Escape from Altera Ch. 15

[Note: This is not a "sexy story". It is a mix of WW II "The Great Escape" and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Achipelago"... set in outer space)

Chapter 15 Escape from Altera, for the last time

We held a conference in Colonel Crawford's barracks that evening. Could we escape without Croft? Our chances were slim.

What else could we do? Could we stage a rescue, and break him out of solitary confinement? Without Croft, our plan had no chance of succeeding.

We were still discussing our options when Croft, the very subject of our discussions, came into the barracks, limping slightly. "Hey guys, how's the escape plan coming?"

We just stared at him.

"We're supposed to escape tonight, you know," said Croft. "I still think that is a good idea."

"How did you..."

"That Master Sergeant, the one who majors in malice...."

"Iron Club."

"Well, let's just say that Iron Club will only be eating soft foods for a while," said Croft. He flexed and unflexed his fist, as if it were sore. "But we have to leave now."

We got ready. Each of us carried a package. Before we left, Colonel Crawford had a last word with Croft. "Tell the League about us," said Crawford. "Let them know we're here."

"You can be sure I will," said Croft. "Now that I have firm proof that you guys are alive, I'm sure the League won't stand for this."

"Thank you,," said Crawford, giving Croft a firm handshake. "Good luck, Croft."

"Thank you, sir," said Croft.

We scuttled out of the barracks in the darkness. Croft guided us, telling us when to move and when to be still, watching the searchlights and the guards' movements carefully. Stealthy we crept up along the side of the commandant's barracks. Then we went underneath it.

We dug a bit in the earth and found a large rock. We over turned the rock and saw a dark hole. We went down it.

We had a jury-rigged flashlight that Half Commander Dalton had built, but Croft, who was in the lead, had it in front and very little light escaped from it in my direction, so it was almost completely dark for the rest of us. The tunnel was very small, and I had to mentally fight to keep back my claustrophobia.

We wiggled through the narrow passage, crawling on our hands and knees in silence. At one point, I felt dirt splattering my face from above, and I involuntarily cried out.

Everyone immediately stopped moving.

"Quiet!" Croft hissed.

"Is this tunnel safe?" I hissed.

"Yes, the inspectors checked it last week," Croft whispered back. "Now keep quiet!"

We crawled some more. It seemed like hours, but probably was just several minutes. I felt a few other drips of dirt on my head, and wondered what it would be like to be buried alive.

After a while, however, Croft stopped ahead. What had happened? Had there been a cave-in?

But then I saw Croft crouch upwards in the dim light and poke with an object, one of the homemade shovels. He dug for several minutes.

"How much air do we have in this thing?" I whispered.

"Enough," said the Whisperer. However, I'm not sure if he was answering my question, or telling me to be quiet.

Then I heard a small, crunching sound, and I saw a faint glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. I saw Croft poke his head out. Then he brought his head down, and spoke to us.

"We're only a few feet outside the wire. But they're all looking inside, not outside. Crawl on your hands and knees and make for the trees," he said.

He started first, heading out at a crawl. Then went the War Captain. Then it was my turn.

I climbed out of the hole like a crab on my hands and knees. Behind me, the bright searchlights of the camp were playing this way and that, cutting lines in the darkness. I resisted the urge to look up at the guard tower. I crawled towards the trees.

The Whisperer followed behind me.

After a short distance, we made it to the treeline. We had escaped!

Croft, hiding behind a cluster of trees, nodded approvingly. "Good," he said. "Now we go to the edge."

To the edge of the mountain.

It didn't take long. The eastern edge was closest. We marched in silence, glorious silence. No alarms were raised. Ten minutes later we were on the edge of the mountain, looking down. All I could see was blackness. The night sky above us was brighter than the way down.

Everyone opened their "parachute". Croft helped me into mine. They had improvised a harness connected to several sheets that had been sewn together. I resisted the urge to ask again whether this flimsy device would really work.

When Croft saw we were all ready to go, he said, "Try to jump as far forward as you can. You don't want to hit the mountainside as you go down. We'll regroup at the bottom."

And then he jumped.

The War Captain followed.

Then it was just me and the Whisperer.

"What are you waiting for?" I said.

"Croft gave me orders," he said.

"What orders?" I asked.

The Whisperer pushed me off the cliff.

