10,000 FEET ABOVE GIBSON DESERT (SOUTH AUSTRALIA)

Taiki closed his eyes, reflecting on the events of the past couple of months. The Sentinel had once saved his life in a way that, had he tried to go to the authorities and describe it, would have landed him in a mental hospital. Instead, he decided to stay on the run, living his life with one eye checking over his shoulder. Shard and Skalir aided him in his survival however they could, and Taiki doubted that he would not be alive if those two were not present.

But in return for saving his life, the Sentinel had ordered him to watch over those two Reed kids. Taiki had absolutely no idea what was so special about them. While he had to admit that the girl had some impressive driving skills, the boy seemed to be ordinary. There was nothing between them that was special that he could see; no common factor that told him why they were so important to the Sentinel. Except for being Elementai, of course. But that couldn’t be the only reason - Taiki was sure of that.

He’d never admit it to anyone, but ever since he started living on the run he was plagued by frequent nightmares. The Sentinel had shown him what would happen if he did not cooperate, and often Shard or Skalir would find him tossing and turning in his sleep only to wake up in an agitated state. Since the day he ran, he hadn’t gotten a single night of good sleep.

Even here, in the security of the plane, that sleep eluded him. Sighing, he raised his hand. ‘Excuse me,’ Taiki hailed a passing flight attendant that was checking that the overhead compartments were closed securely. ‘May I have a bottle of water?’

‘Certainly, sir,’ the attendant nodded, glanced at his closed overhead compartment, then moved towards the galley. Taiki stood up and walked towards the rear of the plane, stretching his legs and trying to clear his thoughts.

He walked as far aft as he could, then walked back towards the front of the plane. He met the flight attendant from earlier and accepted his bottle of water. Turning, he began walking back to his seat.

He passed the Reeds. Kali was asleep, and Joshua was looking out of the window. The seats in front of them were empty, so Taiki slipped in and sat in the seat in front of Joshua, turned around so as to face the boy. ‘Penny for your thoughts?’ he said with a half-smile.

Joshua didn’t look at him, but continued to stare at the engine on the wing. ‘Taiki, why are you doing this?’

‘Let’s just say that it’s a personal matter,’ was the reply. Joshua looked curiously at him but Taiki just sternly stared back. Don’t push the issue, Joshua.

Joshua’s eyebrows furrowed. ‘You know, Taiki, just one year ago I was on summer vacation without a care in the world. If you had walked up to me then and told me that I would be headed across the country to find some artifact because my sister and I had some unusual abilities, and that we would be accompanied by intelligent animals from another universe, I would have laughed in your face. Now,’ he paused for a moment, then shrugged.

Taiki recognised all the nuances that were in that shrug. Joshua was unsure of himself, not certain of what conclusion to draw or even what to do. ‘Yeah, I know,’ he nodded, getting up. ‘Trust me, I know exactly what you mean.’ A year ago I was at the worst moment of my life.

He headed back to his seat and sat down. Leaning back, he stared at the ceiling of the plane, completely bored. The slightly-ajar overhead compartment stared back at him.

Slightly ajar? Taiki frowned, and sat up. When he had left his seat, it had been closed.

He stood up and opened the door completely. There was some kind of bag inside; a black duffle bag with the edge of a marking facing him. He reached in and rotated the bag until the logo faced him.

He stared, an icy cold creeping through his veins as he stared at the symbol that faced him.

It was an § symbol.

In the English language, it was known as a section sign, commonly used in document indexing. However, Taiki knew that the sign was used for something else. Something hidden from the general public.

Something dangerous.

He grabbed the bag and began walking towards the bathrooms, determination in his steps. Entering the small bathroom stall, he closed the door and lowered the plastic panel that was secured to the wall. He dropped the bag onto it and unzipped it open. Turning the bag upside down he dumped its contents onto the baby changing table. Several small, plastic cases fell out and crashed loudly onto the plastic table.

‘Sir, are you okay in there?’ a voice filtered past the door, probably alarmed by the loud noise he had made.

‘I’m fine!’ he called back and began opening the cases.

The first case was made of a leathery material. He pulled the zip around the outside and spilled its contents onto the table. About four dozen passports belonging to various countries looked up at him. He grabbed one and flipped through its contents.

