Intersect

by M C I Hinchliffe

  Ryan looked for Katie but he couldn't see her anywhere. He could only hope that she made it to the other side. He opened fire again, but this time at the walkway in front of the control centre. Mutilated bodies fell from the walkway and gore covered the damaged wall behind it. Somehow, the transparent shield that housed the control centre withstood the bombardment and suffered only stress fractures. Finally the return fire stopped and Ryan ceased the wave of destruction. He surveyed the damage he had done and the hanger looked like a bomb had hit it. Scores of mutilated bodies lay strewn across the floor, all walkways were shattered or totally collapsed and the walls were hideously scarred. Numerous electrical fires started as small explosions complimented the previous fire-fight.

  In his peripheral vision, something shot from the floor and straight up into the air. Ryan swung around and was about to fire when he realised who it was. Katie hung onto the platform with her left hand, while holding the gun in her right. The platform came to an abrupt halt, just above the second level, then Katie jumped off. Two guards rose from the gore ridden walkway and fired upon the intruder, but Katie was too quick and blasted them apart in an explosion of flesh and bone. She readied herself for more gunfire but non came; Ryan's deadly handiwork had killed the rest. While stepping over the mangled bodies, whose sight and stench almost made her vomit, she approached the door to the control centre. Katie kicked at the door with all her strength but to no avail. If this door could withstand a blast from the Megagun, then her foot wasn't going to do much good. She looked inside and saw two guards with their guns trained on her and beside them were three operating staff for the control panel.

  Katie thought. "If they aren't going to let me in, then I'm coming in uninvited." She removed the four grenades from her pocket and considered how many to use, finally she decided that if you're going to do a job, you might as well do it right. She pressed the buttons in on all four grenades, then dropped them on the floor. As Katie sprinted off she caught sight of the five occupants diving for cover. The grenades erupted in a massive inferno that caved in the door, wall and part of the walkway. As the dust settled, she carefully jumped over the hole in the walkway and stormed the control centre. Half the room was destroyed with most of the occupants with it, except for one bleeding operator who was huddled underneath the partly damaged control panel. She dragged the operator from under the panel and pushed him up against it, then shoved the gun barrel in his neck. "Turn off the field generator!"

  Through quivering lips he replied. "But General Bane would have me executed."

  "I'll execute you right now if you don't!"

  The operator shook his head. "No I can't, the panel has been damaged."

  Katie pulled the gun from his neck and shoved it in his groin. "Don't give me that crap, turn it off or you'll be singing in the choir with the school boys. Three.....two......one....."

  "Okay, okay, don't shoot." He shouted.

  Katie pulled the gun away and the operator turned to the panel. His hands dashed over the controls in an almost robotic fashion and four large, red coloured meters dropped until no colour was present. As the colour dropped, a deep hum that came from a large armoured chamber at the back of the control room dropped in tone until it was no longer heard. Despite Katie's unfamiliarity thirty first century hardware, she felt satisfied that something of importance was turned off and pushed the operator away from the panel, then fired several times into it. Metal and sparks erupted from the unit as it was damaged beyond repair and when Katie ceased fire, no light or sound emanated from the lifeless control panel. With the butt of the gun, she struck the operator across the temple and he fell to the ground unconscious. Katie left the room and shouted to Ryan on the hanger floor, "The field is down, blow the door!"

  Ryan turned and faced the two huge hanger doors and selected maximum on the Megagun's power level. He braced himself against the ominous recoil then fired. A mighty pulse blue energy leapt from the gun to the hanger doors and the gun's recoil threw Ryan to the floor. As the pulse struck an explosion as brilliant as the sun lit up the hanger like daytime and the floor shook as if an earthquake had struck the complex. Great shards of ceramic bombarded the hanger, reeking terrible destruction to whatever stood in its path. Katie was dashed to the floor of the walkway and she hung on for dear life as she rode out the explosion. Amidst the dust and settling debris, Ryan rose from the floor and gazed in astonishment at the enormous hole where the doors used to be. It was large enough to fly the large transporter through with clearance to spare.

  He looked at the weapon that was strapped to his body. "I've got to get one of these!"

  Suddenly, an excruciating pain came from his left leg causing Ryan to collapse to the ground in agony. He looked down at his leg and saw a bleeding gash, oozing warm liquid profusely. As he looked back to where the laser blast had originated from, he saw Bane with a pistol in his hand and a platoon of soldiers beside him on the second level where Katie stood. "Williams, behold your future - DEATH." Bane took aim again to finish Ryan off, but a shout from the other side of the hanger caught his attention.

  "No!" Katie yelled as she let loose a fiery spray of death.

  Several soldiers fell to the hanger floor and among them was Bane himself while the remaining dived for cover. Katie wasn't going to stick around to find out if she had done Bane in, so she jumped upon the hover platform and pressed the deactivation button. For a moment she felt weightless, then a falling sensation as the platform plummeted at great speed. Momentarily she feared that she too would be dashed to the floor like the others because of the platform's tremendous rate of decent, but just before the ground it slowed allowing her to alight without injury. Katie ran to Ryan's side and aided him to his feet, then the two fled through the gaping hole before them. Katie expected a barrage of fire to cut them down before they moved several steps, but the fall of their leader confused them and instead, the remaining soldiers went to their leader's aid.

