Officer North eyed the pedestrians as they pushed their glidercarts back and forth across the parking lot. His cool eyes moved from one person to another in a slow, practiced rhythm... not focusing on any particular detail, but instead taking them all in at once and letting his mind sort through them all subconsciously. It was better that way... more efficient. CityNet hadn't spent millions on VR training just to have him sitting around doing things the hard way.

Monitor duty wasn't the most glamorous assignment on the P.E.D., but it was the most vital. Crucial, in fact. When done right, it saved lives and kept the streets save. When done wrong... it opened the door for all kinds of things that North didn't want to think about.

North saw his partner emerge from the distribution center and start across the lot. Galloway was a plainclothes-technician. Unlike North, he wore no uniform and carried his weapons and tools concealed in an innocuous-looking briefcase. Judging from the cocky smile on his face, he must have gotten the surveillance node up and running again. Monitor duty was over; CityNet could take over from here. He was just about to notify Dispatch when the radio alerted him to an incoming message.

"832, this is Dispatch," said a cold, female voice. "Alert... Code 2-55 at 1413 Glenhollow Drive: Carodyne Office Complex."

"832, acknowledging," North responded. Then he tapped the small transceiver button on the collar of his uniform. "C'mon Dean, we've got a Code 2! Let's go!"

Out in the parking lot, Officer Galloway abandoned his slow, inconspicuous walk and ran for the vehicle. North hit a switch on the dashboard. Tiny seams appeared in the cruiser's smooth exterior, outlining the passenger door for an instant before the door lifted up and swung away. Galloway made a running dive into unmarked vehicle while civilians all around the lot turned to see what was going on. Galloway had blown their cover... but it didn't matter now. They had a Code 2.

North hit the main power and yanked back on the control stick. The A-G jets flared to life; bright, electric-blue light sprayed out from bottom of the cruiser as it soared straight up into the air. The sudden upward motion slung the passenger door shut as Galloway belted himself in. The door melted silently back into the seamless chassis. Inside, Galloway hit the 'DE-CONCEAL' button. The cruiser's exterior holographic panels shimmered, then changed from standard civilian gray to the blue, white, and black markings of the P.E.D. The red and blue strobe lights bathed the concrete below like flashes of multicolored lightning.

North's foot pressed the accelerator firmly. The car shot out over the distribution center, cutting across the tops of adjacent buildings and then arcing sharply upward into the low-flying traffic lane. The characteristic warbling wail of the siren announced their approach with less than a second to spare.

"Dispatch, this is 832," said North as he deftly maneuvered the patrol car into, out of, and, in between the lanes of civilian traffic. "Reporting Code 7 resolved. Sign us onto Code 2-55 at 1413 Glenhollow. In route now. ETA 1 minute."

"Acknowledged, 832. Be advised that subject has left the work-zone and is moving toward the parking area."

"He's gonna run," Galloway said. His voice had a bit too much eagerness in it... more than North would have liked. "I can feel it."

"You say that about all of 'em," North replied.

"Yeah, but this time I can feel it. This guy's a runner."

"Not if we get there first."

North pulled the control stick back towards his crotch as his boot eased the accelerator further toward the floor. The accellerator-jets blazed, and the PED cruiser zoomed skyward at a gut-wrenching 75-degree angle. For an instant there was nothing but blue emptiness in the windshield... then the glass walls of skyscrapers sliced across the skyline... and finally the glowing A-G jets of the civilian vehicles in the traffic corridor above them. It was a high speed corridor, four lanes wide and three lanes high... with vehicles traveling in excess of 200mph. The PED cruiser raced toward them, hesitating only briefly before diving into the stream of traffic. North merged with the flow of cars, but only remained there for an instant. He studied the maze of speeding vehicles around him, then, with reflexes honed and perfected by countless hours of VR simulation, he snatched the cruiser out of place and sent it weaving back and forth through the lanes. Left, right... down... back up again... the cruiser zigzagged through multiple collision paths so quickly that the civilians had no time to react. But there was nothing they could do anyway. Their vehicles were required by law to be slower and less maneuverable than police cruisers, so it was up to North to react FOR them. He anticipated their moves before they even knew there was a move to be made. By the time they heard the siren or saw the flashing lights, North was already flying past them. A few blinks of an eye later, North's cruiser burst free of the corridor and headed for open sky, leaving the civilian traffic behind and below.

