Long blonde braided hair whipped up and vanished. "Was that Stephanie in mid-air?" Connor pointed.

"Yeah, I'll have to admit that was awesome."

Joules observed the smoke rising from the downed airship behind them. Her amber eyes took in all the details as nothing escaped her senses, no matter what was happening. The squirrel on the branch, the acorn falling onto the ground, the explosion, everything registered.

"What the Hell is that?" Connor pointed at one of the airships. A gray dot was in front of a cloud of smoke and growing.

Shit, Teresa thought. "Hold on to Joules."

The Estelar picked up speed, and they went vertical. Connor grabbed Joule's harness as her feet dangled mid-air and her paws brushed against the back of the glass dome. As he looked behind him, or below him, past Joules, he watched the foothills shrink, and the reservoir come into view. And the gray dot changed course as if it were heading right for him.

A missile, he thought. Oh fuck.

Teresa turned the Estelar to give her a good look.

"It's on our left," Connor yelled.

She veered the Estelar, and the missile shrilled by the glass dome. It shook their ship and startled Teresa, causing her to lose control for a brief moment.

"Hook Joules's harness in," Teresa said as she kept an eye on the missile. After a beat, it started making a turn.

"Hooked in," Connor said with Joules now upfront.

"Underneath the seat is a steel box. There's a flare gun in there, be careful pulling it out."

Despite twisting and turning and weightlessness, he managed to lean over seat and get the flare gun from the box, along with a few flares.

"Okay." He didn't want to question her.

"Now open the back half of the dome. Hold onto something."

Now he wants to question her. The missile zipped by a second time, coming from the front.

"What?" Connor blurted.

"Hold on to something, open the glass dome, and shoot that flare," she pointed at the gun, "at that missile," she pointed at the missile.

Great.

He hustled over the seat as best he could, considering how tight it was. Teresa had to jerk the ship, which knocked him off his feet a little. He grabbed the small metal crossbar under the seat and unhooked the back latch of the dome. The front half now had two thick layers of glass. The wind whirled in as the dome opened, and Connor readied the flare. The missile turned, and its screeching terror stayed on target. His arm rose, striking the ridge that connected the half dome. Teresa had pulled up, which jerked him around, she turned below, and the missile followed. He straightened and hoped for the best as he pulled the trigger. Like the gray smoke from the missile, the red smoke went straight for it.

It nearly blinded him. The bright orange and white burst of light followed suit with a shockwave that rattled the Estelar.

"Nice," Teresa said.

Holy shit.

"It doesn't take much for a missile to detonate," she said.

Joules gave a deep growl, looking out the side of the Estelar.

"Another one," Teresa instantly turned the ship.

With his knees holding steady the flare gun, Connor readied another flare with one hand as the other kept from free falling. During a barrel roll, Connor spotted more plumes of smoke. Stephanie was getting to work on Optimal.

"We gotta get it behind us," Teresa said.

It streaked by like a racecar, and Teresa kept steady. As it turned around, Connor readied the flare. The sound was terrifying and relentless, and Connor felt the sound rattle him as he fired. The missile crossed the red smoke and closed some distance.

"I missed," Connor yelled back.

Teresa pulled up, nearly vertical, and the air grew colder.

"Throw something, anything!" Teresa yelled over the screeching.

Connor wiggled the metal case under the seat out of its position and grabbed everything he could. The flare gun, the flares, the case, his keys, his phone, he tried to keep it all close to his chest. The missile tip looked right at him, a staring contest he couldn't lose. He chucked it all out the back. The shrilling exploded into an orange array.

"Nice," Teresa turned the ship downward, and the cold air turned warm. "Please let that be it. Please, please, Stephanie, take them out."

As they breached the cloud, smoke and fires peppered the area around the reservoir. Something he loved, where he and Joules went hiking, and now his friends, was set ablaze in an inferno.

