uld do if they knew it, not of anything that I can do something about. And damn it to hell, I can _do something_ about being a good little slave to the Imperium. So I quit."

"You can't _quit_! They'll send you to a farm!"

"Big _fuckin'_ deal, and keep your voice down," Jason snapped, then glanced at the broken door and lowered his voice. "Work here, work there, assemble circuit boards, pick corn, it's all the same. Do your job, pretend that it matters, delude yourself into thinking that you're happy because you're afraid they'll fix you so you _are_ happy. No matter how much money I could make as a technician, I'm still just that sorry son of a bitch out in Iowa picking corn. I just have a bigger room and no calluses on my hands."

"Don't do this, man," Tim pleaded. "Think about what you're about to lose."

"What the _hell_ am I about to lose?" Jason hissed in a low but intense voice. "My cushy little job as a Faey lapdog? No thanks. Jyslin? Yeah, I'm gonna miss Jyslin, I really like her, but she's not worth it if I can't look myself in the eye in the mirror when I wake up every morning. But I'll tell you one thing, Tim McGee, I have a _hell_ of a lot more to lose by staying here than I ever do by leaving."

"Like _what_?" he shouted.

"Like my _pride_," Jason said in a seething tone. "Like my _self respect_, like my _freedom_! I'd rather die in a gutter a free man than live to be a hundred knowing that I'm nothing but a cog in the wheel of the Imperial machine," he said with remarkable calm and control, zipping his backpack shut. "If you keep screaming, you're going to tip off the others about what I'm doing, and I won't have the time to get away. So, kindly get your ass out of my way," he declared flatly, picking up his makeshift bag of clothes.

"You're crazy if you think I'm letting you-"

The rest of that declaration was lost in a wheezing "_whuaaff!_" as Jason planted his foot solidly in Tim's belly. The dark-haired man literally sailed out of his room, across the hall, and then slammed into the door on the opposite side. It split in two under the weight of the impact, and Tim spilled into Angie Harmon's room, blood flowing out of his nose as Angie screamed in shock and outrage, scrambling to grab the towel on her bed to cover the fact that she was nude. Jason stepped out of his room with his backpack over his shoulder, a bag of clothes in one hand, and a small suitcase in the other.

"Later, Tim," Jason said from the hall. "I'll call you when I get to my campsite. Er, you tell him that when he wakes up," Jason told Angie after realizing that Tim wasn't going to be coherent for a few minutes. "By the way, might I say, _damn_, woman," he said with a sly smile and a wink, looking her up and down.

Angie blushed furiously, but did give him a smile.

"Call me if you ever need a date," he remarked as he walked back towards the stairs.

Everyone who was in their room was now at the door, and they watched Jason march past with strangely respectful eyes. Jason had his chin up, his shoulders back, marching into the dark realm of uncertainty with dignity and courage. He went down the stairs and to the foyer, then stepped back over the man who had accosted him earlier, who was still laying there groaning, holding his bloody nose. They were following him, filing out of the dorm behind him as he went to the student parking lot, towards his beat-up old Corolla, shimmering in the hot summer sun. He threw the bags in the trunk, dropping them on top of the duffel that held his prototype, then slammed it shut. That was when he saw them all, standing there, staring at him silently.

"Time for a vacation," he called to them. "I've been feeling a little stressed lately."

"You think?" someone called with a laugh. Then, for the oddest reason, they all started clapping and cheering. He had absolutely no idea why.

                                        * * *

Certainly, Jason wasn't stupid enough to just drive off without some understanding of harsh reality. He was planning on going to a lawless area with no real supplies or provisions, so that had to be addressed. He had a plan, a simple plan; he was going camping. He was going to outfit himself for a camping trip, and as far as the Faey were concerned, he would simply vanish during his trip. If he did things right, they'd never find him, because by the time they realized he was missing, he'd have too much of a head start. It also held the dual benefit of allowing him to buy everything he needed to do this, since camping equipment was exactly what he'd need in order to set up somewhere.

He made a few stops on the way to his destination, buying nonperishable food, camping supplies, and after he got to Bell Chasse, he went to the Base Exchange and bought some extra gear, including one more little piece of equipment that might be useful to him later on, and something he could get nowhere else.