The passport belonged to Joshua Reed. The boy’s photograph was in the cover, except that the rest of it was completely wrong. The name in the passport was ‘Richard Fremantle’ and it was a Romanian passport. According to the history pages, the passport had passed through England, the U.S.A., and Germany in the past six months.

He quickly checked the other passports. Every single passport had a unique name inside it, and belonged to one of nine countries. But the photographs remained consistent. The photographs were those of Joshua Reed, Kali Reed, himself, and a couple of faces that he didn’t recognise.

He stuffed the passports back inside the soft case then moved onto the next one. He pulled the plastic clips and lifted the hard lid up.

The black, shiny casing of an M9 pistol stared back at him. In one corner, secured with the gun in black foam, were a couple of clips. No doubt these were filled with ammunition. Taiki’s breathing became shallowed in fear. The M9 was a firearm commonly used by the U.S. Military for the past two decades. He closed the case and checked the next case.

It too held a hand-held weapon, however Taiki had never seen its kind before. It resembled a handgun in shape, however there were no magazine in the case. Instead of magazines, it had a single glass cylinder. He removed the item from the black foam and held it in his hand. It had no trigger where his forefinger should be, however where his thumb rested at the top of the gun’s handle was a square button. A sliding electronic switch was on the side of the object. Most curious of all, however, was that a section of the barrel was missing.

Looking down, he saw a piece of paper in the black foam underneath the weapon’s foam insert. He put the “gun” down and removed the paper. Unfolding it, he scanned its contents. It was an invoice of some kind, however the shipper and destination details were blank. The only field filled out was the item description.

‘Class VII Neuropistol,’ he read under his breath. ‘What in the world?’ He put the paper and the neuropistol back in the case, then moved on.

The next case contained a single block of C4 plastic explosive and a detonator. He closed that case and moved on.

He was not liking this one bit. C4, a military-grade firearm, and an unknown form of weapon, as well as fake passports for him and the Reeds?

He didn’t like where this was going.



ITIC CHICAGO (UNITED STATES)

Reese looked up from her notes as the computer beeped. The words “MATCH FOUND” flashed on the screen. She pressed the Enter key and glanced at the list.


INTERNATIONAL DATABASE SEARCH

DB PARAMETERS: ALL

KEYWORDS: AGE < 21 YR (AND) ABSENT FROM HOME (AND) ELECTRICAL DISTURBANCES < 1 WK PREV (AND) BANK DEPOSIT QTY > 100000 TIME < 1 WK


RESULTS

* REED, JOSHUA (M). AUSTRALIA. (VICTORIA POLICE)
* REED, KALI (F). AUSTRALIA. (VICTORIA POLICE)

Reese nodded and double-clicked on the two names, bringing up the Victoria Police reports. She scanned the documents. According to these, they had been witnessed with an unknown Asian male fleeing a Victorian suburb in a vehicle, causing property damages and endangering the lives of civilians in the process.

She needed to find out where they were. Flexing her fingers, she began a new search.



INTERNATIONAL DATABASE SEARCH

DB PARAMETERS: TRANSPORT

COUNTRY: AU

KEYWORDS: REED, JOSHUA (OR) REED, KALI

She began the search and leaned back, watching the flashing “Searching” graphic on her screen.



Taiki stared at the contents of the next case. Inside it was an ordinary cell phone with a small booklet. He checked the booklet, and frowned. ‘Class IV Universal Network Interface,’ he read. He had heard of these before, but at that time they were still in development. Evidently the design had been finalised.

There was one more case, which he opened. What was inside, though, wasn’t what he had been expecting. ‘Sunglasses?’ he wondered, removing them from the foam and checking them over. They appeared ordinary enough, but when he looked closely he could see a tiny glass lens built into the outer edge of the inside of the lenses. In addition, there were tiny bumps running along the outside of the frames. There was no instruction booklet. Baffled, he put them back in the case and closed it.



Reese’s computer beeping, indicating that it had found her requested information.



RESULTS

* REED, JOSHUA. SOUTHERN COAST AIRLINES FLIGHT #QA233. ROW 9, SEAT 1.
* REED, KALI. SOUTHERN COAST AIRLINES FLIGHT #QA233. ROW 9, SEAT 2.

They were on a plane? She wasn’t liking this. She stared a new search.



KEYWORDS: SOUTHERN COAST AIRLINES FLIGHT #QA233 (AND) DETAILS (AND) APRIL 2011

The results appeared almost instantly.


RESULTS
DEPART SYDNEY NSW (AUSTRALIA) 23-APR-09/15.15
ARRIVE PERTH WA (AUSTRALIA) 23-APR-09/17.25

She picked up the phone. ‘Julie! I need to contact an Australian aircraft… yes, that’s right… encrypted, yes… Southern Coast Airlines… Quebec Alfa two three three…’



‘Time to get out of here,’ Taiki muttered as he put the hard cases back inside the loose duffle bag. He zipped it back up, but stopped at the last moment as something white caught his eye inside the bag. Reaching in, he removed an item that hadn’t fallen out earlier.

It was an envelope. Handwritten on the front in capital letters was a single name.



SAITO

Frowning, he unsealed the envelope.



‘This is the captain speaking,’ the captain of the Southern Coast Airlines flight spoke over the radio.

‘Captain, this is Lieutenant Collins of the International Terrorism Intelligence Commission.’ The captain’s face went pale and gripped the control stick firmly. ‘I have reason to believe that there are three terrorists on board your flight.’

Swallowing, the captain turned to his first officer. ‘Give me that passenger checklist, would you Frank?’ A few moments later, the clipboard was in his hand. ‘What are their names?’ he asked over the radio.

‘Shade, Taiki. Reed, Joshua. Reed, Kali.’ There was a pause. ‘Can you confirm that those names are listed on your manifest?’

The captain nodded. ‘Affirmative. Those three individuals are on board.’

At ITIC Headquarters, Reese looked up at Christopher. ‘Understood. Now listen to me very carefully. I want you to give those three names to the air marshall, is that understood?’

‘Understood.’

Reese kept her eyes on the phone. Christopher looked at her sternly. ‘Let’s hope this doesn’t turn into another disaster,’ he told her.

She nodded.



Taiki’s envelope contained a postcard with no illustration on the front. It appeared to be the kind you bought at stores with the intention of printing your own postcards from home.

There was a word written on it.


RUN

Taiki turned the card over, and saw that it had a bit of extra advice on the back.


NOW



‘Sir?’

The Air Marshall Gregory Wheaton looked up at the flight attendant. She was holding out a folded piece of paper. ‘Thanks,’ he replied as he took the paper and unfolded it.

Terrorist suspects on board, the note read. It listed three seat numbers, and ended with the signature of the captain.

He looked up and saw a little girl staring at him. He smiled assuringly. To the passengers he looked like a common passenger. ‘Telegram,’ he said, holding up the folded piece of paper.

The girl looked back at her book, already bored.

Wheaton stood up and slowly walked forward, scouting the seats in question. Two of them were occupied by a girl and a boy, probably in their late teens. This can’t be right, he thought. Then he remembered that age wasn’t really a factor when it came to potential suspects. Anybody could be a terrorist in this day and age.

The third seat was empty. When he reached the flight attendants station he tapped one of them on the shoulder. He showed his badge. ‘Excuse me, have you seen the occupant of that seat there?’ He pointed to the empty seat.

‘Ah, yes. He’s in the restroom.’

‘Thank you. Stand by, please.’ He checked the note, which had a name next to the seat number.

Wheaton pulled his firearm and disengaged the safety. He ignored the startled look from the flight attendant as he knocked on the door. ‘Taiki Shade,’ he called through the door, ‘this is Air Marshall Gregory Wheaton. You are under arrest for suspicion of terrorism. I am armed and I will use force if necessary. Open the door and come out with your hands where I can see them.’

There was no answer. ‘Can you unlock this door?’ he asked the flight attendant.

The man nodded and disappeared out of sight for a moment. When he reappeared, he had a key.

Wheaton took the key and unlocked the door. ‘I repeat: I am armed and I am coming in.’

He pulled the door open, weapon at the ready. Confused, he lowered his weapon. ‘Are you sure he was in here?’

The attendant nodded. ‘Positive.’

Wheaton paused, an uneasy feeling washing over him. Ducking his head through the door leading to the passenger cabin, he looked for the two teenagers from earlier.

Their seats were empty.

He turned to the wide-eyed flight attendant. ‘Do you have a handsfree radio I can use to talk the cockpit?’ Nodding, the attendant reached into a small locker and removed a Bluetooth earpiece. Wheaton switched it on and placed it over his ear. ‘Thanks.’

