By RPG<\/p>\n
CHILD PRODIGY AND FAMILY FEARED DEAD IN CHINA CRASH<\/p>\n
The headlines were only partially correct, as usual. In reality the \u2018child prodigy\u2019 survived the crash of the Chinese government\u2019s private jet. Given a few more hours, though, the headlines would be accurate.<\/p>\n
SEVERE WINTER STORM PREVENTS RESCUE OPERATIONS<\/p>\n
Again, partially true. Normal rescue operations were grounded as the Chinese government announced. Severe winter storms, however, meant nothing to some people, like the Seattle Hunt\u2019s Icehawk.<\/p>\n
RADIO CONTACT ESTABLISHED WITH CRASH SURVIVORS<\/p>\n
This was actually accurate, in so far as it went. The radio contact had been with a single survivor.<\/p>\n
PRODIGY MINA MONROE ALIVE. NO RESCUE POSSIBLE FOR 48 HOURS.<\/p>\n
In a chateau to the west of Seattle, a couple sat together on a couch before a roaring fire, the television tuned to a major news network.
\n\u201cShe won\u2019t have 48 hours,\u201d the man said to himself.
\nThe woman snuggled against him stirred, \u201cHmm \u2026?\u201d
\n\u201cI have to get to China, Pam,\u201d the man announced.<\/p>\n
RADIO CONTACT LOST, HOPE FADES<\/p>\n
A man dressed in dark blue tights with white boots and a brown down-filled vest appeared in the storeroom of a restaurant in Kathmandu. The girl just entering the room let out a shriek, dropped the box she was carrying, and bolted for the front of the shop.
\nJames Hawkins, aka Icehawk, grinned and slipped out the back door into the alley. In moments he was heading north into the Himalayas.
\n\u201cRange to target, Spock.\u201d
\n\u201cSixty-five miles though estimates put it at one hundred-three miles overland.\u201d
\n\u201cJust give me a pip on the head\u2019s up display, Spock, overland is nothing.\u201d
\n\u201cI shall provide you the quickest route, avoiding peaks.\u201d
\n\u201cThanks.\u201d
\n\u201cETA 90 minutes.\u201d
\nThe terrain was every bit as rugged as he expected with the additional delight of a force 10 gale blowing into his face most of the time. With winds of 60 miles per hour, and sliding on ice, he became a square rigged ship occationally, shifting his body to catch the most air he could. It slowed him to a crawl at times especially as he tried to move up the gorges and valleys between peaks. It was exhausting but he was determined, a girl\u2019s life depended on him.
\nWhen at last he crossed over to the north side of the mountain range, the wind, no longer funneled down the gaps, became more moderate and he picked up speed. He\u2019d been running for most of two hours by that time and there wasn\u2019t much left in the tank.
\n\u201cEstimated range, Spock?\u201d
\n\u201cYou should be within one mile,\u201d the computer replied.
\n\u201cIs that heading right?\u201d It was really a stupid question but he was tired.
\n\u201cAffirmative.\u201d
\n\u201cCrap.\u201d
\nHe let his slide slow to a walk. Ahead was a glacier. The face had recently broken away. The base was a pile of jagged ice blocks. To either side, the faces of the cliffs that contained the glacier were perpendicular slabs of granite and ant would have trouble climbing.
\n\u201cThis is gonna be fun,\u201d he said to himself. \u201cIf I die, Spock, send War Eagle to collect my body.\u201d
\n\u201cWar Eagle has a small problem with cold, Icehawk.\u201d
\n\u201cI know, just want somebody to share a grave with!\u201d
\nIt came down to throwing up wall after wall of ice, each bridging blocks already fallen. Some were horizontal, but most lay at an angle when he finished. Two pauses to suck in a few breaths, and he raced up the improvised ramp onto the top of the glacier. A couple of hundred yards further up, the debris of the plane was scattered.
\n\u201cStand by for beam out, Spock,\u201d he said as he covered the distance.
\nThe forward half of the fuselage was the only part of the plane recognizable which was contrary to any plane crash he\u2019d ever heard of. It must have bellied in and broken off before the rest of it exploded.
