Reap the Whirlwind

They cut through a dense artery of traffic, leaving a flurry of randomly scattered vehicles in their pursuers’ path. The obstacle only slowed the chasing hovercars, but it gave Qui

Blending in with the flow of the hovercars around them, Qui

After a couple of minutes of coasting along with ordinary traffic, there was no sign of pursuit, by either the police or Qui

“Nothin’ to it,” Qui

As they neared the coastline, Qui

“What for?” Qui

Still paranoid that the men who had been shooting at them earlier might reappear, Pe

“Nah,” Qui

For once, the grungy middle-aged pilot made sense. “All right,” Pe

“Ain’t here to get a job,” Qui

Qui

Pe

“Come on, newsboy,” Qui

Too tired to argue, Pe

“We didn’t park it,” Qui

The bouncer pocketed the cash and opened the door. “I understand, sir. Have a good time.”

He and Qui

“I gave away a hovercar,” Qui

“Well, that’s just great,” Tim said. “How the hell are we supposed to get back to the ship?”

Qui

13

Captain Nassir huddled with Sorak and Razka around Niwara and her tricorder. Circled around them was the rest of the landing party except for McLellan and Tan Bao. Everyone was drenched and caked with mud from their desperate sprints through the jungle. The warm rain had slowed to a steady drizzle in the hour since they’d crash-landed, but there was still enough precipitation that Niwara had to wipe a sheen of droplets from the tricorder’s screen every few seconds while the captain and the landing party studied the area map.

“There’s no telling how far downriver Theriault might be by now,” Razka observed. “Our scan’s accurate only to ten kliks. After that, we’re making educated guesses.”

Sorak pointed at the screen. “This much is clear: the landscape slopes downward to the north. It is reasonable to deduce that the river therefore continues in that direction.”

“Agreed,” Nassir said. “Assuming she survived the fall, the river’s our best hope of finding her. If she makes it to either bank, and she’s able to walk, she can follow the river back to us. If not, it’ll give us something to follow.”

Niwara said softly, “I volunteer for the search mission, Captain. I was the one who lost her; I should go find her.”

“You didn’t lose anyone,” Nassir reassured her. “Accidents happen, you know that. And considering what we were up against, things could have been a lot…” Words failed him as he saw Tan Bao emerge from the tree line, supporting McLellan’s weight while she hopped along on her one remaining foot. Her right leg had been cut off just below the knee, and the severed limb protruded from Tan Bao’s backpack.

Tan Bao’s voice cracked with strain and exhaustion. “Little help?” Razka and Sorak both ran to his aid and relieved him of McLellan’s weight. The two scouts draped her arms across their shoulders and swiftly spirited her back to the circled landing party. The bedraggled medic jogged behind them and dropped to one knee beside McLellan as the scouts carefully set her down.

“Report,” Nassir said to Tan Bao, who was busy sca

“The Shedai…whatever it was, it did this,” Tan Bao said, gesturing at McLellan’s leg. “I can’t explain what this glasslike substance is, or why it seems to happen to every living organism the Shedai attacked. The good news is that it cauterized her wound, so she hasn’t lost much blood.” He packed up his tricorder and looked anxiously at Nassir. “We need to get her to sickbay, sir.”

Nassir plucked his communicator from his belt and opened it with a flick of his wrist. “Nassir to Sagittarius.”

Terrell answered, “Go ahead, Captain.”

“Raise the ship. We have wounded. And grab two full packs—I need you to lead a search and rescue.”

“Understood,” Terrell said. “Stay clear of the north bank; we’re coming up.”

The rest of the landing party began backing away from the riverbank. “Acknowledged,” Nassir said, following the others.

Seconds later the sepia-colored river boiled with white foam. Large waves formed in the middle and radiated ashore. The narrow bulge of the secondary hull emerged from the froth, followed by the rest of the oval-shaped primary hull. The ship hovered a moment, as if it were afloat. Then it drifted slowly toward the landing party until the port side of the primary hull scraped against the sandy bank and came to a halt.