"Thanks for the suggestion."Thanks for the suggestion." "My privelege," he said. "Ken," Dave interrupted. "Yo." "I hate to say this, but... incoming." "Incom-? Oh, no." "I'm afraid so. Transit from above the walls, angling in." "She's gonna kill someone someday." "Actually, she is not alone. Molinar is dropping with her. Her accuracy is quite astonishing; she has never strayed more than three meters from her original epicenter of impact." "Molly's... in with her, or in a different suit?" "Different suit," Dave said. "Is that a concern?" "You're damn right it's a concern. How much control do they have?" "We're about to find out." Shardik turned to Nickolai and said, "This should be fun. Watch out there." He pointed in the direction of the ocean. "You should see a big spout in a few minutes. Actually, if you look up, you might see them entering the atmosphere... yeah, there they are. See that bright trail?" "What is that?" "Atmospheric burn... literally setting the sky on fire. That's how hot they are coming in." "Are they going to slow down?" "I doubt it. She likes to use the emergency temporals. Those are full powered Shirow Powered Armor Scouts. They'll hit the ocean at full speed." "How soon?" "Dave?" "Four minutes." They traced the burning contrails as the two SPAS screamed through the sky, burning a hot hole through the air as they descended. The last second of the fall was a flash, a fiery explosion of light and water, followed by a enormous jet of water that at the distance appeared as a tiny splash. "It's about eight klicks out," Shardik said. "Wow." "Yeah. Now watch." After about three minutes, two suits of Pendorian powered armor came running across the water at a full tilt, slowing down only as they reached the shore, sinking into the surf as they did so. "Those suits are great. They can survive nuclear explosions, terminal reentry, everything," Shardik said. "I just wish Rainy wouldn't use them to get home like that." The suits stopped on the beach and the forward chestplates on each cracked open. Molly, the pretty Vulpin with red fur that they had met on their first day in the Castle stepped out of hers first, looking a little dazed; a smiling femTindal that Nickolai figured for P'raine Shardik stepped out of the other one. |