“Heads down!” shouted Sula as we struck debris flying toward the windshield. Several large pieces slammed into the wing but none badly enough to crash us. Sula maintained control until we cleared the damage, then eased the plane to a lower altitude. Smoking bits of plastene and metal tumbled from the sky. But we were not safe—not yet.
“We’ve got trouble,” said Sula when she reviewed the instrument panel. “You want the good news or the bad news?”
“Give us the bad first,” said Ulysses.
“Even if we hadn’t burned up most of our fuel in that dogfight, it seems we’ve punched a hole in the auxiliary tank.”
“And the good news?”
“There is no good news.”
The plane was vibrating severely now. Ominous red lights blinked on the control panel. I reached out for Will. “We’ll be okay, right?” I asked.
“Sula can drive anything, remember?”
“Anything with an engine,” said Sula. She was toggling the controls furiously, trying to maintain a level flight as the plane rapidly descended.
“There’s a workable landing strip near the research lab,” said Driesen. “They used it for copters, but it’s long enough to land a plane.”
She nodded, her eyes slits pinned to the ground below. “I can see it.”
From the air the broken dam looked like a row of cracked teeth with the two largest ones missing. Water still spilled through the gap even though the Minnesotans had made an effort—with rubble and dirt—to close it. A flowing river was a strange sight, and it gave me a vision of the world in which my parents were born. It twisted and coursed, foaming white and brown, a thing alive and vibrant as it rushed uncontrolled toward the sea. Green vegetation had sprouted along its banks, like a holo of an ancient world.
“Hold on!” said Sula.
I tried to steady myself, but my breath came in quick short bursts and would not slow down. My nails dug into my palms, but I could barely feel the pain. I looked to Will. His face was as pale as I had ever seen it. Kai laid his hand on my forearm, but his fingertips trembled and moisture pearled his brow. There was nothing to do except put our faith in Sula and hang on.
The jet began to plummet. One moment I could see the low tops of buildings, the next moment we hit the ground hard enough to blow two tires. We screeched and veered off the runway, then careened through dirt and scrub at three hundred kilometers an hour, spinning crazily in a dust vortex. A window popped, and the door burst open. Sand, soot, and black smoke swirled into the plane. Someone was coughing, and someone else was yelling instructions. But somehow we slowed and came to a rest. “Everyone okay?” asked Sula.
We were, miraculously. No one was hurt, although my bad shoulder ached painfully where it had been restrained by the safety belt. Kai looked as if he might be sick, and Will’s face had shaded from pale to green. Our stomachs settled as the air cleared.
Ulysses wasted no time in securing our position. He grabbed the laser-taser and his knife and pushed through the mangled door.
“Wait!” Sula shouted after him. “Men on the ground!”
It was too late. We heard the yelling. The roar of an engine. A sound like a dog barking. Ulysses bellowed as if in great pain, and then his voice was buried. We braced for the onslaught.
I was outside before anyone could stop me. My feet touched ground, and my hands went up defensively, but I was knocked backward by something large and heavy. It sat on my chest and its hot breath washed over me.
I waited, eyes shut, for the jaws to clamp on my throat.
Cheetah barked, then licked my face again and again.
CHAPTER 21
We left Ulysses’s men at the border.
The Minnesotans wouldn’t let them cross without a bribe, and as Ulysses explained, the pirates had little to offer. They had lost ten men, much of their equipment, and Pooch in the flood. They needed to conserve resources for the next campaign. Besides, too many men would stir suspicion and cause a diversion before the job was done. Ulysses alone would come the rest of the way.
We took a truck, two sidearms, water for the journey, and Cheetah.
After all our travels, the trip south through Illinowa was like a Sunday jaunt. The roads were empty, and no one stopped or harassed us. Will and Kai slept most of the way, and I played Quarts with Sula while Cheetah rested on my lap. It was late afternoon by the time we arrived.