Sven flushed, unaccustomed to such praise. “My pleasure. What else was I going to do?” he said, his voice gruff with emotion.
They reached the house and entered, dropping their shoes and accessories at the door.
Studying the weapon he still held, Jaden motioned to Sven. “Now that we have a weapon, do you have a name for it?”
Sven’s eyebrows shot up. “I hadn’t considered that.”
“Well, you named the smart suits, and it was likely you who came up with the label for the pulse weapon—both of which are your inventions. You must have some inkling of a name for this one?” Kayla prompted.
“Yes, I did, and do, name my inventions. But this one . . .” Sven drifted into silence.
The others gave him room to think. They wandered into the kitchen and began putting dinner together. They were halfway through their meal before Sven spoke again.
“I will call this one the ‘Dog Decimator’ or ‘DD’ for short.”
“DD for a blade instead of BB for a gun?” Jaden snorted, amused.
Sven grinned. “You have a quick wit.”
“I don’t get the dog part.” Kayla frowned. “Dogs are cute, lovable creatures.”
“Not all of them. You’ve obviously never met mongrels like those they had guarding the complex they sequestered me in. Vicious monsters, trained to rip you to shreds. And that hideous aberration vividly reminded me of them when it did this to me.” Sven pulled his shirt to one side and displayed his scar again.
Kayla winced. “Who am I to argue? DD it is.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
They woke the next morning to find their gliders had returned during the night. Eager to show off the impressive weapon, the teens donned their smart suits and dashed outside. Explaining the weapon’s functionality, Kayla wondered about the meaningful glance the gliders exchanged when the teens mentioned Sven’s name for his invention. But the boys’ torrent of enthusiasm as they showed the gliders what the weapon could do swept her along. Concluding their mini presentation, they grinned when the gliders were suitably impressed.
“Congratulations, Armorer. You have done well.” Taz smiled, inclining her head.
“We are most fortunate to have you with us,” Han added.
More than tickled about coaxing a smile from the typically stern Taz, Sven beamed. “All part of teamwork. Now, why don’t you show me what the five of you have been working on? I’m eager to see the results of my smart suits.”
They obliged, taking to the air, the boys with Han and Kayla with Taz. The longer Sven watched, the more agitated he became, until he was dancing from foot to foot. What has him so worked up?
When they swooped past again, Sven bellowed, “Come down, would you?”
That doesn’t sound promising, Kayla thought as their gliders descended. The voyagers dismounted, landing next to Sven. He waited until the gliders had floated graceful turns and made landings of their own before speaking.
“If you think you will win a battle with strategies like that, you’re mistaken!”
Taz’s lips thinned. “I beg your pardon?”
“Forgive me!” Sven said, raising his arms in a gesture of apology. “I do not mean to offend. But all I’ve observed this morning are aerial movements—no strategies.” When they looked perplexed, he explained. “I noticed no sequences designed to place the beast within range of the DD, nor any that would entice the beast into moving between you so you can harness the stones’ power to eliminate him.”
“I think I understand what you’re driving at,” Jaden said. “Instead of just learning how to stay on our gliders irrespective of their movements, we should’ve also focused on how we could use those movements to our advantage. Setting them up in sequences to make the Gaptor the hunted instead of the hunter?”
As he spoke, understanding filled Jaden’s incredible blue eyes with light. If only that light would come into his eyes when he looked at her. But only anything logic-related seemed to stoke that fire. It never ceased to amaze Kayla he was such a geek. He had this innate desire to understand how things worked, to see if he could improve them or find more efficient ways to do things. If there was ever a person who should be on this quest, it was him.
How she fit into that picture, Kayla didn’t know. There must be a reason they selected her family. Sure, she had a little medical training. But Atu surpassed her in that area. And there was no contest with tech. Jaden was the winner, hands down.
