Project Solaris 2: Hero Rising (2 page)

Then I caught it. A stray thought from someone I recognized.

"Dick is here," I said, trying to keep the panic out of my voice. "He's near the sidelines too, and he's got a team with him."

"Crap," Marcus said, and we drifted a little higher. "Any idea where they are?" 

I reached out for him again, feeling everywhere for another thought. 

Hello, David,
Dick thought at me.
I see we're after the same target again. You were almost in time, but we've secured her. Good luck on the next one.

The lights came back up. It was a damn good thing I'd asked Jillian to cloak us, or we'd have been hanging over the middle of the field for everyone to see. I scanned the sidelines, which was full of both players and cheerleaders. There was no sign of Janaki.

"Get us airborne," I ordered, looking up and concentrating. "I'll have our ride waiting the second we pass through the ceiling."

We drifted up, and Jillian phased us without me having to ask. The three of us passed through the roof and into the hot, fall sun. It was easily ninety degrees, despite being early October. You had to love San Diego. A moment later, an energy field crackled around us, and we were pulled into the air. We rippled through the bottom of our shuttle, one of the four I'd inherited when liberating the full-size grey man mothership. That craft was still in orbit, charging slowly using the sun.

The instant we pierced the black stone underbelly of the shuttle, Jillian dropped her invisibility. She turned to me. "What happened? Are we giving up Janaki?"

"Dick has her," I said, already moving at a trot through the forest of obelisks as I made my way to the control crystal at the center of the ship. Jillian and Marcus followed, both thankfully silent. I kept talking as I walked. "Unless the grey men have given him a ship, he's going to have to leave via conventional means. That's a van or SUV most likely." 

I concentrated, willing the shuttle to begin a scan. I had it catalogue every car leaving the school, including the number of occupants. A few people had left the game early, but most were still reaching their cars. That meant the initial scan was easy, but it would grow more complicated as more of the crowd departed. I needed to find Janaki, and do it quickly.

Marcus' cell phone rang. I ignored it as he answered, focusing on the flow of data about all the cars below us. There were a few candidates, but I discarded each in turn. The few SUVs that left didn't have enough people in them. Dick would have a team, which meant at least three people. Probably four or five.

"Oh my god. She's awake? And talking?" Marcus' tone was nervous enough to draw my attention, which irritated me. I needed to focus on the data feed, so I did my best to tune him out.

"What is it?" Jillian asked. 

"Kali says Summers is up and talking. She's awake!" Marcus' enthusiasm was clear, and I shared it, but right then I couldn't afford distractions.

"There," I said, willing a hologram to spring into view. It showed a black Escalade leaving the massive parking garage near the stadium.

"You're sure that's the one?" Jillian asked, her skepticism clear.

"The car has five people, two in the front and three in the back," I said, willing the ship to begin moving. We couldn't feel movement inside the ship, but the vessel fed me telemetry. I could tell we'd perfectly matched the Escalade's speed. "The figure in the back center weighs one hundred twenty-eight pounds."

"That could be a coincidence, but it's an awful big one," Jillian admitted. 

Osiris had sent us a full profile on Janaki, including her weight. I imagined her sandwiched between two grey men goons, possibly unconscious.

"We'll be there as soon as we can." Marcus finished his conversation, replacing the phone in his pocket. He wore a huge grin, the biggest smile I'd seen on a normally dour face. "She's alive. Summers is back, man."

"That's awesome news," I replied, my gaze not leaving the hologram of the SUV. "We need to focus right now, though. Let's get Janaki from Dick and his goons, and then we can go visit Summers."

Marcus' face darkened, but he gave a grudging nod. I knew I'd lost some points there, but we couldn't afford to let another super slip away. We were losing this war, and we had to turn things around.

Chapter 3- Scooped

We paralleled the Escalade for almost twenty minutes, following it up Highway 163. The sun set, but there were far too many cars around for us to de-cloak the shuttle and make an attempt to snatch Janaki from Dick and his cronies. So we waited, following them as they headed east. Our opportunity came when they approached Bonita, a tiny town not far from the Mexican border. 