Guns.

The clerk almost had an apoplexy when he demanded a PK-319 metaphased plasma rifle (the hunting version, with an energy output that wouldn't make the target explode from the plasma) and two AM-10 plasma pistols, along with enough PPGs to power them to last him five years. But his thumb on the reader showed her he had the money, and there _were no laws_ against him buying weapons, not even as a native. Anyone could buy anything in the Faey system... they just had to have the money for it. She did try to probe him almost the entire time, but he put up a false front of buying them as a birthday present for his Faey girlfriend, whose relationship with him was the reason he had access to the BX in the first place.

He also bought a new panel to replace the panel he threw out the window, one that didn't have a tracking device in it like his school panel did, and a personal cell phone to handle communications with the outside world, one of the generic ones. They'd be able to track him if he used it, but he wanted some way to talk to Tim and Jyslin if it was needful. They might just send a search team, or train sensors in his direction, because they didn't _know_ he was running. As far as they'd know, he vanished during a spontaneous camping trip. That story would even let him keep his airskimmer, if he could find some way to hide it once he got to a place he liked. They'd have no idea what happened to his skimmer, and he really didn't care what they believed. He bought two pair of hiking boots in the BX, plenty of spare socks and underwear, and even remembered to buy a fully equipped first-aid kit. Everything a camper would need for a trip to the woods.

He made one more stop, at a bank, where he withdrew C10,000 from his account and took it as hard currency.

He had everything he needed now. He drove over to the flight line and parked his car by his most prized possession, his airskimmer. He spent maybe a half an hour transferring his gear into the skimmer, then parked his car in its space, just like normal. He even locked it and took the keys, since Tim had keys to the car. He climbed up the steps and into his skimmer, than sat down in the pilot's chair. He ran his hand along the display, then gripped the control stick gently. He knew keeping it was going to bring them on him, but he didn't care. It was _his_, he bought it, he owned it, and he was _keeping_ it, damn them, even if he never flew it again. If it brought them to him, well that was too bad for them. He fully intended on parking it somewhere, some parking garage in some abandoned city or getting it under some trees, so long as it couldn't be seen from orbit, so it would be there if he needed it. He might even live out of it, he didn't know yet, but he'd be _damned_ if he gave it up. He wasn't going to be afraid of the Faey anymore. If they wanted to come after him, then they were more than welcome to do it. But Jyslin and her Marine squad had discovered how dangerous it could be to keep coming after Jason Fox.

With a cleansing breath, he turned on the radio. "Tower."

"This is tower." It was Mari, a controller he knew rather well. "Hey Jason."

"Hey Mari. I'm requesting clearance for take-off."

"Destination?"

"North," he said. "I don't have a set destination yet."

"Gonna go wandering again, eh Jason?"

"Something like that."

"Let me call it through," she said, and there was a long pause. "Ok hon, I got you cleared up through Cleveland. You'll get passed off to Montgomery control," she answered. "I'm showing no flight restrictions under 50,000 _shakra _or low-flying traffic along a northern vector between here and the hand-off point, so you're clear, but Montgomery's got some heavy traffic right now, so they'll probably have some local restrictions. Just stay under 50,000 and you're in the green."

"Got it. Local?"

"Hold for local traffic. About three minutes. We have a freighter dropship inbound."

"Understood," he said as he started the skimmer's engines, hearing that familiar high-pitched whine hum under his feet. "They got the cruisers doing recon today?" he asked casually.

"The Duchess is visiting, so they're all probably busy with that protocol shit," she said candidly. "The Duchess loves to inspect the warships, you know." He'd forgotten that the Duchess Trillane herself was here, in the orbital station that controlled space traffic over the planet. She probably had a host of warships along with her personal ship for protection, but they'd all be too busy right now worrying about her than they would be worrying about a single airskimmer who was flying an approved flight plan.

