Stanton turned and reached over the dead man’s shoulder, gave the tap of the oxygen cylinder there one half turn, and then stepped back and slammed the door of the vehicle. He held up his thumb to Pelter. The vehicle’s AG engaged and it lifted from the ground. Above Stanton’s head it spun 360 degrees, then tilted from side to side. It then hovered stable where it was.

‘Let’s do it,’ said Pelter, his face creased with concentration and a manic grin. He lowered his hand and turned toward the Monitors’ vehicle, climbing in the passenger side. Stanton hesitated to join him. He did not like the fact that Mr. Crane was now sitting up again and looking about himself with birdlike interest. When he finally did get in the car, Stanton could feel the skin on his back crawling.

‘You can handle the targeting?’ Pelter asked him.

Stanton hit the controls on the steering column, then from the roof he dropped down a targeting mask. As he did this, two polished cannons whined out of the bonnet of the car and swivelled from side to side.

‘You just handle the target, I’ll handle the targeting,’ he said.

Pelter gave him a dead look, then returned his attention to the AGC with the corpses in it. It rose higher into the air, its turbines droned and it shot off away from the spaceport. Stanton lifted off and was quickly in behind it. Shortly the arcology came into view, with its great tower blocks looming behind.

‘Let’s get some attention,’ said Stanton, and on the locked onboard computer he manually turned on the radio long enough to shout, ‘We’ve got him! We’ve got him! It’s Arian Pelter! In pursuit of Arian Pelter!’ Then he turned it off. ‘Now some fireworks,’ he said.

Wisps of vapour came off the cannons as they warmed up, and laser light ignited the early morning mist. Pelter swerved the AGC they were apparently chasing, and had it screaming back towards the spaceport.

‘A few more like that, I think,’ said Pelter, his voice strained.

More laser fire lit the night. The citizens of Gordonstone were treated to the sight of an ECS Monitors’ AGC blasting away at a citizen’s AGC, and missing time and again. Many citizens cheered on the fugitive as he fled between the city blocks and over the roofs of the arcologies. They were then treated to the sight of more ECS and local police vehicles joining the chase, and speeding out towards the spaceport. It soon became impossible to see which one was the original pursuer . . .

‘All warning shots,’ said Stanton as he eased back on the control column and let the last of the other pursuers get ahead. ‘Why bother shooting someone down who you know has to land and will most certainly be caught?’