\n\u201cOne of the only times First Class was a good idea,\u201d he muttered as he stepped into the wreck.
\nFour seats were all that remained aft the the cockpit, the door to which swung back and forth in the wind. The body of a man stopped it on each swing. Icehawk pulled the body free of the ice and snow and rolled it out of the way. He stepped into the cockpit and pulled the door closed. In the pilot seat a small girl huddled, motionless. Carefully he gather her up. She was not stiff so he had hopes.
\n\u201cNow Spock, extreme hypothermia.\u201d
\nThe sterile white of the Wild Hunt\u2019s Med Lab appeared around him, the room temperature already nearing 100.
\n\u201cAnyone here?\u201d He called out to the computer as he toed open the auto-doc and laid the girl out.
\n\u201cRaven will be here momentarily.\u201d The computer responded.
\nJames already had the girl sitting up as he pulled off the coat that had been the pilot. He worked quickly and without thought of the girl\u2019s modesty, cutting her clothes off with a quick snip of his Ice Blade. As he laid her back and went to work on her shoes, Raven came in.
\n\u201cI have it from here, James,\u201d she said, and he stood back.
\nUsing her own blade, Raven cut the girl out of her remaining clothes then pushed the lid of the auto-doc down. Immediately it began to fill with warm water.
\n\u201cPulse is weak but steady,\u201d reported the computer. \u201cThere may be a possibility of frostbite however.\u201d
\n\u201cMy beloved with not allow her to lose any fingers or toes,\u201d Raven said.
\nJames dropped into the chair beside the auto-doc, the fatigue finally overwhelming him. He was asleep in seconds.<\/p>\n
Something warm lay against the length of his body and he smiled. He recognized the feel of her even if the sweet smell of her hair wasn\u2019t a giveaway. His costume was gone, which was good because it would never do to be in bed with his wife while wearing anything.
\n\u201cWe home or still at Hunt,\u201d he whispered, not feeling like opening his eyes to find out.
\n\u201cHunt,\u201d she replied. \u201cSpock would not let you leave. He told me how hard you had pushed and how close you\u2019d come to total exhaustion.\u201d
\n\u201cBecky?\u201d His daughter.
\n\u201cMarie is taking care of her AND protecting her from Nicky.\u201d
\n\u201cThe girl?\u201d
\n\u201cShe will recover fully,\u201d the computer said. \u201cNo loss of digits or limbs.\u201d
\n\u201cThat\u2019s good \u2026\u201d He was asleep again.<\/p>\n
Mina Monroe at age 15 was a concert genius, something the world had only discovered after her winning on a show called \u2018What\u2019s Your Talent\u2019. She, along with her parents, had been on tour with their next stop to be Beijing. Boarding a plane in Calcutta, they started over the Himalayas just before the storm of the century hit. Though officially a People\u2019s Liberation Army Airforce aircraft, the Boeing 737 had been used many times to fly party officials around the world. It was only natural to send the plane to ferry the teen genius after she\u2019d been invited by the Chinese President to play at a reception for the American President.
\nNeedless to say her last trip by air has put her off flying.<\/p>\n
Note: This is another case of too little, i.e., NONE, information. I have modified a few disads to fit the setting of a school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By RPG CHILD PRODIGY AND FAMILY FEARED DEAD IN CHINA CRASH The headlines were only partially correct, as usual. In reality the \u2018child prodigy\u2019 survived the crash of the Chinese […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hero-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ravensplayland.com\/wpRAVEN\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ravensplayland.com\/wpRAVEN\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ravensplayland.com\/wpRAVEN\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ravensplayland.com\/wpRAVEN\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ravensplayland.com\/wpRAVEN\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2277"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ravensplayland.com\/wpRAVEN\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2278,"href":"https:\/\/ravensplayland.com\/wpRAVEN\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2277\/revisions\/2278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ravensplayland.com\/wpRAVEN\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ravensplayland.com\/wpRAVEN\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ravensplayland.com\/wpRAVEN\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}