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Stories from the Verse
Con Version
Chapter 198: Brown 355
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Takano 145
The chain appeared to have its desired effect, as the alien slumped, went limp, and began falling. I should catch him, Derek thought, that thought conflicting with the need to attempt once more to bring water from the river to douse the fire that had now started burning on the roof. He glanced toward the river--and was immediately distracted by the incoming fireball that was the first arsonist, the human with the jet pack, flying directly toward him.
Already airborne, he did the simple thing, going into a corkscrew descent which took him rapidly below the incoming human missile. He realized that this might be a bad choice after he made it, because it would be easy for the attacker to change direction and target him with the flame. He shifted, flying laterally to the course of his adversary to make it more difficult, and angled upward to return to the same level. Uncertain what to do next, he drew the knives and again tossed them telekinetically. He didn t want to kill the villain, but if he could find a way to disable the jet pack that would bring down and disarm him.
Still using the knives, he zoomed in with his clairvoyance to get a better look at the target. There were hoses connecting the fuel supply to the rocket engine. Bringing both knives in close, he cut both hoses. Fuel began drooling from the hoses, and the engine sputtered.
Suddenly there was a huge fireball. The final coughs of flame from the rocket engine had ignited the stream from the fuel tank and followed it to the source. There was a brief scream--the man s protective suit had given him enough time and enough air to feel the pain and make that noise before the explosion finished him.
The rapid-burning high-concentration fuel burned itself out almost instantly, and the charred human form with the attached molten metal and plastic mass started plunging toward the ground. Oops, Derek thought. He grabbed the body telekinetically and lowered it to the grass below, then turned his attention back to the river.
The fire department had arrived, and was setting up on the street below. He ignored them and once more grabbed as large a volume of water as he could, raising it from the river and moving it toward himself and the burning building behind him. This time he let it take its time, and as it arrived he passed it over the top of the building, lowered it to touch the roof where it began dousing flames, and released it. It poured down, steam rising from many places in the building, but he quickly scanned the ground and found a place where he could land and transform hopefully unnoticed.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with eleven other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #521: Versers Act. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
