The Feeding of Sorrows

by Rob Howell

  In the morning, I shopped for the equipment I needed. Finding it proved interesting. Maquonese soups didn’t provide all the nutrients Humans needed, nor were they easy to carry. Their backpacks didn’t work for Human physiology, so I settled for a less efficient choice. The data I had suggested the irritating, moss-like fabric made the best blankets, but the lotion the vendor had given me proved hard to find until I discovered a sort of general store near the airport.

  I did have some luck. The Maquonese liked hiking, and water purification tablets were readily available. It was entirely possible that impurities beneficial to Maquonese physiology would be harmful to Humans. Even so, I figured I’d be better off.

  There was no way to conceal what I was doing. If anyone was following me, they would know I planned to go into the jungle. I never saw anyone, though, and I doubted the Zuul had enough resources to monitor Maqasker that tightly.

  The next morning, carrying my purchases from the day before, I took a flight to Okatasker, a town about a hundred klicks from Jeriasker. Once I landed, I hacked into the airport security, creating camera loops that would hide me.

  Then I went to the long-term parking garage. Maquonese aircars, if they had full fuel tanks, could travel about four hundred klicks. Theoretically, if I could find one with a half-full tank, I could make it back and forth.

  Using my sweeper, I bypassed their locks easily, but I had to check four different aircars before I found one with enough fuel. I hacked into its system, turned off its GPS, and set my pinplant to inertial tracking mode. It wasn’t ideal, but the police couldn’t track it. Hopefully, the aircar’s owner wouldn’t be back for days. After hacking the parking payment kiosk, I took off.

  I wasted some of the fuel flying along one of the standard air lanes that veered somewhat north of Jeriasker and the base. It wouldn’t hurt me to come at the Maquon Base from the side opposite the city, and it would give me a chance to look for anyone on my tail.

  I was exhausted. I gave up trying to memorize every aircar around me, and I let my pinplant take charge. It woke me when I got to a spot where a line of hills blocked anyone on the base from seeing me. I turned south, staying in the shadow of the hills.

  I found a place where I could land about twenty klicks from the base. I manipulated the aircar carefully under the best cover I could find, then piled branches and brush on top to break up its outline.

  Long days and long nights were taking their toll on me, even with the nap. I had only so much of the protective lotion, and bumbling around after dark when I was tired seemed unwise. After setting my sweeper to wake me if it detected any active sensors, I accepted the risk of sleeping in the aircar.

  I awoke the next morning, stiff and cold. I had slept poorly even with the seat reclined all the way.

  I worked out the kinks as I trudged toward the base. It rained often, usually in fifteen minute bursts. Then the clouds would flit away, only to return a couple of hours later. I discovered that the itch-causing oil in the moss-like fabric made it waterproof.

  Holding the fabric over my head, waiting for a downpour to pass, I wondered what the fabric might be called if it were sold on Earth.

  Mool? Woss? Wooly-mossy? I shook my head. Dammit, Rick, get your head in the game!

  In many stretches, walking was tough. I hadn’t thought to bring gloves, so my fingers were constantly touching the moss, and they burned. Even so, I went fifteen klicks that day. It had been over a decade since I was a grunt, but I could still hump it.

  I was a klick into the next morning’s march, moving more deliberately as I approached the base, when I heard a weird retching sound. A rocket cut through the jungle ahead of me. It impacted a tree down the hill, showering the underbrush with splinters.

  I peered out from behind some brush and saw a man in a Foresters’ uniform and a female civilian run past about ten meters below me. Both carried GP-90s, and they took turns looking behind them with fear in their eyes. The woman stopped suddenly and began throwing up. The man grabbed her and pulled her behind him. She kept heaving as they staggered along.

  Four Zuul came into sight. The man fired his GP-90, and they slowed to take cover. I had an angle on the Zuul, so I let out a breath, aimed, and squeezed the trigger.

  My target dropped. I started to aim at another, but they were too quick. I rolled away as two rockets headed straight for the where I’d been.