So what’s my role? Am I just Robin to Jaden’s Batman? If I mention that to him, will he even know what I’m talking about? The anime captivating most of her generation had long since usurped superhero comics. Kayla sighed. Am I just old-fashioned? Is that how Jaden sees me? Not interesting enough to be more than a friend? Realizing she was diving into a place she shouldn’t, Kayla tried concentrating on Sven.
“Exactly. You need to work on both offensive and defensive flying. Your focus has been defense. If you don’t come up with some offensive routines to trap those beasts, you’ll be the ones in trouble. Speaking of which,” Sven said, turning to the gliders, “from the stories I heard, you could streak through the sky like meteors. Were those stories of your speed exaggerated?”
“No, Armorer, they are true. But we can’t reach our potential with our voyagers on our backs. They fall unconsciousness before we’ve even attained a fraction of that speed.”
Kayla squirmed at the unwelcome memory. “We are getting better at traveling faster,” she muttered.
Sven frowned. “But you’re still struggling?”
“Correct, Armorer,” Han answered. “Do you have a solution?”
“I do,” Sven said, darting away.
“More toys!” Kayla sighed, rolling her eyes.
But that soon changed. When Sven returned from his workshop, bearing molded rubber hoods and thin silver miniature harmonica-shaped instruments, Kayla was intrigued.
“What are those?” Kayla asked, pointing at the shiny tubes.
“Aerolators,” Sven replied without elaborating.
When Kayla pressed him for more information, her questions and those of the boys went unanswered. Sven smugly told them to wait and see. He motioned them into the house where he demonstrated how the hoods used AI to self-connect to the suits. Using a mirror, they followed his instructions and attached their hoods, after which Sven hooked an aerolator onto the outside flap of each hood. Then he ordered them back outside.
When the teens strode out, their gliders peered at them. Then Han guffawed, the rich, rollicking sound washing over them. “Aliens!”
Kayla, a little miffed, had to admit he was right. With their hair tucked under the hoods so they now resembled skinheads, the silver tubes on the hood flaps forming garish, unnatural horizontal bars across their throats, and their figures streamlined into similitude by the smart suits, they did resemble beings from another planet.
“Thanks, Han, way to make us feel at peace with these suits,” Kayla griped.
Han erupted into more peals of laughter.
“Are you going to join him?” Kayla snapped, noticing the corners of Taz’s mouth twitching as the bat tried not to burst into delicious laughter herself.
With a supreme effort, Taz managed a somewhat regal reply. “Not yet.”
That just made Han flap his wings about as he dissolved into hysterics. They watched, open-mouthed in amazement. Then it was too much, and they joined Han. Even Taz let her iron control slip, subsiding into irrepressible giggles.
With their mirth spent, they wiped the tears from their eyes, leaning on one another as they pushed themselves upright again.
“Whew! That felt great!” Jaden declared.
“Yes, just what we needed,” Atu agreed.
“And now, to business,” Sven directed, composing himself. “Atu, you will need to remain on the ground for this test. Jaden, Kayla, up and on your gliders. Taz, Han, once you’re airborne, fly as fast as you can.”
All movement around Sven ceased. T
hey stared at him.
“You can’t be serious?” Kayla objected. “We don’t stay conscious when they go at less than half their top speed. Now you want them flying full tilt?”
“If they pass out, you can catch them, no?” Sven asked the gliders, ignoring Kayla’s comment.
“We can,” Taz murmured, “but is it wise to run such a test?”
“A little trust?” Sven begged, his face pained.
Kayla balked at the idea. She didn’t want to pass out again. There was nothing worse than being out of control. But studying Sven’s face, she found gleeful anticipation lurking behind the feigned outrage. He thought they could do it. Kayla fingered the silver bar across her throat and then the hood of the smart suit. Somehow, these two things would stop them from passing out? Only one way to find out.
Kayla glanced at Taz, raising her eyebrows. Understanding, Taz vaulted into the air. Han watched Taz with a bemused expression, as if trying to fathom what she was up to. Comprehension suddenly brightened his countenance, and he also took to the air. Too late. Taz was already whipping back toward them.
