Godzilla 2000 Read Free Page B

father, who was doing fifteen years in a Michigan correctional facility for forgery and grand larceny.
    His mother was no better: A drug addict who dragged her son from the Midwest and then summarily dumped him into a rough city school system with the worst sort of punks and malcontents - despite the boy's phenomenal IQ and his amazing hand-to-eye coordination.
    "If we draft this kid, we'd be doing him a favor," the general muttered aloud. But the kid froze, Taggart reminded himself. And, anyway, the decision is Kip Daniels's to make, not mine.
    The officer glanced at the BATTLEGROUND 2000 readout again. Nearly a million and a half points in a single game. The general whistled in amazement. The kid's performance was phenomenal. The best so far.
    Taggart knew that time was running out. If the scientists were right, Godzilla was still alive, and the monster could rise out of the sea and return at any moment.
    Time was running out.

3
THE BOX

    Monday, May 3, 1999, 1:15 P.M.
In the cockpit of Raptor-One

    "Okay, you're clear to move in a little closer, Raptor-One," Air Combat Controller Lori Angelo radioed from the cockpit of Raptor-One's sister ship, Raptor-Two.
    Kip Daniels monitored the air combat controller's - or "Air Cap's" - commands through the headphones in his flight helmet. His gloved hands gripped the stick of the weapons control system. His eyes were fixed on the view outside the cockpit windows, searching for the elusive target still ahead of them.
    "Moving in," Pierce Dillard, the pilot of Raptor-One, announced. As he spoke, Pierce's eyes squinted with determination and he struggled with the joystick. The Raptor's controls seemed stiff, and he fought to maintain aircraft stability. The erratic and unpredictable updrafts from the huge buildings below were causing the problem.
    No matter what he did, Pierce could not seem to tame the Raptor's violent shaking.
    "The controls are sluggish," Pierce announced.
    At the co-pilot's station, to the left and slightly below the pilot seat, Martin Wong scanned his HUD - head's-up display. The huge color monitor offered countless readouts, informing the copilot/flight engineer of the Raptors condition, inside and out.
    "We have primary computer failure on the starboard tilt-engine motor," Martin announced calmly. Then he quickly punched up a program from the computer files.
    "Backups coming on-line... now," he said.
    The vibrations slowed, then all but ceased. The Raptor was moving smoothly once again.
    "Raptor-One, watch out for those towers at your three o'clock," Tobias Nelson, the pilot of Raptor-Two, warned Pierce. Toby's deep, booming voice surprised Kip. Lori should have been the one to warn us, he thought. She's the combat controller.
    Pierce eased back on his stick, and Raptor-One's advance through the steel, glass, and concrete canyons of downtown Chicago slowed. As the Raptor hovered at a virtual standstill over the city, gusts of wind continuously buffeted the aircraft.
    Well , Kip reasoned, that is why they call it the Windy City.
    The Raptor began to drift toward a round glass tower, and Pierce had to move the control stick to compensate.
    * * *
    Tobias Nelson, at the controls of Raptor-Two, also hovered in a stationary position, but he was far, far above the city, and Raptor-One. Raptor-Two's job was air combat control, and for that they needed a bird's-eye view of the battlefield.
    "Raptor-One, move into attack position," Lori Angelo commanded from her combat control station in Two. "I want you to circle the Sears Tower..." Lori paused for effect. "That's the tall building on your left, Dillard ."
    Pierce's face remained stony as he listened to Lori's instructions. But the crews of both ships could hear Toby chuckling.
    "After you pass the building, make a sharp right," Lori concluded. Pierce nodded, then clicked his mike to acknowledge her command. Cautiously, he moved the joystick forward, and to the left. The panoramic vista outside the cockpit Windshields