The radio was silent. Kelly looked at the radar. The ship trailing them was four hundred sixty kilometers behind them.
“Alright. Lock onto Holland’s ship,” said Kelly. Piper adjusted the ship’s computer and a virtual set of crosshairs appeared on the cockpit window. He moved them all over the window with his controls while a bright flash came from Holland’s ship. They had launched a missile at the approaching town!
Piper remained concentrated as Kelly observed a huge mountain on the horizon.
They were now on the late morning part of Chronosia and Kelly, thinking quickly,
recognized where they were from all the maps and photographs from Aeoli that he had studied during the night. They were headed for Pyro-Plannus and the mountain was Olympus Chronos.
“He’s locked in!” yelled Piper.
“Fire!” shouted Kelly.
“Missile away!”
But by then Holland’s missile hit the town. The nuclear-tipped warhead blasted the village into a firestorm and the shockwave soon hit the craft. The turbulence buffeted the ship but Piper managed to keep the craft under control. “We hit him, Sir. He’s going down.” An alarm went off inside the cockpit. Piper said “Somebody’s locked onto us. That Aldebaran’s got us. He’s fired a missile! I’ll try evasive…”
Pow! The missile’s impact threw them violently forward.
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