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WHY THE RED DRAGON WILL ROAR FOREVER MORE
* 5 *
“What happened?”
“We made it through the phalanx and we can now continue on our way.”
“Good, crank it up to full speed right away.”
“OK.”
“What happened?”
“They made it through the phalanx but now we can’t continue on our way.”
“Damn, crank up the alternate engine right away.”
“OK.”
“Sir, they are still far away, but they seem to have stopped. We are gaining on them!”
“What do you mean they stopped?”
“Well, not stopped, but their speed just dropped off. They seem to be, for a lack of a better word, coasting.”
Captain Portent leans back, leans his left elbow on the armrest, and wraps his hand around his chin, so that the first finger was above his mouth and touching the bottom of his nose and his second was in between his closed lips while the rest lay naturally along his chin. His eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed.
Meanwhile the ship pushed the tunnels behind it in a rush. With the distance narrowing by the second and the foot, the big smile on Arc’s face just seemed to get bigger. “Estimated Visual in one minute.”
“Wait!”
“Wait!”
“Yes, Captain Prometheus, Sir?”
“What are we doing?”
“Gearing up to run away, luh-like you ordered?”
“But, why are we running?”
“We are to avoid contact at all times if our ship or mission is plain to see. The ship following, um gaining fast on us actually, is from Zion. It has no data on us and no residing Members on board and thus no chance in Hell can we allow it to make contact or radio report our existence back to Zion.”
“And what have we learned about our avid adversary?”
“Standard ship with a sleek one-of-kind unauthorized custom job. Very cool! It is faster and has improved defense and offense. Oh, and it has a GENIOUS light and effective long-range sensor. It seems to be based on a hybrid of human and Sentinel technology.”
“In short?”
“I want to make love to that ship!”
“Damn! That is too good to run from. OK, we have to change tactics. Alert the crew that we are going to Phoenix Mode.”
“Aye aye, Sir.”
“Come on, Dad! They are running AWAY from us, and then they just slow down and stop? What if they are hurt and need our assistance?”
“You know your ignorant eagerness is going to get us all killed some day.”
“Yeah, yeah. Where are we, anyway?”
“We’re off the map. Well, almost off the map. Up ahead has only been partially explored. Thirty miles from here has a name but no form.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The Devil’s Bowels.”
The silence was like a fog suddenly rolling in. It was broken only when visual was maintained of the other ship.
“OK, there it is. Let’s slow it down and – what IS that?”
“The ship is – it’s changing!”
“I don’t like this. Nope, I don’t like this one bit, son.”
“Alert the rest of the crew. Shit, you were right, Dad.”
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