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directed her attention back to the soldier who had raised his Stunner.
    He fired.
    The air around Sarah turned electric, magnified by the heavy rain. She just stood there. The soldier and the boy both stared, as Sarah raised her sword. The soldier started to back up, fear in his eyes. Sarah leaped through the air and changed her suit’s power back to strength as she came down on the hapless man. The impact knocked him to his knees.
    ‘No don’t...!’ Joshua burst out.
    Sarah was already mid-swing. She brought the sword up and around , twisting her wrists to slice open the man's throat under his helmet. Blood gushed out while the soldier gasped and reached reflexively at the wound. He toppled backwards; dead by the time he hit the ground.
     
    Sarah looked back at the boy. He had his hand up, palm out, in a gesture of defence for the man’s life. He dropped his hands in defeat at the sight of the mangled soldier.
    ‘They were chasing you,’ Sarah said. ‘Probably would have taken you to the Colonnade. You don’t even want to know what they’d do to you in there. And they were trying to kill me. But you would have me spare them?’
    ‘I would.’
    Sarah smiled. ‘Well you’re a very forgiving person then. What have they ever done for you?’
    He looked lost in thought for a moment, then sho ok his head. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ he sighed, and shrugged. ‘I’m Joshua. Thanks for taking this lot out for me.’ He gently kicked a dead soldier with his toe. Somehow he almost looked shy through all the dirt and muck.
    ‘Well, that was some impressive work yourself,’ said Sarah. ‘Evading a drone and three soldiers, plus you got one for yourself. She prodded the guard that Joshua had attacked, still twitching on the ground from the Stunner shot.
    Joshua perked up. ‘Actually, there were five soldiers and two drones. You got this one drone here and these two fellas.’ He pointed. ‘There is a disabled drone down in that alley with two more soldiers I left behind.’
    Sarah gave him a sceptical look.
    ‘See for yourself, if you don’t believe me,’ he finished.
    Sarah walked over to the edge of the roof and looked down. She zoomed in with her iPC and saw the drone Joshua had disabled flopping around like a fish on dry land in its attempts to take off.
    Casey spoke up in Sarah’s ear.
    ‘Jensen, we’re lookin’ at a live drone there. You know how much that could help our R&D?’
    Looking over from the opposite building’s roof were two soldiers. One shook his fist at Sarah, the other was talking into a communicator and gesturing wildly.
    Sarah looked up over the expanse of the Colonnade to the horizon. A troop carrier rose up out of the depths of the Colonnade and slowly flew towards them. The distance was deceptive, Sarah knew. It was actually moving at an incredibly high speed.
    ‘No time for it Casey, but I think I’ve got something better,’ she said softly over the comm. She turned back to Joshua. ‘We’ll compare scores later. Were they chasing you for that eye you were holding? Did you take it from the guy in the dumpster?’
    Joshua held up the General’s iPC device. It twitched and wiggled in his hand. Was it doing that by itself?
    ‘I guess this is why you’re here,’ he said. ‘For this? It scanned my face earlier. I’ve never seen an iPC do that before.’
    Sarah nodded.
    ‘But this is worth a l ot of money to the right people,’ Joshua continued. ‘I’d never need to be hungry...’ He trailed off lamely, blushing.
    ‘Tell you what,’ said Sarah. ’You hang on to it for now. All I ask is that you give me the chance to set you up with a very interested buyer.’
    ‘Oh... who? This “Casey” person?’ Joshua struggled on the words, still reeling from the simple embarrassment of being poor and dirty. ‘I don’t even know your name.’
    The carrier swooped past the rooftop and circled around for the two stranded soldiers, and to send out more fresh soldiers after this kid,