MINUS 004 AND COUNTING

The radio was squawking worriedly: “Come in, C‑one‑niner‑eight‑four. You’re too low. Acknowledge. Acknowledge. Shall we assume Guidance control? Ac­knowledge. Acknowledge Ack—”

“Eat it,” Richards whispered.

He began to crawl toward the dipping, swaying controls. In and out went the pedals. Twitch‑twitch went the wheels. He screamed as new agony flared. A loop of his intestines had caught under Holloway’s chin. He crawled back. Freed them. Started to crawl again.

His arms went slack and for a moment he floated, weightless, with his nose in the soft, deep‑pile carpet. He pushed himself up and began to crawl again.

Getting up and into Holloway’s seat was Everest.

MINUS 003 AND COUNTING

There it was. Huge, bulking square and tall into the night, silhouetted black above everything else. Moonlight had turned it alabaster.

He tweaked the wheel just a little. The floor fell away to the left. He lurched in Holloway’s seat and almost fell out. He turned the wheel back, overcorrected again, and the floor fell away to the right. The horizon was tilting crazily.

Now the pedals. Yes. Better.

He pushed the wheel in gingerly. A dial in front of his eyes moved from 2000 to 1500 in the wink of an eye. He eased the wheel back. He had very little sight left. His right eye was almost completely gone. Strange that they should go one at a time.

He pushed the wheel in again. Now it seemed that the plane was floating, weight­less. The dial slipped from 1500 to 1200 to 900. He pulled it back out.

“C‑one‑niner‑eight‑four.” The voice was very alarmed now. “What’s wrong? Acknowledge!”

“Speak, boy,” Richards croaked. “Rowf! Rowf!”

MINUS 002 AND COUNTING

The big plane cruised through the night like a sliver of ice and now Co‑Op City was spread out below like a giant broken carton.

He was coming at it, coming at the Games Building.

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 730