"Do you think this is remote enough?" Jillian asked, staring through the wall of the shuttle. I'd rendered it transparent, providing them a view of the desolate hills surrounding us. 

"Enough to justify taking our chances, I think," I said, willing the shuttle to descend closer to the car.

"Uh, did you guys consider
why
they're headed out this way?" Marcus asked. He'd been sullen since I'd cut him off about Summers.

I gave his question serious thought. "Oh, crap."

"What is it?" Jillian asked, turning to face me.

"They're heading somewhere remote, probably because they want to arrange a pickup," Marcus supplied. "I'll bet money they're meeting the grey men."

"That cinches it. We're pulling Janaki out now, witnesses or no. Marcus, I'm going to make the floor of the shuttle transparent. Can you rip the top off the SUV?" I asked, willing the ship to make a large segment of the floor transparent. It revealed the car just a dozen feet below us, cruising along a largely empty highway, careful to keep to the speed limit.

"Yeah," Marcus said, nodding. "I can even snatch the target."

"Jillian, can you make her invisible the second she's out of the car?" I asked.

"On it," she said, nodding.

"Okay, here goes nothing," Marcus said. He swept both arms in a wide pulling gesture, using his telekinesis to rip the top of the Escalade away like a can of cat food.

All five people inside looked up in surprise, including the driver. In the split second it took them to react, Marcus wrenched an arm upward, and the smallest figure in the back shot into the air. Long, dark hair whipped around her, and the wind tore at her scarlet uniform. She rippled briefly, then faded from sight. I willed the ship's tractor beam to pull her into the shuttle, just like Jillian and I had been when the grey men took us all those years ago.

A familiar, young Latino in the back seat unbuckled his seatbelt and turned to face the ship. He aimed both hands upward, unloosing a torrent of green energy brighter than the sun. It struck the underbelly of the craft, knocking us several feet off course. While piloting, I could feel about a hundred metrics, including the strength of the shield the ship used. That blast had taken it down to about 70%. Jesus. That kid's power was scary, even more so than the last time we'd faced him. It appeared we weren't the only ones getting stronger.

The floor of the craft rippled, and Janaki appeared on the floor near Marcus and Jillian. Her eyes were wide, and she gasped out a series of ragged breaths as she peered from person to person. Marcus knelt next to her, then looked up at me. "Target secured. Let's get the hell out of here."

I willed the craft upward, but hadn't gone more than about thirty feet when something hit us from above. The shield dropped into the red zone, and we began to lose altitude. I struggled to control the craft, making the entire thing transparent so I could see what had attacked us. A shuttle identical to ours hovered above, and it was already disgorging another shot of green energy.

I became one with the craft, dodging left. I avoided the grey men's second shot, but the move was so sudden, it sent Jillian and Marcus tumbling to the stone floor. "Hold on. I'm going to try to get some distance from our new friends."

Another shot came from the car, and this one pierced the shield. The entire craft shook like a metal roof in a hurricane, and we lost power for a split second. During that eternal interval, we were in free fall. When power came back, I continued our descent, whipping under an overpass as the grey men craft fired on us again. Their shot vaporized the overpass, but thankfully didn't hit our ship.

I seized the control obelisk, willing the craft to greater speed. The shield was already recharging, but I wasn't sure how much more punishment we could take. Our only hope was running, and even that was a slim one. 

"What's the plan, David?" Jillian asked, frantically. She was staring through the transparent roof at the pursuing shuttle. 

"Uhh," was all I could muster, juking sharply to the left to dodge another blast. "I'm going to take us out across the desert while I try to think of something."

Going overland meant we'd left Dick and his supers behind, but it did nothing to slow the pursuing shuttle. The next few minutes were tense, and a sheen of sweat leaked down my forehead. I dodged shot after shot, but occasionally one found us. The shield protected us, barely. I knew it was only a matter of time before we took a direct hit.