I had done jumps before, but nothing like this. At first it seemed I felt sharp acceleration. But then the sheets above me seemed to catch the air, and I slowed. In moments my descent seemed almost gentle. To my right I could see someone else below me, though I wasn't sure who. The cold night air whipped around me.

I could faintly see the ground below me in the darkness. Slowly it came rushing up to meet me.

I hit the ground rolling. At least I had been properly trained in this aspect. It was a hard impact, but not as bad as I feared.

"It really worked," I marveled, rubbing my sore ankle.

"Come on," said Croft. "We have to go."

"How far are we going to get before Iron Club wakes up and alerts the guards?" I said. "You should have killed him."

"Probably," said Croft. "But I'm actually relying on him to wake up and alert the guards."

We didn't have time to question any of this. Suddenly, we heard the faint sounds of klaxons above us.

"Good," said Croft. "Right on schedule."

What schedule?

We ran a few hundred feet into an open area near a clump of trees. Then Croft stopped.

"What are we doing?" I said, not understanding. We should be running as far and as fast as we could?

"We're stopping here," said Croft.

"But they will find us!" I said.

"That's the idea," said Croft.

"Isn't it about time you briefed us on the rest of your plan?" I asked.

As dawn broke several hours later, we were, incredibly, still standing there in the circle of trees. We saw a shuttle appear. At first it circled around the mountain looking for us on the sides of it at a higher altitude, and then it gradually moved lower, before spotting signs of our escape. The white sheets from our parachutes, which we thoughtfully left out in the open, were quite a giveaway,

And so was Clifford Croft, sitting on a big rock, waving at them.

The shuttle touched down.

Six Redcaps emerged, their blasters drawn.

They slowly approached Croft.

"Hi guys," he said.

He let them get within a few feet of him.

"Where are the others?" said one of the Redcaps.

"They're around," said Croft truthfully.

Suddenly, an arrow buried itself in the back of one of the Redcaps. A second arrow missed by a wide margin. A rock flew out and hit one Redcap in the head. He screamed, falling. Another rock hit a second Redcap in the head; he, too, fell to the ground.

Croft sprang up and started to wrestle with one of the Redcaps.

The remaining two Redcaps looked around to find the source of their attackers. Suddenly another arrow came whistling out of a thicket of trees, hitting a Redcap in the chest. A second arrow also came out, seemingly without aim.

The last Redcap fired his blaster into the trees. In response, another fist sized rock came out, hitting the Redcap square in the head. He fell to the ground, oozing blood.

The Whisperer ran for the shuttle, while the War Captain and I ran out from behind the trees to assist Croft. But by the time we got to Croft, the Redcap he had been wrestling with was on the ground, unconscious or dead.

The shuttle pilot realized something was wrong and he was cycling an emergency liftoff just as the Whisperer reached the ramp. The Whisperer disappeared inside as the shuttle lifted five feet, ten feet... and then suddenly crashed down on the ground.

"I hope he didn't damage it," said Croft mildly.

We ran for the shuttle. We got there just as the Whisperer was tossing out the body of the Redcap pilot.

"Good work," said Croft.

The Whisperer said nothing, as he grabbed the pilot's blaster, and adjusted the setting to kill.

I made my way to the cockpit, and climbed into the pilot's seats and started checking the systems.

"Is the ship all right?" the War Captain asked.

"We'll soon find out," I said, pressing the button for liftoff.

The shuttle groaned and creaked a bit as it left the ground. But in seconds we were airborne, and the main engines were ready to go.

"Check the onboard map," said Croft, coming back into the cockpit. "Set a course for Smolensk, and fly as close to the ground as you can, to evade their sensors."

I checked the onboard map. Smolensk was about 1200 miles away. We should get there in under three hours.

The Whisperer watched as I expertly piloted the shuttle above the treetops and hills we had to go over. "Well, at least you can do something well," he grunted.

"You're looking at the B squadron commander of the Command Carrier Glory," said War Captain Emmett North. "There's no one else I'd rather have at the controls."

I grinned; it was nice to be appreciated for something.

I had to admit, that this was a very nice escape! The shuttle couldn't take us off-planet, but it could get us directly to the spaceport. There would be no walking and trudging hundreds of miles. I said as much to Croft, and thanked him.

"Why walk when you can fly?" Croft smiled.

I worried that our shuttle would be shot down before we got to Smolensk, but Croft told me not to worry. "It will be at least an hour before the shuttle is reported missing. Then another hour or two while they figure out what to do about it. Typical Slurian efficiency."

