Officer Maria da Cunha was watching the drama unfold: one of the paraders, having saved her fellows from something with a whole nest of waving tentacles, was plunging toward the pavement while her companions tried to catch her with a gigantic balloon. They weren't going to make it, Maria saw.
A strange, grating voice came over her radio: "You can make that shot," it told her. "It's just a simple cut shot to spin the civilian into the corner pocket."
Maria gritted her teeth, decided to pretend that she was not headed into the District, and guided her rocket into a swift low dive toward the action. She'd never played billiards with peoples' lives before. First time for everything. She heard her squad yelling at her over the radio: no time, no time. Maria pulled out of her dive a few feet above the ground and aimed her rocket at the spot where the paraders were struggling with their big, bouncing, would-be trampoline.
Maria's rocket collided with the bobbing balloon just an instant before the falling woman arrived: the balloon bounced off a building and landed a few feet to the side. A little too much right English on that one, thought Maria, as the falling woman struck the side of the balloon, rebounded, and bounced away... farther into the Experimental Research District.
I'm not sure where the corner pocket is, she admitted to herself as she pulled up and away. But I'm pretty sure that wasn't it. Below her, the Hoteliers etc. burst into a ragged cheer.
Maria wondered who that had been on the radio. And how did he know I'm a pool player?