  I looked up once the dust settled and saw the lady puke, lift her GP-90, and put a round through a Zuul’s head.

  The doggies turned again. I switched my pistol to three-round bursts, and I put a set into another.

  The last one jumped down the hill to get out of our crossfire, but the guy in the Foresters’ uniform was too quick. He was on top of him in an instant, and it was clear he had used a knife before.

  “Check fire,” I said.

  “Whoever you are, we’ve got to get out of here,” hissed the man in the Foresters’ uniform. “Them doggies surely gonna come this way too fucking soon. Let’s get some distance.”

  I nodded, and we ran. My sweeper was still set to find active sensors, but I didn’t see anything until we were several klicks away.

  “There’s some sort of aircraft coming. We need to find cover.”

  The guy pushed us back against a hillside, toward a slight overhang.

  After a moment, the guy asked, “And who the hell are you?”

  “My name’s Rick. What happened to your base?”

  “I’m Maxwell.” The guy eyed me sharply. “What do you think? The Zuul took it.”

  “And those bastards killed my husband. I’m Sara, by the way.” She looked exhausted and had puke all over her shirt. She picked at it with disgust.

  I glanced out and saw a CAS aircraft cruising over the area. It was too far away for me to identify it, so I turned to Maxwell. “What happened back there?”

  “Don’t know, sir. Guess they stumbled on us.” The Forester shook his head. “My mother’s son had better luck in the projects.”

  The woman looked up. “I’m sorry, Jackson. They wouldn’t have found us if I hadn’t been puking.”

  “Shit, you’re not the problem, Steele. If we’d had food, we coulda stayed on our perch.” He sighed. “Though, I’ll admit, I understand now why my momma hated morning sickness.”

  I blinked. That explained that.

  “You’re here to see the base?” asked Jackson.

  “Yeah. See if I can get close enough to catch some comm traffic. Maybe hack into its networks.”

  “Then what?”

  “Then I go back and give it all to Edmonds.”

  “You’re a Forester?”

  I shook my head.

  “You work for him?” asked Steele.

  “Sort of. Let’s just say I’m not happy with whoever’s messing with the Foresters and leave it at that.”

  “Good enough, I suppose.” Her eyes sharpened as she recovered.

  “How are you going to get the data to Edmonds?”

  “Assuming the Zuul haven’t found it, I’ve got an aircar a day or so away. If I get out of here, I’ve got a ship waiting on me.”

  Jackson and Steele glanced at each other.

  “Could you take Steele with you?”

  “No, dammit,” she snapped.

  “You’re as tough as nails but—”

  “You say I’m pregnant, and I’m going to make sure your momma doesn’t have a grandson!”

  Jackson snorted. “She already does, but she’ll appreciate it if you don’t kick me in the balls.”

  Steele snickered and laid her head back against the rock. “Besides, sir. You need me.”

  Jackson poked at the ground. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. I wouldn’t have gotten this far without you.”

  “What’s your plan?” I asked.

  Again, they glanced at each other.

  I wouldn’t have trusted me, either.

  “Think the CAS bird is gone?” asked Steele.

  I consulted
my pinplant. “I’m not picking up any active emissions. I think there’s a decent-sized stream on the other side of that outcropping. Let’s get some water and continue skirting the valley.”

  “Makes sense,” said Jackson. “We think the doggies might be able to smell us.”

  “Good point. We’ll wade downstream some.”

  “Hope you brought extra socks.”

  “Yeah, some.” I shook my head. “But I’d rather have blisters and raw feet than be shot with a Zuul rocket.”

  Jackson snorted. We hiked around the outcropping and down the stream.

  While we walked, I had my sweeper check them for emissions. I was pleased to find they had none I could detect.

  They hadn’t answered my question, so I asked again. “I’m guessing your mission is to find out what you can and get the intel back to Edmonds, right?”

  Steele cut in. “Not to be rude, Rick, but we don’t know you all that well…”

  “That’s fair. You’re right to be wary, but I’m definitely on your side.”

