"REYLORNA!", yells Hank. "Come on man, get down!", yells Roy, as he dives for any cover available, trying to drag his end of the stretcher with him -- he figures that the patient will recover from a few bumps and bruises more quickly than from a giant laser-blast. He may be right, but Kylar winces from pain anyway. They do manage to get Kylar under a reasonable amount of cover, behind an uprooted tree which might protect them from flying rock shards. They can still see the craft by looking up over the edge of the roots. Dharak curses and spits. All too familiar, he thinks. Of course, the last time, he was only armed with his walking stick... He quickly but securely ties the two remaining prisoners' leashes to the nearest tree, then looks to see where everyone else is located; although widely-scattered, everyone is still within earshot, provides he raises his voice. "Roy, Hank, if they try to get free, shoot them, and watch out for their furry friend," he shouts, wiping blood and bits of gore from his goatee. "Duplar, is Reylorna all right? Because she's our only chance at stopping this flying power waggon". "Ryzar, I say you and I move far away from everyone else and try to draw the fire of this contraption by shooting at it, while Reylorna, with Duplar's mental support, tries to put to sleep whatever man, kandar, cat-man or giant amoeba is at the controls of the thing." "Of course, if she's badly hurt, we should just abandon the prisoners, split up into at least two groups, and try to lose ourselves in the wilderness until this machine leaves, then try to make it back to the human village. What's the word, sister? Are you all right?". "I..I think so", she says, wiping some blood from her forehead. Adrenaline is keeping her going now. The shuttle climbs and banks in a huge semi-circle, coming in for a second attack, from the opposite direction. It's remarkably quiet compared with real-life aircraft; the low whining noise is a lot less than the roar of a jet. "And let's all get out of sight of this lot" Dharak adds, pointing to the tethered prisoners, "So they can't give away our position." He pauses just for a moment. "Of course we could just shoot them all in the leg or something. That'll take their mind off things". Reylorna reaches her mind towards the approaching craft; at the moment it's beyond her range, but getting closer every moment. -- Tim Hall, http://www.kalyr.com Read my blog! http://www.kalyr.com/weblog
