Pathspace

by Matthew Kennedy

Chapter 40

  Jeffrey: “And let my cry come unto Thee”

  It's hardly a surprise that this spot remained a secret, Jeffrey thought, looking at the pile of scree. Part of the hillside had collapsed, exposing the underground maglev tunnel. And then the rest of the hill had collapsed, covering it all up again, except for the two broken ends of the rails. No different than many hillsides remodeled by the quake a hundred years before; you had to know what you were looking for in order to find it. And a good thing too.

  Moonlight glinted off the stumps of ancient tech. Jeffrey gazed at the sheared-off ends and fancied he could even see the difference in reflectivity that marked the transition between the nonferrous alloy waterproofing layer on the outside and the ferro-graphene superconducting core within each rail. How long had it been, he wondered, since the tube trains had floated over these rails, the ridge on the underside of each train nestled between the rails like the keel of a sailboat knifing through water? How long, since mysterious forces had made the silent trains float and fly in buried tubes of vacuum, rushing through airless miles from city to city?

  And now the tunnels were breached and buried, and only messages glided through the waveguide rails, Morse code, in stuttering staccato, pecked out by the feeble woodpecker descendants of those who had crafted the ancient marvels. Fallen from glory, and making do with the rubble of ages long gone, we eke out our fortunes from incomprehensible ruins.

  Well, the message was sent. It was up to his father now. He dropped the two pieces of metal he had been holding and looked up at the stars. Why did you do it to us? Did you even know what was going to happen, or is the comedy of errors we all suffer through not limited to the surfaces of planets? Is this even now happening on millions, billions of other worlds?

  The sound of horses approaching pulled him back to Earth. He straightened up as the others rode into view. “Fancy meeting you all here.”

  Brutus swung down off his horse. “Where's your mount?”

  “I had to leave it a mile back,” he said. I'm afraid I used up the poor thing. I was worried I'd miss rendezvous with the rest of you if I let it walk all the way here, since you had a head start. I barely got here ahead of you as it was.”

  Brutus regarded him. “Funny, we didn't see you.”

  “I must have passed you a few miles ago while you were resting the horses,” he said. “You must have pulled them off the main road to avoid patrols.”

  Brutus glanced around the site. “Have you seen the regular bangers?”

  “No,” said Jeffrey. “The nights are getting cold. I guess they only come out here during the days during winter. Looks like you'll have to do your own banging.”

  Brutus reached down and picked up the long piece of metal and laid it across the rails. Then he picked up the shorter bar.

  “How do you know they're even listening, this late?”

  “Because we didn't report in on time,” the commander grunted. “So they'll be worried, unless I'm mistaken. By now your daddy will have Quintus listening around the clock. He'd better, because we need fresh horses.”

  Jeffrey sat and waited by Brutus banged out the message, hammering the shorter bar on the one touching the two rails to use both waveguides.

  When the older man had finished, Jeffrey stood. “It's about time to let the girl go now,” he said. “Your horses are tired but she doesn't have to hurry back.”

  Brutus dropped the bars and dusted off his gloves. “Let her go? Why should I do that?”

  “Because you promised to.”

  Brutus laughed. It was not a pleasant sound. “Got that wrong,” he remarked. “I didn't promise anything. You did. Your word doesn't bind me. I'm the commanding officer, and I'm thinking it might be real handy to have the Governor's daughter in Dallas. She could send a nice letter to her ma telling her how things are going to be.”

  “Kidnapping a ruler's daughter is an act of war.”

  Brutus laughed harder. “So? We're rolling on them just as soon as we've got the fuel. You know it and I know it. It doesn't matter how the war starts, as long as we finish it.”

  “Last I heard, we're not ready yet, so let her go.”

  Brutus's eyes narrowed. “Are you trying to give me orders, boy? I'll tell you exactly once not to bother. The little lady's going to Dallas, unless anybody else feels like trying to throw their weight around.”

  Thok! Brutus looked surprised for a second. Then he crumpled to the ground.

  Xander and Lester stepped out of the shadows. “I feel like it,” said Xander. He pointed the business end of his staff at the group of them. “Anybody else want to take a nap? Because I've got plenty of rocks for the rest of you.”

  There were no takers.

  It was only the work of a minute to put Aria on a horse and point her up the road toward Denver. “What about you two?” she asked.

  “Oh, we'll wait for reinforcements,” Xander told her. “As soon as you reach the pickets, send some men back to collect these gentlemen. And a couple of extra horses for us.”

  She looked at Jeffrey. “At least you tried to keep your word.”

  He shrugged. “Tried is not the same as did. But I'm glad you're going home. You'd best get to it before more of my countrymen show up.”

  She turned her horse and urged it into a trot.

  “How did you get here so fast?” Jeffrey asked the wizard.

  Xander grinned. “You have your secrets, and so do we.” He glanced at the ends of the maglev rails. “Actually, we caught up to you miles back. I was just curious about where you were headed. That's a trick I hadn't thought of, using the old rails to send telegrams. Who came up with that one?”

  Jeffrey sat down next to Brutus's inert form. “You know very well I can't discuss such things,” he said. He bent over and listened to the unconscious man's breathing. “Why didn't you just kill him? It would've saved the Governor another execution.”

  “Because I'm not an assassin,” said Xander. “If he'd been pointing a crossbow at me and about to pull the trigger, maybe I'd have acted differently. As it was, I used just enough velocity to give him forty winks and a bad headache later. Now let's all sit down and wait for the reinforcements. I'm pretty sure the first ones to get here will be from Rado, since it's closer.”

  “But she's riding an already tired horse,” Jeffrey pointed out.

  “True enough,” said Xander. “But she doesn't have to make it all the way back. Just as far as the nearest outpost. In fact – “

  He stopped in the middle of a sentence and looked down. Jeffrey followed his gaze and say an arrow protruding from the wizard's chest. Xander opened his mouth again, but nothing emerged. Wordlessly, he collapsed, nearly landing on top of Brutus.

  A man in the blue and red of the Lone Star Empire carrying two crossbows, one discharged, glided out of the dark. “In fact,” he said, “my tent was a lot closer. Who could sleep with all that banging going on? I had to come check, since I'm the only one who's supposed to be banging here.” He nudged the wizard's body with his boot. “One less idiot to worry about. Who was he?”

  Lester swallowed. His eyes were watering, probably from the cold. “A better man than you,” he said. “He never would have shot you in the back.”

  The banger observed Lester's general lack of a uniform and swung his remaining crossbow in the boy's direction. “You were with him, weren't you? Unless you want to join the old coot, best keep still. Who's got a rope?”

  There being no rope, the men had to rip a bit off the end of a horse blanket to tie Lester up. “You won't get away,” he told them. There'll be men from Rado heading down here any time now.”

  The banger, whose name turned out to be Danforth, just laughed. “Their horses may be tired, but I'm betting the ones dashing up here won't be. From what these men say, the lady they let go won't be hurrying, since she thinks your dead friend has the situation under control. I'll bet that you'll meet the Texas rescue before the Rado posse even gets underway.”

&n
bsp; Brutus groaned.

  “Might as well put him on someone's horse, and get while the getting's good.” said Danforth. “I know I will.” He melted back into the shadows and was gone before anyone could reply.

  “Looks like you're coming with us,” said Jeffrey.

  “I hope the Texas food is as good as what we give prisoners in Rado.”

  “I wouldn't know,” said Jeffrey. “We weren't even there long enough to get fed. And thanks for reminding me how hungry I am.”

  “Gentlemen,” said Ludlow, “we can discuss comparative cuisine later.”