Mellie. "Good work." he repeated. "But you painted a target on your
back. Be careful."
-She nodded and headed out the door. She needed to see Santorini.
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+She nodded and headed out the door. She needed to see Santorini.
+
+
+==== Mellie: Detective, Resistance Operative ====
+
+Mellie Kaminsky was feeling pretty cocky after successfully taking
+Roper down. She climbed in her little tan AirSedan and lifted off on a
+course to the Green Palace. But before she reached her assigned
+traffic lane, three AirScooters surrounded her. The men on them were
+dressed in black and had black helmets. One pulled right along side
+her vehicle and smashed the passenger side window. Mellie shot him
+with her phaser, but he kept coming, like it had no effect at all. He
+pulled open the passenger door and came in.
+
+She took a crowbar that she kept in the car and swung it with all her
+might against his left shoulder as he crawled in the vehicle. That
+stopped him. He screamed and fell back against the passenger door. The
+door swung open. Mellie pushed hard against the thug. He grabbed her
+wrist as he fell out of the sedan. Praying that the seatbelts would
+hold, Mellie stabbed him with a knife that she always carried. He let
+go and disappeared, falling.
+
+The other two had been waiting to see if their colleague would take
+care of the problem. When they saw him fall thousands of meters, they
+attacked together. Mellie dived and then rolled her sedan, doing
+acrobatic maneuvers that she had learned at the Academy. She came up
+behind one of the scooters and rammed him hard enough to leave him
+hanging onto his bike with his hands while his legs flailed in midair.
+
+She was just congratulating herself when she looked up to see the
+third scooter right in front of her. The rider tried desperately to
+get out of her way but there wasn't enough time. She slammed into him
+and together they fell.
+
+Desperately Mellie threw the sedan into reverse and managed to
+disengage from the scooter. She pulled up hard on the stick, trying to
+come out of the dive. And she almost made it.
+
+==== Harlan: Thief, Resistance Operative ====
+
+Harlan had just hopped on his AirScooter when he heard the sound of
+the collision in the sky. He looked up. There were just a few sparks
+falling. He thought it looked like a sedan vs scooter accident and
+took off to see if he could help. He recognized Mellie's sedan as she
+pulled free of the scooter wreckage. His heart seemed to stop as the
+little sedan's nose was pulled up, away from the hard, hard ground. He
+reached for the com to call for help, but all they heard at the Green
+Palace was a scream as her sedan plowed into trees along the highway.
+
+He came down almost as fast as she had, his scooter skidding sideways
+and throwing up a wave of earth and grass. Running through the trees,
+he tripped and fell twice but barely noticed. He found the wreckage
+back in the woods. The vehicle was wrecked, steam pouring from the
+front. He saw a few flames. But he couldn't see Mellie. The protective
+bags covered all the windows. Then he saw a hand pawing at the window.
+It dropped to the door handle and the door cracked open about five
+inches. The bags were still in the way, but the hand shoved a crowbar
+at him. He had the door off in three minutes.
+
+Reaching through the bags, he felt her. He also felt blood. Cutting
+the seatbelt with his knife, he started to pull her out. But she
+resisted him briefly. She cried out as he removed her from the
+vehicle. Her face was covered with blood and she was cradling her
+right arm.
+
+He tried to stand but his knees gave out and he sank to the soft
+ground. Holding her gently, he wailed, great, heaving sobs that
+threatened to tear his chest apart. He tried to talk, to tell her that
+his heart would die if she did, but she hugged him, pointing out that
+there were flames coming from the front of the car and would he please
+take them somewhere else?
+
+He carried her to the road where Santorini, Behan, and most of the
+detective squad were just touching down. Mellie lifted her left hand
+and waved at them. Behan sagged against his sedan as he realized that
+she wasn't dead. Hanson and Biggers gently cleaned some of the blood
+off her face. Finding a scalp laceration, they packed it and then
+placed a splint on her arm.
+
+She accepted all these ministrations with good grace although she
+yelped a few times. By the time the emergency vehicle arrived, she was
+already bandaged. The emergency personnel scooped her up and headed
+for the hospital. They let Harlan ride with her because they realized
+he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Getting her out of his arms
+was hard enough.
+
+Mellie was the only one to notice that, while everyone recognized
+Harlan, no one made any attempt to restrain him. He was a thief, but
+he was also a legend. And Agalder had few legends. Its people tended
+to treat those legends with respect.
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projects / universe.git / commitdiff