Core Punch by Pauline Baird Jones Read Free Book Online Page A

trying to get? They couldn’t have known she and Joe would be the ones to come down. Could they? If there’d been anyone else, Captain Uncle would have sent them. Unless whoever it was had made it look like they were the only ones? Okay, getting paranoid. She’d pissed off a few perps in her day, but she couldn’t call to mind anyone who would take this route to hose her. Or be smart enough to pull off the tech tinkering.
    Joe?
    His people might have the tech that could do this, but why? If they wanted to get him, why wait until he was in another galaxy? She shivered, despite the heat, stared at the heavy rain like she could see through it. Was someone messing with them? If they were, what did they want?
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    â€œ W e need to —” Vi stopped, managing to maintain her charm despite the scowl.
    She did not like inaction.
    Neither do I. Lurch felt most wry.
    How could we anticipate this move? Joe wasn’t even sure their tech problems had been caused by it. Their problems could be the inevitable result of aging technology. If it was Lurch’s enemy, well, the hunter had become the hunted so quickly, he did not know how to react.
    I believed I’d learned to expect the unexpected.
    Joe frowned. How can one expect the unexpected?
    It is a challenge. Humor lightened the nanite’s tone for a second. It thought so intensely, it was like having heartburn. My apologies.
    The burn eased some. A discreet expulsion of air also helped, though it tasted most unpleasant.
    â€œWe can’t get to the city until the wind dies down,” she said, “but the water is rising. From the rain or the surge? No way to know for sure with the tech acting up. This boat is supposed to be watertight, but, well, if this is the storm surge, it could surge us into a wide choice of objects not that far from our parking place.”
    It was true that flooding waters could be quite forceful. Enough to carry debris that could impact on their craft, even if they didn’t change position.
    They should not fly.
    They could not safely remain dirt side.
    â€œPerhaps we should attempt to hold position above the water? Fly low?”
    â€œAnd burn up our fuel?”
    Joe leaned forward and scrolled through the weather data. Even if it was not up to date, it did have some predictability to it. “The bands do not follow the same track inland, because the hurricane is moving ashore from east to west. Do you see that angle?” He pointed at the screen. “Assuming this is correct, or close to correct, the airport where the dirt-siders await rescue will be affected later than this position. That is also where any help will be sent, if HQ becomes concerned about our non-appearance and the sensors are unable to locate us in the storm.”
    He doubted anyone would be surprised to lose the sensors in the melee of the storm. In their various briefings, Joe had sensed a high level of expectation that many systems would fail.
    â€œIt’s where we were supposed to go.” Vi sighed. “I should have notified HQ that we were taking a side trip, though I’m not sure that would be much help right now.”
    Would they have been allowed to get through if they had decided to call in the change? He wondered. They might have received advanced warning about the storm and had time to escape, if it were involved in their current difficulties.
    â€œBut we can’t fly there, not in this—” she stopped, possibly unable to find a description adequately negative.
    Her people have let their hurricane knowledge languish for many years.
    They are not the only ones to rest on their status quo. Joe felt Lurch acknowledge the hit.
    â€œWhen we were making our approach, I could see the remnants of old transit lanes. If we modify our lift, stay above the waterline, we might find some protection from the most extreme winds while we use these lanes to work our way to the airport.”
    And if this is a hostile