The Courier

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the phrase: "Are we there yet?"

The Courier

The courier jerked the interphase plug from its connector in the side of his head. He didn’t need the transport’s panicky data-feed to know they’d been hit.

After a quick check to make sure his “package” was secure, the courier ejected.

He blinked to call up the appropriate sensor as he fell. A stream of data fed across his field of vision. They were on his tail but had yet to lock on. He sent out a countermeasure worm to confuse the attacker’s acquisition program for a few seconds. At the same time, the courier pointed his head to the ground and willed himself to fall faster.

At a thousand feet, the primary chute deployed. Almost immediately his aug-sensor array began flashing “Target Acquired.” Seeing how he was the target, the courier released his chute; once again, falling away from the threat as fast as gravity would take him.

A small backpack glider deployed automatically at three hundred feet. It would serve only to alter his course slightly. A glancing blow with the ground would greatly increase his chances of surviving impact.

Darkness…

“We’re losing him…”

Darkness…

“Clear. I’ve got a pulse.”

Darkness…

“Courier, can you hear me?”

Blurred shapes moved past his field of vision. Apparently he had survived. That was only good news if the package had survived with him.

Ignoring those around him, he looked inward to where the encryptions were buried. They were right where they were supposed to be; jumbled in his subconscious mind at level three.

He closed his eyes, concentrating on the flow of data that would unlock the package. Finally, it was done. He opened the vault at his deepest subconscious level to find the persona he was in charge of delivering.

It blinked awake and sleepily asked, “Are we there yet?”

word count 300