The Jump

Pippa's ears rang. Blind and deaf, she fought for control over her senses inside the dark cocoon that was wrapped around mind. She clung to her own breathing like a lifeline. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out ....

Whoosh! With a clamour the world around her crashed through. She could hear screaming and panic. She was lying on a hard metal floor. She was in something that was moving. Fast. Very fast.

Getting to her hands and knees, Pippa tried to remember how she got there. She remembered being at the command base with Ares. She remembered that Corrigan had sabotaged the Aerotrain. The Aerotrain .... had they made a jump? Where was Ares?

'Pippa!' She heard someone yell with urgency behind her.

'Pippa! Are you ok?'

'Yes'

'Ok, let's go! We haven't got much time!'

Ares grabbed her shoulders from behind and helped her to her feet. The Aerotrain rocked violently as it hurtled along its track. Too fast. Too fast.

'We need to get to the control room'.

Turning around to face him, Pippa saw urgency and worry in his eyes. They had learned Corrigan's plan too late to stop the train before it left. They hadn't been able to stop it from the command centre. This was its inaugural journey from Star City to Border Town. A lot of people were on board. A lot of important people were on board. Now they were on board too.

Ares could jump. Did she jump with him? She didn’t know as she had never jumped before. Jumping was forbidden... Forget about that. There wasn't time to think about that now.

Grabbing her hand, Ares turned and started pushing through the crowd of panicked people blocking their way. Oblivious to their efforts to get through, passengers pushed and shoved. Just their luck to jump into the most crowded car at the rear of the train.

'Move!'

'Let us through!'

Thank goodness the next two carriages were not as crammed. The dignitaries on the train had been given much more space. That should make it easier. Thank Bayrald there were only three carriages too.

Bang! Ares half fell through the door at the end of the carriage, dragging Pippa with him. The sections between the carriages were less insulated. The roar of the train as it sped in a blur hit them with the power of a jet engine. Slamming into the door of the next carriage, they burst through, making their way shakily along the corridor, lurching back and forth as the Aerotrain hurtled along its track. It was state of the art, and designed to go fast. The trip from Sky City to Border Town, usually a five hour trip, was meant to take two. Right now though, they would likely make it in one! If they were lucky. The damn thing seemed to be getting faster.

This isn't what Ares thought he would be doing today. Today was meant to be a day of triumph. As the designer of the new X300 Aerotrain, seeing his design come to life was a dream come true. A dream he had worked hard for.

'What a nightmare. How could I be so blind'.

Ares had trusted Corrigan. He even thought of him as a friend. He knew Corrigan hated President Lee, but never ever thought he would go this far for revenge. This was too much. Too much.

He had to stop it.

The only way to stop it had been to jump.

The only way had been to take Pippa with him too. It was her skills he needed to stop it.

He was sorry he had made her jump. Jumping wasn't easy for someone who had never done it before. He had no choice though. Hopefully the authorities would let them off for the illegal jump once they stopped the Aerotrain.

‘And if they couldn't stop it, it wouldn't matter much', he thought wryly.

Reaching the end of the second carriage, they crashed through the doors again. Bang! Roar ... Bang!

Oofh! Ares doubled over as a punch hit him in the stomach. Hard.

'Stop! Stop!' He heard Pippa yell behind him.

Ares tried to stand upright, continuing to plow forward. 'Let us through!'

Someone was grabbing him and pushing him back. President Lee's bodyguard. Dammit! 'Let us through! You'll die if you don't!'

'Don't threaten me!'

Arrgh dammit! Ares stepped back and put his hands up, palms facing placatingly towards the guard. Pippa stood behind him. He could feel her hands on his back. Time for reason. Damn time waster.

'Look. We need to get to the control room to stop the train. Let us through now!'

Someone in the carriage recognised him. 'Ares! Let him through! Let him through!'

One second. Two seconds. Come on!

The guard stepped aside. Ares took off again through the carriage. His mind on one thing only. They must stop the Aerotrain.

Pippa took a deep breath as she took off after Ares. She hadn't realised she had been holding it. Thank Bayrald the guard had seen reason. She would make an offering at the altar if they ever made it out of this alive ...

'Stop that!' She admonished herself silently. 'We have to stop it. We have no choice'. The consequences of not stopping the Aerotrain would be disaster. Most of Star City's officials were on board, including the President of the Select Committee. But not only officials. The lottery held to select lucky passengers for the inaugural trip meant there were many ordinary people on board too. They were in carriage three. She had seen children in carriage three.

Bang! Ahead of her, Ares slammed through the carriage door. One more door to go. Rushing headlong, Ares slammed into the door of the control room. Pippa slammed into Ares as he bounced back off the door.

Hhuh!

He had hit that door hard. It didn't open. Even with the jet engine rush of sound in her ears, she could hear Ares swearing. The door was locked tight.

'Pippa! Do your thing!' He yelled.

Pippa lurched forward towards the door, reaching her hands out to to place them flat over the lock.

Concentrate ... concentrate ...

She felt with her mind until she found the locking mechanism. A simple latch. One push .... click! She pushed on the door with her hands, and it swung open. They were in!