Sure enough, we flew nearly the entire distance to Smolensk unmolested before Croft had me set down in an isolated area outside of the city.

"We made it! We really made it!" I said, as I set the ship down in an open field.

"Calm down," said Croft. "There's got to be a general alert out for us, and anyone with half a brain will know that we're heading for the spaceport. We'll probably have to get through a division of Slurian Redcaps whose only job will be to shoot us on sight. Now change into your civilian clothing like the rest of us, and let's be on our way."

We not only had civilian clothing, but civilian ID papers that Dalton had prepared. Croft had given the papers a measured examination and grudgingly nodded, but even he had no way of knowing if they would stand up to close inspection.

We walked in the forest a short distance before reaching a dirt road. We started on that dirt road to the city. It wasn't long before we saw a checkpoint in the distance.

"Should we go around it?" I asked.

"This isn't going to be our first checkpoint nor our last," said Croft. "We all have blasters now. If worst comes to worst, we'll use them."

"What if they point their blasters at us first?" I asked.

"You forget, we have a Graftonite with us," said Croft simply.

The Whisperer had been the one throwing the rocks before. He didn't care for the bow and arrows. He had taken out most of the guards with rocks! He was probably several times deadlier with a blaster.

(For the record, I was the one who missed with every arrow I shot. That's why it was nice to have my piloting skills appreciated. It was good to be appreciated for something!)

The four of us walked up to the checkpoint.

There were four Redcap guards on duty. "Papers," said one of them.

We handed them over. The guards studied them, then looked at us. "It says here you are cafeteria workers."

"Yes," said Croft, in fluent Slurian, without a trace of an accent. He slouched like a lazy and tired worker.

"Where are you going?"

"To work."

"It is late in the morning to be going to work, is it not?"

"Not if you work the afternoon shift," said Croft, looking and sounding bored.

The guard stared at us for a moment longer, then returned our papers. He nodded at us to move on without saying a word.

When we had gotten some distance down the road, I said, "You handled that so well!"

"That's my job," said Croft. "If you had done several hundred infiltration missions, it would be routine for you too."

Gradually we entered the city of Smolensk. Another hour of walking (and another checkpoint) later, we found ourselves on paved streets with people walking by. None of them appeared to pay us any attention.

Croft took us into a restaurant where we bought a meal with some of our hoarded gembles. There were several Redcaps there eating lunch but we ignored them, just as the other diners did. But I nervously remembered the restaurant where I had almost been caught during our last escape....

"We have several challenges still facing us," said Croft, speaking in a soft voice he knew would not carry beyond the table. "Number one, we have to find out where the spaceport is. Number two, we have to go there. Number three, we have to scout out its defenses and procedures. Number four, we have to get in. Number five, we have to steal or get onboard a ship. Number five will be the hardest part."

"Why?" I asked.

"If we steal a ship, we'll be pursued immediately and probably caught by the military," said Croft softly. "Our best bet is to buy a ticket to get us out of here."

"To League space?" I whispered.

"You won't find flights to League space from this planet," said Croft. "Remember where you are. But we may be able to get to a relatively less protected Slurian planet where we can steal a ship or find another way to escape."

"What do you propose?" the War Captain asked.

"We need a groundcar, and directions," said Croft. "Let me get both while you remain here."

"You don't want us with you?" the War Captain asked.

"No, it's easier if I do this alone," said Croft.

"Won't they be suspicious if we simply sit here after we've eaten?"

Croft shrugged. "Buy some drinks. I shouldn't be gone more than a half hour or so."

We agreed. Croft got up and left.

"He's really great, isn't he?" I asked.

"You don't get to be a Column agent, much less one of the Eight, if you don't have the skillset to match," said the War Captain. "I get the impression that there's no prison or jail that could hold him for very long."

We talked for a while, and I noticed that the Redcaps who had been eating got up and left, which made me feel easier.

A half hour later, however, Croft had not returned.

A half hour turned into 45 minutes, which eventually turned into an hour.

"Do you think he's been caught?" I hissed.

"I don't know," said the War Captain.

"Should we go?"

"If we do, we'll be permanently separated," said the War Captain. "Let's give him another half hour."

At that moment, however, a group of Redcaps entered the restaurant. They started asking everyone for papers.

When they got to our table, they asked for ours. We handed them over.

The officer in charge, a Redcap Lieutenant, looked at our papers. "It says here you're cafeteria workers. Why aren't you at work?"