A hovercar screamed onto the tarmac, racing towards him. He glanced at it, but paid it little mind. He was inside, the door was closed, and he was about 90 seconds from lifting off. He finished his preflight checklist and glanced out again, then felt his heart seize a bit when Jyslin jumped out of the hovercar, with Maya getting out of the driver's side. _Jason Fox, you _idiot_!_ she boomed at him with a powerful sending. _Tim called me! Get your ass out of that skimmer right now, do you hear me?_

He looked at Maya, then flipped on the external speaker. "No," he answered bluntly. "It's been real, Jyslin. I really enjoyed it, and you're about the only thing making me regret this. But I can't do this anymore. I can't live in fear all the time, I can't pretend that I can live like this anymore. I'd rather lift off this tarmac and get blown out of the sky than live one more day under the Faey. I have no idea where I'm gonna go or what I'm gonna do, but damn it all, I'll be _free_. And that matters more to me right now than anything else in the world."

_Jason, do _not_ do this! They _will_ come after you, don't you understand that? You're not just any other student, you're a candidate for research! You're too valuable to just let you walk off! If they catch you, they'll reprogram you, or worse!_

_You don't seem to understand, Jyslin, they won't start looking for me until a few days after I miss my physical,_ Jason told her with an edge to his mental voice, sending tightly so Maya wouldn't hear it. _I'll have at least a week's head start. They'll never find me._

_Oh, they won't. _I will_. You think I'm gonna just let you run out on me? You've got another thing coming, buster! You can't hide from _me_, Jason Fox!_

_You'd better calm down and shut up before Maya realizes that you're open sending and not sending to someone without talent,_ Jason snapped at her tightly. Maya already had confused eyes, looking at Jyslin like she was trying to convince herself that she was wrong about what she was thinking.

"Local traffic is clear," Mari called over the radio. "You're clear to take off, Jason. Have a good one, hon."

"Thanks Mari." _I'm not going to vanish,_ he told her. _I have your phone number. I'll call you. I, I'm sorry to run out on you Jyslin. You were the only thing holding me here, but I've had enough of sacrificing my honor because I want to be with you. It's time to start living up to my principles instead of compromising them every moment of every day that I stay in the Faey system. But I won't be a stranger to you, I promise. As long as you and Tim keep your mouths shut, they'll think I vanished on a camping trip, and I can keep in touch with you. It's only if you start spouting off at the mouth that you'll get me in trouble. Think about that._ With a light touch on the controls, Jason urged his precious skimmer into the air. The skids lifted off the tarmac, and he looked through the windscreen down at Jyslin. He regretted leaving her, but she was one of the reasons he had to go. Staying with her would just make him more and more a Faey slave... and he just couldn't live like that. It wouldn't be her fault, not really. He'd just want to be with her, and to be with her he'd have to compromise his principles more and more every day as he got out of school, took his final training, became a part of Faey society, became a part of the Imperium. He just couldn't do that, not if he wanted to become the man he wanted to be.

So, it was time to go. Time to be the man his father would be proud of, time to be what he wanted to be, no matter how much it cost him.

To be _free_.

Jyslin, however, didn't look like she was going to be quite that forgiving. She turned and reached into the hovercar, then came out with her plasma rifle. He saw her clearly bring it up and disengage the safety. Jason had a brief moment of panic; she was going to _shoot him down_! He scrambled to raise the ship's shields, though they'd do very little against a metaphased plasma weapon... only shave about ten percent of the power of the plasma off, the part of the metaphased plasma that matched the state of existence of the shield. His skimmer's hull had no reinforced armor, that plasma rifle would blow holes the size of garbage can lids all through his ship. _Are you crazy, woman?_ Jason sent frantically as he tried to turn the ship so she couldn't hit his engines. _If you hit the engines, you'll blow us all to hell!_

Jyslin didn't seem to care. She raised the barrel of her plasma rifle, and Jason had a moment of terror where he realized that the only way he was going to save his ass was if he tried to subdue Jyslin with telepathy. That, or open fire on her with the airskimmer's defensive weaponry.

But Maya reached over and put her hand on the top of the rifle's barrel, and then gently started pushing it down. Jyslin glared at her murderously, but the serenely calm look on her face, with just a hint of disapproval, seemed to take the fight out of her.

