[Future Chronology Anthology 06] • Circle of Retribution

SABOTAGE!

“You first,” said Maxine, “I want to watch you to get an advantage.”

“Okay,” said Gardener, “here goes.”

The flight suit was similar to the old wing-suits used on earth. A web of material between the legs allowed the pilot to run on the ground and use his legs for stabilization when in the air. Another web of material extended from each arm tapering into the body at the waist creating a triangle. The arm material extended as much as two feet beyond the fliers hands. Unlike the old wing-suits, Titan's flight suits had active compensators built-in to help maintain proper flight attitude. This kept the suits from rotating around the fliers yaw axis as was common with wing-suits.

From the top Kitty Hawk sloped downward in all directions. Gardener consulted the heads-up display of his face mask to note wind direction, the data came from the base weather center through the rf-link. Gardener turned to face the wind and began walking down the slope into the wind. He spread his arms out and sped up his descent. Before long he could feel the pressure of Titan's atmosphere against the suit wings. He started to flap, the airfoil shape of the wings started to lift Gardener into the air. He was no more than a few feet off the ground when he noticed he was climbing at a high rate. Checking the wind speed he was surprised to find it had increased to twenty kilometers per hour. Enough to lift him without any effort on his part.

He tried to adjust his speed of ascent by pulling his arms in to lower the lift on the airfoil. Something happened, his right hand slipped out of the grip glove. The airfoil on that side dipped, the other side rose. Before he could correct he found himself upside down and falling. He pulled his knees up and hit the ground on the back of his heels before rolling the rest of the way down the hill and landing sprawled on his back.

Before he could stand and make an inventory of himself Maxine was bending over him. He could see her yelling something at him from behind her suit mask. He realized that something had happened to his communications module. Maxine bent closer, he didn't need his comm module to hear her.

“What are you doing you idiot, trying to kill yourself!”

“Circle of Retribution” is a story in the Future Chronology Series. This series of short stories published by Hiawassee Publishing ranges from near future stories to far millennial stories, from familiar Earth-based settings to distant worlds.

Stories in the series available now (or coming soon) include:

Whatsoever You Do (Near Future)

War Through the Pines (Near Future)

Vigilance (22nd Century)

To Tend and Watch Over (22nd Century)

Union (23rd Century)

Circle of Retribution (24th Century)

Freedom from Want (25th Century)

Breakup (25th Century)

Kuiper Station (28th Century)

The Cloud (29th Century)

First Interstellar (30th Century)