supposed to of course, but that never stopped him."
"So what happened after the attack on the World Trade Center?"
"My father got the call up. They took an earlier model of the X-wing in. The top speed reached was Mach fifteen or about ten thousand miles per hour, which was a new world record at the time. Not that they could celebrate it or announce it to the world but it was a pretty amazing achievement. My father and his team were on the ground in Afghanistan in less than two hours. They took a chopper into the mountains," he said as his voice trailed off.
He stopped suddenly but I was interested in the rest of the story. "What happened next?"
"That’s classified," he whispered.
I then realized this story didn't have a happy ending.
"But they found them," he said after awhile. "The only problem was they were outnumbered. It was like they had uncovered a nest of snakes, a hive of killer bees or something. They never anticipated that there would be so many of them in the one place. They never stood a chance. But before they were killed they managed to transmit their coordinates. And over the next few weeks the US commenced bombing of the area."
"I’m so sorry," I said. "I... I lost my father too." I don’t know why I told him that. I never tell anyone. I guess I was trying to let him know that I understood how he felt, that I could relate and that he wasn’t alone.
He looked away at something on the horizon. "I know. I read your file. You’re a strong girl. Never forget that."
Why does he keep calling me strong? It made me feel like a fraud, like any second now he would find out that I’m a complete scaredy cat.
And what did he mean by ‘Read my file’?
I started to feel strangely exposed. I knew he must've had access to all kinds of top secret, classified information. After all, he was able to intercept the footage of the failed rescue attempt by the military. That would've taken some serious skill and know how. But it made me wonder what else he knew. I wonder if he knew about me and Kenji. I wonder if he knew about Doctor Hunter and Doctor West and the experiments on refugees. I’d never asked him before because I guess I’d been scared into obedience by the military. And up until a couple of hours ago I thought he was military.
But now I wasn’t sure. I had no idea who he worked for.
I wondered if he was hiding anything from me. I wondered if he kissed me because he was trying to get close to me to get information or whatever. Did he really have feelings for me? Or was he just using me? It was confusing to think about. And I guess in the grand scheme of things it didn’t really matter. All that mattered was that we were going to save my friends; we were going to save Maria.
And on the plus side it was less awkward between us now that we had a mission to focus on.
But it was hard not to think about how much he knew.
"Do you know if anyone else survived?" I asked. "Whenever I asked the military guys if anyone else had survived they kept going on about how it was all classified information and all that crap."
"I'm not sure. Australia is a big country with a lot of open space. I spent a couple of months in Western Australia at a training facility out in the middle of nowhere."
"Wait, you've been to Australia?"
"Yeah. Part of the reason I agreed to go on this mission was because I know the terrain. Anyways, the property we used was once a cattle farm. But it had become too dry over the years to be used for farming so they converted it into a training facility. Bombing range, shooting range. Stuff like that. The area was massive. It was one of the bigger properties and the only way to get around to the different areas was by chopper or light aircraft."
"Sounds like fun."
"It was. Especially when we had target practice while hanging out of a chopper."
"Target practice? What were you shooting?"
"Mainly kangaroos. But also wild buffalo, wild dogs, wild boar."
"Excuse me?
"So what happened after the attack on the World Trade Center?"
"My father got the call up. They took an earlier model of the X-wing in. The top speed reached was Mach fifteen or about ten thousand miles per hour, which was a new world record at the time. Not that they could celebrate it or announce it to the world but it was a pretty amazing achievement. My father and his team were on the ground in Afghanistan in less than two hours. They took a chopper into the mountains," he said as his voice trailed off.
He stopped suddenly but I was interested in the rest of the story. "What happened next?"
"That’s classified," he whispered.
I then realized this story didn't have a happy ending.
"But they found them," he said after awhile. "The only problem was they were outnumbered. It was like they had uncovered a nest of snakes, a hive of killer bees or something. They never anticipated that there would be so many of them in the one place. They never stood a chance. But before they were killed they managed to transmit their coordinates. And over the next few weeks the US commenced bombing of the area."
"I’m so sorry," I said. "I... I lost my father too." I don’t know why I told him that. I never tell anyone. I guess I was trying to let him know that I understood how he felt, that I could relate and that he wasn’t alone.
He looked away at something on the horizon. "I know. I read your file. You’re a strong girl. Never forget that."
Why does he keep calling me strong? It made me feel like a fraud, like any second now he would find out that I’m a complete scaredy cat.
And what did he mean by ‘Read my file’?
I started to feel strangely exposed. I knew he must've had access to all kinds of top secret, classified information. After all, he was able to intercept the footage of the failed rescue attempt by the military. That would've taken some serious skill and know how. But it made me wonder what else he knew. I wonder if he knew about me and Kenji. I wonder if he knew about Doctor Hunter and Doctor West and the experiments on refugees. I’d never asked him before because I guess I’d been scared into obedience by the military. And up until a couple of hours ago I thought he was military.
But now I wasn’t sure. I had no idea who he worked for.
I wondered if he was hiding anything from me. I wondered if he kissed me because he was trying to get close to me to get information or whatever. Did he really have feelings for me? Or was he just using me? It was confusing to think about. And I guess in the grand scheme of things it didn’t really matter. All that mattered was that we were going to save my friends; we were going to save Maria.
And on the plus side it was less awkward between us now that we had a mission to focus on.
But it was hard not to think about how much he knew.
"Do you know if anyone else survived?" I asked. "Whenever I asked the military guys if anyone else had survived they kept going on about how it was all classified information and all that crap."
"I'm not sure. Australia is a big country with a lot of open space. I spent a couple of months in Western Australia at a training facility out in the middle of nowhere."
"Wait, you've been to Australia?"
"Yeah. Part of the reason I agreed to go on this mission was because I know the terrain. Anyways, the property we used was once a cattle farm. But it had become too dry over the years to be used for farming so they converted it into a training facility. Bombing range, shooting range. Stuff like that. The area was massive. It was one of the bigger properties and the only way to get around to the different areas was by chopper or light aircraft."
"Sounds like fun."
"It was. Especially when we had target practice while hanging out of a chopper."
"Target practice? What were you shooting?"
"Mainly kangaroos. But also wild buffalo, wild dogs, wild boar."
"Excuse me?
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