The cruiser accelerated into a long, high arc...

...then tore through the air in a downward rush that took it back toward the city below. North curved around and over the buildings, taking advantage of the emergency-only zones as he made his way across town.

1413 Glenhollow Drive was an office complex... a perfect honeycomb of three and four-level buildings clustered around a massive parking garage/shopping center, which rose from their midst like a giant obelisk. Narrow walkways and elevated bridges connected some of the buildings, but North soar harmlessly above them as he headed for the parking center.

"Kill the siren," he ordered. Galloway cut the noise and reduced the strobe intensity by a third... there was no need to disturb everyone's work just for one subject. At least not yet. The PED cruiser hugged the exterior wall and slowly made its way toward the main entrance. North scanned the open-air garage and saw nothing. Row upon row of civilian vehicles peered back at him from the shadows. Galloway reached for the knob that controlled the searchlight, but North waved his hand away.

"Dispatch, this is 832. Give me a location on the Code 2." he said.

"Subject last seen approaching secondary exit, level 14."

"On the way." The cruiser gained altitude sharply and leveled out at the 14th floor. It continued to follow the wall around the front, but now at a much faster speed. There was a double-line of civilian vehicles hovering just outside the entrance gate... each waiting their turn to present their identification and enter the garage. The exit gate was adjacent to them.

North glided above the line of cars and lowered his cruiser in front of the exit, blocking it.

"Dispatch to 832," the radio blared. "Analysis shows 67% probability that subject will attempt to elude capture-"

Even before Dispatch's transmission ended, a disturbance at the entrance drew North's attention. A single bright light blared out from the dark interior of the garage. The cars in the front of the line scattered like startled wasps as a single uni-bike zipped out of the entrance gate and roared down between the double line of vehicles. The helmeted driver didn't even look back. The acceleration jets of his cycle left streaks of blue light in their wake as he sped away... right into oncoming traffic.

"A RUNNER!" Galloway howled. "WHAT'D I TELL YOU! GO! GO! GO!"

"Thank you for the warning, Dispatch," North said calmly as he took off after the fleeing biker. The cruiser's jets blazed bright blue, and the warning sirens blared to maximum intensity. The double-row of cars turned into a long, featureless blur as the patrol cruiser matched, and then exceeded the uni-bike's velocity. They came up behind and slightly above the fugitive bike, then held their relative position as the city's landscape continued to zoom past them.

"Dispatch, be advised that suspect has fled the scene. Unit 832 in pursuit," said North.

"Acknowledged, 832."

"Patch me through, Dean" said North. Galloway hit the 'emergency band' button. North started speaking out loud, knowing that his voice was being transmitted to the emergency receptors in the fugitive's helmet. "This is P.E.D. Unit 832. CityNet has issued Code-2 legal a warrant for your detainment. Please land your vehicle safely and remand yourself to our custody immediately."

The radio answered with blast of static and feedback. The fugitive took his hands off the bike's controls just long enough to flash an obscene gesture.

"What the heck?" said North.

"A joker, eh? He wants to play games."

"We'll see about that. Fugitive vehicle: you are commanded to land and surrender yourself immediately. This is your last official warning before-"

Suddenly, the bike accelerated away from them and veered upward, leaving nothing behind it but a fading blue acceleration trail.

"How'd he do that!" Galloway exclaimed.

"Same way we are," North replied with the same characteristic calm. He pushed the accelerator while steering the cruiser on an intercept course. Again, the windshield became a field of empty sky as they rose... but in the middle of that field were the blazing acceleration jets of the fugitive's bike. The bike grew larger and larger as they gained on it... both vehicles pointing almost straight up into the air. Suddenly the bike pitched to the left and went into a wild, tumbling roll-

"He's out of control!"