_Now I understand exactly what's going on,_ Maya sent openly, which both of them clearly heard. She looked right at him, and gave him a sly, slight smile. _Be more careful from now on, Jason,_ she warned. _That was an _open_ send. Now I understand what brought you two together, even though nobody in the squad could understand why Jason would do such a major about-face and go from hating Jyslin to being her beau. You, Jason Fox, have talent. And unlike that girl yesterday, you've had it for quite a while. Probably since that night at the opera, I'd wager. Jyslin saw what the rest of us missed, and she got you out of there, got you someplace safe. And she trained you, didn't tell anyone about you, because she likes you and she didn't want the Imperium to hurt you. She knew what the Imperium would do if they knew about you._

Jyslin gave Maya a strangled look. Now it was _really_ over. Maya would go straight to Lana, and both Jyslin and Jason were in big, big, _big_ trouble. The only recourse they had was for Jason to land and bring Jyslin along, because they'd probably make her wish she was dead.

_Well, far be it for me to rat on a friend,_ she sent with gentle eyes. _Go on, Jason. You'll be much safer wherever you're going than you'd ever be here, because I'll bet my breastplate that the Imperium won't consider this girl to be an isolated incident. Even if they do, that'll change the instant another human expresses talent, which I'm sure will eventually happen now. You never need worry that they'll ever hear of it from me. Me and Jyslin, we've been together too long, and besides, if I weren't married to Vell, I'd probably have done the same thing. You're worth it hon. Just don't forget that I exist. I expect a phone call from time to time,_ she said with a wink.

_Maya,_ Jyslin started, her mental voice anguished, upset, showing her raw emotion.

_Hush, girl. We're partners. You'd think I'd give up our friendship when I agree with what you did in the first place? We'll only get in trouble if we blab. You intend to suffer a bout of conscious and confess?_

_No!_

_Well, Jason, you intend on coming home and revealing yourself?_

_Hell no,_ he answered immediately.

_Well, we're all perfectly safe then,_ she reasoned. _So, you get going, Jason. I suggest you keep your skimmer powered down unless you need it, and hide it in a cave or inside a tall building. Faey sensors can pick up the plasma signature from something as big as a skimmer from orbit, no matter where you put it. Not unless you encase it in a very heavy metal, like corbidium. Burying it under a few hundred standard tons of stone will block their sensors from detecting it by its metal signature. If worse comes to worse and you can't find a good place to park it, just park it under a large bridge. The bridge's sensor signature will hide the skimmer well enough that only a master sensor officer specifically looking for it is going to find it._

_I'll remember that,_ he promised, looking at Jyslin. _I'm sorry, Jyslin. Don't be too mad at me._

_It's too late for that,_ she growled back at him. _But if you're dead set on this, may the Trinity keep watch over you. And if you don't call me soon, you'll regret it._

Jason chuckled audibly. _Keep her out of trouble, Maya._

_That won't be easy, but I'll do my best,_ she replied with a smile. _Never forget, Jason, you _do_ have friends here. Don't forget us, and don't hesitate to think of us when you need us._

_I'll remember. Thanks Maya. Jyslin... behave._ The tone of his sending betrayed the simple words. It held within it all the regret he felt leaving her, all the worry of the danger she might be in because of him, all the concern he had for her, and it contained all of his feelings for her, his true affection for her, concern for her, maybe even a little bit of love for her. But it also contained all the nervous excitement at the prospect of chasing a dream denied to him for years, to find that which so fundamentally made up what he was that it defined his very soul. He was going to find something that meant as much to him as life itself, the only thing that could ever convince him to leave Jyslin, the one thing that he had craved since the day the Faey appeared and had been denied to him.

_Freedom_.

It was a very uncertain path he had chosen for himself. He was going into the unknown, and he was leaving behind him the possibility that his past would search him out, try to hunt him down. But it was worth it. It was all worth it. Jason was willing to die if that was what it took, just to taste freedom for one single day, to stand on a hilltop and watch the sun rise and know that for that moment, for that fleeting moment, he was the master of his own destiny, he was the one that controlled his fate. The only thing he came close to regretting was leaving Tim, Symone, and Jyslin behind. But they couldn't follow him. Tim wasn't ready, Symone needed Tim, and Jyslin was part of the system, no matter how she felt about it. He wouldn't forget about them, and he wouldn't break contact with them, but they could not go where he was going. Maybe someday, much later down the road, but not now.

