The reception area was empty. The noise was coming from outside.
I stepped out and it was mayhem. There were four bodies on the ground, lots of blood, and chainsaw Republicans were dueling my Stair Boys.
A quick look showed me two of my men were down and three remained fighting but were retreating from a half-dozen Republican guards and their chainsaws. The Kommilaire were likely out of ammunition at this point and unable to reload without losing an arm.
I moved closer to the fray so I’d be less likely to shoot my own men, and I took a rifle from my vest. On the way I accidentally stepped on a fallen Olmarr Republican and he screamed.
The chainsaws turned to face me.
I aimed my rifle and fired, missing.
The guards circled my position cautiously. I took my time reloading.
I heard some grinding close by and I guessed one of the guards had attempted to use his blade on me.
I aimed at the attacker to my front, closing my bad eye, but he danced side-to-side to try and keep the barrel away from him. I fired, opened both eyes, and saw I missed. How did I miss? He was like ten feet away.
I threw my gun at him. But if I was bad at shooting, I was absolutely horrible at throwing. I couldn’t accelerate my arm fast enough to get any kind of velocity. The rifle clacked on the ground a few feet away from me where I looked at it sadly.
A guard tried to duck in and steal the rifle but I swept him closer with my right arm and grabbed him with my left hand. If you want to fight me, don’t ever get within arm’s reach. I’m not sure how anyone on this city didn’t know that yet.
“Run, guys!” I said to my men. “Don’t move or I’ll tear your friend in half,” I told the guards.
My Kommilaire dashed away to safety.
“The Republic dawns,” the guard I was holding said.
“Ever always,” his compatriots answered eerily.
They slashed at me with their chainsaws, pressing the blades in until the teeth ground off the chains. These guys were serious.
I killed the guard in my hands, turning on the remaining foes. I suddenly heard:
“Hank,” Peush said.
He stood at the entrance to the building and had another dozen or more guards with him.
“I just came here to have a conversation with you. Now look,” I said, gesturing at the carnage.
“You speak false words, Hank of the Colmarian Confederation,” Peush stated calmly.
“Make up your mind. Did I destroy the Confederation or create it?”
“You are part of that dead empire and no longer needed.”
Well, he didn’t sound like a clone, that’s for sure. He then spoke to his men in some odd dialect. Maybe it was Olmarrian. Maybe it was baby talk.
“Let me gather my fallen men and you can gather yours,” I said.
“You seek to treat with us on even terms?” Peush asked, amused.
“I can go back inside and stomp all over your fundraiser. And drink all your punch. These chainsaws don’t impress me.”
“No, I don’t imagine they do,” Peush said. “I will talk with you. However, you must give me five minutes.”
We all stood there waiting.
“Do you mean literally?” I asked after some time had passed with no one moving.
“Yes.”
“Why?” I asked suspiciously. I wasn’t sure what all they could bring, but Peush was an unknown quantity to me.
He lifted his head as if he had just thought of something or just heard something.
“Oh, I guess we can talk sooner than I thought. Tell me, Hank, do you ever ride the train?”
He turned his head to the upper right and I realized we were below one of the elevated train tracks.
I looked behind me and saw my magnet was connected to a long cable that went up.
And then I saw the head of the train zip past.
“No,” I managed.
I think I dragged on the ground for a few moments but then I was flying. I was being pulled by the train through the air at incredible speed!
I was also spinning lazily.
I heard on one planet there was a fat, fuzzy mammal that would periodically get snatched into the air by giant winged predators. When they were picked up, the mammals would freeze. Not in terror, but because these were animals that lived in the lowlands. They were incapable of jumping, let alone flying. Being in the air was so contrary to their instincts that they simply had no response. So they just let themselves be carried away.
That was me.
I was slowly spinning on my cable. When I became properly oriented to the road and could briefly comprehend what I was seeing, I would notice people pointing and screaming, then I would tilt back around and I was lost again.
I had no idea what to do. I kept trying to brush my hair out of my face as if that would fix everything.
After some time I became aware of a horrendous sound. I managed to turn around somewhat and I saw half of the last train car was hanging off the track and being towed along, spewing sparks and fire.
Think!
Hey, there’s the Avenue Market.
I tried to concentrate on that. What did that mean? Did it mean anything?
I pushed my hair out of my face a few more times and of course the wind blew it immediately back.
This train was going to come to a stop in fifteen blocks. It was going to pass a huge support beam in ten. And the train hanging off the tracks was going to hit that beam. Because I was trailing on a cable, I would also hit it or twist around it.
In any case, it was bad.
I closed my eyes. My vision was just distracting me.
I fumbled with my vest buckles. I got two.
Got a third.
I couldn’t get the last two. I was rotating on the cable and the buckles were twisted and my hair was in my face.
I was a big fuzzy mammal and I was frozen in mid-air. I couldn’t think how to get out of my own clothes and I was going to die because of it.
I struggled and wrenched at my buckles and straps but got nowhere. I felt my heart rate getting irregular. My blood was sloshing around my body and I was panicking. I wasn’t designed to be a projectile. I had trouble enough walking. A heart attack definitely wouldn’t help me right now.
Finally, I took a deep breath and cleared my head. I clicked off the buckles like I had done ten thousand times in the past. I slipped easily out of my harness.
I hit the ground and slid on the sidewalk. Fortunately, I didn’t hit the road, as its tacky surface would have caused me to grip and roll. I also didn’t hit a building.
I landed on my back, went rocket straight about thirty feet, demolishing everyone and everything in the way, and came to a stop with my head hitting the very machine that had fallen off the latticework earlier.
There was an enormous explosion down the street as the train car hit the support beam and the whole train was pulled off the tracks and detonated on the ground.
I decided to rest my eyes instead of trying to stand up right this minute. I figured an exploding train would bring enough Kommilaire that I didn’t have to worry about anyone trying to kill me.
Besides, from the quick glance I took before slipping into unconsciousness, no one was particularly interested in getting too close. In fact, they were all running away.
CHAPTER 49
I heard singing.
No. It wasn’t singing. It was discordant. Shrieking. Like a thousand different breeds of bird were being plucked by sadistic little kids.
I woke up and saw nothing but light, but the noise was still there.
I had never been sure before, but this time I was certain. I was in hell.
“Supreme Kommilaire, you’re awake?” I heard a voice ask.