Road to Venis, Pt. 2

It is a very scenic trip around the fjord. So far the dirt path on which Doc navigates deviates only slightly from the street map his sunglasses generated. But there are a few bridges on the modern map Doc wonders about, one of which is approaching quickly.

Doc slows down as they approach. There's no bridge, but the crossing is a wet little trickle of a creek. He takes the Jeep carefully down and up the rocky banks. The road continues on.

It is mid summer now but the temperature is in the high forties according to the Jeep's external thermometer. The trees and grass are bright green. Sheep and cattle wander the rolling foothills, dining on the season's bounty. A black Escalade is following behind. The water of the fjord is calm, as bright a blue as Earth will see in the coming centuries. Villagers stare in terror and wonderment as the Jeep cruises gently by.

Doc checks the rear view mirror again. He wouldn't have given it a second thought if he hadn't just passed a medieval farmhouse, but there is, in fact, a black Escalade following them.

The HUD sunglasses give the familiar "Welcome to Q-Net!" ding as the Younger Brother Pear has either come around the curvature of the Earth or launched a relay satellite. There is an immediate burst of static as the signal clears.

"Doc! Come in Doc!" Steve calls frantically.

"I'm here," Doc replies.

Brother Broderick looks at him funny.

"We're not the only ones in orbit. There's an Exkorean gunship up here."

"There's a black Escalade following us down here. I thought that seemed out of place."

"Are they attacking?"

"Not yet, but they're getting closer."

"Alright. I've sent Veroncia to take out the gunship. I'll tell her to get down there as soon as she can."

3 comments:

ERR said...

PS The list was

1. Nothing
2. Wolves
3. Bears
4. Troll
5. Lindworm
6. Exkoreans
7. REDACTED
8. Viking Raiders
9. Saxon Invaders
10. Frightened Villagers

ERR said...

I'll use number 7 as a future plot point; not necessarily better or worse than Exkoreans.

Doc said...

Why did I have to pick 6...

Wolves, bears, trolls, raiders, invaders, and villagers would have been nice, but no, I gotta pick 6. The one option that has guns, and they might be as good as ours.

Crap.

Okay. Questions: How many of these missles do we have for the SMAW MK153 Missile Launcher? The inventory says we have them, but not how many. How far away are the Exkoreans and how quickly are they closing? If we are back in time would the Exkoreans even know who we were anyway?

My first thought is to try and out run them. Sure, the Jeep isn't built for speed but I'm sure I can get it places that their "ton-o-bricks" Cadilliac isn't going to make it, but in an open stretch they may have me. If we get far enough ahead to find some hard cover and use a missle on them, that would be great! I don't know that one missle would end our troubles, but it would certainly cut them down to size. Shooting the missle from inside the Jeep is not an option, and if the .50 cal isn't mounted, there isn't much chance of us using that either. Thunderhorse might be stong enough to hold and fire it, but I don't think he could hit anything. So that leaves us with only sidearms. We can use those from the moving Jeep but I'm certain there are "to hit" penalties to be reckoned with. If the lay of the land is anything like the photo, there doesn't seem to be and rough ground we could lose them over.

Crap.

Tell Brother Broderick to duck. Tell Thunderhorse and Mark to ready their railguns and prepare to start shooting when I give the signal, or they fire on us. Acelerate the Jeep. With any luck, they don't know who we are yet and this will just turn into a pleasent romp of losing them in a gully and none of us get shot. I can't drive and medic too. Should the opportunity arise where we can ambush them, so be it.

Doc