"No, he isn't-" North shoved the control stick forward; the cruiser's nose dipped sharply. The bike was on a tight cork-screw dive headed straight into the crowded street below. The cruiser was right behind it. North kept his distance, waiting to see which direction the bike would go when it ended its 'out of control' charade. With about a hundred feet to spare, the fugitive pulled out of the dive and shot off at an angle, zooming through a no-fly zone that took it over several low-rise offices at over 290 miles per hour.

North yanked back on the stick and hit the accelerator. They came up on the bike so fast it was like the fugitive had come to a halt... but not for long. Just as they got close enough to read the bike's code-plate, the bike's rear jets blazed solid white, and its engine roared loud enough to be heard inside the cruiser's air-tight cabin.

The fleeing vehicle became a rapidly fading dot in the distance.

"He can't do that!" said Galloway. "He's got illegal tech in that bike! NO legal vehicle can go that fast!"

"He's already pulling down a Code-2... There's no telling WHAT this guy is capable of. We've got to get him on the ground NOW." North jolted the cruiser's military-grade engine to four-fifths speed. The sudden acceleration threw both officers back into their seats. The 'rapidly fading dot' ahead of them grew larger and larger as they gained on it.

"This guy's dangerous; we're shutting him down. Lock on and patch me in again."

Galloway's fingers danced across the tiny keyboard protruding from the console in front of him. A rectangular panel opened and a control stick almost identical to North's extended out toward Galloway's lap.

"...got the codes..." Galloway said as he continued typing. "...locking on...just gimme another second..."

As he worked, North addressed the fugitive on the emergency band.

"Citizen, in accordance with the Fugitive Control Act of 2091, we are hereby assuming remote control of your vehicle. Be advised that attempts to override our control, jettison evidence, or abandon the vehicle before landing may result in serious bodily injury or death. Be advised that your impact-suit may not protect you from injury, and that CityNet is not liable for any injuries you receive while fleeing arrest. Prepare yourself for rapid deceleration, remote landing, and immediate detainment."

"I'm in!" said Galloway.

"Shut him d-"

Before Galloway could touch the glowing yellow button on his panel, the bike went into a sharp dive... then made a tight upward curl that took it right past the cruiser's windshield. North had to swerve violently to avoid a mid-air collision. The cruiser was out of control for a fraction of a second. North performed a 360-degree roll and roared after the fugitive with a vengeance.

"LOCK HIM OUT!" he ordered. "LOCK HIM OUT BEFORE HE KILLS SOMEBODY UP HERE!"

"He's out of range!" Galloway replied frantically.

North growled. The cruiser's normally-smooth engine began to rumble like a hungry carnivore as it bore down on the bike once again.

"Illegal tech or not, he can't outrun us."

"We got range! Assuming control and initiating lockout... NOW!"

Galloway grabbed the second control stick and shoved it forward. Ahead of them, the bike and its driver dove toward a landing pad atop a nearby building... but then suddenly veered up at what must have been the bike's maximum speed.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, Dean!?!" North angled the cruiser on an intercept vector. "Take him down!"

"It isn't me! He's still in control!"

"I thought you had him locked him out!"

"I DID! The computer says I've got control, but I don't! He's faking the signals... must have an echo-box or something!"

"More illegal modifications," said North. "This guy is full of surprises. No wonder CityNet issued a Code 2."

"Stay on 'im while I get clearance for an EMP," said Galloway. "Dispatch, this is 833, Dean Galloway. We are in air-pursuit of a Code 2-55, now confirmed to be in possession of illegal technology. Vehicle is non-responsive to remote lockout, requesting permission for EMP."

"Request denied," said Dispatch.

"What-"

"He's onto us," said North. "Look where he's headed."

The high-speed traffic corridor stretched across the sky above them like a metal rainbow. The uni-bike shot across the rushing traffic lanes and started worming its way through the maze of speeding cars, dodging and veering with near-suicidal precision.

