*Featured on Wattpad Explorer's Near Future Visions reading list!*
A century ago, our AI benefactor, Moses, disappeared, taking mankind's future with him. The dream of the stars is dead. Earth is silent and the colonies of the solar syst...
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"Skyhoppers inbound," Cole's voice rattled over Abigail's comm. Above her head, she heard the roar of the aircraft as one passed above her train car.
"Look alive," Captain Stanley ordered.
She moved to the front of the car and pulled her riot shield off her back. It sprang to life with a faint hum. Her armor was tough enough to stop most small arms fire, but she still preferred to take them in the shield. Better not to take too many chances.
A spray of sparks began to shoot from the door as the Hawthorne gang cut through it with a plasma torch. "Breathing masks on!" shouted Stanley.
Abigail lowered her own transparent face shield and waited patiently, knowing this would give her one good shot at whoever was on the other side. The moment the torch had cut a complete circuit around the door she slammed her shield into it, giving it a good jolt from the grav plate.
The heavy steel door blew outwards taking at least two men with it. Abigail didn't know what happened to them but figured their bodies would someday be found on the dry Martian landscape, half-mummified. Gunfire began to ping harmlessly against her shield. Then she heard something bounce across the ground near her feet.
A flash and a deafening roar echoed through the train car, and for a moment Abigail feared they had tossed a live grenade through the hole. As the stars began to clear, she realized with relief that it was only a flashbang, but the distraction could prove disastrous. Still reeling from the blast, she pushed her shield to block the missing door. There were more pings of deflected gunfire. Then she noticed the car filling with smoke.
"Find that smoke grenade and get it out of here," she bellowed over her ringing ears. It was too late. The car was filled with smoke, making it almost impossible to see. Breathing wasn't a problem for the deputies due to their masks, but it was hard to know where a threat was coming from if you couldn't see it. The outlaws would probably have thermal vision to see through...
A shaft of light came from the rear of the car, cutting through the smoke. "Sharon!" Cole yelled.
"Keep your eyes on the rear door. I've got the front!"