  As they approached the Airlantis, Ryan spoke through tight, agonised lips. "Doors open." Obediently, the doors did as he commanded.

  "Ryan, I'd better drive. You couldn't in your condition."

  "No, it’s okay, I can drive. Just help me in the driver’s seat."

  Katie punched the chest buckle that held the Megagun harness and aided Ryan in removing it. After discarding the harness, she helping him alight the car then jumped in herself and gave Ryan her handkerchief. "Tie this around your leg, it will help stop the bleeding."

  Ryan applied the handkerchief, then started the vehicle and sped off.

  ********************

  To the surprise of his men, Bane's metal eyelids slid open as he looked upon several astonished faces. "Are they dead, have you executed them?"

  "No, they have escaped. You fell ten metres, we thought you were dead!" Said the Commander-in-chief.

  "What?! You will be dead if don't go after them immediately!"

  "But are you all right General?"

  "It would take more than a laser blast and a small fall like that to pierce my armoured skin. Now go immediately before they get out of jammer range and the rest of you, prepare for evacuation. It won't be long before Intersect blasts this place off the map." Bane got to his feet as the men rushed to their duties and he shook his fist at the great cavity before him. "You have not seen the last of me, Ryan Williams."

  ********************

  The Airlantis turned off the dirt track and onto the bitumen road, then sped into the night. Ryan pressed a button on the dash and the screen that was displaying their current location changed to a fuzzy picture. Ryan looked concerned as he spoke to an invisible presence. "Admiral Williams to Endeavour, come in Endeavour?"

  There was no reply.

  "Bane must be jamming my signal."

  Katie turned to Ryan in confusion. "You talk as if he's still alive. I blasted him off the walkway and then he fell three storeys to a solid floor. From now on, when you refer to that silver skinned bastard, you can use the past
tense."

  "I doubt very much that Bane's dead. His armoured skin can withstand great forces and only a direct hit to his eyes from a laser gun could kill him. No, Bane is still alive."

  "Where in hell did you dig that lunatic up from anyway?"

  "Before the accident, he was a brilliant physicist with a kind and gentle nature. When I tried to beam him up from flames within his lab, the matter transporter couldn't get a solid lock on him; something to do with the unusual magnetic field that the fire created in the lab. When I finally got him aboard there was very little left of him, so I did my best to build him a suitable body. After a few months his character changed dramatically and soon he gathered a rebellion against me. I did my best to reason with him but to no avail, then one day his hole band disappeared and only today did we discover his whereabouts...." four sets of headlights in the revision monitor caught Ryan's attention. "....and there is something else about him, his is very persistent - we're being pursued."

  Katie looked behind as the lights grew closer and quickly the outline of the vehicles became discernible. "Forming a rebellion looks like a successful business. Those look like McLaren F1s, the fastest car in the world. I hope this car has something special or we are going to be in trouble."

  Ryan didn't look at her, but pushed the gear lever up one notch. "This is the fastest car ever made by man, so you better hang onto your seat." He pressed the accelerator down and the car leapt forward as the speedo went from one hundred to two hundred kilometres per hour.

  The five sleek vehicles rocketed along the windy country road and appeared like a bright snake as the cars negotiated the tight corners. Ryan was well skilled in handling a vehicle in high speed, but the drivers behind him were also and he couldn't get enough speed to pull away. Suddenly a beam of light dashed across the front of the Airlantis, missing the nose by a few centimetres.

  "Their firing at us." Katie cried.

  Ryan pressed another button and a pair of cross hairs appeared on the revision monitor. "Tell me when the cross hairs line up with the car behind us."

  Katie watched the screen intently as the cross hairs darted radically over it, then for a brief moment they paused over the target. "Now!"

  Ryan pressed a button on the steering wheel and a bright flash shot from the back of the car. Katie looked behind to see the trailing vehicle explode in a fray of fire and metal, but the following cars were not deterred. Instead they continued with greater ferocity and with a bombardment of laser fire. The roadway before the Airlantis erupted, leaving a gaping crater and only Ryan's skill kept them from falling into it. He abruptly turned the steering wheel causing the car to spin out of control and into the roadside gravel. Ryan reached for a button marked "tyre spikes" and the vehicle instantly gained control as he renegotiated the road pavement. As Katie hung onto her seat with white knuckles, she wished that she was strapped in a racing harness instead of being sucked onto her seat. Ryan repressed the tyre spikes button and the ride became smooth again. Then he pressed a button on the centre console and a panel opened up between the seats revealing a new range of controls. His left hand manipulated the controls causing the rear-view monitor to display an overhead view of the chase.

  "Two can play their destructive game." Said Ryan with a large amount of determination. He flicked his vision from the windscreen to the monitor as he determined the correct moment to fire, then he pressed a button marked "launch". Two small objects ejected from the back of the car and fell to the ground at the point when the first car passed over. The objects detonated, blasting the car off and into the adjacent bushland, while leaving a large crater for the followers to negotiate. The remaining F1's dodged the crater and continued their relentless pursuit.

