Missing in Action

After short but emotional ontological discussion which main topics were origins of participants, their present social statuses and nicknames, plus additional assumptions about professions their mothers had when they gave birth to them, and which was so sophisticated and full of concealed truths that public usually gets to see only row of symbols instead of words when conversation is visualised,



representatives of local Subcultural Union Management (generally known by it's acronym "scum") chased after Sandy Bell and Volodja Uljanov again. As Volodja guessed, they completely ignored sleeping Marcel. They didn't even bothered to look at him when they run by, because their minds were set on the goal - capturing Sandy Bell and receiving huge bounty for the deed.

Volodja had to catch his breath, because carrying Sandy for a long time cost him lot of energy. He put her gently to his chamanto again and swept his forehead with a sleeve. His heart was beating, his breathing have heavy and  exhaustion conquered his body. He was officially tired.

"Volodja, I don't want to sound like a soothsayer or anything," said Sophie. "But Charlies are practically stepping to our heels. I can see them on my screen already."

"Too...tired...to...run. But I won't leave Sandy."

"Then you must find another way to get rid of Charlies."

"Already looking for it."

Short description of that part of Cusco where Volodja and Sandy found themselves: They were at one end in a long narrow street where dwellings gave space to warehouses and facilities of different kind, including a slaughterhouse. Volodja could hear the voice of animals and that gave him an idea about balancing their lack in manpower when compared with stalkers.

"Have you ever heard about the bull run?" asked Volodja. "I don't refer to American Civil War battle or notorious annual automobile rally of 100 exotic vehicles with drivers from all around the world, which was held in USA and Canada, although it has something to do with the racing indeed. Spanish word for it is "encierro" and it used to be really poplar in Spain (the most famous event was the eight day long bull running festival of Sanfermines in honour of Saint Fermin in Pamplona), Portugal and southern France....and some parts of Mexico, because of their heritage of Spanish culture.

It's a practice that involves running in front of a small group of cattle that have been let loose on a course of a sectioned-off subset of a town's streets. The origin of this event comes from the need to transport the bulls from the fields outside the city, where they were bred, to the bullring, where they would be killed in the evening. During this event, youngsters would jump among them to show off their courage....or stupidity, because it's quite dangerous sport."

"You mean...?"

"Yes! This city needs a festival like that. I know that we are not in Spain and we don't have any bulls even here in Cuzco any more, but we are on the former Spanish ground and we have enough POW-s, as much I can conclude from their noises...and smell."

Said and done! Volodja put Sandy to the safe place on the courtyard of the slaughterhouse and after some haggling he was the proud owner of the small POW cattle. His first order was to release POWs from loose boxes they were held, and lead them out from the gate when he gave them complete freedom to act by following their instincts. Local workers looked at him as he was a lunatic, but finally followed his royally eccentric orders because they sensed that things are going to become exciting if they do it. After some prod pushes, yells and so on, POWs were running down the empty street. Volodja looked after them and yelled with a grin on his handsome face, waving his sombrero: "Thus I declare first unofficial POW run in Cuzco open! Contesters! Prepare to meet the stars of our festival! Go! Go! Go!"

Contestants - local thugs who were catching up with Sandy and Volodja - weren't overly happy to see running POWs because they run towards then on the street with no way to avoid the confrontation. Few not so well aimed shots at POWs made animals even angrier instead of scaring them away, so POWs increased speed, making the clash unavoidable. Realising that, thugs turned around and tried to escape, but POWs were in better physical shape and caught up with them fast. Then there was sound of clacking pincers, yells from thugs and roars of POWs and clouds of dust, more of symbol marked words in the air and et cetera. Fortunately no civilians and no animals got injured during the POW run.

WARNING: This video contains elements which aren't suitable for everyone to watch.



After the POW run begun, Volodja took out Sergeant Maas's hailer and switched it on: "May I speak with Commander Kima please?" he asked watching his sleeping beloved. "It's five ours from that moment I promised to connect with you and I am the man of my word. Once I promised something, I am obliged to keep it. I know that you are anxious to meet at least with Sandy Bell, because you made several attempts to catch us. Your actions are fine by me because your side never promised to stop the chase for that time. So how can we help you, Commander?"

"Damnation," Exclaimed Sarge, Sandy Belle's EGO Psyche to Sophie, Volodja's EGO psyche, "I should have spotted that sedative in the pie de limon, and Sandy ate enough of it to put a rhino to sleep!"