"No way we can set off an EMP here," said North. "And he knows it." The cruiser spiraled along the outside of the corridor like an stone skipping across the surface of a pond. The fugitive bike was now deep within the labyrinth of vehicles. North studied the traffic, searching for a path through the madness. There was none... at least not for something as large as the PED cruiser. Not yet. Already, the other civilian vehicles were peeling away... slowing down or changing lanes to allow the cruiser room to maneuver. When North saw an opening, he took it.

The chase entered a dangerous new arena. The cruiser zigzagged through heavy traffic, with North's expert reflexes finding or forging openings to take it closer to the fugitive. But the uni-bike maintained its distance... and it did so with ease. Smaller size and illegal maneuverability gave it an advantage... and the fugitive pushed that advantage to the limit. With rear-jets blazing, the bike soared across multiple lanes, squeezing in between speeding vehicles with mere inches to spare. It executed maneuvers and went places that the cruiser simply could not go... and it went there as rapidly and recklessly as it could. It was all North could do to just keep the bike in sight.

"Dispatch, this is 832!" said North. "Requesting multiple emergency lockout-overrides on all vehicles: HS-Corridor 138, sector 7, grids 8 through 12!"

"Approved," Dispatch replied. "Processing..."

"There he goes!"

The bike dropped from its current lane into the one below it, nearly colliding with two cars. It veered to the right at the last moment and slipped into the lane adjacent to them. The driver hit maximum acceleration until he almost rear-ended another car... then he slowed and waited for another opening. After two more identical maneuvers, the bike was a significant distance ahead.

"Stay with him, North!" said Galloway. "Staaaay with him."

"Easier said than done!" North jerked the control staff to the right and decelerated... squeezing in between two late-model vehicles. He dropped lanes and moved right again... exiting the corridor entirely. He accelerated along its length until he was even with the bike... but now he had no way to get to it. Four lanes of heavy traffic separated the predator from the prey. North began to circle the corridor again...

"...All lockout codes complete." Dispatch announced. "Execution in three..."

"Here we go," said North. He gripped the control tightly and prepared for maximum burn. He knew the fugitive was going to make a break for it as soon as the traffic cleared.

"...two..."...

"Ya gotta admit," said Galloway. "This is a lot more fun that scanning civilians in a parking lot-"

"...one...."

"ATTENTION CITIZENS," a male voice boomed into every cockpit of every vehicle for three miles. "There is a Fugitive Apprehension Action in progress. For your safety, CityNet has instituted a command-lockout of your vehicles. You will be moved to a safe distance and held until the Action has left your immediate area, at which time, control will be returned to you..."

The voice of CityNet continued its announcement, and as it did, all the cars began slowing down and making an orderly exit from the high-speed corridor. The outer lanes peeled away like the skin of a banana... followed shortly by the inner lanes. The traffic cleared layer after layer. Layer after layer, the bike's advantage was removed.

The fugitive reacted immediately. The bike veered through the now-open space, accelerating at maximum burn toward a city-bus filled with commuters.

"GET HIM!"

"I'm on him!"

The P.E.D. cruiser raced after the bike. North put the accelerator to the floor. He and Galloway were thrown back into their seats and held firmly in place by the monstrous, invisible fist of inertia. The cruiser shook violently, and the control-stick jerked in North's fists like a living creature trying to escape a predator's grasp. But North kept the powerful vehicle in line... bending it to his will... forcing it to follow his quarry.

The bike darted around the commuter bus and began flying tight circles around it, like a mosquito searching for a place to land. But landing wasn't the fugitive's intention.

"He's gonna shadow that thing 'cause he knows we won't pulse him," said Galloway.

"He can't keep buzzing that thing forever," North replied. "He's gonna jet... and we're gonna be ready.

"Just stay in range," said Galloway. "The second he's clear... we got him."

North fell in behind the bus and watched the bike fly spirals around it as terrified faces appeared in the bus' tinted windows. The vehicle was packed with passengers... most of them on their way back to work from lunch. But there were a few children as on board as well. They watched in fear as the uni-bike shot past the windows in one direction, only to zoom back down the other site and then circle around the length of the bus in a dizzying spiral. He kept moving constantly, never standing still for even the slightest moment. But all the while, the bus was descending toward a landing area that was crowded with waiting passengers. The bus would have to land in order for them to board, and once it did, the fugitive's protection was over.

