“Ciro? Ciro!”

“Uhh—hey, Bellerose.”

Jane’s hands tightened around the rim of her seat. Despite the fact it was coming through the speaker, everyone in the cockpit could hear the strain in Ciro’s voice.

Reyer pressed the button on the side of the microphone.

“You can drop the cover names,” she said. “Not much point now.”

“You know?”

“Ciro, we have the military after us.”

“What a hilarious coincidence!”

Reyer dropped her forehead onto the microphone she was holding. A moment later, she pulled it down to her mouth. “How close are they?”

They heard Tennama’s voice this time.

“Half a street. And gaining.”

Reyer tried to stand, but a flare of pain made her stagger against the rail. “Why haven’t they shot you yet?”

Vas quietly said, “Jane, get the first-aid kit.”

Wordlessly, the doctor did as she was asked.

“When our friend says half a street”—Ciro sounded noticeably more breathless—“he means half a street. We’re out in the open, and there are a lot of people around.”

“You’re still downtown?”

“Crowds are our friend.”

Reyer pulled the microphone away from her face. “Lynx?”

“The original two ships have fallen away from pursuit. We now have two different ships closing in on us. They’re moving faster than would normally be expected for vessels of their size.”

Vas didn’t dare take his eyes off the viewport; he was flying low, and there were too many buildings. “As fast as us?”

“Faster,” Lynx said.

“Short range fighters?” Reyer wondered.

“They’re too large to be fighters.”

The three of them heard Jane come up the stairs behind them. She called out, “I have it, Captain.”

Vas said, “Prepare a half dose of Exlaudinum.”

Reyer said to Lynx, “Nothing larger than a fighter should be able to move as fast as us.”

“Unless they’re ships of a similar build,” Lynx said.

Alix and Vas both lapsed in to an uneasy silence.

Jane finished her preparation and stood up, the barrel of the syringe in her mouth and the band in her hand. Reyer put out her arm for Jane and brought the microphone up to her mouth.

“Ciro, we have to leave immediately,” she said.

“Agreed!”

“We’re on our way now. Once we get closer, we’ll pick up the GPS on your com.”

“Understood.”

The Exalt felt cold as it poured into Alix’s vein. She watched Jane carefully remove the needle, but she spoke to Adan.

“We won’t be able to stop.”

“We have to stop,” he said.

“If we slow down too much, those ships will catch up to us.”

“I can lose them.”

“You can’t lose them, Captain,” Lynx said. “If the ships are the same model as the Colibri, they’ll have at least her speed and maneuverability, and the Colibri was a prototype—they may have improved her design.”

“They don’t have me as a pilot.”

“Optimism bias,” Reyer said.

“Illusory superiority,” Lynx corrected her.

“Except that he actually is better than average, but he’s also assuming they’re not.”

“No philosophy while I’m flying,” Vas said.

“Psychology, sir,” Lynx said. “Or, depending on the argument, behavioral economics or socio-rational—”

“I’m still flying!”

“Shutting up now, sir.”

Jane stepped back to wait with Lynx and Reyer. As time passed from one eternal second to the next, she felt as if the ghost hand that had seized her ribs was pulling harder and harder.

At last, defeated, the captain said, “I’m ready for ideas, Alix.”

“We have ropes.”

“No.”

“Adan, I can do this.”

“No!”

“We have all the equipment and two helpers.”

“Jane isn’t trained, and you’re injured.”

“I’m too doped to care, Captain.”

“Your idea is rejected!”

“Understood. Then I eagerly await your idea, sir.”

Jane had never seen such anguish on a man’s face.

“Sir, we have their com signal,” Lynx said.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Vas still didn’t answer.

“Sir?” Lynx said.

The captain whispered, “Alix, please save my brother.”

“Aye, sir!” Reyer turned to the stairs. “Lynx, connect yourself to the control’s com and follow me. Jane!”

Jane followed her friend down to the main cabin. She stood by as Reyer kicked open the lockers at the front of the cabin, but when she saw Alix’s face as she bent to pick up the rope bags, Jane came forward and took them out of her hands.

“Are you sure you can do this?” Jane asked.

There was a quiet laugh from Reyer. “Lifting the ropes is the hard part.”