"We work the evening shift," said the War Captain, in fluent Slurian.

"At which establishment?" the Redcap asked.

The War Captain paused, only slightly. "On the east side of town."

The Redcap noticed the slight pause. "You didn't answer my question. What is the name of that establishment?" he asked.

What did we do next? Anything we said next would surely be checked and found out to be a lie. We weren't prepared for this level of questioning.

The Redcap called some guards over with a wave of his hands. "Stand up!" he said.

We slowly stood up.

"You are all coming with me," said the Redcap.

"What do you mean?" said a new voice.

It was a new Redcap, standing behind the Redcap Lieutenant. All I could see was that the new Redcap was a Major, from his shoulder bars.

"Sir! I did not see you. These individuals have suspicious-"

"These individuals work for me, and are not your concern, Lieutenant," said the Major, speaking perfect High Slurian. "They are on a mission for me right now, and your presence is interfering with their assignment." The Major stepped into view, revealing the impeccably dressed Clifford Croft.

"S-sir," the Lieutenant stammered. "I am sorry, I had no idea-"

"It is quite obvious you have no ideas," said "Major" Croft, continuing to speak perfectly in crisp High Slurian. "Now get your men out of here. The last thing we need is this kind of attention."

The Lieutenant sent his men packing in a hurry.

"Sorry I'm late," said Croft, in a lower tone. "I had trouble finding a uniform my size."

The groundcar was parked right outside. Croft did the driving.

"Do you know where the spaceport is?" I asked.

Croft nodded.

"How did you find out where it was?" I wondered.

"The owner of this uniform told me," said Croft. "That's why I was gone longer than I expected. He required a little persuading."

Oh.

As we headed towards the spaceport, we saw truckloads of Redcap troops moving in every direction. The military was certainly stirred up here. I remarked as much.

"They have a lot at stake here," said Croft. "If you guys get out, everyone finds out about your buddies."

"So much at stake, just for the spite and arrogance of keeping us prisoner," said the War Captain.

"That's the Slurian mentality, spite and arrogance," said Croft. "That's what caused them to start two wars with us. On the other hand, it's also what caused them to lose two wars with us."

We were stopped at another checkpoint. Before the Redcap Lieutenant in charge could ask for papers, Croft barked, "What's this all about, Corporal?"

The Lieutenant looked at Croft's shoulder bars. "It's, ah, Lieutenant, sir-"

"Are you contradicting me, soldier?"

"N-no, sir," said the Lieutenant.

"Then let me pass," said Croft.

The Lieutenant nodded, and Croft went ahead.

Ahead, in the distance, we could see the flat stretches of road leading to the spaceport. We saw a ship taking off, and hear the roar. We were getting close.

"Don't celebrate yet," said Croft. "You can expect their defenses to be even stiffer as we get closer to the spaceport."

"What can we do?" I asked.

"Hope the next checkpoint isn't run by any Redcap officers higher in rank than a Major," said Croft. "There's no way I can show the original Redcap's ID papers and attempt to pass for him. Redcap ID's are much more elaborate and harder to forge, especially without the right tools."

We were stopped at another roadblock, as we got closer to the spaceport. This time, the officer was a Captain, and he was backed up by a squad of soldiers. The defenses were getting thicker. And this time, the Captain was not quite as easily intimidated.

"Are you going to waste my time too, Captain?" Croft said icily.

"No sir," said the Captain. "Can you just tell me your name, sir?"

"My name?"

"For the record," said the Captain, holding up a datapad.

"Major Surov," said Croft, giving a Redcap glare.

"Thank you sir. You may proceed."

As we drove Croft said, "Not good."

"Why?"

"I couldn't give the name of the real Redcap I impersonated, in case they've already found his body."

"His body?" I said.

"There was no time to be gentle," said Croft. "Remember, there's a shoot on sight order for you guys. So I picked a random name. Chances are they're going to feed it into their tactical command database, and when they don't find a match, we'll be stopped with a little more force next time."

"What can we do?" the War Captain asked.

"I don't see us getting to the spaceport through traditional routes," said Croft. "I say we get rid of the car and walk the rest of the way. We'll burn out way through the security fence and see if we can sneak onboard a ship."

Suddenly, he paused. "Cancel that."

"What?" I said.

"We're being followed. By a truckload of troops."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," said Croft.

"What do we do?" I said.

