CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
"The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune." - Mestrius Plutarch (45-120 AD), a Greek historian, biographer, and essayist.
Winston guided the hovercar down for a better view. The plan was to set off charges around the crowd of people, being careful not to hurt them in the process. It would still be guesswork. Hopefully, the charges would disable SensaVision program generators in the immediate area, freeing the Bios from the illusory chains. Makr would have to find another way to keep them at bay—and that might take some adaptation time.
As the hovercar floated downward, it nearly collided with a flock of birds, rising to meet it. But as the "birds" flew away in formation, it was easy to see that they weren't birds at all. As the flock flew higher in perfect circles to meet the vehicle, it lost its SensaVision camouflage, revealing its true Cyber nature. Like the bees in at least one respect, they were artificial. These artificial birds also came equipped with stingers.
"Greg, we've got company up here."
Greg looked up from setting the timer on the charges." What the...?"
"What do you make of it?"
"I don't think the same trick we used on the 'bees' is going to work here."
"Thank you for that," said Winston, remembering how he had felt the last time they had evaded a flying enemy.
Greg just looked at him, trying to figure out what he meant.
"It's the falling I don't like," Winston said." You think these are adaptations from the 'bees?'"
"I'd bet on it."
"Improvements."
"What else? Thinking what I'm thinking? Shit! Let's get out of here fast. Aim for the sun. We'll see how good their receptors are. With any luck they won't be able to see very well."
Winston pointed the hovercar at the sun and slammed the throttle all the way forward. Greg kept an eye on the 'birds.' They fell back behind the hovercar.
Winston saw it, too. "Did we lose them?"
"I don't know."
They continued on their flight toward the sun until the glare and heat were almost too much to bear. Without SensaVision operating inside the vehicle, it grew cold quickly from the upper atmosphere, but became incredibly hot as they caught the sun's radiant heat rays in the cockpit.
"We need to go down. I don't know how many more of these fancy maneuvers this car can take."
"I don't see any 'birds.' Maybe we lost them. Take it down, slowly, and be alert," Greg said." There's probably another battery of lasers waiting for us."
"Will do," acknowledged Winston. "Heading back to target?"
Greg nodded.
Zip! Zip! Ziiiiip!
"Lasers! Where?" Greg was scanning the ground below for flashes. Nothing. "I don't see them, do you?"
Zip! Zip!
"Ow." There was pencil-sized hole in the fleshy part of Winston's upper left arm. He winced in pain. Damn! Burns, he thought. Self-cauterizing wound. No blood. Why me all the time? He discovered the source.
"The birds are behind us and they've got lasers!" he announced.
"If those lasers hit the wrong thing in here..."
"You mean us!"
"No, I mean 'kaboom!' Get us on the ground, now!"
"Oh, shit! Not again!" Winston started rocking the hovercar and moving it quickly side to side, up and down, in an effort to lose his tail. No good.
"You know," he said. "I don't think the same trick we pulled on the bees will work a second time."
"You said that already!"
"Guess I did."
"Forget about it. I agree. I have an idea. So far the birds have been able to inflict minor damage with their tiny lasers. Can you get us low enough and close to our target?"
"I can do that, but what about our company?"
"We're going to throw some explosions at them."
"You mean open the hatch?"
"No, I mean, blow the hatch."
"But that will eject us at the same time..." Winston stared incredulously at his partner and then smiled devilishly. "Oh, I get it. We're all going down for the ride. Okay, let's go."
This time Winston pushed the throttle forward and aimed the hovercar at the middle of the main target. Greg reached under the seat and pulled out two parachutes, one of which was a mass of holes.
"Winston, put this on."
"Are you kidding me? It's garbage. Look at the holes."
"I know. We've got one good one. We'll do this tandem."
"Well, if it's the only way..."
"We're not going to have any protection once we lose the hatch, so this is a one shot deal." Greg studied Winston as if waiting for his approval.
"We don't have any choice," he answered. "If the blast doesn't kill us, the birds will. Might as well do some good."
"Spoken like a true hero. Truly glad to get to know you, Winston." He stuck out his hand. Winston took it.
"Same here. Wish I could be here to see how all this turns out. Oh well, Makr never did like me very much."
Greg put all his charges except two in a bag made of Stealth fabric. It wasn't actually a Stealth kind of mission. No way that they won't see us coming, he thought. The remaining charges he would use as timers. He set them on a three-second fuse.
Winston, looking over his shoulder at the preparations, noted the time set.
"Cutting it kinda close, you think?"
"We aren't going to have time for the Cyber birds to wait for it."
Winston nodded, knowing full well what it meant. They would probably blow themselves up with the birds. It's been one helluva ride, anyway, he thought, and found he was strangely calm. Can you be over-scared like you can be over-tired? If this was it, he'd done his part. Never saw himself as heroic—even in the SensaVision fantasy entertainments.
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm scared as hell," he blurted out loud.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Me, too. Closing on target."
Winston closed his eyes and opened them again when he decided he might as well see it coming. He'd never had that kind of an experience before. It was rather exciting. Here's hoping my young Shadow friend knows what he's doing.
"You know, I always wanted to enjoy life, the real life. I mean if I had known...I just never thought it would be this short," he said.
Greg reached for the emergency canopy release. Once the canopy was off, they wouldn't have any protection overhead. However it turned out, they'd be on foot without transportation. If they lived, that is.
Altimeter read 200...150...100...50...25 feet. At 25 feet, the wrong move—even a twitch—and they'd be history. He checked Winston's seat belt, then his own.
"Ready? Go!"
Greg yanked the canopy release. It flew up some fifteen feet and fell somewhere behind them. The cold, biting air, intensely colder with the two hundred mile per hour wind chill, made the simple task of arming the fuse charge with freezing fingers more difficult. He set them both, but as he reached to put the two in the bag with the rest of the explosives, one dropped inside the bag and the other fell to the floor of the hovercar. Greg couldn't reach it! Winston saw his helpless expression, and focused on controlling the hovercar at ground level. No sudden lurches please. One... He spied the missing fuse that had rolled down by his left foot. Got it! Two... Volley up. Straight up.
They heard the beginning of the explosion and that was all. Oops! The one fuse ignited the rest. The result would be the biggest explosion the inexperienced Winston had ever seen, which would be none—next to the one that had occurred beneath the city. It would also be the biggest detonation Greg had ever witnessed.
Down below, the stark reality of a world dependent on illusion for its beauty became apparent to the hundreds of people suddenly released. Many people screamed, some swooned, and some ran as hard as they could at their unexpected freedom. Some looked up at the beautiful twinkling of lights, red hot metal fragments that were falling to earth. Is the great battle over, they wondered? Or, had it just begun?