The fugitive didn't wait for that moment to come. Just as the bus dipped toward the platform, the bike shot underneath it on a near-collision course. It came up on the far side where North and Galloway couldn't see it... then it shot off at a incredible speed toward two buildings. The skyscrapers were no more than four feet apart, but the bike roared between them as if the cramped passage was a wide-open corridor. It curved behind one of the buildings and vanished.

The P.E.D. cruiser followed the bike's course until it reached the buildings, then, unable to fit through the opening, it veered straight up... a 90-degree angle at maximum burn, with nothing but sky in the windshield. North pulled the stick back even further... the cruiser pulled away from the building and into a 360-degree vertical loop. At the bottom of the loop, the cruiser cleared the upper corner the building with less than 2-feet to spare. It soared over the top of the building in a tight arc-

"Where'd he go?" said Galloway as he looked down. There was no sign of the fugitive. "There's no WAY he can move that fast, I don't care WHAT he's got on that bike."

"He's hiding," North said. His steely gaze scanned the scene below. A maze of elevated walkways crisscrossed the airspace below, connecting the buildings like the strands of a spider's web. "Somewhere down there in all that."

"Nothing on radar," Galloway informed him. "Ditto for motion sensors. Maybe dispatch has him on surveillance-"

"Don't bother; I got him."

The cruiser went into a steep nose-dive, twisting and turning through the web of aerial walkways at an ever-increasing speed. There was still no sign of the bike when North pulled the cruiser out of the dive and skimmed across the tops of the mid-level bridges. He decelerated slightly and entered the construction zone. Columns of cultured, artificial steel rose around them like giant redwoods.... support beams for what was eventually going to be another skyscraper. But all it was now was a labyrinth of metal... a labyrinth that would scatter radar signals and render motion detectors useless from a distance.

Construction robots worked tirelessly in the steel maze like bees in a flower garden. They hovered around ever corner, and dozens of them clustered around every major joint that needed their flawless attention. And, like bees, they quickly fled at the speeding cruiser's approach.

"He's in here somewhere," said North. "It's the only place he could avoid surveillance-"

"THERE!" Galloway pointed ahead and slightly to the right, where a cluster of robots suddenly scattered. They were avoiding something, but it wasn't the cruiser.

And the bike roared out from their midst like a ravenous beast. It's path took it straight toward the cruiser for a second... perhaps two... and then it veered away and began weaving a perilous path through the steel. The driver kept to the narrow passages and small clearances where the cruiser couldn't follow, but North wasn't going to be shaken that easily. He worked the control-stick like a stunt pilot, sending the cruiser through spaces that even the AI autofliers would have avoided. He twisted and twirled... sometimes even flying sideways to fit the large cruiser through the narrow spaces between the support beams. He couldn't follow the fugitive's path exactly, but he could keep up... and that was all he needed.

"This is over," he announced. "I'm on him... get approval for an EMP."

"Already got it," Galloway said, pointing at his display. "Authorized and ready."

"Hold on a second-"

North took the cruiser on a dizzying path through the steel, rolling a full 360 degrees as he squeezed through several tight passages to get him just a few meters closer to the fugitive.

"We got range!" Galloway shouted.

"Take this joker out!"

Galloway activated the EMP with a push of a tiny, harmless-looking button.

The cruiser's drive system coughed and hesitated in mid-accellertion as the power was momentarily diverged elsewhere. All the lights in the cockpit flickered... growing almost too dim to see... and then blazing far, far too bright before returning to normal.