Right now, he had some maps to look over, to find the best place to set down. He didn't look back at Jyslin as he brought up the throttle and left them behind, then put the skimmer on autopilot and brought up the planetary maps, looking for a destination. It had to have access to a good-sized abandoned city, so he had scavenging opportunities, but not one so large that it was going to be swarming with squatters. It would help if it was beside a large river, to give him a bridge to park under temporarily until he found something better. It would help if the city itself was designed in such a way that he could quickly get from that bridge to a forest, for cover. And he'd prefer that location to be somewhat close to Faey territory, probably within a hundred miles or so, so he could make forays into "civilization" for emergency supplies if it was necessary. That was what the hard cash was for.

Here. This place had most of what he needed, and was ideally located. Huntington, West Virginia (or what used to be West Virginia). It bordered the Ohio River, and the maps showed that it had three bridges spanning it. The city wasn't that large, built as a long strip nestled up against the river, meaning that he had to go no more than a mile traveling north or south to clear the city and get into forested wilderness, but, it was large enough. It was probably picked over fairly well, but some of the things Jason would be looking for probably wouldn't be seen as too valuable to most squatters. The city was about seventy miles from the bright red line on his map that marked the border of patrolled Faey territory. They had many farms out in Ohio, out where the foothills petered out and the land became flat and fertile. On an airbike or in a car, that wasn't far at all. He'd have to be careful until he got the hang of crossing that border, but he didn't plan on doing that unless he had no other choice.

That was where he was going. He punched up some information on the town, accessing old archives that the Faey had absorbed from the United States. It had once been a manufacturing town and important railroad junction, but like most American cities in the `80's, `90's, and the early `00's, it lost its manufacturing plants to overseas competition. The city had had a large university, Marshall, and had still had a metal smelting plant in operation before the subjugation closed it down. The city was located in a valley formed by the Ohio River, and the land of that region was dominated by rolling hills and thick forest.

That was very good. Access to scavenged goods, cover and concealment, relative proximity to Faey territory, and the opportunity to hunt. He'd never really been hunting before, but he'd better learn.

He glanced back at his railgun. It was a good thing he had the scope he'd meant to mount on it in the box of junk he'd brought from his room. With that scope on it, he'd be able to sit on hill and shoot the deer on the other. All he needed to do was see them; anything he could see using that thing, he could shoot... no matter how far away it was.

He had a destination. He had the supplies. He had the will. He had a plan. He was ready.

It was time to live the dream.


Chapter 6

_Oira, 19 Oraa, 4392, Orthodox Calendar_
_Thursday, 7 July 2007, Native Regional Reckoning_
_Huntington, West Virginia (Native designation), Orala Nature Preserve, American Sector_

Jason Fox arrived late in the afternoon at his new home in a heavy, pounding rain, sliding his ship up under the concrete and steel of a green bridge that looked to connect the downtown area of the abandoned city of Huntington with a series of houses on the other side. The skimmer was protected from the rain by the bridge, and to his relief, there was no one under that bridge when he got there. He'd been worried that maybe there were squatters there, but then again, in a city this size, all the squatters were probably in abandoned buildings and houses. Many of the houses he'd seen when he flew over had chimneys, so that was probably where most of them were living... if there were any. This city, like all cities in the Appalachian Forest, had only been abandoned about three years ago, so most of everything was still in moderately good repair. He'd noticed that the streets were riddled with potholes, and all the grass in the city was heavily overgrown, but aside from that it looked almost like there were still people living here. It was an eerie ghost town that would look alive if there was electricity.

It was a park of some kind, where he was parked. Thick grass was all around, and he was up against a floodwall that had once protected the city from the river. Further to the east was what looked like a small amphitheater built out over the water, and there were picnic tables and parking lots just inside where gates breached the wall. It had to be some kind of riverfront park. Jason opened the hatch and stepped out with a pair of binoculars, then used them to scan the opposite bank, what had once been the state of Ohio. He saw the houses over on that side, but he could see no activity out there. From the way it looked, at least for now, he had the place to himself.

