Core Punch by Pauline Baird Jones Page B

Vi liked to say, “ Crapeau happens. A lot.”
    Joe was not surprised when control transferred and with some speed. If it did not want them to die, something had to change and quickly. Did it wish the game to continue? Did it now watch them?
    Use attitude control, then the power boost when the skimmer levels out.
    Joe managed to depress attitude control, then grabbed the controls. Did what he could to bring the skimmer to a point where it could be steered once more. The shriek of stressed metal increased. He feared it was too late, but slowly, almost imperceptibly the skimmer began to level out. Rotation also slowed, then ceased. The cross-wind compensators kicked on, assisting the leveling, and the skimmer resumed forward progress.
    Now.
    It was only after he punched it, he wondered at the wisdom of accelerating toward the unknown. But they knew what they had here. And it was done. He hit the back of the sling harder than before. Apparently whoever had designed this boost had been quite serious about it. He saw stars once more, almost as many as on his journey here….
    Like a rocket, the skimmer passed through the outer band of the storm into skies that were not wholly clear, but better than what they’d left. The boost sputtered and died, taking almost all their fuel with it. That was the bad news, as Vi liked to say. The good news, almost directly ahead he saw, outlined against the sinking sun, the stark shape of what had been the New Orleans Old airport.
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    T hey weren’t going to make it. They’d started out high, but their fuel was almost gone. Their weight, the imperfectly designed skimmer, and the gravitational force pulled them inexorably down. Transit through the unstable air reminded him of land passage through the more remote areas at home, what the people here called pot holes. Apparently NOO had a surfeit of these pot holes, which lifting had not wholly helped. Some of the narrower transits retained “ghost pot holes” that no one could quite explain. His teeth seemed to rattle inside his head.
    We were not blown as far off course as I feared.
    Do you believe your enemy is doing more than watching us? Did it assist us?
    It is possible.
    Joe sensed a complicated something from the old nanite, something that left a bad taste at the back of Joe’s throat. What?
    What if it is here with us?
    Here? There is only— Then it hit him. You think Vi—no. I—no.
    We must consider the possibility. It could have invaded her body at any time. One minute of prolonged contact and then she would no longer be in control of her actions.
    I have observed no changes in her behavior.
    You do not believe the kiss was a change in behavior?
    Joe shifted uncomfortably in his seat. That kiss had been only the bright spot in the day and now Lurch was taking it away? You believe she kissed me to—deceive me?
    I am not saying it is so. I’m saying, you need to be wary. Limit physical contact until—
    Until when? If they were going to die down here, the one thing he wanted to do again was not limit physical contact with Vi. Joe glanced at her where she slumped in her sling, blood trickling down the side of her face. Could she be hiding Lurch’s enemy? He tried to think if he’d noticed any change in her behavior beyond the kiss, but she was an ever-changing mystery to him on his best days. This was not one of his best days. Except for the kiss. How will we know?
    When she tries to kill you. Or someone else does.
    Joe risked another quick look. She seemed to be breathing.
    While she is unconscious, couldn’t you—
    She may be pretending to be unconscious to get me to do just that.
    So they would have to wait until they landed. Supposing they survived the landing.
    If we can make it as far as one of the old runways, our chances will improve.
    Even if they managed a landing that didn’t tear the skimmer to pieces—and them with it—they’d be dirt side in