It was silent apart from her ragged breathing, then screams came from above. Alice rolled to her front and pushed herself to a kneeling position; through the perforated metal floor she saw the ground far below, huge trucks sprinkled like salt grains. She looked down at her chest. The jacket had done its job, stopped the projectile, but the missile’s kinetic energy had been too much for it to absorb. A hideous pink burn covered her lower chest and welded her T-shirt to her skin. Pain throbbed from it in sickening pulses, and her consciousness wavered, vision graying as a deafening roar filled her ears.