He walked briskly into the passenger cabin, heading aft with determination. ‘Captain, this is Air Marshall Wheaton.’

‘This is the captain,’ he heard through the earpiece. ‘Do you have them?'

‘No sir. They appear to have disappeared without my noticing.’

There was a pause. ‘Understood. I’ve got the ITIC on the line. Stand by.’

Wheaton frowned. If the ITIC was involved then these three were major players on the field of world security. The only ITIC took over cases that superseded the authority of any one nation. ‘Air Marshall Wheaton?’ a woman’s voice came over the communication links.

‘Yes, ma’am?’

‘My name is Lieutenant Collins. The three terrorists on your plane are involved with, or associated with people suspected with, attacks on various science and medical research facilities across the world.’

‘What kind of research?’

‘Science and medical, air marshall,’ the tense reply said sternly. ‘Need to know basis.’

Wheaton nodded. Classified. Lovely, he thought.

‘Give me an update on their last-known locations.’

‘Shade exited the washroom, somehow exiting without anyone noticing. The other two were in their seats just before I tried to confront Shade. I don’t know their current location.’

‘That is an aircraft, Mr. Wheaton,’ Reese scowled into his ear. ‘There aren’t many hiding places.’

‘Yes there are!’ Wheaton snapped back. ‘There are hundreds of people on this plane. Without a photograph I have no means of identifying their face from a crowd.’

‘They will not try to hide in the open,’ Reese informed him. ‘Shade’s pattern of behavior indicates that he will attempt to flee the scene.’

‘How? We’re thousands of feet in the air.’

‘Five months ago we thought that we had him cornered on a flight flying in Europe. He had an explosive, and the air marshall on board that flight reported that Shade had a parachute. That plane was destroyed in the explosion, but Shade escaped.’

Wheaton was silent.

‘So, taking into account that information, where do you believe he’ll go?’

‘The cargo bay,’ Wheaton concluded. ‘It’s the only area of the plane where he could reside without drawing attention.’

‘Get down there and apprehend him. You have authority to shoot to kill.’

‘Understood. I’m on my way.’



After reading the note in the envelope, Taiki had realised that they were trapped. He grabbed the duffle bag and looked up in the mirror. ‘Skalir?’ he whispered. ‘Fold me into the back of the plane. But make it quiet.’

He felt his vision distort, and braced himself as the walls of the lavatory passed through him, as well as dozens of rows of seats and bodies. It unnerved him. He knew they couldn’t see him or feel him, and he couldn’t feel them, but it still felt uncomfortable.

Reality focused around him and he crashed into the wall of the unattended galley at the back of the aircraft. He fell to the floor, the duffle bag hitting the ground next to him. ‘Argh, Skalir!’ he hissed. ‘Careful next time!’

He brushed himself off, and began walking quickly forward again. In the next compartment over, he could see a man talking to a flight attendant. Taiki recognised the small bulge of a sidearm through the man’s jacket.

He reached the Reeds and knelt down in the walkway next to them. ‘Hey!’ he hissed. ‘We have get out of here.’

‘What?’ Joshua asked. ‘What about our stuff?’

‘Never mind about your stuff. Come on!’

Joshua shook Kali awake. ‘What?’ she asked sleepily.

‘The Syndicate found us,’ Taiki said grimly.

Kali snapped into full consciousness. ‘Okay, but this is an aircraft. What do you intend to do?’

‘Follow me.’ He quickly began walking aft. Confused, Joshua and Kali got to their feet and followed.

Right at the back of the aircraft, they reached a locked door. ‘This leads to the cargo area below,’ Taiki told them. ‘We need to get this door open.’

‘Can’t Skalir just fold space again and get us down there?’ Joshua asked.

‘Do you want to risk emerging outside the plane?’ he hissed back, deliberately not mentioning the risk he had taken minutes before in exiting the lavatory.

‘I suppose not,’ Joshua acknowledged.

‘I need you to call Forrest,’ Taiki told him. ‘He can be of use here.’

‘How do I do that?’ Joshua asked him.

‘Your Charzin are always able to hear what you say,’ Taiki told him. He glanced around, worried about running out of time. ‘Just call him!’

Joshua swallowed. ‘Uh, Forrest?’ He spoke into the empty air. ‘Care to appear?’

The air rippled, and Forrest materialised on the spot. ‘Hey, I’m always ready to help!’ he announced. ‘What can I do?’