Carefully, Jason checked the radio channels, and then the proximity sensors, for signs that they noticed he'd landed. He'd given no destination, and the last communication he'd made was with Columbus flight control about twenty minutes ago. Their sensors would show that he'd descended, but unless they had a satellite overhead or were using a ship's sensors, they'd have lost contact with him at about 500 feet. Ground-based sensors had the same line of sight issues as old radar when it came to hilly terrain, because Faey sensors weren't all that good at penetrating thick rock. Not the kinds they used for tracking air traffic, anyway. Space-based sensors didn't have to worry about mountainous terrain, so they had the perfect vantage point. He'd descended under that level some 50 miles upriver, then flown down here literally skimming the surface of the water. He'd flown under most of the bridges easily, except for one at a place called Point Pleasant, which looked to have been damaged by something and had been partially collapsed.

Aside from that, everything looked eerily _normal_.

With a sigh, Jason shut down his precious ship, then went back into the cargo hold and pulled the portable PPG out of the habitat module. That device would power all his Faey-based equipment easily, acting like a portable power generator, and it wasn't so large that it would be detectable by Faey sensors. He jacked it into the cabin's power system and isolated it from the rest of the ship's power system, which allowed him to bring up the radio, television, and other cabin systems except climate control without activating anything else. The skimmer's computer was connected to its own always-on backup PPG, so the computer had no trouble controlling the active cabin systems. He kept an ear out for the regional command and military comm traffic, listening for any references to him as he pulled out his railgun and inspected it for any damage, then fitted it with sights and the scope, a scope that was both a laser sight and a telescopic sight. He also tweaked its operating system to have it chamber and recharge the firing capacitors faster, which effectively allowed the weapon to fire as quickly as the reload mechanism could chamber the next round. That was effectively as he could pull the trigger. Both of those actions were governed by the software that operated the weapon. Jason glanced down at the little ammo case he'd been carrying with it. Inside that box was 1,500 rounds of ammunition, as well as five extra clips. Each clip held 30 rounds; the rounds themselves were actually quite small, around the size of a .22 caliber bullet. The size and shape of them would even allow him to manufacture them without a replicator, since they were fairly simple. All he needed was a molecular sprayer to get the laminated titanium on them. He had two sprayers, and he had a good stock of titanium in his box of junk. He could make the rounds out of _any_ magnetic metal, even the sheet metal of a car. He could make a mold of a bullet in about 3 minutes with some wax, and he could use that mold and a molecular sprayer to take sheet metal as fuel and just spray the metal into the mold, like pouring water. Coat them with titanium, and he was ready to go. The sheet metal in one car would make a few hundred thousand rounds, so he wasn't all that worried about getting ammunition for his railgun. He'd need to restock his titanium, but a visit to a hospital would help there. He seriously doubted that scavengers had taken all of the surgical instruments out of them, and many of them were made of titanium. If worse came to worst, he'd cross over into Faey territory and visit a home supply store. They had replicators on premises, which they allowed people to use to replicate raw materials for a fee. The lack of a replicator was his one glaring deficiency, but they were just too big, and consumed too much power.

By the time he was done altering his railgun (he'd set the reload time like that on purpose to make sure it was going to work properly, though the weapon was capable of literally firing as fast as the trigger could be pulled), the rain had stopped, and the sun broke through a hole in the clouds and painted the muddy water of the Ohio River a golden brown. Jason opened the hatch again and stepped out, breathed in the warm air, muggy from the rain, but it was the sweet smell of freedom that filled his nose with its intoxicating perfume. He put a plasma pistol in the waist of his jeans, hidden behind his back by his denim overshirt, then affixed a carrying strap for his railgun and slung it over his shoulder. It was time to go out and see what was about. He went down the steps and touched the remote of his skimmer, which caused it to retract the stairs and close the hatch, sealing itself up. The lightly armored hull would repel anything a squatter could conceivably throw at it, unless they had some plasma weapons, anyway. It was invulnerable to gunfire, but it was more than vulnerable to metaphased plasma weaponry.

He had to walk a while to get to the floodgate, and decided that a bicycle might be handy for a while, 'til he could find something better. He came out behind what used to be a Red Lobster, its faded sign hanging precariously over a street that went along the floodwall. He kept going up towards the town, and it was when he got up there that he noticed the first signs of habitation. Some abandoned cars had been pushed to block some streets, most of the glass windows of the stores along-he had to look at a fading sign at the c