Gravity Flux by Toby Neighbors

Author:Toby Neighbors [Neighbors, Toby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781087442310
Publisher: Mythic Adventure Publishing
Published: 2019-08-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 29

Kim was hot. Her skin felt like it was in an oven, and she couldn’t be sure but it felt as though poison was pumping through her veins. Perhaps she was dying, but even that thought didn’t bring her down. Her spirits were high. Somehow, someway, she had made it back to the Echo. She was seated in the pilot’s seat of the ship she loved, and in her mind that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Ben loved her. She was sure of that. He loved her and had come for her, and was even willing to give up his ship for her. It was almost too much goodness to believe. If she wasn’t piloting the ship, she would have wanted to be in his arms.

The water that Jones brought to her was cool and had a strange organic aftertaste. Kim didn’t know what it was, but she didn’t care. Her body was craving water, and the cool drink was invigorating. The pain in her leg radiated through her entire body, and the heat sapped her strength, but she couldn’t worry about any of that with missiles on their tail.

She waited, watching the missiles approach on her monitor. At the last minute, she dove even closer to the ground, skimming along the surface just a few feet above the endless field of trash. Then she pulled back on the joystick and pushed the throttle to its stops. The Echo shot upward into the sky and the missiles, dozens of them, impacted on the surface.

“Wow,” Ben said. “I can’t believe that worked so well.”

“It shouldn’t have,” Kim said through clenched teeth. Moving the foot pedals that controlled the wing engines was excruciating, but she had no choice.

“They weren’t locked onto us,” Nance said.

“Why not?” Ben said.

“Because they don’t want to destroy the ship,” Magnum said. “They’re just here to drive us like dogs chasing a boar toward the hunters. That’s why the Imperium commandos didn’t attack us. They had more than enough time and personnel to take the ship.”

“Instead, they helped us escape,” Ben said. “This makes no sense. Why would the Imperium help us?”

“They wouldn’t,” Jones said. “The Royal Imperium only cares about perpetuating their control and power.”

“So why not just take us out?” Kim asked as she turned them in a long, careful turn. She had to remind herself that they weren’t manipulating their own gravity, which meant she couldn’t do as much as she might otherwise. The gravitational force from making a tight turn in atmo could cause them all to pass out.

“They want us alive?” Nance proposed.

“They could have taken us alive on the ground,” Magnum said.

“They want us alive and in the air,” Ben said. “Where are they driving us?”

“Up,” Kim said.

“Hamish said they have more battleships in orbit than he’s ever seen before,” Nance said. “Enough to slag the entire planet.”

“Odds are good that they’ve got something planned for us up there,” Magnum said. “We embarrassed them, so they’ll want to prove to the galaxy that they can’t be challenged.

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