‘We need you to get this door open,’ Taiki told him.

Forrest raised a head fin. ‘By brute force or by picking the lock?’

‘Bruce force. We don’t have time for the subtlety in picking the lock.’

‘But subtle is my best characteristic!’

‘Forrest,’ Kali said bluntly. ‘You are many things, but subtle is not one of them.’

Forrest looked hurt. ‘Fine.’ He looked back at the door. ‘Now, stand back and watch how a master does it!’

He took a few steps back. The door was only a meter away. The three humans watched as Forrest tensed his legs and threw himself forward, inducing a spin to the left as he did so.

Forrest slammed his right-leg against the door. Joshua stared as the door was instantly ripped off its hinges, crashing down the stairs behind it. Forrest’s momentum carried him with the door, sending him tumbling down the stairs with the door.

They quickly proceeded down the stairs, finding Forrest standing next to the fragmented door. ‘Admit it, you know I’m awesome,’ he beamed at them.

Joshua paused as the others continued walking deeper into the cargo area. The small lizard was starting to grow on him. He squatted down next to Forrest. ‘Care for a ride?’ he asked.

‘Do I ever say no?’ Forrest grinned and climbed onto Joshua’s back. With the Jhayn holding on securely, Joshua stood up and walked quickly towards the others. ‘What are we doing down here, Taiki?’

‘Get your stuff.’ He gestured to a cargo pallet, through which Joshua recognised the outline of his backpack. A minute later, Kali found her own bag. ‘We’re getting off this aircraft.’

‘I hate to raise this point,’ Forrest called out.

‘No you don’t,’ Joshua muttered.

‘No I don’t,’ Forrest correct himself, ‘but if we leave the airplane now won’t we, you know, die? And by “we” I mean “you”, since I have a means of escape.’

‘I chose this airline because they have a policy of carrying enough parachutes for passengers, in case they need to evacuate in midair,’ Taiki told them. ‘They are usually stowed in the ceiling above the seats, but they keep a few down here.’ He opened a compartment on the wall and removed three parachutes. ‘I’ll trigger the cargo door opening mechanism. They’ll see the indicator light flashing in the cockpit and close the door from there. The passengers will be startled for a few minutes, but we’ll be able to escape while nobody gets hurt. Now hurry up and get these-’

‘Hold it right there! Federal Air Marshall!’ a voice shouted from the back of the plane.

Taiki turned around and saw a man standing between them and the cargo hatch. He was pointing a pistol at them, and had a Bluetooth unit attached to his right ear. ‘Slowly put your bags and the parachutes down on the floor and take three steps back,’ he ordered them. The man touched the earpiece, seemingly making sure that it was still there. ‘Lieutenant Reese, I have my weapon trained on the three suspects. What is your recommendation?’

Taiki looked at the air marshall. He then looked back at the Reeds. While his face was turned away from the air marshall, he whispered a single word: ‘hide’.

He then dived to the side. The air marshall opened fire instantly, the bullets ricocheting against the cargo pallets. Joshua and Kali threw themselves behind some cargo pallets. Within a couple of seconds, they had disappeared from view.

‘Suspects have taken cover,’ they heard the air marshall report. After a pause, ‘Understood’.

Taiki reached up and removed a random bag from the cargo pallet he was hiding behind. Zipping it open, he searched for anything he could use.

The bag held only clothing. He grabbed a second bag and continued searching, this time finding a cordless electric razor. He pocketed it.

He glanced above the pallet. The air marshall was getting close.

Ducking, he quickly continued forward until he was about ten meters ahead of the officer. He removed the cordless razor and placed it on top of a cargo pallet. He switched it on.

The razor emitted a buzzing sound. The air marshall looked in the direction of the sound as Taiki retraced his steps back to the Reed’s position, slipping by the officer without being noticed.

‘Are you guys all right?’ he whispered as he sat on the ground next to the Reeds. ‘Where’s Forrest?’

‘Forrest escaped into his space pocket as soon as that guy began shooting,’ Joshua told him. ‘We’re fine, but how are we going to get out of here without the air marshall getting killed?’

Taiki realised what he was talking about. He had dropped the parachutes when he had dived for cover, and they were now out of reach - the air marshall had kicked them to the side. If the external door was opened now then the air pressure would blow all four of them out of the aircraft. ‘We have to get those parachutes,’ he whispered.

