Municipal Darwinism

"You are most welcome. I would advise a quick exit, as the raptors are still on us. Head west."

Alison: I sighed and put the gun down. What to do what to do. I thought as I walked around.

"Lets go!" said Ceara, hopping back into the ship.

"Alison?" says Crow, holding out a huge metal hand to help her aboard. "Those stalker birds may be coming back any moment."
He looks up, but for now there are few clouds of any sort at all, let alone clouds of birds.

"Do you want to drive?" Ceara asked Crow.

"You fly for now, I will have my own duties to tend to if the raptors return, or they send airships after us."

"Ok but be careful."

"I shall remain within the gondola in future."
He stares eastwards, flicking between modes of vision. He draws the air through his nasal passages. Luckily he doesn't have to use his lungs, because they were removed when he was built.
"I believe we are safe for the time being."

"Ok...where to now?" asked Ceara.

"West. Perhaps north. If the green Storm are so desperate for their fugitive, we would be safer the further we are from the front line. According to my calculations, their chances of a successful mission decay exponentially the further they have to travel into our side of the front line."

Alison: "You dont know them... They will do whatever they can to get me." I said quietly

"You were valuable to them?"

"You could be the Stalker Fang herself, but if you're in Neuvo-Maya or somewhere they'll never find you.That's what I like about the Green Storm: they know their limits."
Crow shrugs.
"Speaking of Neuvo-Maya, I believe some of us have unfinished business with the high priest of a certain steam-ziggurat. Isn't that right, Conor?"

Alison: I laughed softly. "They would break thoughs limets to get me."

Conor:
Grinning I say, "Oh yeah!" I pull out my gun and say, "We certainly do!"

"Woah, woah! No pulling out guns while I'm driving!"

"They cannot," explains Crow. "They physically cannot cross the front line for any serious distance. Panzerstadt-Murnau is due east of us, an impregnable fortress of steel and guns. Manchester is two days away from the front line and is travelling with all haste, accompanied by swarms of heavier-than-air flying machines. The haunted ruins of London are north-east of here, a place where even the hardiest of warriors refuse to travel. To the south is the Inner Sea, patrolled by Dover and Calais, two of the greatest Raft Cities, and word has it that Brighton is coming back as well."
Crow pauses.
"No matter how much they want you, they cannot break through the front line. Their only hope is to stage a vast assault and send a pair of merchant-tugs across under the cover of the violence. I doubt they will find us for a while yet."

Conor:
"Um..." I say raising my hand, "Can we head to Nuevo Mayo?"

"It's really Ceara's decision, unless I feel like exacting revenge for the time she shot me with a hand cannon and stole my airship."
Crow glares at ceara for a moment, then his expression softens. However, as most of his face is hidden, neither expression is really noticeable.

Alison: I felt sick to my stomach. "I hate this." I said sitting down on the cold floor. I put my cheek to the wall of the ship. It was cool and it helped me calm down.

"I said I was sorry Crow! Why don't we go somewhere where there is no violence fo a while?"

Conor:
"I need to get my man or I might get myself killed!"

"We could lie low in Neuvo-Maya if Conor took down his man and we found another city to stay in for some time. or we could head up north to somewhere like Tomsk or Panzerstadt-Dusseldorf."

Alison looked at them. "Im going to kill myself ok? Ok." SHe mummbled and took her knife from her boot.

"Why would you do that?" asks Crow. He grasps the knife by the blade and slowly pulls. He is holding it so tightly that he is leaving dents in the metal.