The biologist grunted when her friend relinquished the weight, but she did her best not to betray how heavy they were. “Where do you want them?”

“Center table.” Reyer dove back into the locker to pull out another box of gear. Lynx appeared in time to carry it over and place it next to the ropes.

Alix pulled out a harness and was putting it on when Lynx said, “We have one belay line and one main line—”

“We have two main lines, Lynx,” Reyer said.

“Miss Reyer—”

Alix stopped what she was doing and put her hand on the robot’s chest plate. “Lynx, this is a complex risk assessment. Look at me! You have my files, bot. You know we can’t do this by the book if we want to save them in time. Run your program. Use that damn quantum brain Ciro gave you.”

There was a soft veet-voo noise as Lynx lowered, then raised his head. “We have two main lines.”

“Good boy.” She patted his chest, then went back to putting on her harness. “Hook the fixed-break pulleys to the wall anchor. Then get me two e-pistols.” She dragged out a length of rope from one of the bags.

Jane watched as Reyer tied a seemingly random series of bizarre knots in different sections of the rope. “What do you want me to do?”

“Have you ever run a rappel or ascend line before?”

“No.”

Alix picked up a carabiner, clipped it to a loop in the rope, then clipped it to the side of her harness. “Since only one person is going down, you can let Lynx handle that.” Reyer reached into the box again and pulled out two pieces of metal equipment that looked disturbingly complex to Jane. “Then we’re going to use both ropes to haul up Ciro and Tennama.”

“I—I don’t think I can…haul anyone, Alix!”

Reyer smiled as she used another carabiner to clip one of the devices to her harness. “Do you know how to tie a stopper knot?”

“No!”

“Lynx?”

“I’ll do it, Miss Reyer.” The bot handed her the weapons before picking up the rope.

“We have pulleys, Dr. Bonumomnes. With your science background, I thought you’d understand.” Alix finished securing the holsters to her belt. “You won’t be hauling up our weight with nothing but your arms.”

“Yeah,” Jane said. “Okay.”

“You can do this. I promise. I wouldn’t ask you to otherwise.”

Reyer walked over to the hatch with a handful of equipment. As she got close to Lynx, she reached behind her and handed him a section of rope without detaching it from her harness. As he was setting it into his rope system, she set up hers.

Adan’s voice came from Lynx’s body. “Alix?”

“We’re almost ready.”

“Good. We’re almost there.”

Reyer said to Jane. “Bring me the other rope.”

The doctor hauled it over and dropped it by her feet. Jane handed the end to Alix, who began snaking it through the device as she talked.

“When Lynx is done lowering me, he’ll set up the pulley system on this rope before he goes over to that rope.” She motioned with her head. “You’ll take charge of this one. During the hand-off, no one needs to be touching the rope—”

“What?”

“Jane, trust the equipment. All you’ll have to do is pull. Wait for Lynx’s orders, and if anything goes wrong, drop everything and the device will catch me. Got it?”

Jane nodded.

“Grab two sets of gloves.” As Jane went to do that, Reyer said to Lynx, “You heard the plan?”

“Yes, Miss Reyer.”

“What about you, Captain?”

“I’ve got it,” Adan said. “I’ll get you in low and stay as steady as I can.”

“Miss Reyer,” Lynx said, “why do you have a descent device on your harness?”

Alix grabbed the middle of the rope and began fitting it into the metal. “Because the com on my collar is nothing but jewelry now. I won’t have a way to talk to you, so I’m going to have to fine tune the descent myself.” She clipped everything to her harness. “Keep that in mind as you lower me.”

“Understood.”

“Check everything, Lynx.”

Jane returned with the gloves. By the time she and Reyer finished putting them on, the robot had finished his inspection.

“We’re over them,” Adan said. “I’m dropping.”

Reyer grabbed on to the bulkhead. “Open the hatch, Lynx.”

The robot obeyed. Reyer had to step out of the way when he pulled it in and locked it in place.

“The stairs?” Reyer asked.

“They don’t extend with an emergency open,” Lynx said. “Miss Reyer, will you be using standard signals?”

Alix could feel the familiar rush of adrenaline now. Her heart was flying. She laughed. “Not likely, bot! I wouldn’t be able to hold spread form for a second.”