‘Stay very still,’ a stern voice said from above them. Despite the order, all three of them slowly looked upwards.

The air marshall was looking down at them, weapon trained squarely at Taiki’s head. ‘With the authority of the Australian Defence Force and the ITIC, you three are hereby under arrest for suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities.’

Taiki knew that there was only one course of action. He did not want to put it into effect because it would probably result in their deaths.

However, if he did nothing now, then they will be prevented from carrying out the tasks the Sentinel wishes them to do. Taiki sighed. ‘I’m sorry,’ he told the others.

‘Is there something you wish to say?’ the air marshall inquired.

Taiki nodded. ‘Yes, there is. Skalir, take us skydiving.’

‘What?’ the officer asked, baffled by the statement.

‘Skydiving?’ Kali asked, eyes widening. She realised what he was thinking. ‘You’re insane.’

It took a few seconds, during which Taiki guessed Skalir was trying to decide whether to obey an order that would probably get them killed.

But then he saw the officer blur above them, and suddenly all three of them were flying towards the back of the aircraft. They passed harmlessly through the cargo pallets, although Taiki flinched when they passed through the hull.

His vision focused, and he was immediately assaulted by a strong blast of wing as the air was sucked from his lungs. The jet stream of the Boeing airplane send all three of them into an uncontrollable spin.

They were thousands of feet above the ground, with just their bags and no parachutes.

Without parachutes, they had a high probability of dying upon impact with the ground. But Taiki wasn’t planning on dying just yet.

Looking at white jet trail stretching behind the quickly-receding aircraft, an idea came to mind.

It just might work.



Taiki had never tried skydiving. Relatives had told him that he was being too single-minded regarding the activity, but the act of strapping a parachute to one’s back and jumping out of an aircraft at high altitude had always struck him as being rather idiotic. It doesn’t matter how many times you do it or how experienced you are - it was too easy to die, in his opinion. He had actually done research into the activity a few months back that had convinced him of this. People had landed in cold water without wearing the proper clothing; many times people had gotten entangled in their parachute lines, as well as failing to activate their parachute in time; skydivers had collided with each other; some had suffered heart attacks or similar health issues whilst diving; hitting the ground whilst in the middle of a maneuver; skydiving past fixed objects and getting ensnared in them - all of these things made skydiving much too dangerous to engage in.

Bringing this to mind doesn’t help the situation, though, Taiki thought as the cold wind bit at his skin and his clothes flapped. Forcing his eyes to open against the sharp wind and angling his body to stop spinning head over toe, he checked their exact location. Joshua, Kali, and himself were falling through empty space without any parachutes, the sky brilliant blue above them and the golden-brown desert below them stretching from horizon to horizon with pockets of vegetation here and there. The Charzin were gone, safe in their pockets of parallel space.

He tried to breathe, but found that his lungs ached with the effort. Not enough air pressure, he realised. Think, Taiki. Think. He noticed that Kali had managed to adopt a horizontal skydiving position, and was now reaching out to her brother and guiding him into a similar position - parallel to the ground, with arms and legs splayed out. Very good, he nodded approvingly. Slow down as much as you can while we figure this out.

He closed his eyes and searched through his memory. The plane was traveling at an altitude of thirty-four thousand feet. That’s… He desperately did the conversion in his head. That’s ten and a half kilometers. In this position, our terminal velocity should be about two hundred kilometers per hour. That’s, what, about six to six and a half kilometers per minute. That means we only have about a minute and a half - no, a minute now - before we hit the ground.

Taiki opened his eyes and saw that the Reeds were looking across at him, fear in their eyes. He looked at his glove and reviewed his idea formed in his mind. It might work, but it will hurt, he knew. Wincing, he opened his mouth and managed to whisper. ‘Shard, I need your help here.’

After a few agonising moments, the air rippled and Shard materialised with a distorted ripple. The canine yelped as it was assaulted by the atmosphere. The air was still cold, having sucked the heat away from their skin earlier, but Taiki could start to feel a hint of heat in the air. ‘Shard, Coldfront.’

Shard nodded, and closed his eyes. Taiki glanced at the approaching ground. Fifty seconds.

Taiki looked back at the canine, and waited. Shard’s skin was glowing softly, and emitting from his major arteries and veins was a white glow, filtering through the black and white fur. After a couple of seconds, the air around Shard began glowing a soft white as well. The air around Shard was condensing, creating fog as it rapidly chilled.