"The tranquilizer was made of mostly natural ingredients, oui?" Asked Sophie in her charming french accent, adding," And Marcel had but one piece, and it almost effected him immediately. Do not, how do you Americans put it, beat yourself up over it. You are still new at the EGO psyche game, but I have been doing it for some time, and I doubt even I would have immediately discovered its subtle presence in the pie if Volodja had partaken of it. And the pie was very good, oui?"

"Yes, it WAS very good pie indeed," Sarge admitted as he smiled a lopsided smile at her, knowing that if she wasn't downright lying, she was stretching the truth, for he was sure she would have detected the sedative immediately. Still, he appreciated her attempt to make him feel better, and continued his efforts to flush the sedative from Sandy's system, but it was taking more time then he liked, for there was so much of it in there."

"Why Sandy?" Thought Sarge to himself as Sophie left to help with Volodja's version of the running of the bulls, "Do you have to LIKE pie so much!"

"I like pie," Mumbled Sandy sleepily with closed eyes and a silly grin on her face as Volodja carried her fireman style during his running of the POWs.



At the same time, Sargent Maas had found Marcel Lestrange asleep in the alley, and as her commando partner administered an adrenaline shot to awaken him, Maas gave a sit-rep on a borrowed hailer to Commander Kima in the circling black helicopter above them, saying at the end, "Sorry sir, I've lost Bell and Uljanov's trail from here."

"That's okay Sargent, I think I have an inkling of where they may be," Replied Commander Kima as he saw the commotion of the POWs running loose in the streets of Cuzco far below. "Mr Uljanov evidently doesn't believe in keeping a low profile. Still, you and I need to have a long talk later about the fine difference between taking advantage of an opportunity that provides itself and jumping the gun instead of being patient when you know backup is coming. Meet us at the rendezvous point for extraction, with Mr. Lestrange if he wishes. Kima out."

Kima sighed and closed his hailer, whereupon it almost immediately chimed again with another call. Evidently after the POW run had begun, Volodja had taken out Sergeant Maas's hailer and switched it on: "May I speak with Commander Kima please?" he asked watching his sleeping beloved. "It's five hours from that moment I promised to connect with you and I am the man of my word. Once I promised something, I am obliged to keep it. I know that you are anxious to meet at least with Sandy Bell, because you made several attempts to catch us. Your actions are fine by me because your side never promised to stop the chase for that time. So how can we help you, Commander?"

"This is Commander Kima," Answered the large Irathian in his thickly accented rich baritone voice, "And you are a hard man to chase, Mr. Volodja, even in plain sight. Nevertheless, I think we can help each other. There is a powerful man in the Capital City of the Votanis Collective that is very anxious to ask Ms. Bell some questions. In return, we will return you both safely to your friends in the Bay Area, with whatever fiscal compensation you demand for your time. I can promise that if you don't agree, more of the elite guard will come,and we will capture you sooner or later, as the powerful man is quite adamant about speaking to Ms. Bell in person. The more the chase escalates, both in manpower and in time, the less I will be able to keep you both safe. If you are agreeable, meet me in the next fifteen minutes in the construction clearing next to the restaurant where you bought your pie. I will land my helicopter there, wait for a half hour, and if you will, we can go from there to the airport and refuel it for the trip to Capital City. During that time, you can ask me any questions you might have on the matter, and if I am at liberty to answer them, I will. If you choose not to accompany us to Capital City after you have your questions answered during the trip to the Cuzco airport, well then, I know a man of your resources will escape, and the chase will begin anew. I hope to see you at the clearing. Kima out."

Kima closed his hailer, hoping that the human would see reason and accompany them to Capital City once he thought about his and Ms. Bell's alternatives. The life of a fugitive in a foreign city was not a good one, and could not be sustained for long. For Kima's part, he was ready for this whole sordid affair to be over. For the life of him, Commander Kima could not understand why his superior had not been more straightforward in his approach to Ms. Bell in obtaining her cooperation, but Kima was not a policy maker, but a soldier, so he assumed that those above his pay grade must have their reasons, and it was not up to him to question them.

