Free Lesser Gods by Duncan Long Page A

want out,” I yelled. “Get us out of here.” Dying in the middle of a jet game wasn’t my idea of fun. I was ready to grasp at any straw no matter how far-fetched. When I can see the white in the eyes of guys with SKSs, I’ll snatch at straws.
    “I don’t know how you know my name’s Huntington,” he said. “But I plan on finding out.”
    I didn’t tell him it was more a lucky guess than deductive reasoning on my part. Now I wondered if my mistake would cost me my life. Would he get suspicious and just leave me here to die?
    As if he’d read my mind, he said, “If I were smart I’d leave you behind with the Cong to die. Or maybe just plug you myself. Any reason I should trust you?”
    “Would I tell you the truth if I wanted you dead?”
    Huntington replied with a grin. “Hang on, I’ll get you out with me.”
    Abruptly everything went black and I felt myself falling.
    For what seemed a lifetime, my brain raced without any constraints like an engine being revved to full RPM while its gear train sat in neutral. And while in this state, I recalled the strange news article I’d seen earlier in the day about people at the mall who had thought they’d been chased by a helicopter gunship.
    Was there — could there — be any connection to what I’d just experienced? Had we just caused another stampede somewhere?
    I dismissed it from my mind, instead wondering how Huntington had been able to initiate my jump from the SupeR-G. Because leaving a game in progress was supposed to be impossible when a person was on jet.
    Yet, I was obviously out of the Vietnam SupeR-G, headed for Huntington-only-knew where.

    Helicopter attack may be mass hysteria
    Hanoi, New China - Hanoi police officials are at a loss to explain reports of an antique helicopter that circled a downtown parking lot, spraying the area with machine gun fire and rockets. Despite hundreds of witnesses to the event, there were no casualties or damage, according to official sources.
    “At first we thought perhaps it was a gang war,” said Comdr. John Wang, head of special investigations. “However now we’re leaning toward a classic case of mass hysteria. Our police psychologists believe this may have been triggered by the recent release of the surround-D remake of Apocalypse Now.
    Although no one was hurt by actual rocket or gunfire, one elderly man died of heart failure, according to officials. Makers of the new version of the movie classic were unavailable for comment.
    Click here for full story
    Click here for 3-D/hardwired version

    See exciting scenes from the all-new, surround view version of Apocalypse Now staring Michael Kaine II ( Impress Files ) and Harnold Shwarzen Kegger IV (remakes of Terminator, Terminator II, Terminator III, Terminator IV, Terminator V, Mary Has Two Dandy Daddies , etc., Etc.)



Chapter 7

    Ralph Crocker
    I landed in a forest with a belly flop and a clatter of metal. Much as I hate to admit it, I quite often bite the dirt when I enter a SupeR-G on jet. Possibly this would tell someone of the psychologist persuasion something about my personality. Or perhaps it’s a deficit of dexterity, an incipient case of stumbleosis.
    However, I normally don’t clatter on my landing. And I creaked like a rusty door hinge as I got to my feet. I looked down and discovered I was encased in a rusty suit of armor. Not a bad idea, I thought. A little extra protection never hurt anything, especially in often-violent SupeR-Gs.
    Something clung to my chin — grass?
    No.
    A neatly trimmed beard that I soon forgot as I feasted my eyes on the electronic world around me. It was another beautiful feat of programming. Although I knew it was only electrons coursing through a computer somewhere and assembled within my brain, it was all a highly detailed and perfect illusion. Someone had gone to a lot of work to create this wooded area.
    Turning around, I spied an ill-kept yard and a run-down thatch-roofed cottage of 1800 vintage, I guessed,