Free Eye of the Storm by Mark Robson Page A

Sherri will have told you that.’
    ‘Stay back, Sam,’ Sherri ordered. ‘I promised your mother I’d keep you out of trouble.’
    Sam ignored her and took another slow step closer, keeping his hands up where David could see them.
    ‘I know who you are and I want nothing to do with the anti-Imperium group,’ David said, turning his knife towards Sam. ‘You’re all traitors. Get away from me. Leave me
alone.’
    ‘Traitors to what, David?’ Sam asked.
    ‘To the Imperium of course!’ he replied, waving the knife first at Sherri and then at Sam. ‘You’re saboteurs who create chaos, trying to destroy all the good work that
we’re doing.’
    ‘That’s not true,’ Sam said, keeping his voice unflustered and moving another slow step closer. ‘It’s what the Imperium want you to think. Yes, we want to stop some
of what they’re doing, but only the stuff that’s doing more harm than good. The Imperium know that their energy programme is causing a global catastrophe, but they’re shutting
their eyes to the facts and working hard to keep everyone else in the dark. Worse, their actions are causing problems in my home world – the world your grandmother came from. Don’t get
me wrong – much of what the Imperium scientists are doing is wonderful. Your flight technology, for example, is fascinating. We’d love to understand it and help you develop it
further.’
    ‘You would?’ David asked, his frown deepening. ‘Why? What’s your interest in flight?’
    ‘Personally, I’d like to use it to find a way home,’ Sam replied. ‘We saw your flying machine outside the city. It looked very impressive.’
    ‘Did you cross in an aircraft?’ David asked eagerly, his eyes lighting up at the prospect.
    ‘No, we were on a boat.’
    ‘Shame,’ he said, clearly disappointed. ‘I’d love to get my hands on a flying machine from your world. My work is a starting point, but it’s nothing like the
machines that my grandmother flew and I know from the other human scientists here that aviation has progressed a lot in your world since then.’
    ‘From what I saw, it’s more than just a start. You’re a pioneer, just like she was. If you come with us, we can help you develop it and take you with us into a world where
flying machines have developed far beyond anything even your grandmother dreamed of.’
    ‘Jet aircraft,’ David said, his eyes going distant. ‘I’ve heard about them of course – planes that can travel several times faster than the monorail trains. It
doesn’t seem possible.’
    ‘But it is. Imagine flying through the air, as you do in your machine, but so fast that not even a bullet fired from a gun could catch up with you.’
    ‘I don’t fly in my machine,’ David spat, his eyes still flicking between Sam and Sherri, trying to determine who was the greater threat.
    ‘What?’ Sam asked, genuinely surprised. ‘Why not? Don’t you want to fly the machine you created?’
    ‘I do,’ he said instantly, his eyes suddenly burning with an inner fire as his passion came to the fore. ‘But the raptors won’t let me. They say I’m too fragile and
too important to risk.’
    ‘Come with us then,’ Sam urged. ‘Help us replicate your machine and you’ll get to fly your creation, I promise.’
    Nipper barked a low warning from the doorway.
    ‘We’re out of time, Sam,’ Sherri gasped. ‘We’ve got to get out of here. Someone’s coming.’
    In a flash, Sam whipped his left leg up into a crescent kick that swept the knife from David’s hand and sent it clattering across the room. Without pause, he stepped in, grabbed
David’s wrist with a hooking motion and twisted his arm behind his back.
    ‘Please don’t try to fight,’ Sam urged. ‘I don’t want to hurt you, but if you make this difficult for us, then I will. Now, let’s go!’
    ‘Nice move,’ Sherri observed. ‘You’ll have to show me how you did that sometime.’
    She pulled her pistol from the holster at the