Free Hunters: A Trilogy by Paul A. Rice Page B

down again. Then he had another thought: the spear reminded him of a bonus icon on a video game. Upon reaching it, the player gets an extra life or a bigger weapon, or something.
    He growled: ‘Oh yeah, that’s me for sure! Super-Mario-Ken, that’s just brilliant!’ As his voice echoed through the empty office, he couldn’t stop himself and hurriedly turned to see if there was anyone watching him – it sure felt like there was. Gathering himself, he took a deep breath and then moved in the direction of the strange hologram. As he approached, it glowed and then moved an inch further down, nearer the desk. For one second he thought it was going to impale itself in the cheap wood like some cartoon arrow. Ken needn’t have worried because all the spear did was to simply hover in the air above the desk, no strings attached.
    He leant the rifle against the wall on his right and peered at the top of the desk. Nothing there except a bit of dust. Crouching down in front of the desk, he looked beneath it, even checking the rough underside, not a thing. He rose to his feet and stared down. ‘What the hell am I even looking for...a sign, some papers, what – why this office, what’s the big deal with this particular desk?’ His thoughts started to gang up on him again – he pushed his rising frustration away and forced himself to inspect the top of the desk for a second time. There was still nothing that appeared to show him the next move, one that the spear obviously wanted him to make. Ken had no idea and so decided to reach out and see what would happen if he touched the spear, maybe it would lead his hand to something.
    ‘Then again, maybe it’ll turn me into a...a green fireball, or something worse!’ He hesitated at the thought, and then reached out anyway, knowing that if it was going to do him any harm, then the chances were it would already have done so. After all, he’d been asleep in front of it only a short while ago, sound asleep.
    He needn’t have worried as the spear was actually a hologram, and his hand passed right through its shimmering form without mishap – the only effect was a slight tingling in his injured cheek. The spear never moved. Ken was just in the process of getting back down onto his hands and knees...thinking about maybe putting his specs on to see if there were some cracks he’d missed ...when, in a blur of green light, the spearhead came down through the table. It passed his nose less than two inches in front of his face and disappeared straight through the solid floor without a sound.
    He fell backwards in shock, banging his head on the underside of the desk as he did so, the impact being hard enough to move the desk about an inch or two out of its current position. He reached around and angrily rubbed the back of his head, cursing as he did so. ‘Damn it, this bloody place is cracking me up!’ With his voice ringing out a bit too loudly in the huge building, and just as he was starting to sense the madness of his situation again, he saw a glow of light from the tiny hole in the floor, a hole that had previously been concealed by one of the table’s legs.
    Standing up, he dragged the whole table to one side, the spindly wooden legs squealing loudly as he shoved it into the corner of the office. He knelt down on all fours and crawled over to the small hole. Taking a breath he lowered his face and peered into it. The tiny vent seemed to go all the way through the floor. It was as though he was standing at the top of a very tall building, leaning over the edge and looking straight down. The sensation was strong – too high and too near the edge. Vertigo seeped into him, made his balls feel like they’d risen into his stomach. He lifted his head away and tried to think. The smell of the dust tickled his nasal hairs and he very nearly laughed out loud at his ridiculous posture. He whispered: ‘Mike will be pissing himself if he’s watching this!’
    Then he looked down at the floor