Unexpected Encounter 11
06 Apr 2016Rebecca Hail
Rebecca dropped the imager and pushed herself away from the edge of the roof as fast as she could and Kenneth had trouble holding his balance.A muffled boom came from the staircase. Apparently the tremors set the trap off.
Then the shaking ceased after some more seconds.
"What the f*ck was that?" he spoke slightly panicked. Obviously he didn't enjoy sitting on the roof of a more than 100 meter high building during an earthquake.
"Dunno. Maybe tectonic stuff?" She answered as calm as possible but with a visible pale face.
"I grew up here. This isn't even close to an earthquake zone."
"Whatever it was, I don't want to be up here when it happens again, so lets get out of here."
"And how?"
"The colonel arranged evacuation by air for us. A helicopter should be here in a few minutes."
"And the AAs?"
"I don't know what's planned. Going down the staircase isn't really an option and I don't want to be in that hoistway during the next earthquake."
"If there is a next earthqu..." He didn't finish his sentence. Instead a mix out of confusion and surprise appeared on his face.
"What?"
He just pointed with her finger somewhere behind her. She turned around and saw how the gigantic shield, a perfect usually transparent hemisphere protecting the inner city districts and the skyline, began glowing blue. The blue intensified and spread over the whole shield, some spots turned whiteish and became transparent again. Holes, holes in a shield, which had protected the city for centuries and resisted the combined artillery fire and bombardement of ground, air, and spaceforces for weeks. The holes tore through the shield and grew bigger and bigger until suddenly the blue was divided into an upper and a lower part. The size of the gap increased rapidly and it was foreseeable that the shield would be gone within the next minute. The sight was shocking, fascinating and confusing at the same time.
"So does that mean we won?" Kenneth asked, still shocked from the sight.
"Probably not, if they plan on using the city ever again." she answered.
She turned to the north looking for artillery fire and missiles climbing into the sky. Nothing.
"ALL UNITS, RETREAT IMMEDIATELY. ALL UNITS, RETREAT IMMEDIATELY." a familiar deep voice shouted through the crackling coms.
The last gunfire noises ceased and engine noises came from the mainroad of the district.
"Archer One, this is Silver Hawk 3. Please tell me you're ready for evac. Over." His voice sounded rushed and a little bit feared.
"Silver Hawk 3, copy, we're ready for evac. Over." She answered.
"Roger, ETA: Something around a minute. Out."
She signed Kenneth to grab his backpack, then she grabbed hers.
"What about all the other stuff I carried up here?"
"Take your gun, your backpack and the AMR. Leave the rest here."
Not even thirty seconds later, the slender frame of a helicopter shot past the building, braking by directing both of his large double rotors, which were mounted on movable suspensions over both sidedoors, against his direction of movement. The pilot tilted his rotors slightly and the helicopter made a sharp turn towards the building.
"That dude sure is in a hurry." Kenneth mumbled.
The side doors of the helicopter were slid open and a soldier with full gear stood in the frame, two safety lines in his hand.
Kenneth and Rebecca ducked and looked on the ground as the heli hovered above the roof and kicked a lot of dust and smoke from the staircase up.
It touched down a few meters away from them on the roof and they ran with their heads lowered towards the helicopter. The soldier jumped out and hooked the safety lines into Kenneths and Rebeccas gear then they boarded the aircraft.
The pilot pushed the throttle forwards and the aircraft took off from the roof.
"What's going on? Why are we retreating?", Rebecca shouted over the noise of the rotors.
The soldier ignored her and pulled himself against the forces of acceleration to the door leading into the cockpit instead. Rebecca followed him until she could look into the cockpit.
The soldier shouted to the pilot: "Did we make it in time?"
The pilot lifted his hand from the throttle and pointed towards a orange glowing cloud front high above in the sky.
"No, we didn't."