“Considering your injury, I’m not certain you’ll be able to maintain basic rappel form.”

“Basic form is boring.”

Reyer stepped over to the hatch and, to Jane’s horror, dove out backward, head first.

“Stay back, Doctor.”

Lynx’s loud warning shocked Jane into her senses and stopped her charge toward the opening.

“Miss Reyer is fine,” Lynx said, “but we’re still moving, and you’re not secured to anything.”

One rope was feeding through his hands at a steady pace, while the other jerked and bobbed as it was dragged through the pulleys.

“She’s done this before?” Jane asked.

“Many times.”

Reyer was soaring down through the wind with her ankles wrapped around the rope above her and her arms extended to stop the last few meters of rope from moving through her device.

[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]

Ciro and Tennama were the only ones who didn’t duck when the Colibri dropped through the clouds ahead of them. Most of the civilians, who’d been acting as unwitting shields, scattered or took shelter in nearby buildings. The security team broke into two parts and dodged down the alleys.

Tennama grabbed Ciro’s sleeve and pulled him into the open street. The boy tried to run, but he was stumbling with exhaustion.

A voice came from his hand: “Ciro!”

Ciro had to put the com against his ear to hear it above the engine noise echoing off the buildings.

“We don’t have much time!” Adan said. “There are two inbound ships. Both of you, keep running straight ahead. Get to Alix.”

“Keep running!” Ciro yelled to Anthony. He motioned the way they’d been going. “We have to get to Alix!”

“He can’t land here!” Tennama yelled back.

“He’s not landing!”

They both stopped when they saw the figure dive out of the hatch. For a breath or two, they did nothing but stare.

“Incredible,” Tennama muttered.

Ciro heard a noise behind them and looked around. The security teams were coming. He shoved Tennama to get him moving. They ran.

Tennama barely heard Reyer shouting his name. When he looked up, he saw something metal flash in her outstretched hand. He reached up to grab it. As she swung by, he managed to hook his fingers into the carabiner and rip it away from her. He saw the knots, saw the loops, and jumped onto the rope. The moment he shoved the toe of his boot into one of the loops, he felt himself lift away from the ground as he struggled to get his other foot in place.

Alix swayed in and out of reach as she and Ciro tried to catch each other. She let out the last of the rope on her end, releasing an unheard cry when she jerked to a stop. After kicking her legs free of the line, she grabbed the rope with one hand to pull herself upright, then leaned back in her harness. She caught Ciro’s wrist. He grabbed her jacket sleeve and used her clothes to pull her close to him.

He saw her eyes widen.

“Ciro, get behind me!”

It was inevitable that he would only half obey her, but at least he moved enough she had a clear shot. She pulled an e-pistol and began firing. Two of the security team fell. Others scattered. Some dropped to their knees and returned fire.

As she tried to train her pistol on the shooters, she felt a thrum shudder down her rope.

Realization froze the air in her lungs.

No.

She dropped the rope and pulled her second pistol as she yelled, “Your com!”

Ciro held the device up between them.

“Adan, they shot the rope! I’m cutting loose.”

“Lynx has the emps,” Adan said. “He can take out their guns!”

“Do it! But we can’t trust our weight to this thing, and you have to get out of here!” She took a breath. “Come back for us.”

“As soon as I can. Stay alive. Get somewhere high.”

Reyer dropped one of her pistols and pulled her knife from its sheath. “Ciro, catch me.”

He did his best. When she slashed the rope, his arms were already around her. He managed to hold her upright and put her back on her feet, but she was still leaning on him when she said, “Run.”

“The pistol!”

“Run.”

The emp was sixteen pounds of metal. The sound of it cracking against the cement was a nanosecond prelude to its explosion. Lynx had managed to land it in the center of the crowd of soldiers. All of them were unprepared for it. Shrapnel lacerated the faces of the people closest to it, but the worst harm was to their senses. By the time they could hear and their vision had cleared, Ciro and Reyer were disappearing around a corner.

Above them, the Colibri pulled away. It had barely gotten up to speed and vanished from sight when another ship shot overhead, following it.

The soldiers that had been on the periphery gathered around their squad leader.

“Sir?”

“Test your weapons. If they work, go after them!”