"We control the circumstances of our encounter," said the War Captain.

"For once, our thinking overlaps," said Croft. He turned off the main road and slowed down.

"Aren't we going to try and get away?" I asked.

"They only suspect us now. If we run, they'll know for sure we're escaped prisoners, and we'll be up to our necks in Redcaps."

Croft parked at some sort of building, it looked like a warehouse. He went inside, motioning for us to follow.

The part of the warehouse we were in, seemed empty at the moment. Croft said, "Wait here." And then he left us to go back outside.

We did. But I peered out of the corner of an open window.

The troop truck had arrived. An officer got out. I gulped.

He was a Major too.

He and Croft had words. Croft grew animated. I heard him refer to "important business." He seemed to gesture for the Redcap Major to come inside with him.

As they walked in Croft said, "As you can see, Major-" and in mid sentence Croft chopped him on the back of the neck. He fell like a sack of 30 day potatoes.

"I'm bringing the squad in. Get ready," said Croft.

Croft went outside. "Squad leader! The Major wants you to bring your men in."

The squad filed out of the truck and followed Croft inside the warehouse. As soon as most of them had entered, I, the Whisperer, and the War Captain let them have it, with blasters set on full.

I gunned down one and I think the War Captain got one too, but in the same time it had taken me to shoot one, the Whisperer, his hands a blur, had gunned down five or six of them. It was those Graftonite reflexes.

Two remaining soldiers were retreating, running out the door. The Whisperer ran after them, and two shots rang out.

We went outside, and saw two Redcap bodies on the road. "All right, back in the groundcar," said Croft. "We won't be able to cover this up for-" Suddenly, we all saw two more troop trucks coming onto the narrow lane. They must have been alerted.

"Run!" said Croft. "I'll hold them off!" He grabbed me by the arm for a brief moment. "Don't try to escape--they'll be ready for that. Hole up until I can get help from the outside."

I nodded, and started running. In seconds, we were out of view of what happened next, so I must rely on Croft's account.

Croft:

I ran over to the first troop carrier even as it was still moving. "Spies! Saboteurs!" I shouted.

"Which way did they go?" asked the Redcap in charge, a Captain.

"That way," I said, pointing in the opposite direction that the others had ran.

"Soldiers, dismount!" said the Captain. The troops leapt off the carrier and started to run in the direction I had indicated.

I was about to return to my ground car, when the Captain said, "Sir, just a moment."

"I must get back to headquarters."

"I have been ordered to ask you to wait here," said the Captain.

In the background, another truck and a military jeep pulled up. Things were getting entirely too active here.

"I have no time for this, Captain," I said.

"Sir, I must insist," said the Captain.

"Are you giving me orders?" I said, my eyes flaring.

"I am," said a new Redcap, who appeared around the side of the truck.

This Redcap wore a Colonel's uniform. A Colonel outranked a Major in any army, even a Redcap one.

I remained calm. Every second I remained undetected was another second the others could use to escape.

I gave a brisk military salute. "Sir!"

He saluted me back. "Your name?"

"Major Yevgeni Surov," I said.

"What happened to the other three you were escorting?" the Redcap Colonel asked.

"These were intelligence assets I was using to obtain information. We were ambushed by traitors here. I called for reinforcements, but they were ambushed as well."

"Indeed," said the Colonel. "What was the nature of the mission here? Who authorized it?"

"Sir, I am under orders not to reveal any more."

"Whose orders?"

I bit my lip. Of course, I couldn't reveal that. I had no idea what name to give. "Sir, I am not at liberty to say more."

"Let us then return to headquarters, and perhaps you will be inclined to speak to General Uralz more freely," said the Colonel.

It was phrased as a request, but it wasn't. "Yes sir," I said.

I rode in the jeep with the Colonel and two guards in the back. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the Redcaps were still searching the wrong area, so even if they were suspicious of me, their suspicions were hardly confirmed. I could and would use that uncertainty to my advantage.

Now that I was free of my "deadweight", so to speak, I could utilize my full Column abilities. My situation was serious. I was being taken to an enemy stronghold, where my false identity was about to be discovered. But the enemy hadn't discovered who and what I was yet, so I still had the advantage of surprise.

I entered a building swarming with Redcaps. The guards left us, but the Redcap Colonel escorted me, and there was no way I could escape from him raising an alarm.

We entered an important looking outer office, and the Redcap asked for Corporal General Uralz. I presume, from the relatively low rank, that this General was only in charge of security in the area around Smolensk.