  “I wish we had a way to confirm that, sir.”

  “Me too.” I chuckled. “I didn’t realize I needed to bring my briefcase. I’ve got a signed contract from Edmonds in it.”

  “Back in the aircar?”

  “Not exactly.” I glanced up. “In the ship, up there.”

  “Inconvenient.”

  “For all of us.”

  Jackson held up his hand. “Here’s a rocky section that’s not too steep. Hopefully, we can climb up without leaving an obvious trail.”

  “I thought you grew up in the city?” I smiled, then climbed up after him.

  When we reached the ledge, he smiled. “We’ve been out here for three weeks, sir. My momma’s son has learned a thing or two here and there.”

  “No doubt.”

  He clearly had learned more than a little, because he stepped easily on the right spots while continuing to scan everything around him. Including me. Especially me. Steele did the same once her morning sickness eased up.

  When we took a break, I asked, “I was just going to carry the data back with me, but how did you plan to get your intel to Edmonds?”

  “That’s a good question. I ain’t really figured that out yet.” Jackson glanced at Steele. “We do have some personal comms, but we ain’t turned them on yet.”

  I sighed with relief. “Damn smart. I could track those things five seconds after they pinged the satellite network. To be fair, this is my expertise, but Zuul techs won’t be much slower. Say, ten seconds.”

  “That’s faster than we thought, but yeah, we figured something like that,” agreed Steele. “Plus, we’ve got no way of getting the signal that far out into space. Not far enough to give Edmonds any warning.”

  “I think I can help.” I smiled. “This is what I do, and I have some friends up there.”

  Jackson and Steele eyed me cautiously.

  “I hope you can. In any case, we’d better step it up,” the lieutenant finally said.

  We had gone another klick when he held up his hand and gestured for us to move under cover. He pointed. A Zuul dropship slowly moved over the valley.

  It was only about a klick away, so I sat under a tree and pulled out my sweeper.

  “What are you doing?” Steele hissed.

  “My job. They’re not using active sensors to find us, which is good. I’m checking to see if I can get into their control system.”

  “You can do that?”

  “If you stop hissing at me.”

  She sat back. Data started scrolling across my sweeper’s screen. The device isolated several frequencies connecting it with the base network, but I couldn’t breach any of the security protocols. However, I did manage to match some of the communication protocols with the scrap retrieved from the van. The ship flew away before I could get much farther, though.

  “Well?”

  “That was really useful, but I didn’t have enough time to hack in.”

  “I thought you were some sort of wizard.”

  “I am. But my computer has to learn how their computers speak. The Zuul are as tight with their ELINT as any other race I’ve encountered. I learned more about their systems this time than my firm was able to gather in any previous attempts. I didn’t try to break in. I just listened, which doesn’t trip any alarms.” I grinned. “I figured we didn’t want a volley of rockets raking these trees. Call me crazy.”

  She chuckled. “You’re crazy. You’d have to be, to be here. But if you’re not bringing down an airstrike on us, you’re my kind of crazy.”

  “My momma’s son agrees with that.” Jackson looked around. “Let’s keep moving.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “We were headed for resupply. We’ve been out here for a while and ain’t got much.”

  “I brought a few days of food with me.”

  “Good, we don’t have any to share.”

  “I understand.” I looked around. “You’ve been here a while. Where’s the best place for me to check out the base?”

  “We were in a good spot down that way when it all went down.” Jackson pointed. “But it was too close, and we came up here to make sure they didn’t find us.”

  “Smart.”

  “I’m just a cherry el-tee, but I sure didn’t want to fight an entire Zuul company.”

  “Fair enough. What’s the best route there?”

  Jackson looked at Steele. “I can get us there, but I can’t tell him how.”

  “Me neither, sir. We can get there by tonight, if we hustle. I can wait another day or two for a shower.”

  “Right.” He looked back at me. “I guess we’ll be your guides.”

  “Lead on, el-tee.”

