Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 5152528" data-attributes="member: 143">Session 20 (September 8, 2008)Chapter 74“I knew a girl from Dallas,” Ken said over the intercom, as the Skyranger banked into a wide turn and began its descent.  “She left me for an Air Force pilot.”“Don’t you traditionally shoot presidents there?” Catalina asked, flinching as a sudden jolt bumped her head against the back of her seat rest.  It was just turbulence, not an attack, but it didn’t help the mood in the passenger compartment of the aircraft. Hadrian had spent the flight working on his xPhone.  “I haven’t been able to access any blueprints for the target area,” he reported.  “No records from the entire district.  Computer database is blank.”“There’s a surprise,” Catalina said.  “Don’t suppose we could visit city hall and look up the paper versions first?”“Sheesh, Hadrian.  Let’s go sit in the reading room while they look them up for us.  I’m sure the aliens won’t do anything nefarious while we wait.”“Fine, blind recon by fire it is then.”“Getting some scanner readings from the site,” Ken reported.  Some weird power readings.  We’ll be on site in ten minutes, I’ll try to localize.”They continued their approach for several more minutes before Ken’s voice returned over the intercom.  “Getting a ping on the Hyperwave Decoder.  Sending to HQX… Database confirms.  Floaters, and one other signature, not clear.  Almost certainly another alien type.”“‘Not clear’?” Vasily asked.  “My guess is reaper,” Jane said.  “The med techs said that since they hadn’t finished the autopsy on our big friend yet, they don’t have a hard signature for the hyperwave.”“Okay, I think I’ve localized the power signatures,” Ken reported.  “Looks like two signatures, fairly close together.  I’ll set you down near them.  Hang on…”The ship banked hard, dropping rapidly in the familiar but still gut-wrenching sensation that they’d gotten used to with Ken’s flying.  When the engines fired to slow their descent, they were ready, and as soon as the aircraft touched down they were up and heading for the hatch. “Energy sigs are to the east and northeast of our current position,” Ken said.  “I’ll dust off and wait for your signal from the designated holding position.”They filed out of the Skyranger to see a quiet, run-down industrial district sprawled out around them.  The buildings were old shells, mostly sprawling warehouses that took up most of a block, nearly all of them streaked with visible rust, water damage, or both.  They could see a few tall, round buildings in the distance, probably storage tanks for oil or other liquids, and the vague outlines of the Dallas skyline off in the distance to the north.  Ken had put them down in the middle of a street, the asphalt cracked and battered by the passage of heavy trucks.  Once Sandesh’s improved HWP had slid down out of its compartment in the Skyranger’s belly, the pilot took it back up into the sky, dust flying wildly around them as the aircraft rose steeply and jetted off to the south.  Up ahead they could see a tiny building, perhaps a security shack or storage shed of some sort.  The wreck of an old pickup truck was lying next to it.  Long chain-link fences topped with razor wire ran along both sides of the road, although the security gates that had controlled access to the warehouses had been broken open, and most of them stood open“Anything on motion detector?” Vasily asked. Catalina finished her sweep.  “Something small to the northwest.  Coming closer.”They lifted their weapons, only to lower them again when a bird fluttered over the top of one of the warehouses.  As it caught sight of them it veered off, disappearing to the west.  “All right,” Vasily said.  He glanced back at the HWP, which had just sat there since disembarking.  “Stay close, shoot what we shoot at,” he directed.  He led them forward, the four of them scanning the deserted neighborhood warily as they made their way to the north.  The HWP trundled along behind them, leaving a small plume of dust in its wake. They stopped in front of the security hut, which looked as ramshackle as the surrounding warehouses.  It had a small access window in the front blocked by metal shutters that had rusted solid, but on examining the door Catalina found that the lock had been hammered out.  She listened at the door for a few seconds, then pushed it open with the barrel of her pistol.  The interior of the hut was a mess, with everything down to the fixtures on the walls torn out and dangling remnants of wire that had been pulled for its metal content.  A few heavy metal filing cabinets had been left behind, but were tipped over, the drawers yanked out and stacked in a pile in the middle of the floor.  Someone had cut the security desk in half and stacked the pieces end-on-end against the back wall.  “Empty,” she reported.  “Did you hear that?” Jane said, turning toward the big warehouse to the southeast, behind the security fence.  The others spun in time to see a reaper emerge from around the corner of the building.  It lifted its head, as if tasting the air, then it swiveled toward them.  A second one appeared behind the first, and let out a low snuffling sound that carried clearly to them even across eighty meters of open space.  Before the Alphas could do anything but lift their weapons, both creatures lowered their heads and charged.</blockquote>

Verification