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breadth from crushing him.
     But why hadn’t D moved? It was as if he’d read the ripples spreading through her chest.
    Without saying a word, he pulled back on his stuck sword. It came free all too quickly.
     Sheathing it without a sound in a single fluid movement, D turned.
    “I thought you’d see it my way. You should’ve done that from the get-go. Could’ve
     saved us both some trouble by not trying to act so damn tough.” Leila kept her eyes
     on D until he’d climbed the hill and disappeared over the summit. An instant later,
     tension drew her feline eyes tight.
    With a low groan, the earth shook violently. Though it weighed over a ton, the battle
     car was tossed effortlessly into the air, smashed into the ground, and was tossed
     up again.
    Now that D had gone, the Shelter’s defense systems sprang into action.
    Though it looked impossible to steady, Leila stood impassively in her car. She had
     one hand on the yoke, but that was all. She remained perpendicular to the car throughout
     its crazed dance, as if the soles of her feet were glued to the floorboards.
    In midair, Leila took her seat.
    The engine made a deafening roar. Blue atomic flames licked from the rear nozzles,
     and smoke from the spent radioactive fuel flew from exhaust pipes off the engine’s
     sides. The battle car took off in midair.
    As it touched down, the penetrator over the engine swiveled to point at the Shelter.
     Unhindered by the wildly rocking earth, bounding with each shock, still the car never
     lost its bearing.
    The air was stained blue.
    The ceiling of the Shelter opened, and a laser cannon reminiscent of a radar dish
     appeared and spurted out a stream of fire. It skimmed the airborne body of the car
     and reduced a patch of earth to molten lava.
    If this weapon was radar-controlled, then there was certainly cause to be alarmed.
     The second and third blasts of fire, usually vaunted for their unmatched precision,
     flew in vain, as their target slipped in front or behind, to the left or right of
     where they fell.
    Leila’s skill behind the wheel surpassed these electronic devices.
    As far back as she could remember, the clan’s father had always impressed upon her
     how important it was for her to refine her skills at manipulating anything and everything
     mechanical. Her father may have even known some basic genetic enhancement techniques.
    Ironically, Leila’s talents only seemed to shine when it came to modes of transportation.
     Whether it was a car, or even something with a life of its own like a cyborg horse,
     under her skillful touch mechanical vehicles were given a new lease on life. “Give
     her an engine and some wheels and she’ll whip up a car,” her father had said with
     admiration. Her skill at operating vehicles surpassed that of all her brothers, with
     only the oldest boy Borgoff even coming close.
    And how Leila loved her battle car. It had been crafted from parts gathered in junkyards
     during their travels. Some parts even came from the ruins of the Nobility, when the
     opportunity to take them presented itself. She’d quite literally forgotten to eat
     or sleep while she worked on it. Early one winter morning, the battle car was completed
     by the feeble, watery light of dawn. Two years had passed since then. Loving that
     car like a baby that’d kicked in her own belly, Leila learned to drive it with a miraculous
     level of skill. The very epitome of that skill was being displayed out on this hill-hemmed
     patch of ground. Avoiding every attack by the electronic devices, the vehicle changed
     direction in midair, and, just as the laser’s fraction-of-a-second targeting delay
     was ending, the penetrator discharged a silvery beam.
    It was a form of liquid metal. Expelled at speeds in excess of Mach 1, the molecular
     structure of the metal altered, changing to a five-yard-long spear that shot right
     through the workings of the laser cannon. Sending electromagnetic waves out in all