 

It didn't take Riot too long before they reached the grounds of Cusco Region. When the city appeared in the visible distance, Taffer said, "Now it's time for a show of force I guess. Archer, by my command launch decoy flares, then mark them as targets for the laser cannon. By my second command, set the cannon to hit each of them with a low-power pulse as fast as it can. For those who are in the know this will be a clear message about the abilities of the ship, and civilians will see a nice and safe air show.

Right before the ship reached the border of the city but was clearly visible from its every point, Taffer commanded "Flares!" and the flares went off, forming a fancy figure in the sky.



Taffer turned the ship to a quick descent so that it could be easily recognized if Sandy or Volodja were watching the show and also so that the cannon would be shooting up in the sky with no risk of harming anyone on the ground. After Archer reported "targets locked" and the ship reached a good angle of attack, Taffer commanded "Fire" and all the flares exploded in quick succession, leaving smoke traces in the sky. Taffer made another circle around the city and landed the ship vertically on the end of the road which was running down from the Muyu Urqu hill. It was a good position for observation as a good portion of the city was seen from there, and also there were one paved road, two dirt roads and some foot-paths leading to their landing place, all of them within the line of sight from the ship. It meant Sandy and Volodja could clearly see where the ship had landed and they had several paths to reach it whenever they wanted to.



"Same group line-up," Taffer said shortly, "Lu, Atika and Archer stay in the ship and make it our safe return point. But be ready to get it in the air if we need support. Kaj, Chase and Attila take Garilu and search the western part of the city. I and Vo will take the jammer and check the eastern part. Maintain the jumping frequency algorithm for communication. I won't activate the jammer for now because Volodya or Sandy may try to contact us through our common group frequencies. So keep your receivers open for that frequency too. Questions?"

"Taf, you're not trying to keep us girls out of harm's way by locking us inside the Riot, are you?" Lu asked with suspicion in her voice.

"Good question," Taffer replied, "Now let's see. You've proven to cope with ship's controls very fast. Archer has proven the same with ship's weapons. Archer has proven herself as a good soldier and you have shown you're good with heavy weapons. Atika is good with radio equipment as much as you are. Now how do you think does this all mean I'm keeping you out of harm's way or you three just form a perfect skeleton team for the ship to be mobile and well-protected at the same time? Besides, as I think the entire city have seen where we landed including our competitors in our search for Sandy and Volodya, this place may become a lot more dangerous than any other where our groups could be. So your main task is to keep yourselves and the Riot safe and maintain the connection with our searching groups. And you're not locked inside as you still have a runner ready to move. Use it if needed, or get the Riot in the air if you have to relocate. Don't hesitate to call for backup as well. Anything else? Then, let's move out!"

Human organism is a complicated system which is programmed in a way to help us last from one generation to other and survive various danger situations. One of it's features is releasing temporary "super powers" which are hidden inside us. Even most ordinary human being possesses them in stressful situation and there is nothing supernatural about them. It's all about hormones. Let us explain.

In stressful situation our Glandula suprarenalis - to add a scent of sophistication, the Latin always helps and some of us can even tell that term means adrenal glands which lie above our kidneys - is producing a variety of hormones to withstand the danger. First there will be he good old adrenaline rush. After that our organism will be provided with large amount of cortisol aka "stress hormone" which we need to recover from the stress. Cortisol will rise our level of the glucose aka "blood sugar" to produce huge amount of additional energy. Simultaneously it transfers calcium from our bones into our muscles, so we are able to react to any kind of dangers.

Cortisol also reduces our ability to feel the pain so we could concentrate on the most important  - diverting or escaping the immediate danger. At the same time our short term memory gets a boost as well so we could avoid getting into similar danger situations in the future. Everything aforementioned happens at cost of temporary reduction of our immunity and reproducing system which aren't necessary for the short term survival of our organisms. As you can see - getting temporal "super powers" is not a miracle but most common bodily reaction to danger. We simply get faster and stronger and so on for a short time period. Having too high cortisol constantly in your body is harmful (weaker bones, high "blood sugar", reduced immunity and so on are harmful things), so we better use that boost to the maximum. Thus the question:

"How the heck we can put that temporary boost into a good use?"

The answer is simple - let your mind take control and get physical to end the dangerous situation in the way you choose to, so you can spend the fuel during the process. And Volodja Uljanov was about getting as physical as possible by jumping towards the helicopter and clutching the edge of the doorway with both of his hands, releasing one of them only for pulling Sergeant Maas out of his way and making her to jump to the ground after she lost her balance. Luckily the helicopter hadn't gained much altitude yet so she had relatively soft landing. Volodja pulled himself into the helicopter, leaving Sergeant Maas getting herself up from the ground and yelling: "I am all right. Just get the guy!"

