A few seconds passed, and then he realized that the impact of him hitting the air so abruptly had certainly broken several of his bones. A tech e-suit had minimal armor on it and wasn't designed to take that type of punishment. His right leg, not the one hit by the AA round, was definitely broken. His left arm had banged into the hatch as he was sucked out, and he was sure that the arm and the collarbone were snapped completely. The suit had administered meds to him, or he would've been in so much pain that he would have passed out anyway.
Andy spun out away from the ship's gravitational field too quickly to fall back to it. He was falling free. He looked down and could see the ground beneath him at about two kilometers. The Madira had already jaunted in to atmospheric entry height of about twenty kilometers and was decelerating to the treetops. The treetops were still a ways off, and now Andy could see the Madira almost a quarter of a kilometer away from him. At one point several mecha zoomed by, shooting at each other. Andy thought he could have reached out and touched the things, until the air wake hit him and sent him spinning again.
"Oh shit! I don't wanna die like this . . ." Andy closed his eyes as the treetops rushed upward at him. Just as he was bracing himself for death, his heartrate hit nearly two-hundred beats per minute. The next thing he knew, there was a flash of light and the sound of sizzling bacon.
Chapter 29
July 1, 2394 AD
Tau Ceti
Friday, 3:45 PM, Earth Eastern Standard Time
"Dee!" Alexander and Sehera rushed to her. The two of them popped their e-suit helmets and tossed them over their shoulders on the tether. He held his arms open and let her hug him. He couldn't really hug her back in the suit, but he wanted to very badly. He was sure that Sehera felt the same.
"Daddy!" Dee hugged the armored suit anyway. No matter how tough she was, she was still only eighteen, barely at that, and was daddy's little girl. Moore leaned down as best he could to kiss her on the head. "Mom! What happened? I was there, and then I was back here."
"Elle Ahmi," Sehera grunted. Sehera looked into her daughter's eyes and added, "Anything you might have learned here is classified. Do you understand that?"
"That's right, Dee. We'll discuss things later," Alexander added. Dee looked up at them and nodded that she understood. "Now, how do we get you safely out of here?"
DeathRay and Nancy gave the president and the First Family some room and started trying to find the QMT controls that would get Dee out of there. Thomas and Koodie bounced around the penthouse, looking for the best way out and getting the lowdown of the layout.
"How do you get in and out of here, Dee?" DeathRay asked.
"Well, the last time it was through the ceiling in the hands of a Seppy Gnat." She smiled at the pilot.
"Well, that does us no good now," Moore said.
Abigail?
Yes, sir. I'm hacking as best I can. If you don't mind, sir, the CIA agent has a very formidable AIC and I'd like to interface with her.
Whatever works fastest is fine with me.
Yes, sir. It would appear that the room is AIC locked, and there is an elevator.
"The elevator is right here. Only Elle Ahmi can open the damned thing. Bree and I have been trying but with no luck," Dee said.
"I see. Stand back." Alexander walked over to it and stood atop the elevator. He lowered his HVAR and started blasting the shit out of it until he fell through. He looked up. "I got the elevator unlocked. Come on."
"Your father sure likes the direct approach." Sehera shook her head.
"Ms. Moore, listen very carefully," the CIA agent said. "There must be a small QMT pad somewhere nearby. That pad has you tagged somehow and is not letting you travel too far away from it. That is why you snapped back to here after we QMTed before."
"I understand, uh . . . You are who, exactly?" Dee raised an eyebrow at the stranger with DeathRay.
"Sorry. You can call me Nancy Penzington." She held out her hand, and Dee shook it. "It is an honor to meet you."
"She's with the CIA, Dee," DeathRay added.
"Hmm. Thanks for helping. Uh, there is a pad like that. A small one just big enough for a few people at a time. I saw it on the second floor as they brought me in."
"Good, that's our way out. We destroy that thing, and the link to you should be cut," Nancy said.
Sehera dropped through the hole in the floor second. Then Dee, DeathRay, and Nancy. Alexander was listening to the conversation as his two Marine bodyguards helped the nonsuited members of their little band down the hole in the floor. Sehera and Alexander helped them on the bottom. Then the AEMs dropped down the hole.
"Okay, Dee, take us to this QMT pad," Alexander said.
"Somebody give me a gun," Dee said, putting her hand on her father's shoulder.
"Dee, I'm not sure that is—" Thomas started to tell her, but Alexander cut him off.
"Here, Dee. Don't use it unless you have to. We don't want to draw fire to you if we can avoid it. You don't have any armor on," Moore told her. He popped a panel on his left thigh armor and pointed out a railpistol designed for human hands, not suit hands. It was a standard survival component of the suit. Dee reached in and pulled out the gun and checked it as if she had seen it all her life. In fact, she had. She had trained in all things U.S. Marine since she was twelve.
"Right, Daddy. Come on. Listen—there are holowalls everywhere here with security guards hiding behind them. There is one on the second floor as soon as we get out of the elevator by a bust of some old guy."
"That's good to know," Thomas replied.
"Thomas, I'm sorry to tell you, but, Clay is dead."
"We know, Dee. Your AIC got the message to us before the long-range comms were knocked out. Sorry to hear. Clay was a good man," Thomas said.
"Thomas, Koodie, you two are closest to the door. As soon as it opens, get out and rush that bust. Dee, you stay put," Moore ordered.
"Yes, sir."
The elevator dinged, and the second floor light lit up. A second or two later the doors slid open. The hall appeared empty. Thomas and Koodie jumped out as best they could and pumped several rounds through the wall near the only bust in the room. There were some sounds of something falling, and then blood spilled through the holographic wall as it oozed onto the floor.
"Check it, Koodie," Thomas told him.
"Got it," he said and disappeared through the wall. He stepped back through. "Clear!"
The rest of the team poured out of the elevator.
"This way," Dee said, pointing the railpistol down the hallway.
Like father, like daughter, Abigail thought to Alexander.
Elle Ahmi stood on the QMT facility control bridge looking out the zoom-window at the Jovian's rings and at her beautiful planet Ares below. She took a deep breath and sighed, because she knew things weren't as peaceful as they looked. Only moments before, she had been warned that the U.S. had sent a fleet of ships to Ross 128, and so she sent hers there to stop them. Following that, what must be the remainder of the U.S. fleet, seven supercarriers, had QMTed into existence just above New Tharsis there in the Tau Ceti system. That goddamned Alexander Moore had balls. The only way those fleet ships could return to the Sol System would be to take over her QMT facility. And Elle Ahmi was not going to let that shit happen without a big fucking fight. She zoomed in on the planet to get a better look at the ships. They were already dispersing formation and firing on key targets around the capital city of the Separatists.