FIGHTING IN THE WAREHOUSE

This must be how Mark feels. At this instant Angie was airborne, falling backwards. A shotgun blast from fairly close range had literally lifted her off her feet. Angie knew her thought was ridiculous. It was also ridiculous to have this much time to think while falling in the middle of a firefight. I hope this is natural and not some flaw in the equipment or my programming. Maybe the developers have a way to slow down time or…

WHOOF. Angie hit the ground hard, she had the wind knocked out of her. Her helmeted head hitting the concrete floor was a surprisingly painful shock. The VR gear is working, I guess.

By some miracle of fate, or very good programming, the muzzle of Angie’s rifle was aimed perfectly at Miranda. All it would take was a very gentle squeeze of the trigger to blow Miranda into component pieces of code, assuming she was an AI. Should I kill her? If I pull the trigger, would I be doing Mark and Sara a favour? Angie wondered.

As fast as Angie could think, the computer thought faster. It was ready to react. If Angie pulled the trigger a thousand subroutines would activate. Angie, Miranda, this whole scenario was a very small part of a huge universe, but they could they have a big effect? If a butterfly flaps its wings on Planet Beta Ham 3, could it effect the weather on Planet Bob 200 sectors away?

If she didn’t pull the trigger, a thousand subroutines would activate. The computing power required to run the game was immense. And now, at this instant, the power was in Angie’s hands.

Dammit! Angie lowered her weapon and slowly got to her knees and looked around. Carmen and whatever she came here for was gone. That bitch Maresa and her f-in shotgun were gone too. We will meet again, perra. I hope that means what I think it means. It better not mean ‘buttercup’.

The TU’COns were here. They were in a shootout with Carmen’s troopers. Everybody was shooting at everybody. Carmen’s troopers were yelling “Fall back, fall back. Retirada.” From high above, Southaven and Mike were dropping grenades and taking shots. The TU’COns were dying hard.

A laser shot took one of Carmen’s troopers in the face. Quite literally, he had another hole in his head. The heat of the laser must have cauterized the wound- there was no splash of blood and brains. An accelerator rifle would have blown out the back of his head.

Two, three, four of Carmen’s troops were quickly out the door that Carmen had fled through. The last one took a shot at the TU’COns, and then took a shot at Angie. There was a yell next to her, but that would keep.

Angie snapped a shot at the trooper. Then a burst of shots. The trooper disappeared out the door. Dammit, dammit, dammit. She really thought she had hit him. There would be time for that later.

A TU’COn was much more important right now. This particular beast was charging right at her. It’s scales seemed to glitter a bit when it ran. For whatever reason, it didn’t have its laser rifle. Was that a burn mark across it’s body? The thing had a crowbar and at this instant, that piece of steel looked more threatening than a laser rifle.

Time seemed to slow down. The TU’COn’s eyes seemed to blaze red as it got closer. Angie felt like she was trapped in molasses as she swung her rifle on target. Vaguely she was aware of Mark and Miranda doing something. Another thing for later. Right now her attention was on imminent death. The TU’COn seemed to be moving faster than she was. It’s muscled legs were pumping it closer and closer. Its gutteral grunts and harsh words were intimidating. The steel death in its hand started to go backwards as it got ready to take a swing. Is that rotten smell its breath?

She had been ready to put a slug through Miranda’s skull, now she hoped to put slugs through the rampaging TU’COn. Angie eased back on the trigger. The muzzle was vaguely pointed in the direction of the TU’COn. Three slugs zipped past the TU’COn on their way to the ceiling. The steel bar of death was starting to swing towards her, the TU’COn was that close. Angie was struggling to get her weapon on target. She wasn’t able to aim it where she wanted, but time was up and it was close enough. She jerked back on the trigger. The TU’COn was close enough that she couldn’t miss. Slugs tore through its shoulder.

The burst wasn’t a kill shot, but it caused the steel bar of death to go flying off to nowhere as the TU’COn’s arm became useless. The TU’COn wasn’t done though. It tried to body slam Angie. Close, but not quite. Angie twisted and took a glancing blow. If the TU’COn had been whole. It’s massive shoulder might have knocked her down. Now it was just a glancing blow.

With her rifle, she tracked the TU’COn as it tried to stop and turn. Angie again took the shot she had. Slugs stitched through TU’COn scales and flesh. Nothing cauterized these wounds. Blood and gore splattered everywhere.

Angie let off the trigger and watched the TU’COn fall. It landed like a sack of flour and stayed there. Threat neutralized.

Again she surveyed the area. The shooting was over. Mike and Southaven had killed three. Heather had shot two. Carmen’s people had killed two. Angie one for sure, maybe another. Mark and Miranda… Miranda was fussing over Mark. It looked like he had been shot again. This was another minor injury. At some point, one of these injuries wasn’t going to be minor. She checked his health bar. There was less than half remaining, but he wasn’t going to die, yet.

This was a stupid delay. Maybe we should have skipped this quest.

“Check the bodies, search the area and let’s get to the firebase,” Angie ordered.

“When we check the dead bodies, should we, uh, check Mark too?” There was laughter, but neither Mark not Miranda found it funny.