EXOPLANET

Sehun was a third of the way across the vast entrance hall, Gaia’s pot plant tucked under his arm as he hurried towards the exit and back to the princess, when the first enemies made themselves known.  They must have been in the palace searching, most likely for Gaia, and been alerted to his presence from his rapid footsteps as he dashed to collect the plant and get back.  Dark and empty, with the scents of blood and death in the air, he’d wanted to get out as fast as possible and get Gaia away from the place, and he hadn’t paid enough attention to secrecy.

The only warning he had was an abrupt change of air pressure around head height to his left, and without thinking, he flung himself to the ground, rolling to protect the plant, and then scrambled to his feet, reaching for his gun.  It was far too dark to make anything out, but he could hear the breathing of at least separate people and he thought he could sense five, although that might have been his senses playing tricks on him as his adrenaline levels surged.

A sharp whistle warned him of something being swung in his direction and he ducked again, raising the gun and shooting in the direction the whistle had come from.  Moving air brushed past his face and he automatically balked as there was a yelp of pain and the smell of blood entered the air again.

Then somebody grabbed hold of him, giving him a proper target.  Sussing out the person’s position, Sehun turned, ripping his arm out of their grip and sweeping his leg round low, flooring the person.  He fired off a bullet for good measure, and then ran.

The enemies weren’t quick enough on the uptake to catch him, but they were hot on his heels as he sprinted out into the open air, leaping the first five steps of the stone stair case that led up to the palace’s entrance.  There was a bang and a bullet grazed his temple, followed by a throwing knife, and he glanced quickly between his pursuers and the car with Gaia still in it before vaulting over the balustrade.

It was a drop of almost double his height and he had to break the fall with a roll, but it bought him valuable time as he raced to the car, launching himself over the bonnet and swinging round to open the driver’s door.  Gaia looked at him in alarm as he landed in the seat, breathless, but he didn’t let her say anything before he gunned the engine and grabbed her collar, yanking her down as he stamped on the accelerator and spun the steering wheel with one hand.  A split second later, Gaia’s window smashed as a bullet tore through it and shattered glass peppered them like hail stones.  If the car hadn’t already been moving, the bullet most likely would have hit Sehun in the neck, but the vehicle had already gathered momentum and turned sending the bullet out of the opposite back window instead.

“Sh*t,” Sehun muttered as Gaia grabbed the hand that was holding her for comfort.  He spared a glance at her – she was pale and shivering, clearly terrified – before returning his attention to where they were going.  It was winter and the sky was already darkening, but there was no way he was going to turn on the headlights in their current situation.  The front of the palace was already out of sight and the men who’d attacked him were similarly left behind, but that didn’t mean there weren’t more of them around.

Reckoning they were out of immediate danger, but far from being out of imminent danger, he brushed some of the glass off Gaia and allowed her to sit up.

“W-w-what’s going on?” she stuttered, wide-eyed.  Then her gaze dropped to Sehun’s lap.  “Why have you got my plant?”

A bright light abruptly dazzled him in the rear view mirror and Sehun winced, temporarily blinded.

“I can’t explain right now,” he said as the roar of motorbikes filled his ears.  “I need to concentrate—”

“Sehun!”

“Holy !”

Gaia’s warning came just as his vision cleared enough for him to see a state-of-the-art military tank blocking the palace drive’s exit.  He swerved immediately, accidentally sending the car into a spin, and Gaia, who hadn’t put her seatbelt on, almost ended up in his lap.

As he gained control of the car, he looked up to see the turret of the tank swivelling round to point an enormous gun at them.  Then blinding light splashed across them again.  The motorbikes had caught up again.

On instinct, Sehun pulled a u-turn to put a bike between him and the gun as he wracked his brains for a way out of their predicament.  Gaia squeaked as he floored the accelerator again, but he paid no attention.

“Keep your head down,” he warned, slinking further down his own seat, “and hold onto something.”

The car rocked and bounced as it left the tarmac and landed on the lawn, the engine revving as the tires found purchase before it shot away across the grass.  Gaia took Sehun’s suggestion very literally and slipped off her seat to curl up in the foot well instead.  Sehun stayed just high up enough in his seat to see where he was going, but made himself as small as possible.  The motorbikes, much more agile than the tank, had followed them onto the grass and sharp cracks indicated that they had guns they were using to fire at the back windscreen, but to some degree, that comforted Sehun.  While the bikes were there, they were unlikely to have the tank aiming at them.

As they careened wildly through the palace grounds, the needle of the speedometer edging round into the red zone, Gaia gradually regained her ability to talk.

“What’s going on?”

Her voice was still shaking.  Sehun was concentrating too hard on keeping the car under control at speeds he’d never driven at before to reply immediately.

“Let’s talk when we’re safe.”

“Who are they?  Where are we going?”

“No idea.”  He flinched, automatically ducking as the back windscreen exploded under pressure of a hail of bullets.  Some of them struck the back of his seat, but none penetrated the entire way through.  This was getting dangerous, though – the seat back wasn’t designed as protection and it wouldn’t provide it for long.

Then he saw what he’d been aiming for up ahead – the recently repaired fencing.  He could tell from the non-existent hum in the air that indicated the electricity was not on.  The fencing itself was strong, but the parts linking the old to the new were always going to be a weak spot, and if he hit it at the right angle—

Gaia squeaked with alarm as they hit the fence with tremendous force, ripping right through it.  The tough wires screeched as they were dragged along by the car, but then they fell away and the car was almost catapulted down a steep slope, spinning end over end before, miraculously, landing on all four wheels.

Sehun slumped against the wheel with a huff of relief.  Blood was rushing to his head and he was pretty sure that he could feel his mouth in his throat.

Gaia’s head popped up from the foot well.  Powered glass shimmered in her hair in what little light there was, and if he hadn’t been feeling quite so jumpy, Sehun probably would have reached out to ruffle her head.

“Now are you going to tell me?” she asked, as if she hadn’t just experienced what it was like to be in a washing