Since the target is only forty feet away, you are probably better off using the ghost ring.”
I changed to a box magazine. From forty feet away, I put three rounds into the same hole. Was it wrong to be in love with God’s will? While shooting, I felt an intense urge to go to Pioneer Park. I’d never been there before, my urge made no sense. I decided to ignore it. I practiced quickly switching out magazines. My need to leave got stronger. I remembered Pioneer Park was where the Redcaps were. ‘Shit!’ I wasn’t going to have much time preparing.
“Aidan, I’ve got to go.”
Aidan’s expression became all business. “Tim and I need you to say we have permission to touch your gear. Give us all your magazines and we’ll reload them for you. I don’t know if you have noticed but you have a Camelbak-style backpack. You have got four liters of Gatorade inside. We have added a couple extra cups of sugar to the Gatorade. You are going to find your calorie needs are four to five times higher than they were before.”
I walked over to Tim to hand him the shotgun. He jerked away like it was on fire. “Oh yeah, it’s okay for Tim and Aidan to touch my stuff.”
As I handed Tim my gun, he began giggling, “Mr. Paladin, you gave me permission to touch your stuff”.
I looked at him with every ounce of irritation I was feeling. He kept giggling.
Aidan cleared his throat. When I looked over, he looked almost as pained as me. “Your visor is mirrored; you can see out, no one else can see in. There is a spell on the visor to make it work like night vision and thermal imaging goggles, and another spell to keep it from getting dirty or fogged up. It is strong enough to resist small caliber bullets.”
Tim got the hint and shut up. He turned to a table up against the wall and started reloading my magazines. The urge to get to Pioneer Park was almost overwhelming. I knew I couldn’t leave until I had all my reloads.
Aidan interrupted my chain of thought. “Victor. Say, ‘Gecko’ and your boots will stick to whatever surface they are on. Say, ‘Gecko’ again and they will stop sticking.”
“Gecko.” I tried to move my feet. I was able to rip one foot off the ground but I had to use all my strength.
“You need to peel your foot off starting from the heel and going to the toe like you have sticky tape on the bottom of your feet. Make sure you keep your weight forward to make the motion smooth, not jerky.” I followed his advice; there still was some resistance but not nearly as much as before. When I got to the wall, I tried to curl my toes up and keep my body parallel to the wall. It didn’t work. I didn’t have enough flex in my boots and the balance point was all wrong.
I tried keeping my feet flat to the wall, letting my body go horizontal to the ground. I was glad I had super strength. I could feel the strain on muscles on the front of my leg, thigh, and torso, but it was doable. I got to the ceiling and hung upside down. I said, ‘Gecko.” As I dropped, I twisted in the air and landed on my feet. Immediately, I sprang seven feet through the air to the closest wall shouting, “Gecko!” I landed and stuck. I yelled gecko twice, first to release from the wall and then again in the air to stick to the ceiling. I mouthed ‘Gecko’ without making an audible sound; I dropped to the ground.
I was having so much fun I could almost ignore my compulsion to get to the Redcaps. “Aidan, these boots have to take a lot of energy. How long can they stick before they give out?”
“Believe it or not Victor, they don’t use extra energy. The boots use the same forces geckos use to stick to walls. Plastic wrap works on the same principle—van der Waals, or electrostatic interaction. Your boots and a gecko’s foot have microscopic hairs called setae which are tipped with even smaller hairs called spatulae. There are so many of these hairs causing so much surface to surface interactions, a two ounce gecko can
I changed to a box magazine. From forty feet away, I put three rounds into the same hole. Was it wrong to be in love with God’s will? While shooting, I felt an intense urge to go to Pioneer Park. I’d never been there before, my urge made no sense. I decided to ignore it. I practiced quickly switching out magazines. My need to leave got stronger. I remembered Pioneer Park was where the Redcaps were. ‘Shit!’ I wasn’t going to have much time preparing.
“Aidan, I’ve got to go.”
Aidan’s expression became all business. “Tim and I need you to say we have permission to touch your gear. Give us all your magazines and we’ll reload them for you. I don’t know if you have noticed but you have a Camelbak-style backpack. You have got four liters of Gatorade inside. We have added a couple extra cups of sugar to the Gatorade. You are going to find your calorie needs are four to five times higher than they were before.”
I walked over to Tim to hand him the shotgun. He jerked away like it was on fire. “Oh yeah, it’s okay for Tim and Aidan to touch my stuff.”
As I handed Tim my gun, he began giggling, “Mr. Paladin, you gave me permission to touch your stuff”.
I looked at him with every ounce of irritation I was feeling. He kept giggling.
Aidan cleared his throat. When I looked over, he looked almost as pained as me. “Your visor is mirrored; you can see out, no one else can see in. There is a spell on the visor to make it work like night vision and thermal imaging goggles, and another spell to keep it from getting dirty or fogged up. It is strong enough to resist small caliber bullets.”
Tim got the hint and shut up. He turned to a table up against the wall and started reloading my magazines. The urge to get to Pioneer Park was almost overwhelming. I knew I couldn’t leave until I had all my reloads.
Aidan interrupted my chain of thought. “Victor. Say, ‘Gecko’ and your boots will stick to whatever surface they are on. Say, ‘Gecko’ again and they will stop sticking.”
“Gecko.” I tried to move my feet. I was able to rip one foot off the ground but I had to use all my strength.
“You need to peel your foot off starting from the heel and going to the toe like you have sticky tape on the bottom of your feet. Make sure you keep your weight forward to make the motion smooth, not jerky.” I followed his advice; there still was some resistance but not nearly as much as before. When I got to the wall, I tried to curl my toes up and keep my body parallel to the wall. It didn’t work. I didn’t have enough flex in my boots and the balance point was all wrong.
I tried keeping my feet flat to the wall, letting my body go horizontal to the ground. I was glad I had super strength. I could feel the strain on muscles on the front of my leg, thigh, and torso, but it was doable. I got to the ceiling and hung upside down. I said, ‘Gecko.” As I dropped, I twisted in the air and landed on my feet. Immediately, I sprang seven feet through the air to the closest wall shouting, “Gecko!” I landed and stuck. I yelled gecko twice, first to release from the wall and then again in the air to stick to the ceiling. I mouthed ‘Gecko’ without making an audible sound; I dropped to the ground.
I was having so much fun I could almost ignore my compulsion to get to the Redcaps. “Aidan, these boots have to take a lot of energy. How long can they stick before they give out?”
“Believe it or not Victor, they don’t use extra energy. The boots use the same forces geckos use to stick to walls. Plastic wrap works on the same principle—van der Waals, or electrostatic interaction. Your boots and a gecko’s foot have microscopic hairs called setae which are tipped with even smaller hairs called spatulae. There are so many of these hairs causing so much surface to surface interactions, a two ounce gecko can
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