“So what I want to know,” Loki peered cautiously around a corner to make sure no one was in sight before proceeding. “Is why this thing is so big? The more advanced technology requires less space to produce more propulsion, so this thing isn’t taken up by engines like the LHOP was.”
“I’d assume it’s a troop carrier. It has to be. That must be how the proto-Americans get around so quickly, the damned airships just disgorge them.”
“Which explains why it seems to be almost empty now.”
Aleiki looked at him questioningly. “It does?”
Loki shrugged. “Sure. All the ground forces are occupied invading Haven.”
Aleiki nodded. “It was enemy territory, they didn’t know how many troops they’d need…” she looked up. “They’d send an overwhelming force, wipe out everything.”
“Leaving a skeleton crew behind on the ship.” Loki was grinning. “We might have a chance to take this thing.”
“No. No way.” Aleiki vehemently shook her head. “Stealing a proto-American airship?”
“We stole a French airship once, remember?”
“And crashed it into another ship, Cthulhu, and a mall before we were done!” Aleiki was getting agitated. “And we don’t even know how to work this thing!”
The sudden discharge of Gisiebob’s shotgun brought the argument to an abrupt end. Angry voices sounded at the other end of the hallway, and Loki grabbed his friend and yanked him back around a corner as bullets began to tear into the material of the walls.
“What the hell was that?” Aleiki demanded. “Are you trying to get us killed?”
Gisiebob grinned proudly. Loki swore and fired down the hall, then ducked back and swore again. He looked up at his sister. “We’ll have to go around. There’s no way we can get down that hall alive.”
Aleiki nodded, and turned down the side door they’d just come out of. She disappeared briefly, and then reappeared, walking backwards, a gun barrel held inches from her face. Loki swore again as half a dozen soldiers filed into the corner, and more appeared from the hall they’d been headed down.
“Thanks, Burt.” Loki glared at the still smiling man as he was forced to his knees and handcuffed at gunpoint.
The three of them were now captives in the heart of the enemy stronghold.
***************************************************************
“This is retarded. Are we even going anywhere?” Donovan called ahead to the Man, who had been leading them on what seemed like a wild goose chase for the last hour. The streets and avenues of Montreal were all nearly identical after half a decade of disuse and destruction. Grass and roots grew through cracks and gouges in the crumbling sidewalks, and cars stood empty and burned out every few blocks, charred memorials to life before the end. Donovan was sick of the whole thing. He’d spent enough time wandering the streets when he’d first been transported here.
The Man ignored him. Donovan advanced to walk beside him. “I asked you a question. Least you could do is answer it.”
The Man snorted. “I owe you nothing, boyo. I’m taking you home, because for some reason Loki thinks you sorry little children can keep this future from ever happening. But you know what I think?” A soulless grin split his face, and Donovan thought he saw a glimpse of the old executive murderer shine through. “I think there’s not a thing you can do. I think that the only thing this is going to accomplish is to get you out of my way so I can do my job.”
“Ten years, and you’re still the same asshole you were when you sentenced us to die at the hands of a horde of ravenous monsters.” Donovan shook his head. “Go to hell.”
The Man’s grin vanished. “I’ve been in hell for the last six years. You at least died early on. Lucky fucking you. And now you get to leave! You get to go home to your cozy little bed, your happy gang of buddies. I live in hell, because my own government was too desperate to think clearly. So fuck you.”
**************************************************************
“Bob? Have you seen Shmoo around lately?” Sami was sitting on the living room couch, eating an ice cream bar and watching MTV. Gisiebob remained glued to the computer, playing Starcraft at an almost frantic pace, and didn’t even look up to respond.
“What?”
“I said, have you seen Shmoo? I haven’t seen him in days.”
Gisiebob shrugged, and ordered a nuclear missile strike on a Protoss base.
Sami frowned. “You’re a fascinating conversation partner. I just wanted you to know that.” She rose from the couch, donned a jacket, and grabbed her purse. “I’m going out. I might be back later.”
Gisiebob turned from his game only when her back was already turned, and stared after her as she walked out the front door.
**************************************************************
Captain Loki, of the USAF Richard Nixon, crouched on the floor, inches from the prisoner who’d just been brought before him. The doppelganger’s resemblance was uncanny, and Captain Loki scratched at his chin as he inspected the other man.
“Remarkable.” He stood, and forced the other Loki’s head to the side, searching. He had a small scar on his scalp from a childhood fight, which this copy did not share. “Not a perfect copy after all.” He let the man’s head fall back, and smirked at the look of raw impotent hatred on the other Loki’s face.
As he relaxed back into his chair, he signaled to the guards on either side of his double. They hauled the man roughly to his feet.
“I have a number of questions for you, as might imagine. If I were an impatient man, I might start with the most obvious…but let’s begin with how you managed to get aboard my ship in the first place, hm? And who your friends are.”
Loki glared silently back at himself, refusing to speak. He knew that Gisiebob and Aleiki had been taken to the ship’s brig, and he was just hoping they could avoid being beaten to death by the jailers long enough to get free.
The Captain sighed, and rubbed his temples. “This will go a lot easier for you if you just give me what I want.” He rose abruptly from is chair and slammed a fist into his doppelganger’s gut. “Of course, I’ll enjoy it more if you keep quiet.”
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