Free Three Lives Of Mary by David M. Kelly Page A

it looked like he was almost floating, like a Magellan Kestrel catching an up-draft before stooping to attack. Mary saw a bright flash from his underside. Something coiled around her mid-section and, as the first of the wave of plants reached her again, she was tugged into the air by the magnetic line Ben had shot down.
    "Would you care to climb aboard, Madam? You look kind of silly dangling with your ass in the air."
    "At least I still have an ass."
    "True. Though my aft storage is my 'ass' and much more practi-" Ben let out a low whistle. "What the hell is that?"
    Mary looked back to where she'd been trapped. The plants were now climbing on top of each other, forming an inverted cone shape that writhed and pulsed rhythmically as it weaved further into the air, stretching towards them.
    "Weird, but they don't have a hope of reaching us," she said.
    "That storm does."
    As Ben spoke an intense electric flash ripped through the skies around them, black clouds forming almost in an instant. Wind and rain buffeted Mary and she almost slipped from the line. Coiling it around her hand, she started hauling herself up towards the hatch, fighting to see clearly through the barrage of water lashing at her.
    "Just a few more seconds, Ben."
    "Don't stop to see the sights, there's-"
    Ben screamed as a double bolt of lightning struck him. One bolt hit on the starboard side of his streamlined fuselage, the second stabbing one of his sub-c engines.
    Mary held on tight as she was whipped through the air by Ben swerving violently. The lightning must have hurt him badly to cause such wild maneuvers, she realized. The flight stabilized and she clawed frantically at the rope, knowing that he had to keep his speed down until she was safely inside.
    Another bolt struck Ben and he grunted, but held his course. Mary grabbed the edge of the hatch and heaved, throwing herself bodily through the opening and thumping the button to close the hatch.
    "Punch it, I'm in," she yelled and the airlock wall slammed into her back as Ben triggered maximum thrust.
    For thirty agonizing seconds the decontamination sequence locked the inner door. As soon as it opened Mary sprinted through the tight corridor into the main control room. She threw herself into the acceleration chair that dominated the area, banks of glowing systems monitors forming a wall in front of it.
    "What's happening?" Mary quickly glanced at a number of sensor displays, but in her panic everything seemed a jumbled blur.
    "Accelerating. Altitude 11,000 and climbing. The storm is following us."
    "Following? How long till we're safe?"
    "Exosphere boundary in just over two minutes. We should be clear of any atmospheric phenomenon there."
    Booms of thunder shook Ben's superstructure and Mary jumped in her seat. She pulled the straps tight across her body, something she rarely needed to do.
    "You sure know how to impress a girl," she said.
    "Twenty seconds… fifteen… ten… five…"
    Mary wasn't sure later if Ben announced "zero" or not. An intense burst of light flooded the cabin and she instinctively covered her eyes. The room filled with a high-pitched sizzle that overloaded her audio and made her head ring. Ben lurched violently, then recovered. Seconds later the light and noise faded and Mary saw the comforting darkness of space engulf the external display screens.
    "You okay?" Mary unlocked the harness and slipped out of the seat. She checked herself and fingered some of the welts burned through the titanium ceramic layers. This is going to be expensive, she thought.
    "Ben?" He hadn't answered her and several minutes had passed, an eternity for SLink communication.
    "Mary… I'm hurt…"
    Ben sounded almost like a child when he finally spoke and Mary wanted to wrap him in her arms and hold him until it went away, but that was impossible. Ben was the whole ship.
    "Don't worry. Whatever it is, we'll fix it." A moment of fear hit her, and she struggled to keep her SLink neutral. "Can we get back to