A few airships were still above the reservoir, and two streaks of smoke billowed out from a pair. They quickly turned upward towards the Estelar.

"I have nothing to throw at them," Connor yelled back.

One missile exploded.

Stephanie, Teresa thought.

She turned from the remaining one. But with nothing to defend, she hoped it didn't have much fuel. Unlike the airships using her old tech, missiles can't fly forever.

"Another one coming in, three o'clock," Connor said.

Back to two, shit. Teresa tapped her hand but quickly realized she had to keep hold of the wheel. Think fast.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

She got the Estelar low, near the surface of the water, and started circling it. "Text Stephanie, is the reservoir clear? Send."

"Yes," Teresa got a response.

"Hold tight."

One missile flew overhead in the opposite direction, the ship wavered, and the outer half of the open dome cracked. Connor nearly lost his grip, and Joules growled at the tormentor. Eventually, one will land.

Connor watched the water zip by below him, and his body pressed against the side glass from the sharp turns. "What's going on?"

"Discharging some gravitons," Teresa said.

Gravitons? He went back to focusing on what was behind him. Both missiles had changed trajectories and were back on course. The water split underneath each as the two screeched across the reservoir. Connor noticed the erratic turns the missiles would do, shifting course and making sharp turns. It was never an arch. But there is always an adjustment to head for the Estelar.

Teresa's turns grew sharper with each second. All three on board felt the G's increase as Teresa kept pulling tighter, smaller, and closer to the center of the reservoir. Half the time, the missiles would cross, expecting the turns to remain on course.

And then she straightened out, releasing them from the force that jerked Connor up and nearly out of the Estelar.

"This will work," Teresa turned to head to the opposite side of the reservoir.

"What will?"

"Watch."

And the water rose quickly. Teresa pulled instantly, and one of the missiles crashed into the rising water. Connor marveled at what she had done. Putting two and two together, whatever she built to power her ship—gravitons or whatever—she dispersed all over the reservoir. It grew higher than the foothills and continued to grow into the sky. She maneuvered around to the side of the reverse waterfall for cover. Purple blurs of light streaked up along it, like the anti-grav suit.

"Amazing," he said.

"It won't last forever. One missile is still hounding us. Close the dome. It's about to get cold again."

He followed the order, and it got quiet enough in the Estelar not to have to yell over the wind.

"Keep an eye out for it," she said.

He did so frantically at all angles. "Is it following a heat signature?"

"No, this produces no heat. Each one is remote controlled, which is why they keep missing."

Teresa looked forward, Joules looked to the right, and Connor spotted something high.

"Above," Connor pointed.

Teresa didn't look as she dove and accelerated. Connor slammed against the back of the dome and lost his footing, cursing himself for pointing and losing his grip. The crack grew against Connor's back. She saw Connor was in pain and the missile behind them.

"Try and hold on." She decelerated, turned the ship towards the floating reservoir, and flew straight into the water. As they entered the dark, floating abyss, the missile went straight past them. Water flowed up, increasing their altitude, but some leaked in, and the glass continued to crack. Aside from purple streaks of light, it was dark in the water, which thrummed deeply against the Estelar. She engineered the glass to be tight and firm, and with the water floating upward, not much pressure was on the glass, but enough to be worrisome. She steered it back to the wall, close enough for an easy exit.

Connor finally straightened himself. "We're underwater?"

"Yeah, kinda awesome. Let's hope that missile runs out of fuel and Stephanie cleans up Optimal."

The water shifted, and its upward motion slowed.

"Now we definitely need to get out," Teresa rotated her ship outward.

And as they exited, an honest-to-goodness wooden fishing boat crashed on top of them. The back half of the dome cracked and broke apart, and the Estelar rattled around, bouncing Connor out and hurling him downward.

"Teresa!" Connor fell alongside the water.

Joules howled in a terrifying panic, and her huge paws scattered toward Connor's direction.