A special housing on the underside of the cruiser spat forth a fist-sized ball of light. The pulse literally screamed as it streaked toward the fleeing bike. The fugitive veered to the left just as the ball erupted into an invisible storm of electromagnetic radiation... an EM pulse capable of destroying all non-shielded electronics within 250 meters. Construction robots fell from the air like stones... their delicate mechanisms spewed showers of sparks as they bounced noisily off the steel they'd worked so hard to assemble. The pulse was so powerful that even the cruiser's shielded electronics shuddered as it flew through the storm. But the effect lasted only an instant before fading away, leaving nothing but a faint hum and the crackle of static electricity in the air.

The bike had flown through the edge of the ephemeral storm, and it should have been joining the robots on a downward spiral to the ground below, where maybe... just maybe... the fugitive's impact suit would protect him from the hard landing

But that wasn't happening.

The vehicle had slowed to a crawl, with rear and A-G jets flickering ominously as it struggle to stay aloft. But as soon as the cruiser veered to intercept, the bike's jets burned white-hot, and the fugitive was off again... zooming back and forth through the corridors of steel as if nothing had happened.

"DAMN!" Galloway swore. "That was a HIT! I KNOW it was a hit... he was in range!"

"What happened? Why is this guy still in the air?"

"He must have EM-shielded parts in that thing! And an auto-recover module from the looks of it!"

"Two more for his crime-sheet," said North. "At least we got his attention... he's trying to lose us again."

The bike was making a straight line for the open air, fleeing the construction site at a desperate and dangerous speed.

"FOLLOW HIM! FOLLOW HIM!"

"He's not going anywhere."

The cruiser raced after the bike... falling behind while still inside the construction zone, but rapidly catching up once in the open air. The bike accelerated upward in a hard arc toward the sky.

"He's heading back toward the traffic zone," said North.

"Not for long, he isn't. Get me as close as you can; it's gonna take a direct hit to bring this guy down."

North eased the accelerator toward the floorboard and shoved the stick forward hard.

"...unnngh..." Galloway grunted as the acceleration threw him back into his seat. The bike was growing steadily larger in their windshield. "Almost... almost.... GOTCHA!"

The bike did a vertical 360 and shot back toward the ground just as the cruiser spat a ball of electromagnetic fury. The blast zoomed over the driver's shoulder and exploded harmlessly behind him as he raced down the length of the cruiser and roared toward the river.

"DAMN!"

The cruiser flew through the blast-area of its own weapon. Its systems sputtered... coughed... and then returned to normal with no lasting effects. North looped the cruiser around and followed the bike. The landscape of streets and skyscrapers gave way to parks and open space as they approached the waterfront. The docks went by almost too fast to be noticed... just a blur of dull gray warehouses that passed rapidly beneath.

"We're gonna need a direct hit," said North. "He's got illegal parts in that thing, we'll need a contact hit to disable."

"He's unprotected on that thing," Galloway replied. It wasn't an objection or a concern... just a statement. "There's nothing but an impact-suit between him and the shockwave. Are you sure-"

"Code 2," said North.

No more need be said.

Galloway activated the auto-targeting system. A grid of faint, glowing green lines stretched across the windshield, creating a checkerboard of squares overlaying the scene in front of them. The squares surrounding the fleeing bike pulsed an angry red, and the image zoomed in to a close-up of the fugitive's machine. A rotating crosshair pattern appeared around the bike.

"Locked," said Galloway.

The bike began to swerve wildly back and forth, changing directions at random in an attempt to shake the lock. The rear-jets blazed white as the fugitive tried to pull away..

"He's detected the lock! He's trying shake!"

"He's not going anywhere." With a frustrated sneer, North coaxed more speed from the cruiser. He increased his altitude and overtook the fugitive... staying above and slightly behind the bike. The fugitive continued to change zig-zag in several directions, but its own intense speed limited his maneuverability. The cruiser didn't have that problem... North wasn't foolish enough to try and match the bike's insane antics... all he had to do was stay close and let the equipment do its job.

The golden crosshairs followed the fugitive's every move... floating effortlessly across the windshield, lagging the bike's frantic motions by only a fraction of a second. The cruiser's own movement didn't disturb it at all. North could have made a double 360-degree roll on two axes and the crosshairs wouldn't have budged from their target.