Although Volodja was not exactly a midget himself those Irathient Commandos were taller than him, more muscular than him and they outnumbered him. I any other situation Volodja would have been either suppressed right away or just beaten up. But in close quarter combat in narrow conditions those advantages in size and strength became more like disadvantages because larger size takes more space and becomes an obstacle for equally large guys. Imagine when you want to hit one guy and instead of that you end up hitting three (one foe and two friendlies) because your team mates are on your way. Using firearms in helicopter was a big no no. And long tranquillizer rifles were too clumsy to manoeuvre with. Volodja was smaller, faster and he had only his chamanto to slow him down, so...

Volodja's chamanto landed on the top of two Commandos and after a little push completed that little vanishing trick where magician's assistant is covered by cloth and after removing it there will be an empty spot. We are not sure where assistant goes but those two commandos were pushed out of the doorway and had their forced landing just like Sargeant Maas before them. The pilot didn't lift the helicopter any higher, so all traumas they received, were couple of bruises.

Another Commando jumped forward to grab Volodja, but he threw himself to the floor, spreading chamanto in front of him like a carpet and once Commando stepped on it, the carpet was pulled off, making him to stagger backwards. Volodja's powerful jump and a nudge with his shoulder after Volodja smashed against his chest kicked that Commando out of the game...and out of the helicopter as well. Quick glance to the door showed that two Commandos who were pushed out earlier were trying to follow Volodja's example by jumping and clinging on the helicopter's side to pull themselves up again, so Volodja reached out his hand and started to pull the door close putting Commandos in front of simple choice - to let go and jump down or not let go and fall down with cut off fingertips. They had common sense to choose the first option. More bruises for them but at least they preserved their fingers.

"Higher!" ordered Kima. "They are safe down there and will have to catch up with us later! His friends might be here every minute and force us to land."

Hearing that order put Volodja to act even more decisively to get rid of the rest of Commandos because with every thrown out compadre they got more space to use their physical advantages. But throwing out any more of them was not an option any more. Volodja didn't want to kill anyone so last men standing had to be knocked out instead of being kicked out. Volodja's chamanto swung around the legs of another Commando who charged him with his pointed out tranquillizer rifle, slowing him down enough, so Volodja could grab barrel of the gun, pull it froward and then thrust it suddenly backwards instead, when he felt the tension which marked Commando's instinctive attempt to pull his rifle back to make Volodja release his grip. Volodja's thrust was the final touch which made already backwards tilting body to tilt some more and as a result lose it's centre of balance. More "assistance" from Volodja and Commando was down on his back and knocked out. 

It was perfect time for the battle of giants when battlefield was cleared from the rest of the troops. At least there was one giant  - Commander Kima playing part of fresh and strong Goliath, so Volodja Uljanov had do perform tired, sweaty and bruised David without his sling...or was there a sling after all?

Instead of attacking Kima, Volodja made a different kind of decision - he moved towards the one and only pilot and said to Commander Kima: "You have some choices  - you either release Sandy Bell so she could bring this bird safely to the ground because she knows how to pilot these things. Other options are doing it yourself while I release Sandy or do nothing and then we all will crash. In the last case your task remains undone and I believe that someone gets punished for that. And since it's not you any more, then I wonder who it might be? Your friends? Your family? And are you mind to answer at least one of my questions? Not the one I just posed, but the other one. My question is - "What is so important to you, that the wish to complete your assignment forced you to broke every single promise you made to us?" Maybe we can find another way to help you, if we know what is your problem. By the way, it's time for you to decide, because I am about to do THIS. I planned to take out the pilot from the beginning, so it's you last chance to give me a reason not to do it. Oh. I almost forgot - I already have an idea how our friends can force this copter down if you decide to take the place of the pilot."

Saying that, Volodja pulled out his dart pistol, given him by Marcel Lestrange at the auction, pointed it at the pilot and made a little "KLICK" sound. That pistol was meant to bring down any possible species, because Marcel used a special mixture of drugs. In his profession one could never be sure who is needed to be tranquillized - a human or a Votan or a Hellbug...