The Aerotrain was technically unpiloted. No one drove it. The control room held a bank of computers which ran the engine and other environmental controls. The engine below them was state of the art and ran on nothing but air and water. It was Ares' design. He was a genius really.

The controls all linked back to the command centre, which acted as the pilot. But, Corrigan had made a change to the program. Once the Aerotrain had departed, it had been locked to continue accelerating, and the link with the command centre had been severed. The only way to fix it now was from the control room.

Ares ripped the covering panel off the control bank. Pushing a button, a keyboard slid out smoothly into position below a small screen. He began typing ...

'Damn!'

Just as he thought, Corrigan was ready for him. He had put in a failsafe so he couldn't slow the engine. Everything he tried to get around it only produced another roadblock. It would take too long to do it this way.

'Aargh that bastard!'

'Pippa! I need you to do it!' Ares turned from the panel and scrambled on the floor for the hatch to the engine bay below. The engine was smooth and sleek. It didn't have too many moving parts.

'There is an air input shutoff valve. Here. See if you can find it and shut it off.' Ares guided her hand into position on top of the engine.

Pippa reached in with her mind. She felt the air rushing through, searching around for the mechanism. There！Gathering her mental strength, she flipped it closed. Done!

Wait ....

'It's flipped open again ...'

Pippa tried again ... closed. Open!!!

'It won't stay shut!' Pippa looked in anguish at Ares. 'What now!'

Ares rubbed his face with his hand. 'What now. What now. Think. Think ... dammit!'

With the engine still accelerating, the brakes weren't going to hold it for long, even if they got them working. There was only one way.

'We are going to let it crash'.

'What! Are you insane?!' Pippa looked at him incredulously.

'We need to release the carriages. But we have to do it from this side. We can jump before it hits'.

The end of the line was a solid wall of rock. It was going to hit hard. But there was a climb in the track before then. If they could release the carriages, that should stop them.

The Aerotrain was still getting faster. They didn't have long now.

Grabbing Pippa's hand, Ares pulled her up and back towards the door. Falling to his hands and knees, he reefed open a hatch in the floor just outside the door. A stainless steel shaft reached downwards, a ladder on one wall.

'This is the maintenance shaft. Down there is the coupling. You need to go down and release it.'

'Down there?' Pippa gulped. She hated small spaces. But she needed her hands over the coupling to do it. She couldn't do it this far away.

Ares grabbed her, one hand each side of her face. 'Pippa. Look at me. You can do it!' He looked deep into her eyes, pouring all his will into her. She took a deep breath.

'I can do it!'

Shaking, Pippa lowered herself down the shaft.

'Pippa. Listen to me. Turn to your right. You will see a small hatch on the side. Open that.'

Breathing fast, Pippa opened the hatch.

'Ok! It's open! I can see it!'

'Can you reach it?'

Pippa reached her hand in. Stretching her arm as far as she could, she could just place it over the coupling.

'Yes!' She panted through gritted teeth. The walls of the shaft were so close. So close …

Keep it together. Keep it together. Keep it together. She chanted to herself. Taking another deep breath she tried to focus her mind again, reaching out for the mechanism to release the coupling ... there it is ... just breathe ... wrapping her mind around it she pushed and twisted. Clunk!

With a shudder the coupling released and the carriages began to separate from the control car. Above her the roaring of the wind increased as the canopy parted. With the weight of the carriages gone, the Aerotrain shot forward like a silver bullet.

Ares reached his hand down towards her. 'Come on!'

She grasped his hand tightly as he pulled her out of the shaft. Wind rushed passed them as the two scrabbled on the now exposed platform, desperately trying not to fall off the rocking beast. Pippa could see the slowing carriages getting further and further away as the Aerotrain made the final climb towards the end of the line.

With a mighty jolt, Pippa was thrown towards the edge away from Ares.

'Hold on!' He yelled. He had to get to her so they could make the jump. He had to be holding on to her to do it.

He was almost there.

Jolt! Pippa was thrown up in the air. Ares could see it like it was in slow motion. She was falling backwards. Off the edge of the platform. They needed to jump. They needed to jump NOW!

Ares let go and lept after Pippa. Reaching his arms towards her, he grabbed for her. And jumped.

In. Out. In. Out … In … Out … Her breathing slowed in the black nothingness as Pippa's consciousness stirred. Slowly she became aware of the sounds around her.

Birds? So beautiful and calm ...

'Pippa! Pippa! Are you ok?' She could hear Ares talking to her from somewhere nearby. Raising herself up to sit, she felt Ares sit down next to her. He leant back on the tree behind him. Eyes closed he took a deep breath.

'Where are we?'

'The only place I could think of to jump to.’

'Did we do it? Is it all over?'

'Yes, we did it. It isn't all over yet, but we stopped it. Everyone is safe.'

'But the Aerotrain is gone. I'm so sorry'.

Ares sighed. 'It's ok. I can build another one. A much better one.'

Pippa smiled as she closed her eyes and leant back on the tree, shoulder to shoulder beside him. 'Just as long as I don't have to jump again. Ok?'