Shard’s eyes snapped open. Taiki quickly pointed the palms of his hands at the fog and gestured it downward. Like paint under the control of an artist’s brush, the fog was pushed down to about a couple of hundred meters beneath them. Taiki spread his hands outwards, and the fog spread in unison, shaping itself into an irregular shape. Forty seconds.

Taiki squeezed his palms into fists, and the fog suddenly solidified into a solid sheet of ice, a couple of feet thick, tilted on an angle, and spread out several meters in width and length. Immediately assaulted underneath by the wind as it fell, it immediately hit its terminal velocity which was considerably slower than the humans’.

Taiki braced himself, pulling his knees up to his chest and aiming to hit the ice feet-first as it rushed up to greet them. The Reeds didn’t have time to copy him.

All three humans and Shard hit the ice - Shard and Taiki landing on their feet and managing to ‘skate’ across the icy surface whilst the Reeds hit the ice on an angle and began rolling awkwardly along the surface.

It only took a couple of seconds for them to slide off the edge and back into the air, but Taiki and Shard were ready again. A fog surrounded Shard, and Taiki manipulated it underneath them, this time only making it about a foot thick.

They impacted it, knocking the wind out of the Reeds. ‘Shard, again! Give me a continuous Coldfront! Then get outta here!’

Fog encapsulated Shard, but Taiki funneled away from his canine companion and ahead of them. The four of them slid off the edge of the second ice sheet. ‘We’re not going to slow down enough like this!’ Kali shouted.

Taiki didn’t have time to reply. He gestured the fog away from Shard and directly underneath them. The sand dunes were starting to become uncomfortably big. Ten seconds at most. I hope this works. He concentrated, then closed his fists.

Another ice sheet formed underneath them, this one nearly ten meters long and wide but only about an inch thick. The air rippled next to him, and Shard disappeared into his space pocket.

Taiki knew that the only way they could slow down was to have something counter their speed. When a rocket is launched, the thrust of its engines pushes against the Earth’s gravity. When a car slams on its brakes, the friction of the brakes and the tyres slows it down. Taiki was using the only brakes he had available.

The group slammed into the ice sheet, immediately shattering it. What only Taiki knew, though, was that underneath this sheet was another sheet. And beyond that, another. Using Shard’s ice abilities, Taiki had frozen the air into multiple large but thin layers of ice. They were large so that they would collide with the falling group as slow as possible, absorbing as much as their speed as they could. But they were also kept thin so that they wouldn’t cause permanent injuries upon impact.

Had they been smashing through glass, then their skin would have been cut to ribbons. Ice, however, is slippery and therefore far less likely to lacerate in this situation.

After smashing their way through a couple of dozen consecutive ice sheets, they finally hit a final layer that Taiki had created - this one was again a thin layer, but it was slanted so that instead of shattering when they collided with it the ice layer sent them rolling to the side.

Another couple of seconds of sidewards freefall, and they bodies met sand. Eyes squeezed closed and mouthes clamped shut, arms pulled protectively over their faces, the three of them continued rolling across the level sand.

Taiki was the first to stop, rolling over a few clumps of spinifex grasses. Quick as a dart, he reached out and grabbed the grass with both hands, skidding around in an arc with his shoes digging into the sand and his hands acting as a fulcrum. As he stopped he burst out in a cough, rolling onto his back and gasping for breath.

Joshua was the next one to stop rolling. He slammed into the trunk of an acacia tree, groaning as the wind was knocked of him.

Kali didn't crash into anything, but simply rolled to a stop.

For a few moments, there was nothing but silence. Then the air rippled, and one of the Charzin emerged from their space pocket.

The first thing he saw was that none of the humans were moving. Knowing that they had just fallen over ten kilometers without a parachute, he knew that it was a distinct possibility that they were dead. But there was a way to find out.

Joshua groaned as he felt something hard - somebody’s knuckles - tapped against his forehead. After a moment, a finger began pushing at his head. He opened his eyes, and squinted into the desert sun. After a moment, the figure standing above him came into focus and, more importantly, shifted over to block the glare of the sun.

Joshua groaned. He had just fallen from the sky, smashing through icy sheets to slow down, gotten brushed in the process, and winded by crashing into a tree trunk. The last thing he wanted to see was Forrest’s beaming, cheerful face. ‘Wattaya shmilayin nat?’ he mumbled, his tongue sore after nearly biting it off upon touchdown.