"We've only got one shot left," Galloway informed him. "Then its a thirty minute recharge... its now or never. "

"I'll get us closer..." North nudged the cruiser lower... entering the bike's airspace. Warning lights went on in the cockpit. If the bike decided to ram them, the cruiser wouldn't be able to outmaneuver it. Impact would be unavoidable.

The bike tried to react. North couldn't tell what the fugitive was about to attempt, but at this point it didn't matter.

"FIRE!"

Galloway fired.

The screaming electromagnetic storm struck the bike in the engine-case... just above the rear-jets and just below the pilot's seat. North peeled away from the bike to get some distance between him and the target, but he was an instant too slow. The initial impact pulse washed over the cruiser like an ocean wave.

Everything in the windshield went white... and everything in the cockpit went dark. The cruiser's systems hummed and hissed as the auto-dissipation circuits dumped the pulse's energy into the EM-sinks. Less than a second later, everything came back online. The cruiser was in a free-roll, literally tumbling out of the air. North eased the accelerator down while working the control stick... his motions going from gentle to fierce and back again as he fought the forces of gravity and inertia for control of the machine. The fight was short, and the forces of nature proved no match for an experienced pilot.

Now in control, North gained altitude and scanned the scene before/below him. The bike was easy to find... the machine was powerless, rear and AG-jets were cold and dark as the bike descended toward the river's surface in an unerring and frighteningly straight line.

"He's gonna bounce," said North. He punched the acceleration. The cruiser shot forward and passed over the bike an instant before it hit.

The impact threw up a spray of water, but there was no explosion. The bike's approach angle was too small, and its speed was too fast. The result was not one massive impact... but several lesser ones. The vehicle hit the water and bounced across the surface like a stone. Each hit sent fragments of metal and plastic flying in all directions, like a child's toy struck repeatedly with a large hammer. The bike hopped its way across the river, making it almost to the far bank before what remained of it finally gave way in a massive scattering of debris that quickly sank beneath the surface. The pilot's impact suit took him the rest of the way. He skidded through the water like a body-surfer, and the tide finally shrugged him up onto the beach in a mostly-empty civilian park. The cruiser was there waiting on him, hovering over his body like a vulture.

"Vitals?" said North. Galloway scanned the readings displayed on his section of the windshield.

"Heartbeat erratic. Brainwaves... he's conscious. Barely."

North nodded. The cruiser dropped from the air like a stone, slowing only at the last possible instant before touching down in the thick grass. The doors popped open, and North was the first one out... weapon drawn. Galloway made the call to Dispatch, and then joined him.

The fugitive was alive, but was probably wishing he wasn't. The impact-suit had absorbed the majority of the damage... just enough to keep the man wearing it in one piece... but it still didn't make for a smooth landing. The fugitive's arms and legs were bent at odd angles to the rest of his body. The suit had a few unusual bulges from where shattered bones had tried to push their way through to the open air. But with all of the damage, the fugitive probably didn't even know he was hurt. He was still reeling from the effects of the EM pulse, which had sent his nervous system into random, uncontrollable spasms. His brain and nerves had literally overloaded, just like the systems in his bike. He probably didn't have enough of a nervous system left to feel the pain from his injuries. Not that he'd WANT to.

"All of this just to avoid detainment," said Galloway as he joined his partner. "Doesn't seem worth it. Hardly makes any sense at all."

"It doesn't," said North. "But then, if this guy made sense, he wouldn't be a Code 2." The officer aimed his weapon at the fugitive's head... which was still encased in a cracked helmet.

"Citizen 832-088-9851," said North. "I know you can hear me. I am Officer North of the Proactive Enforcement Division. You are under arrest for a Code 2-55 violation. Through surveillance and behavioral analysis, CityNet has determined that there is a greater than 55% chance that you will commit a misdemeanor crime within the next 7 days. In order to protect the safety of its citizens, CityNet had ordered that you be taken to a reconditioning center. There, your core cognitive processes and internal behaviors will be modified to the extent that you are no longer a danger to society at large..."

[END]
copyright 2001 by Dark Icon (Marc Washington)