The Breeding Prize - Aya Morningstar Page 0,39
with the additional thrust, within one minute and 12 seconds, I will no longer be able to dodge the plasma bursts.”
Kula smashes his fist into the console. “If you’d sped up the first time we’d asked, maybe we’d have stood a chance!”
“Does that mean we’re going to die?” Annabelle asks.
I press my lips to her forehead and shake my head. “No, we’re not going to die. They are.”
I don’t tell Annabelle this, but they can’t actually afford to crash our car. If Annabelle dies, they do too. Maybe they’d kill her to spite me, but my guess is that they want the fertile prize almost as much as I do, and they will have to work to disable our vehicle and get Annabelle alive.
I would never intentionally use my Muru as a human shield, but we are forced into this situation, and acknowledging the reality that her presence is giving us an edge is a tactical advantage that I will use in order to keep her safe.
As the car gets closer to us, I take careful aim and fire.
I can’t see a thing. There’s no visible beam, and the car behind us doesn’t change course or veer off at all.
“This thing is useless,” I shout back at Kula.
“They are now within range,” the AI says. “I can not dodge if they fire again.”
They don’t fire again though. I was right. They need Annabelle alive, and they are flying closer and closer to our car.
“Kula, take the gun.” I hand it to him.
“AI, do you have some kind of winch or tow?”
“Yes,” it says, “I am only authorized to use the tow for officially authorized towing purposes—”
“We’re going to fucking die! Override and let me protect everyone.”
It sits there thinking for a few seconds, then chirps. “Full control has been given. What should I tow?”
I stand up. “Me.”
Fourteen
Philos
“Just fucking shoot them out of the sky!” Kiveta shouts.
One of his bodies jumps up onto my leg like some kind of disgusting lapdog, and it tries to snatch the plasma rifle out of my hands.
I club it in the head with the butt of the rifle and growl back at Kiveta’s other two bodies. “How is one of us going to get our dick in her if she’s dead?”
“I want to get all of my dicks in her,” Kiveta says, all bodies speaking at once in unison, though the body I clubbed is speaking in a slurred voice.
“Then I can’t shoot the fucking car down. Maybe those Valittu would survive the crash, but the fertile prize wouldn’t. She’s fertile and soft. She’s delicate. That’s why it will be so fun to rape her.”
Kiveta licks the lips on all of his bodies at once, and nods agreement. “Then what is the plasma rifle for?”
We’re close now. I don’t know what the Valittu may do, but if I can get a clean enough shot on one of them, I will take it.
Suddenly a hatch pops open on their car. We’re close enough that I can see a lot of details of their vehicle. It’s an older model than ours, and thus slower. We will be on top of them soon. My plan is to try to board their vehicle, kill the Valittu, and snatch the woman for myself.
I just ate hundreds of thousands of calories in preparation for this battle, and I have various means of reaching the ground safely. I’m hoping that Kiveta does not, and that I can manage to snatch the prize and reach the ground while everyone else dies in the air.
The primary purpose of the plasma rifle is to blow up both cars once I’ve taken the human. Kiveta’s bodies and the two Valittu will die in a hydrogen cell explosion as both cars detonate.
Something leaps out of the vehicle. Six-dimensional light bursts from the figure’s hands. It’s the scythe. It’s him.
He’s attached to some kind of rope or wire, but he lands on top of the car.
Just as I open the window again for another shot, the scythe begins flying toward us.
Our car makes a drastic movement to dodge, but I lose my grip on the rifle. It flies out the window.
“Fuck!”
The car shakes violently, and there’s a sudden rush of air as the scythe slices open the cockpit.
“Full speed!” I shout. “Hit that car!”
“Engines have been damaged,” the car’s AI says. “I cannot maintain enough thrust to stay airborne. Initiating emergency landing sequence.”
I close my eyes and begin burning all of the food I ate. When I burn