Kapitel 18: Improvising (Alt.)
"Jess's last message said the co-pilot was an insider. Had the cockpit rigged to blow." I explain the circumstances behind another life threatening bonding moment. We're currently in some forest in France. Exactly where, I don't know.
"Anything after that? Did they know who we were?" Felix asks.
"No, thankfully. The last message I received before I dropped the phone was that they only knew US4-D1 had sent a Hunter to France. They didn't know who they were looking for, so they looked for what plane we'd use instead. We got out of that first mess, but we're not clear yet. All our gear was up there, including our way to call back home."
"And I assume you don't speak French, either?" He asks, sighing. I kinda wish I could, though. My study on human culture implied that it's a sexy language, apparently.
"Nope. So we're in an unknown space with no comms, three handguns, one rifle, and only one mag each. We need be careful for anyone looking for survivors. As in, you know. Us."
I hand him the rifle and one of the pistols. One of the two pistols I'm keeping has the custom ammo Athena requested for me. Hopefully, we won't have to fall back on something so conspicuous. That thing packs a punch.
I'm the professional here. He's a human without our specialized military equipment nor training. I have to keep focused and stay strong for him, mentally and physically.
"Hey. Exactly how good is your hearing? If you had to measure a distance, how far could you hear things like say, someone stepping on a branch, or a car starting?"
Hm. Good questions. We have the advantage in that regard.
"For a car starting, or tree, I'd say as far as that tree over there. As for the branch, I'd say twice the length of our math classroom."
"Are you serious!? That's amazing!"
"Yeah, I'm awesome. Don't worry about it, though. I'll hear someone coming. just stay behind me and we'll get through this together."
I need him to not be overconfident—we're still in potentially hostile territory. We need to move carefully since—I don't have Jess or Feng keeping overwatch anymore. I'll just move far ahead of Felix and keep him behind me, then we—
"Janine, wait. We really need to plan this out. First. Don't stress over me. Second, you're better with this rifle, and I won't shoot unless I have to. I'll do my best to not be a burden if an emergency happens, but we should focus on every advantage we can take."
"You're being surprisingly calm about this, are you sure you're okay?"
How can he be okay? Furthermore, being realistic here—what can he even do? If we do bump into hostiles, he doesn't have the experience nor training to fight back.
"Of course I'm not okay. We're in a different country, stranded in a forest, in the middle of the night. But we can do this. We're going to be counting a lot on your hearing and vision, though. For that, I have a plan. Give me a second to figure out how to get us out of here."
"We don't know where 'here' is, though, and we don't speak the native language. Asking around in English is bound to get us noticed, too."
"We're just outside of Paris. This place is a global tourism hotspot. We're bound to hear others speaking English, and we can ask for general directions and figure out potential solutions."
"Paris? You mean this is our destination? How do you know that?" We don't have a map or our monitor gear.
"The Eiffel Tower, Janine. The big tower you saw on the way down. It's one of the iconic things about Paris. There's a park or forest of some sort west of the tower, and that's probably where we are."
I didn't know about any of this stuff. Is this common human knowledge? If he's right, though, then maybe we actually can contact home. The problem is that tower was pretty far, and by the time we make it, any tourists might be going to bed. Still, I think I can count on him for those details. I take back the rifle, following his suggestion.
He explains his plan. We're improvising, but it's genius. He'll walk ahead, and I'll stay high in the trees. If he spots a threat ahead of us, he'll make noises with the rocks he put in his pockets. I'll be able to hear it, but our enemies won't unless they're reborn. Our intel, however, implied most of the suspects are, surprisingly, human. Once at the city, we disassemble and pack the rifle, then work our way towards that tower.
We can do this. He instantly recognized where we were, and he's more in control of this situation than I am right now. I'm counting on you, Felix.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein