MetaWars: Fight For The Future

Chapter 15

A hawk-nosed jet fighter was hurtling right at the airship.

Jonah gaped at it in horror. He hadn’t seen a real aeroplane in years – and now, he was on a collision course with one.

Bradbury was wrestling with the co-pilot’s controls, and Axel leapt into the pilot’s seat to assist him, but there was little either of them could do. Their fat, slow-moving vessel was easy prey for the sleek, grey hunter.

At the last possible second, however, the fighter sheared away from them, buffeting them in its jet stream. Jonah followed its progress through the cockpit’s portside window, and was dismayed to see it banking to the right, coming around again.

‘He’s playing with us,’ Axel growled.

‘Not for long,’ Bradbury said, tight-jawed. ‘He’s already fired a warning shot. He’s giving us one last chance to transmit clearance codes.’

‘I thought we had them,’ said Sam, leaning between the two seats.

‘Already tried,’ said Bradbury. ‘The codes we have are out of date.’

‘They must have changed,’ said Axel. ‘If there’s anyone on board that plane, we’re dead. Chances are, though, it’s only a drone. Could we—?’

‘Working on it, Axel, but it’s gonna be a close one.’

Standing in the cockpit doorway, Jonah felt completely helpless. He didn’t dare speak, or even move, for fear of getting in the way. He hadn’t exactly been invited up here in the first place. He had just followed Sam.

Axel put a hand to his ear, listening to his headset. ‘The Millennial plane is preparing to fire,’ he announced, ‘in five...four...three...’

Bradbury typed frantically at a datapad set into an instrument panel. The jet fighter was bearing down on them again, and the airship shuddered as if in anticipation. This time, however, the plane soared over them and kept on going.

‘You did it!’ cried Sam.

Axel punched the air in triumph.

Jonah couldn’t restrain himself any longer. ‘What?

What did he do?’

‘Instead of sending the clearance codes,’ said Sam,

‘Bradbury uploaded a virus to the fighter’s systems. It severed the link between the fighter and its operator on the ground. It’s flying on emergency autopilot now.’

‘I bought us time,’ said Bradbury, wrenching off his headset, clambering out of his seat, ‘to bail out of this damn blimp.’

‘No,’ said Axel, ‘not yet.’

‘Are you crazy, Axel? The Millennials will regain control of that plane and have it back on our tail before you know it!’

‘I’ve been talking to the kid, Bradbury, to Jonah. He knows – at least, we figure he knows – the locations of the Four Corners.’

Bradbury shot Jonah a distrustful look. ‘All the more reason,’ he said, ‘to jump for it before we’re shot down.’

‘No, no, no, you don’t understand. Granger knows that he knows. That’s why he sent those remotes to the RAF base, and why he’s searching the skies for us now. It’s not us the Millennials want dead, Bradbury, it’s the kid!’

Bradbury looked straight at Jonah with contempt and anger. ‘So you brought the war right to us?’

‘They’ll be combing the French countryside before we’ve buried our chutes,’ said Axel. ‘We won’t stand a chance on foot unless...’