We were told to go in. I entered the General's office with the Colonel to find a balding bearded officer scowling at me. "This is the one?" he asked.

"This is," said the Colonel.

"Major... Surov, we have no record of your being sent here," said Uralz. "I want to know who sent you and what your mission was."

Ah. They thought I was from a different faction. Even within the Redcap military there were different factions, and even factions within factions.

"I'm not at liberty to say, sir," I said.

Uralz stood up from behind his desk and stood in front of me. "I am the authority here! You will become at liberty to say, or I will have you sent to a labor camp!"

"All right," I said nervously. "But it must be just between the three of us. Colonel, would you please close the door behind you?"

The Redcap Colonel did, and General Uralz leaned forward on the front of his desk. "All right, what is this all about?"

"It's about this, sir," I said, smashing the butt of my blaster hard into his face. I turned around and saw the Redcap Colonel moving to draw his. I fired, and in a second he was missing his head.

I had set my blaster to "maximum kill". When it came to Redcaps, I had no inclination or interest to be gentle. I knew what kind of butchers they were.

The sound of blaster fire must have resonated outside, because I heard the alarm sound. Instantly, without hesitation, I jumped out of the General's window.

Redcaps were running around everywhere. I knew from experience that it would take at least a minute or two for them to get my description to the troops. They would be looking for a rogue Redcap major.

I went over to a supply closet and called the nearest Redcap. He wasn't an officer but would do.

Two minutes later, an announcement blared the following: detain all Majors!

I, however, as a Redcap private, was able to get off the base without detection, passing several clusters of Redcaps who paid no attention to me.

Sooner or later they would figure everything out, but it was too late for them in so many ways--first, Took and the others had a good long head start, thanks to me. Secondly, it would take them some time to realize they were looking for a Redcap private. By the time they did, I would be an ordinary citizen, relying on the forged ID provided by Half Commander Dalton.

Very quickly there would be hundreds of Redcaps flooding the city. They would all be looking for me. The spaceport would be trebly guarded. Therefore that was one place I couldn't go. What were my other options?

My mind raced. In a moment, I had a plan. I'm that good. I knew exactly what to do. That's why I'm one of the Eight.

For the next twelve hours I played cat and mouse with the Redcaps in the streets of downtown Smolensk. They knew I was in the city somewhere, and they were searching for me. I managed to bluff my way past several checkpoints before they caught on to me. Then it was just a matter of run, chase, and hide.

I walked down a city block, catching my breath. For the moment, I had eluded them.

Then I heard a shout. I had been spotted. They knew me by sight now. The chase was on again.

They chased me from block to block. Every time I tried to hide, someone else would spot me and shout. This went on for what seemed like a long time, but was probably no longer than ten minutes or so. The number of pursuers only seemed to increase as time went on. For my pursuers, it probably seemed I was engaged in a series of random, spur of the moment movements to get out of their cordon, not heading in any particular direction.

Finally there came a point in time when I was running in one direction, with pursuers behind me, and then I saw pursuers running towards me. I looked around. There was no escape. I ran into the building to my left. I started to climb the stars; a few moments later, I heard thundering footsteps behind me.

I pounded up the stairs as rapidly as I could, as speed was more important than silence. I didn't even consider branching off onto a floor to hide out; they would undoubtedly seal the building and search floor to floor. I gasped for breath as I climbed another flight, the sounds of pursuit getting closer. But the building was only eight stories or so tall; the end would be quick in coming.

I reached the roof almost out of energy. But I had to keep going. I ran out on the roof and, a little disoriented, ran over to one side of the edge of the building. I saw the street below me. I ran over to the other side and saw another rooftop, lower down, not eight feet away-

And just at that moment the first of my pursuers reached the rooftop. They screamed at me to halt.

I started to run over the rooftop. In top condition with a running start, such a jump shouldn't be much of a problem. But I was hardly in top condition.

I flew over the roof... I saw the gap below me. I was falling...

Then I screamed as I hit the edge of the roof below me. I had just made it; the fact that this roof was lower down rather than level with the first roof had made it easier. But I had badly twisted my ankle as I landed, and I felt incredible stabs of pain.

In just a few seconds, first one then two then three of my pursuers jumped onto the lower rooftop where I lay. They all pointed blasters at me.

I slowly and wearily raised my hands.

The chase was at an end.