Escape Velocity Quotes

“So you have put yourself through all of this just so that you can cheat in an exam,’ Wing said with a slight smile. ‘An exam, I might add, that you would almost certainly have passed with flying colours anyway.’

‘Well, it’s the principle of the thing,’ Otto replied with a grin.

‘I am not sure that I approve,’ Wing said, raising an eyebrow. ‘Cheats never prosper.’

‘You know, sometimes I really think that you might not be cut out for this place,’ Otto said. ‘I take it then that you won’t be needing a copy?’

‘Well,’ Wing replied, ‘I perhaps wouldn’t go so far as to say that –”
― Mark Walden, Escape Velocity

“Well, at least we were getting the good night’s sleep,’ Franz said, cheerfully.

‘I’d hardly call being knocked unconscious with sedative gas a good night’s sleep,’ Nigel said, frowning.”
― Mark Walden, Escape Velocity

“There’s more than one way to sneak into a place, you know,’ Otto said, pulling his Blackbox out of his pocket and passing it to Laura. Laura glanced at the display, her eyes widening in shock.

‘That’s impossible,’ she whispered, not taking her eyes off the screen.

‘Apparently not,’ Otto said with a sly grin. ‘Want a copy?’

‘That would be cheating,’ Laura replied, handing the Blackbox back to Otto. ‘Of course I want a copy.’

‘A copy of what?’ Shelby said impatiently, trying and failing to grab the PDA from Otto.

‘Next week’s exam,’ Otto said quietly. ‘But I’m sure you’ll just be able to sneak in and steal one, what with you being so stealthy . . .’

Shelby looked half annoyed and half impressed.

‘How much?’ she said with a smile.

‘Well, there are a couple of things in the Science and Technology centre that I might like to borrow for a while,’ Otto replied.

‘I am surrounded by people of low moral character,’ Wing sighed.”
― Mark Walden, Escape Velocity

“That’s it,’ Shelby said as they ran along behind Raven. ‘From now on no one’s dead until I read the autopsy report.’

‘Such a report could be faked,’ Wing observed.

‘Hey, only people who haven’t come back from the grave get to have an opinion,’ Shelby said quickly. ‘So that counts you out, zombie boy.’

‘Strictly speaking I am not a zombie since I did not actually die,’ Wing said. As usual it was impossible to tell if he was joking or not.”
― Mark Walden, Escape Velocity

“So what have you done this time, Malpense?’

Otto smiled as he heard the familiar soft Scottish accent of Laura Brand behind him. He turned to face her and returned her wry, lopsided smile.

‘What on earth could you possibly mean?’ he replied with a look of wounded innocence.

‘Well, a full-school assembly usually means that something has gone really horribly wrong and I find it hard to believe that you’re not involved if that’s the case,’ she grinned. ‘So, come on, spill it.”
― Mark Walden, Escape Velocity

“You!’ the first guard yelled. ‘Hands on your head, don’t move.’

Wing slowly put his hands on his head, showing no hint of emotion.

‘What the hell?’ the other guard said. ‘He’s just a kid.’ He pulled a pair of handcuffs from his belt and slowly moved behind Wing and grasped one of his wrists. In one fluid motion, Wing grabbed the guard’s own wrist with his free hand and twisted hard. There was a sickening crunch, the guard howling in pain as Wing stepped backwards, too close for the man to bring his gun to bear. He pulled the guard’s wounded arm further over his own shoulder, dragging the man closer, and jerked his head backwards, his skull connecting with the man’s nose with a crunch. Wing rotated around the guard, pressing the wounded arm up into the small of the man’s back and ducking behind him, giving the other guard no clean shot without hitting his associate. He pushed hard, sending the stunned guard staggering towards his partner, and delivered a sharp kick to the base of his spine. The wounded guard’s momentum sent him careering into the other man, yowling with pain and confusion.

Wing took two short steps and in a blur of movement pulled the handcuffs from the wounded man’s belt and snapped them closed around both his broken wrist and the wrist of the unwounded guard’s gun hand.

Wing pressed his fingers into the pressure point behind the wounded guard’s ear and he collapsed, instantly unconscious, pulling the other guard down with him and pinning his gun to the ground. The conscious guard snatched for the gun with his free hand, but Wing dropped on to him, his knee pressing into his throat hard enough to choke him but without crushing his windpipe. Wing delivered a sharp knuckle jab to the guard’s shoulder and his free arm was instantly disabled too.

Wing could hear the sound of at least half a dozen more guards racing up the stairs from below. He knew there would be more than he could handle. He reached down and took a smoke grenade from the webbing on the pinned guard’s chest and pulled the pin with his teeth, tossing it through the doorway into the stairwell. There were cries of confusion from just below as the confined space filled with impenetrable clouds of white smoke. Wing pulled a flashbang stun grenade from the other side of the pinned guard’s webbing and waited a couple of seconds before tossing it into the stairwell too. He closed his eyes, the flash of the grenade clear even through his eyelids.

‘Who the hell are you?’ the guard pinned beneath Wing gasped.

‘Just a kid,’ Wing said with a slight smile and punched him unconscious.”
― Mark Walden, Escape Velocity