The Hell With Earthside: A Novella (STRYDER'S HORIZON Book 1) Read Free Page B

I looked at him.
    “But before we can do any of that, you all must learn how to turn. It goes against every single device you have ever piloted. You are going to save us all a lot of time if you just pretend right now you have never moved your arms or legs in your life. Because when you lay down in a drill-runner, that drill-runner is a part of your body. And if you start moving your body like you do on a normal basis, you’re going to end up in a wall. Dead.”
    “You can’t catch the Dessup Gang dead.” Davis added. Seeing the smiles on the officers’ faces had not changed, it was probably a good idea to remind them of this.
    So for good measure, I also added, “Dead is bad.”

5. PIVOT POINTS
     
    “They’re different,” Gregor told me as I led the officers down to the drill-runners. His words stopped me dead in my tracks. I decided to try one out. It looked about the same as I remembered, like a giant wingless-hornet. I lay down and slid my arm through the calibrators and my legs through the pins. They locked down as soon as I did. Beneath me I could feel the orb ever spinning. The feeling against my stomach had not been missed until that moment. My heart raced as I remembered all my near-death experiences. I was younger then, and back then, those moments scared me. I’d had something to live for, but right now it felt like I yearned for them. Like death was what I had always wanted.
    “The first thing to keep in mind is that you are turning the orb here at my stomach. You are not turning your body the way you want to go. You’re not simply flying through a space dodging things. You have to work with this little ball that has no eyes and sure as hell doesn’t share your same perception of time and space. This ball works not unlike a magnet, but instead of basic magnetism it generates its own gravity.
    “And yes, the rumors are true. There have been people who have generated so much gravity that they were shot through space and never seen again. And there are people who generated so much that they dug themselves a grave. 
    “Drill-runners are a tool that humanity is still not ready for. Maybe one day, there will be a generation who laughs at all of us silly people crashing into things, but that day is not today. Now watch.”
    I activated the drill-runner. It rose off the floor of the bay. I whipped it around so that I would be standing if my feet were on the ground, a tenth of a second and I’m upside down. Then left then right. The orb is in the exact same space the whole time.
    “You see the orb is a pivot point. There are gauges on at my fingertips, which propel it forward. As it moves forward, I turn the orb with my body to adjust the position of the drill-runner.”
    There should’ve been ooo’s and ahh’s. They must’ve seen it in the documentaries.
    “The key is to put the orb where it needs to be at all times, but because of the strength at which the orb can pull you, it is best to dodge by simply pivoting.”
    “Excuse me,” a young man said.
    I spiraled over to him. “Yes?”
    “When we go into the tubes, the gang will be armed. If they know this, then keeping a pivot point with the orb is asking to be shot.”
    I nodded, “These were not designed for combat. They were designed to navigate complex channels.”
    “And the tubes are very complex,” Davis assured us all.
    “So you’re not going to teach us how to actually survive?” the young officer asked. It was a frustration that seemed foreign in Earthside.
    “Officer Millar, please let Lady Stryder continue.”
    “No, Millar brings up a good point. There will be combat, and it is something we will have to learn together. But you can’t fight if you can’t breathe. And drill-running is breathing. Thank you, Millar.”
    The Officer nodded and gave me his full attention.
     
    The first lesson ended with each officer trying his or her hand at riding a drill-runner. Even using a security bubble around them did not end well. Two