Forrest raised a single head fin. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

Joshua tried to push himself up, but pain lanced its way up his arm and he collapsed. Biting off a scream, his eyes watered as he looked at his arm. A piece of white bone was protruding from the skin. ‘My arm’s broken.’

Forrest winced. ‘Ow.’ He looked over at the others. ‘Let me help you with that.’

Over by the spinifex, Taiki, feeling pain all over his body from multiple bruises, managed to pull himself into a sitting position.

‘Are you okay, sensei?’ Shard asked, walking up beside him and looking at him with concern.

Taiki reached over and scratched the canine behind the ears. ‘I’m fine. Thanks for your help back there.’ He checked his watch. ‘4:39 PM. It’s going to get dark soon, and the desert will quickly get cold.’ He watched as Kali walked back to the group, checking on her brother before heading in a straight line towards Taiki.

‘What is your plan?’ Shard inquired.

A couple of seconds later, Kali reached them and sat down next to him. ‘Well, that was fun,’ she winced. ‘What did you do back there?’

‘Shard turned the moisture in the air into ice. I conducted the cold zone into ice plates.’ He paused. ‘Are you all right?’

‘I have a lot of bruises, but that’s not the worst of it. Joshua broke his left arm on the way down.’ She looked around at the desert surroundings. ‘Medical treatment isn’t exactly close by out here.’

‘He’ll be okay!’ Forrest called out. They both looked over and saw Joshua being dragged over the sand by the feet. Forrest had a firm grip on the boy’s ankles. ‘Just a broken arm - nothing too serious.’

‘A broken arm is serious!’ Kali snapped.

Forrest let go of Joshua’s ankles. ‘He’s still good. Just claim the warranty on him!’

Kali shook her head. ‘Stupid lizard.’ She glanced at Taiki. ‘Thanks for the quick thinking up there, by the way.’

‘I’d say ‘no problem’, but that wouldn’t be honest,’ Taiki grinned. ‘Let’s just say that I did what I had to do.’

Kali smiled before rising to take care of her brother’s arm.

Taiki glanced around before standing up to collect some firewood. ‘Kali, can you get Jack out here? We’ll need a fire, and I don’t trust Cynder to keep to moderation.’

Kali nodded. ‘Sure. But, to be fair, what can she set on fire out here?’ She gestured around in a broad circle, indicating the sand and spinifex, with the occasional acacia tree, stretching to the horizon.

Taiki conceded that she had a point. ‘We’ll rest for a few hours. Then we’ll move on,’ he told her as he brushed sand off his black trousers and uwagi.

‘Move onto where?’

Taiki didn’t answer.



‘They what?’

Reese stared in disbelief at the phone as the air marshall from the aircraft reported to her. ‘They disappeared! I was only a meter away, and Shade said something odd. A few seconds later, the air rippled around them for half a second and they just vanished!’

‘What did he say, exactly?’ Christopher asked.

‘“Skalir, take us skydiving.”’

Reese frowned. ‘What does that mean?’ she asked herself quietly.

‘There’s something else.’

Reese looked up. ‘What?’

‘In the cargo bay, when I confronted them the first time, I saw a faint outline of something on the boy’s back. I was gone within seconds, so I dismissed it as a trick of the light. Also, the access door to the cargo bay is securely locked, and designed to withstand a passenger kicking it open. The door looked like somebody had used a battering ram.’

Reese leaned back in her chair. ‘What did they use to break it open?’

‘Nothing,’ Wheaton tried to explain. ‘There was no item left at the scene nor in their possession that would have caused the damage. And you can’t exactly hide a battering ram.’

Reese studied the phone for a few seconds. ‘Wheaton, what exactly are you suggesting?’

‘I-’ There was a hesitation. ‘I think those three weren’t alone. I think there was something else with them.’

Christopher glanced at Reese. She nodded - she’d noticed the term. The air marshall had said ‘something’, not ‘someone’.

‘Understood, Wheaton. Make a full report when you land.’

‘Yes, lieutenant.’

‘ITIC out.’ She ended the call and looked at her boss. ‘What do you think?’

‘Evidently there is more to these three than we first thought,’ Christopher said. ‘I’m putting you in charge of finding out just what that is.’

‘Yes sir.’