Chapter 8

Julian Bless

Julian Bless kept running. Citizen was already far ahead of him, and Sid was behind, bringing up the tail. The thought of this unlikely trio he found himself in brought a smile to his lips. He was strong and had been fighting for his life for years, but there was still no way he could ever keep up with the Syth-L. Her cybernetic components made her almost unstoppable.

But he had to keep going. It wasn't safe to stop yet. Together, they had started out running away from the edge of New Therian, but they were leaving tracks in the sand.

Luckily, Citizen had led them to a rockier area, so at least now, they weren't leaving tracks for those hunting to find them.

The Federation troops were on foot, but the drone was the biggest problem. Bless could hear the winds of its engines but couldn't see it.

And speaking of seeing, where the hell did she go?He ran, looking around for any trace of her.

Citizen stepped out from behind a large rock.

Bless, trying to stop, had two choices: ram into her, or the stone formation. So, he chose the lesser of the two and slammed into the rock.

He groaned, then fell to his knees. Rolling over, he sat and rested his hands on his lap. He was sweating, and his chest heaved up and down.

"The Drone is two minutes away," said Citizen. "We have to make a stand here."

"How?" Bless ran his fingers through his sweaty hair, then stood up, putting his hands on his hips. He was breathing so hard he could barely get the words out. "What are we going to do against a drone?"

"I have my beacon off. The drone won't be able to lock onto my heat signature as long as I'm far enough away," said Citizen. "I'll attack it after it locks onto you, down there." She turned and pointed behind her back, revealing a deep ravine. "You have to get down there, give yourself up, and I'll attack the drone from above. That's our only chance."

"What?" Bless couldn't believe it. "I just survived one drone, and now you expect me to get captured by another, intentionally?"

"We don't have any time to argue, Snowball," said Citizen.

"I think it's growing on me."

"What? Do you have a parasite?" She approached him.

"No." His lips spread into a wide grin. "Your petname for me. Snowball."

Sid trotted up and cocked its head sideways, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Sid, you go with him. Go, now. One minute thirty-two seconds out and counting."

"Dammit." Bless edged closer to the ravine and looked down.

Snowball,he replayed the single word over and over again in his head.Why that word?Once things calmed down, he needed to find out why she chose that word out of all others.

Was it her choice - her idea or someone else's?The thought intrigued him on many levels.

The cliff edge he was on fell off into a canyon with a dry riverbed at the bottom. The surface wasn't just rock. It also had some dirt and was on a slight slope. It wasn't straight down, but there was no way to climb it either. "How am I supposed to get down there?"

"You'll have to slide. Now go." Citizen ran off toward one of the larger rocks.

Bless gulped and looked down again. The sloping wall had to be at least fifty yards.

"Well." He glanced at Sid. "I guess we don't have much choice, do we, buddy?"

Sid's gears whined. He peered back in the direction the Drone was coming from. It was much louder now. The canine bot's attention returned to Bless, and he walked to the edge, sniffing, using its nose sensor at the edge of the canyon.

Nimbly, it slid its forepaws over the edge, stuck its hindquarters up in the air, and slid down the steep slope.

Bless watched the mechanical dog slide a few feet. Sid started gliding faster, gaining momentum, then he must have hit a rock with his paw because he yelped, flipped up, and then over. He landed in a self-contained ball, rolling.

Sid's metal claws dug into the dirt for traction, but he was going too fast.

Bless lost sight of him in a cloud of dust. Glancing over his shoulder, he looked back and saw the silhouette of the drone on the skyline.

"Damn." He didn't know where Citizen was, or if he could trust her plan.

After all, she had just choked him out and captured him a little while ago. But she was right. He had no choice. Sitting down, he slowly let himself slide over the edge. His body fell, and he slid on his bottom. When he tried to slow himself down, dirt and small rocks caked under his fingernails.

Dust flew in his face, and he slid faster and faster. A third of the way down, he sprawled out, feeling the burn of the ground on his back. His shirt bunched up over his neck. He drew his katana and turned his body just before he lost control. The blade stuck into the earth, and he held all of his weight on the handle.

The blade sank deeper with his mass, and he slowed.

Now facing the wall, he straightened out his legs, and he braced his feet by digging his heels into the wall.