“Beat you to the end of the valley and back,” Kayla shouted at Jaden as she aerial connected with Taz. Chortling at Jaden’s stunned expression, she and Taz sped away.
Kayla’s exhilaration rose as Taz increased her speed. The wind blasted her face, whooshed in her ears, forced her eyelids shut and pressing the skin on her cheeks flat against the underlying bone. Kayla’s grip on Taz weakened, and she strained to stay aloft. As fear replaced pleasure, adrenaline spiked her veins. Her heart raced, and blood drummed through her head. Panic swelled within her.
Kayla gasped when the smart suit forced her flush against Taz’s neck. The wind speed diminished. Relieved, Kayla opened her eyes a little. Her gaze fell on the ground beneath them, streaking by so fast she couldn’t even identify what they were passing over.
Kayla’s breath snagged. Not enough air, she realized, when the familiar lightheadedness came on. The silver bar pressing against her lips startled her. Even more bizarre was the creeping sensation as the hood crawled over her face, masking it. When the flat goggles spread over her eyes, forming protective covers, Kayla lost it.
Why didn’t Sven warn us? It was like walking through a spiderweb in the dark. Tendrils of unseen silk brushing ever so lightly across your skin, prickling the flesh as you frantically wondered where the spider was and whether it was poisonous. Kayla shivered. With a snapping sound, the mask completed its upward circuit and latched onto the crest of the hood.
The rubbery compound now encased her face—and her breathing was normal. Hazarding a quick downward glance, she verified the ground still whizzed beneath them at terrifying speed. She glanced up again.
Kayla no longer had trouble staying on Taz. The wind wasn’t roaring in her ears, and she could see through the convex shells over her eyes. And her breathing . . . oh, her breathing. It was so normal. It had to be the silver tube. What does it do and how does it do it?
“Slowpokes!” Jaden yelled, as he and Han sped past.
“Not for long,” Taz trilled, accelerating with a glorious burst of speed.
The suit smeared Kayla against Taz’s neck again as it adjusted for the change in momentum. After her initial distress, Kayla relaxed. She was still in control. In fact, she felt fantastic.
Hunkering over Taz’s neck, Kayla settled in for the thrill ride of a lifetime. By the time they reached the end of the valley, she was comfortable enough to assume her usual flying position. Even the blurred landscape under them no longer scared her. Kayla watched it race by, then blinked. What’s wrong with my eyes?
“Are we slowing down?” Kayla asked Taz, puzzled.
“No, why?”
“I can see what’s under us.”
“So?”
“I couldn’t see anything before. But now . . . it’s like everything is clear again.”
“Could it be the suit?”
“Duh! It must be the goggles compensating for the speed and slowing things down. Imagine that!” Enchanted by the discovery, Kayla spurred Taz on. “Let’s beat those boys!”
Taz laughed, surging ahead. Kayla knew things would never be the same. It was akin to being launched in a rocket. She and Jaden were finally experiencing the true speed and power of their gliders. And it was phenomenal!
Kayla spotted Sven and Atu, jumping up and down on the ground and waving as they cheered. They were coming up fast. Kayla figured their chances of winning. The boys were still ahead. But where Han had strength, Taz had speed. They closed on the boys, and Kayla wailed like a banshee when they clipped the imaginary finish line over Sven and Atu’s heads a fraction of a second before the boys.
“Cheaters!” Jaden yelled. “You had a head start!”
“Sore losers!” Kayla shouted back.
They grinned at each other, the adrenaline rush from the race buoying their spirits as their gliders slowed, lowered, and then allowed them to dismount some distance from Sven and Atu.
Kayla rose from her landing crouch and found Jaden standing in front of her. Uncomfortably close. Before she could back away, he grabbed her, pulling her to him and lifting her as he swung her around and around, whooping with sheer delight.
Kayla giggled. Impulsiveness was so like him. Glancing up at his angular face as she locked her arms around his neck, her breath caught. His face was alight with the thrill of the ride, his eyes twinkling with repressed mischief and a much deeper shade of blue than usual. Yup, too darn handsome by far. When his mouth tilted in that gorgeous smile as he searched her face, her breath hitched again.