  It took the rest of the day, but we reached the ridge overlooking the base. Jackson handed me a pair of binocs. “Where are they basing those atmo birds?” I wondered aloud as I handed them back. “I only see two dropships, and it doesn’t look like there’s any sort of runway.”

  “Jeriasker, I guess.”

  I consulted the maps in my pinplant. “They’re probably launching from the main airport on the far side of the city.”

  “I really have no clue about the city.” Jackson pulled out food bars and grimaced.

  “Trade?” I offered them some of the cold soup.

  “Sure. I’m tired of these.” He slurped some soup and continued, “I pretty much only know how to get from the shuttle pad to the barracks and the PX. I’d only been on the planet for a few days before the Zuul came.”

  “Makes sense.” I opened my sweeper and began looking for data sources while I ate the food bar. I caught flickers, but we were at least two klicks away, and I couldn’t catch much. “I’m going to need to get closer.”

  Steele and Jackson glanced at me.

  “Sir, I’m not sure that’s a wise idea. The Zuul have been patrolling that area down there pretty heavily. Worse, I’d guess they’ve expanded their patrol circuit, given that where they found us this morning was farther out than I’ve ever seen them before.” Steele glanced around. “Frankly, this ledge probably isn’t safe anymore.”

  “I can’t argue with you. Maybe extending their patrols thinned them out, but I’ve got to get closer.”

  Jackson grimaced. “There are some other perches, but I’d be shocked if they didn’t have sensors on them. Or regular patrols. Or both.”

  “El-tee, I think I can deal with remote sensors. That’s what I do. I just have to get closer. I don’t have to be able to see the base. As long as there are no rocks between me and it, I can stay under as much cover as we can find.” I grimaced, looking at my hands.

  “What’s wrong? That makes it much easier.”

  “I’m going to run out of lotion. That sap is going to suck.”

  Steele rolled her eyes. “Men! Here, sir. This is much better than anything local.”

  I took the proffered tin with a huge sigh of relief. “Thanks.”

  “The el-tee forgot to br
ing lotion with him, too. What do you all think about, besides the things that matter?”

  Jackson chuckled. “My momma’s boy had his head filled with killing aliens, getting paid, then getting laid.”

  We laughed quietly.

  “Yeah, that’s about right,” said Steele. “Make sure you put lotion on your mitts before jacking off.”

  “McWhorter drilled into me that I should listen to my NCOs.” Jackson grinned. He turned back to me. “How close do you have to get?”

  “Inside a klick if possible. And I’ll have to be there for some time.”

  “How long?”

  “No clue. It’ll depend on how quickly I catch the protocols. I probably can’t break the security key, assuming they’re using one that’s strictly a Zuul encryption, but I can still get some useful data.”

  “What can you do with it?”

  “Who knows? EW and ELINT aren’t necessarily predictable sciences.”

  Jackson and Steele glanced at each other. “It seems awful risky, sir,” said Steele. “Especially if all you get is some vague understanding of computer languages.”

  “I get what you’re saying.” I turned to her. “I used to drive CASPers. We always patrolled our op areas, right? Learning the ground we controlled, just like the Zuul are doing right now.”

  “Sure.”

  “This is the same thing. Boring, routine bullshit that makes it possible to fight the battle the right way when the time comes.” With a rueful smile, I added, “I didn’t come light years to be within a couple of klicks of a Zuul unit, only to walk away without pulling as much data as I can.”

  Steele and Jackson glanced at each other again.

  “I guess my momma’s boy understands that, but he sure don’t like it.”

  “I don’t blame you.” I paused. “Look, I know you don’t trust me. I understand. But, if you give me your communicators, I can set them up so you can send the data for Edmonds to the satellites without bringing the Zuul down on you. Then I can get closer to the base on my own.”

  Jackson sighed. “Truth to tell, Rick, I’m betting you coulda brought them down on us any time you wanted.”

  “And you didn’t have to save us,” agreed Steele.

  Jackson dug into his pack. “Here are the communicators.”