A melodious voice came softly from the nearest bushes. “Could you stop dilly-dallying? We haven’t got all day.”
In a fierce whisper, Ping exclaimed, “Jam!”
Jam’s answer was all business. “Grab the needles I shot them with before you get moving. And hurry.”
The two of them dashed through multiple thickets toward the place where Ping had ditched her stealth copter, a considerable distance to the northeast, beyond the stealth-plane detection range of the radars. It had taken Ping half the night to trudge to the battalion’s camp; it would take them that long again to trudge back.
Before starting to fret about the screwup they were leaving behind, Ping had some business to attend to. “You said you’d be back in time for the invasion.”
Jam replied with serenity, “Life does not always allow f