"So, uh, what the hell is going on? Where are you taking me, and who the hell is shooting at us?" Janaki finally asked. I darted a glance her way. She was a mousey looking Indian kid a year or two younger than I was. She brushed a mop of dark hair from her face, shooting a scared glance from me to Marcus, then finally to Jillian.

"The guys who kidnapped you?" Jillian said, resting a hand on Janaki's shoulder. "They were going to turn you over to the grey men. You have abilities, so I know you've dealt with the grey men. We're here to keep them from getting their hands on you."

The craft shook as another blast found us. I guided us even closer to the ground, trying to use the surrounding hills for cover. So much for that. We burst out over relatively flat desert, empty except for a small airstrip in the distance. I poured on the speed while I considered a plan.

"So you guys have powers too? That guy spoke in my mind," Janak said, pointing at me.

"Later!" I barked, guiding the craft so low, it kicked up a spray of sand. 

Something shimmered into existence ahead of us. It was another shuttle, and it was blocking our path. I spun the craft to the right, juking toward a small, private airport. Thankfully the place looked deserted, just a few smaller craft near a trio of hangars. I tried to increased speed again, but the craft shuddered its refusal. The engine, which none of us really understood, had apparently been damaged.

Then a flurry of bolts from both our pursuers rained down, catching us in a crossfire. The shield failed entirely, and sparks sprayed up from the forest of obelisks around us. The lights failed as our craft lost power. There was a moment of weightlessness, and we began to fall from the sky.

"Hang on!" I yelled, seizing the control obelisk to avoid being thrown from my feet.

The rain of fire continued, and a giant hole melted in the south slope of the shuttle. We tumbled end over end, and I knew there was exactly zero chance of survival.

Chapter 4- Back to the ship

"Hang on, I've got you," Marcus roared. 

Something seized me, lifting me into the air. A moment later, a flashlight flared to life in the darkness. I found that Jillian, Marcus, and Janaki were all levitating near me. We hovered above the shuttle's floor, insulated from the crash we were about to experience. Marcus wore a look of intense concentration, his power the only thing keeping us from being flung about the dying ship.

"Gather us a little closer," Jillian called, extending her arms. A cool pulse washed over us, and we become insubstantial. The ship rippled through us, leaving us hovering in midair as it plummeted from the sky. It continued its doomed flight, crashing into the ground in a spray of black stone, sparks, and crushed airplane parts. The smell of gas and ozone pervaded everything.

Marcus quickly levitated us to the ground. He turned to me the instant our feet touched the ground. "Now what?"

I glanced up to find both grey men shuttles approaching. We were all but defenseless, and all they needed to do was use their tractor beams to pull us into the craft. We'd be imprisoned, and just like that both Project Solaris and the resistance would be over. Unless I could find a way to stop it.

"Janaki, how strong are you?" I asked, eyeing the terrified Indian girl.

"Uh, I can lift a car. I think." She'd gone pale, and her gaze was fixed on the approaching shuttles. I knew that expression. She'd been taken, and feared it happening again more than anything else in the world.

"Marcus, I want you to stabilize that Cessna," I ordered, pointing at a nearby white plane. It was small as far as planes went, but one worked with the tools at hand. "Janaki, you're going to pick that up and fling it at the closest shuttle."

I didn't wait for a response, instead closing my eyes and generating a signal. It came easily now, as this was a skill I'd been practicing. I sent that signal into orbit, where I knew the mothership I'd confiscated would be waiting. It would take the craft time to respond, but it was our only hope.

"Get down!" Jillian screamed, tackling me from behind. A moment later, something impossibly hot sizzled past me, and the tarmac behind us was obliterated in a spray of green light. It had come from one of the attacking shuttles.

"Guess they're not trying to capture us this time," I panted, scrambling into a run. I made sure it was away from Marcus and Janaki, as I was hoping that the fire from the shuttles would follow.