"Oh my God, oh My God," Teresa turned downward, chasing him.

Joules was hysterical. Her nose was on point with Connor's trajectory as they tried to catch up. And then she heard the shriek of the missile.

"Oh my God, oh my God."

The noise didn't deter Joules. Her target was more important than her life. Her front paws sprawled on the dashboard, and her mouth gaped with a constant howl.

Gonna to have to catch him sans Estelar.

She released the latch on the front half. It was stupid to do with the wind now hitting them in their faces, but using one arm for cover, she peaked a little with her eyes to keep an eye on Connor. They were getting closer, and his body flailed less as if he had learned to fall with more resistance. Then he skimmed the water with one of his hands to slow down even more.

The shrill screamed louder as they got closer. But there was no way they would make it. They would have to stay on the trajectory to catch Connor, which means no maneuvering from the missile. With one hand, she grabbed onto Joules's harness, the other unhooked the wolf from the seat and then herself. And she leaped.

The Estelar lit up into a fireball behind them, the shockwave sent her hair and Joules's tail into a frenzy, and she, in her anti-gravity suit, made haste for Connor. Joules still kept her eyes on him despite flying—falling?—alongside the water.

Connor reached for her, and a burst of wind set him off course, just out of reach of Teresa's empty hand. She got underneath him, and they rotated around with their arms stretched to reach one another. The rising water gave out, no longer under the influence of her gravitons but a vast mass dropping alongside them, and the air beneath them started to rise. It pushed Connor away, upward, while sending Teresa and Joules in another direction. She kicked off the water, brought Joules tight into her core, and went straight to Connor. He stretched his arms wide open, and caught them both into his arms, Joules in his chest and Teresa nestled under his chin. Connor instinctively placed one hand on the back of her head, and his fingers dug into her hair. For her, disobeying her work dad was worth the embrace.

They spun in an erratic cradle. She only fitted her suit to lift her weight, so they fell slowly together, like repelling off a cliff.

The water violently crashed back into the reservoir and was not quite on target as it spilled outward and over. They were getting dangerously close to the bottom. And if the water above crashed on top of them all at once?

"Hold your breath." Teresa flew them into the freezing, dark water. They were blind and lost, and as the current picked up, they spun more and more out of control. Connor had no power, and Joules was frantically swimming with all fours. It was up to her to find the surface as it crashed to the ground, and keeping straight in turbulent waters was hard enough, but with two other bodies, she had no chance to find the surface in time. Every water push sent her off course, or was it back to air? Or higher into the water, still falling from the sky? She felt Connor's voice, a muffled sound, and their grips weakened. Her mind faltered. She needed to find air.

And then their hands slipped. All three of them separated, and Teresa scrambled. It was too dark to see where either went and too turbulent to tell if they were nearby. She chose a direction and went for it. Without the two, she moved faster and breached the surface. Trees and the roof of a dilapidated farmhouse floated by, but no one and no cars was visible. Stephanie was correct about the area being clear. Were people moved via dark matter? Twisting and turning, a gray blob with two triangles caught her attention. She flew out of the water and went for Joules. The wolf was panicking, swimming as best she could, and quickly Teresa got her to solid ground by semi-lifting and drifting her to it.

Well, this escalated.

***

He twisted and turned and swam towards the scant light. He gasped for air and immediately hit a branch. Or was it a log? He couldn't tell. But it hurt, and he struggled to swim. His arms and legs grew tired with each breath, and his head sank.

***

Warmth flowed across his forehead, a whisper, a palm to his cheek.

Stephanie? You saved me—

Water erupted out of his throat, and as he came to, he registered that he was violently coughing. Connor found himself on the side of a hill, and the water which spilled over the reservoir had settled. He lay still, watching the clouds move, glad to be alive. He thanked God Stephanie had found him.

Joules, he flung himself up and didn't see Stephanie, Teresa, or Joules.

"Hey, bro," Axel smirked.