  Signs for the turn off to the freeway flew past at a rate that made it impossible to read them. Ryan made the turn off and fought with the car as he negotiated a forty five kilometre an hour bend at two hundred and forty five. Amazingly the Airlantis maintained connection with the road surface as it performed a two gee turn, then before the windscreen was a ten kilometre stretch of straight flat freeway and nothing could hold it back. "Let’s see what this thing can do." Ryan pushed the centre lever forward another notch and flattened the accelerator. A great roar came from behind their heads as the Airlantis tachometer raced to fifteen thousand R.P.M's and a mighty push sent the speedometer to four hundred kilometres per hour and climbing. The F1s fell behind as they were unable to match the superb handling of the pursued vehicle and when they completed the turn, the Airlantis shot out of view like a toboggan down an ice track.

  Katie's knuckles began to ache as Ryan manoeuvred the car past the occasional car. She didn't mind driving fast, but because they were about to break the land speed record, it was more than her nerves could take. The dashed lines of the lane markings blurred into a continuous line and the road edge was just as obscured. A single mistake by Ryan would see that they make the morning news. A Police car that was parked on the roadside, flashed past so quick that Katie was barely able to discern its colours. "We just passed the Police. We better turn off before the entire Police force is after us."

  "I don't think so. When he sees the speed on the radar unit, he'll probably think it's a false reading."

  ********************

  Constable John Daily sat quietly by the roadside monitoring the mobile speed unit that was mounted to the dash board. The car radio just broke the silence with its playing of the late night music show. On the back of the radar unit was a liquid crystal display that showed continuously changing set of three digits. The numbers ranged from ninety to just over the speed limit of one hundred and ten kilometres per hour. When his favourite song by Genesis came on the air, a loud continuous beep from the radar unit interrupted his bad singing. As he looked up at the unit, the display reading had gone wild as the numbers flickered through the rapid increase to a final constant. In a single heart beat the reading jammed on nine, nine, nine that was the maximum speed it could determine.

  An explosion like that of a sonic boom struck the car with a deafening force that shattered the windows and almost John's ear drums. He caught a short glimpse of the cause of the blast as a sleek black blur rocketed past his range of vision and disappeared in less than a second. John leaped out of the glass ridden car and brushed off the shattered material, then stood by the roadside like a stunned animal. While the sound of a thousand bells range in his ears, his mind ran wild for a rational explanation, but there was none. What just happened was extraordinary, that object was travelling faster than the speed of sound at ground level; the only possible answer was something that he didn't believe in - until now.

  John reached in through the shattered window and grabbed the C.B. mike. "Constable Daily to central over." The red signal level on the C.B. jumped up and down as the officer at the station replied, but John didn't hear a word because of the phantom cicadas that rang in his ears. If it weren't for the shock of the radar unit reading, his mouth would have been closed and the sonic boom would have busted his ear drums leaving him permanently deaf. So he continued with the hope that the station was receiving him loud and clear. "I can't hear you sergeant, I've just been deafened so I'll continue anyway. I would like to report a U.F.O. sighting!"

  ********************

  No sonic boom was heard within the Airlantis cockpit as the digital speedometer display passed Mach one. Only a momentary vapour trail passed over the windscreen to acknowledge the event. At this speed even the smooth, flat freeway was becoming a very rough ride as the technologically advanced suspension struggled to maintain traction and an even ride. Katie was amazed that the car hadn't taken off over the occasional crest, she could only assume the vehicle had an excellent aerodynamic design that could maintain enough down force to perform such incredible speeds. They negotiated another fast corner with exceptional control when numerous orange flashing lights invaded the scene before them. About two kilometres down the strait, road works were in progress and all three south-b
ound lanes were under repair. Only a narrow access was open on the right hand bicycle lane to allow traffic flow and several cars were passing through it at low speed.

  Katie closed her eyes, then braced herself for the impending impact while swearing at the top of her voice.

  A synthesised voice competed with Katie's cry. "Road obstruction ahead, six seconds to impact. Recommend evasive action."

  There was no such panic from Ryan. He calmly manipulated several controls on the centre panel, causing a transformation of the dashboard's instruments and the entire vehicle. Two wings extended from the sides of the Airlantis while the rear brake lights slid aside, exposing twin exhaust ports. With a second to spare, Ryan pulled back on the steering wheel and the car lifted off the ground and launched into the air. While omitting a gentle hum, the wheels folded into the chassis and four panels extended to seal off where the tyres had been; the Airlantis had completed its transformation into a jet aircraft.

  Katie stopped screaming as she realised that the impact point had passed without the shattering collision. Carefully she opened one eye and perceived the peaceful scene of a starry night. Immediately she opened the other eye, "My God, we're flying!"

  "Yes." Ryan said calmly.

  Katie punched him in the arm. "You Bastard, I nearly had a heart attack. Why didn't you tell me this thing could fly?"

  "I didn't have a chance before to explain."