He kept sliding, still way faster than he wanted, but at least he wasn't falling as the incline turned away to a straighter wall. His sword was losing its grip. He had to be over halfway down by now.

Rocks pushed the blade out farther. He was about to lose it when he spun around again, holding onto the blade with one hand. He was now basically falling.

Dust and rocks flew in his face, blinding him. The blade came free, and he jumped away from the wall and fell.

He let go of the sword so that he wouldn't land on it. His feet hit the ground first. He tried to bend his knees and roll into a landing like he usually did in similar situations, but this time, he felt a sharp pain in his ankle and rolled to a stop.

He hurt all over. Looking up, he squinted into the sun.

The loud drone buzzed over the edge of the wall where he was standing only a few seconds ago.

Sid let out a mechanical growl, telling Bless to get up.

"Yeah, I hear it." He stood and winced when his full weight hit his ankle. He brushed the dust off his face and shielded the sun from his eyes with his arms.

"Resident. You are under arrest by the New Federation. Do not resist." A loud computer voice boomed from the Drone.

"Seriously?" Bless broke out laughing. Now he couldn't run with his hurt leg. He didn't know how bad it was, but it wasn't good, that was for sure.

"Resident. Do not move. Standby for containment," the drone shouted again. The sound that blasted from its speakers was deafening.

Sid walked up and let out a mechanical bark at the Drone.

"Yeah, you tell it, Sid." Bless looked into the sun.

The drone was a transport container model, the same size as the one he and Citizen had just escaped from. It hovered lower, and the bay doors creaked open.

As it came closer to him, he saw the nano-gun extend out and move to aim.

"Dammit," he whispered, then shook his head.

The drone was lower than the cliff by a good ten feet now. But it was way too far away from the cliff for someone to make that jump.

Was she going to save him? Where was Citizen?

The drone slowed, and the nano-gun powered up and locked onto Bless.

"Resident. Do not move. Standby for containment," it repeated, twenty feet lower.

"What, do I look like I'm resisting?" Bless raised his arms in submission, ready to get hit with the nano-cables again. He winced, dreading the impact.

A shadow moved across the ground. It was Citizen.

She leaped from the cliff. Her legs stretched out as if she was running through the air. Both arms extended with her daggers in hand. Her body slammed into the side of the drone, knocking it off course just as it shot.

The nano-cable sailed past Bless. He dove to the ground and rolled out of the way.

Citizen had stuck her daggers into the side of the metal container and was hanging on by the handles.

"What took you so long?" Bless dusted off his pants.

"Me? You took forever to get down the hill." Her extra weight made the drone dip and spin.

The nano-gun was pointing in all directions, and the drone's engines strained against the weight of Citizen's body. It spun around.

"Be careful." He cracked a grin. "You might fall off."

"Really? You don't say?" She climbed to the top and repeatedly stabbed into the control unit on the roof. "Thanks for that sound advice."

"Happy to help." The Drone flew over Julian's head and circled above.

Sparks and smoke shot out from the engine, and it fell to the ground in a crash that shook Julian's teeth.

"Citizen," he yelled her name, his throat raw and parched.

Out of the pile of dust and spinning rotor blades, Citizen launched herself off of the wreck moments before it landed.

Flipping in the air, she landed on her feet, tucked her body, rolled into a tight ball, and then stood upright in front of Julian. She wiped her hair out of her eyes with a fist that still held a dagger. In the background behind her, the crashed drone came to a halt.

"You okay?" She held his gaze.

"Yeah." Bless took a step, then winced.

"You're injured?" Worry masked her face.

"Something's wrong with my ankle," said Julian. "Hurt it on the way down. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine." She reached back to sheath her daggers.

Sid walked up, holding Julian's katana in his mouth. Julian took the sword and secured it back on his belt.

"The rest of that Federation squad isn't far behind," said Citizen. "We have to . . ."

She took a step forward, flinched, and then tripped, landing on the soft dirt.

Julian limped toward her. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Citizen shook her head. "D-don't know." Her eyes looked dazed. "M-my vestibular system shows an error." She grabbed her head at the temples. "Running d-diagnostics. It looks like I took a high voltage shock when I smashed t-that turbine. One nerve synapse has blown. I'm okay, j-just gonna be a little slow until I can reboot."

Julian eyed her with worry, then helped her to her feet. "Let's get started moving then."