Gris is awoken before dawn by a guard, and finds his and Heller's room jam-packed with soldiers and boxes of belongings. Heller, in a white and red racer's suit, asks if Gris is moving out too, and since Gris hopes to be on Earth soon he agrees. So the murderous, ill-disciplined Apparatus grunts happily toil away to get all of Heller's treasures and Gris' trash carefully packed up. Gris gets suspicious when he sees the Homeviewer being prepared for transport - they couldn't use it on Earth, so why is Heller bringing it?
The caravan makes its way to an airbus, which the guards pack and Gris and Heller board, but Heller insists that the driver get in the back with Gris, so that Hubbard can show off his favorite character's piloting skills. Heller, driving with one hand and one toe, takes the ramshackle transport straight up to twenty thousand feet. A nervous and airsick Gris tells Heller that there should be an Apparatus freighter available in a couple of hours - almost inadvertently revealing that the not-CIA makes regular runs to and from Earth - but Heller wrinkles his nose in distaste at the thought of taking one of those ships, and isn't pleased when Gris admits that there isn't a mission ship yet.
Why the hell not?
This is one of the most mind-boggling things about The Invaders Plan. Mission Earth is vital to the Apparatus' survival, right? And the sooner Heller gets off the planet to screw up Mission Earth, the less interference the Apparatus has to endure until it's ready to make its move, right? So why is Soltan Gris the only person in the entire organization trying to get the show on the road? Nobody else has come up with a vessel, possibly one rigged to self-destruct in Earth orbit, for Heller to fly off to his death in. Nobody else is pressuring Heller to stop fooling around with Countess Krak and get his perfect ass off the planet. Nope, it's all up to Gris.
Anyway. Heller flies to the Apparatus hangars on the outskirts of Government City at five hundred miles per hour, which is a hundred miles per hour faster than the vehicle should be going. Tragically, they arrive safely, and he and Gris start poking around, but Heller is not at all impressed with the shoddy collection of surplus junkers the Apparatus has collected. There's an entirely unnecessary sequence where Heller's charisma gets an Apparatus crane operator to let him and Gris ride the claw five hundred feet in to the air for a better view. Heller concludes that the Apparatus doesn't have any ships worth taking, and Gris, by this point screaming with acrophobia, agrees that no half-rate freighter will do for Mission Earth.
The chapter ends with a very shaken Gris following Heller back to the airbus, wondering where his "subordinate" will be taking him next. The answer is: another hangar.
Back to Chapter One
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