, with a nice stash of guns and explosives. Can you contact Greg?"

"We could ask Ms. Julie to tell a caretaker to talk to him."

"Pony express. Tell him to give me a com ID where I can send him a code to open that door."

"Do you want him to fight?"

"No, even with all the guns in there I doubt he can fight a team with a carrier. Maybe Stroke can disable the carrier remotely, but if they're smart, they turned off the networking and went silent. And attacking a military vehicle would be illegal."

"Can you fight them?"

"I could, but I have a better idea. I'll harass their asses."

"Is that your plan? You want to annoy them?"

"If I can be mean enough to these people, they'll say enough stupid things to prove that they're breaking the law. That will persuade the captain in orbit to show them how the laser works."

"What if they jam the communications?"

"Oh, they will, but they don't know Julie is listening. The captain can get a message from your team, so we got one advantage at least, but that will take time."

"Is it legal to use audio recorded by the Grass?"

"Probably not. I need to think this over."

"Sir," Enforcer said, looking him in the eye, checking his sincerity again.