“What are you thinking?” Jaden asked, setting her back on her feet.
Still breathless, Kayla turned away, pretending to tuck a stray hair back into her hood as she scrambled for an explanation. She couldn’t tell him what she’d really been thinking. “You’re in a good mood.”
“Aren’t you? That was incredible! I’ve never felt so alive before.”
Neither have I. And not from the extreme flying. His back muscles straining and flexing under her hands as he lifted and lowered her while they twirled was exhilarating. Combined with knowing he was vibrant and valiant and with her only increased the heady sensation. His joy, flowing to her as they celebrated, added to the intoxication. As did his body pressing against hers, wound tight with the thrill of the race still running through him.
That moment, right then, with no one else intruding, with no mission complicating matters, with nothing to think of other than the pure wonder of sharing such an amazing experience with him—that had been the real thrill.
Their gliders landed with a soft thump, startling Kayla. She smiled at Taz when her glider sent her a questioning glance, thankful Taz grasped that she shouldn’t ask until they were alone. The four of them turned to meet Sven and Atu, who were racing toward them. This time, Taz was the first to praise Sven.
“Armorer, you are astounding! I never dared hope we might rely on our speed to avoid the Gaptors, but you have given us all a more certain future!”
Sven beamed, turning bright pink for the second time in as many hours. “Thank you!”
“Atu, you up for a turn?” Jaden asked.
Without hesitation, Atu loped over to Taz. “Ready to beat those two again?”
Taz chuckled and took to the air. This time she waited for Han before they raced back to the waiting voyagers, picking them up simultaneously. Kayla couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The gliders were above them one moment, then gone the next. So that’s how they always seemed to just vanish! She grinned at Sven. “You really are amazing, you know that?”
Sven smiled. “Your appreciation makes for a pleasant change.”
“You deserve it,” Kayla said, squeezing his arm.
They waited only a few minutes before the gliders zoomed back toward them. They did indeed resemble streaking meteors. Was I really going that fast? Kayla joined Sven as they vocally drove the two teams on.
Atu and Taz
were the victors, much to Han’s chagrin. “There’ll be no living with her after this!” he muttered.
The humans couldn’t contain their laughter.
“Cheer up,” Jaden said. “You’re stronger than her any day of the week. Speaking of which, my strength could use some bolstering. Where’s breakfast?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
For Jaden, life became an endless blur of constants. Blistering cold, blinding sunshine, blustering winds. Aching muscles, acute fatigue, accumulating tension. Constantly expecting some horrible, unforeseen event. Never knowing what Sven would demand of them next. Living in dread of more Gaptors arriving before they’d fully prepared themselves. Unsure of their endgame.
He wasn’t the only one who grew numb. Kayla and Atu shared his disposition. All three of them could only center their attention on what was right in front of them, pouring their energy into conquering that single specter, not permitting their focus to waver for even a second. Then they turned to the next item demanding their attention. Jaden lost count of the number of days they spent with Sven, irrelevant anyway since time had no meaning when they were with their gliders.
Following their successful test flight of the hoods and aerolators, Sven programmed the suits with various routines designed to train them in offensive aerial strategies. Each day, a new combination of movements. Each night, a reconstruction of the day’s exercises and how they could’ve improved.
And when they improved, Sven acted on Taz’s earlier observations and added random flying objects, designed to come at them out of nowhere to teach the teens how to maintain disciplined flying principles while distracted. If this wasn’t enough, Sven added commands to the suits, teaching them how to handle their weapons while flying.
“We can’t have you chopping your gliders’ heads off because you forgot where your blade was or misjudged its length,” Sven joked.
Han and Taz didn’t find this amusing. That was, until Sven’s programming saved them on more than one occasion, compelling the voyager careless enough to bring the blade too close to flip the safety on. This retracted the blade before it did any harm, a failsafe reassuring the voyagers as much as their gliders.
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